Best time to WILD?

**sleepaholic** · 11-18-2015 09:21 AM

I realize that the best time to wild is usually later in the sleep cycle, ie areound the 5-6 hour mark, but I find it nearly impossible to fall asleep if I get up at that stage. So, is it worth while attempting a wild any earlier, or would the window be too short? On that matter, does anyone know roughly when those rem cycles start and how long they last?

Thanks a lot to anyone who answer! I have had some fluke successes with wilds, but have not been able to find the perfect time yet. So, I would be grateful of any advice the fine folk of dream views can offer!

**Sageous** · 11-18-2015 08:57 PM

The best time to WILD is generally after about 5 hours' sleep, yes, but the best time specifically for you is one you might need to do a little experimenting to find.

Yes, if you are unable to get back to sleep after a WBTB, that is a real problem for WILD

. How much time do you spend trying to get back to sleep? It usually takes me at least an hour (often longer) to return to sleep. Sometimes you just need to be patient. Also, are you avoiding becoming too awake when you first wake up? Maintaining a sleepy/dreamy disposition during WBTB, and avoiding things like conversation, TV phones, computers, etc, can be very helpful to getting you back to sleep. Also, you might shorten your WBTB a bit as well, though I would make sure you get up and move about for at least 5 minutes. (If you already covered all this, then never mind!)

All that said, REM periods do occur very close together during late hours of the sleep cycle, so they will be much easier to catch through WILD after 5+ hours' sleep, but they are still closer together after 4 hours than they are right at bedtime, so even getting a just a couple of hours' sleep before WBTB is more helpful than attempting a WILD right at bedtime. I would suggest you try rising a bit earlier for WBTB, maybe after 4 hours' sleep, and see how that works. At worst, you might find it easier to go to sleep, but might have to negotiate a few minutes of NREM before your dream starts (with which I personally have no problem, BTW!). It might just be that you haven't yet found that "sweet spot" of just the right time to wake up, how long to WBTB, and how long to maintain your WILD attempt; keep looking, and don't worry too much about the standards.

**sleepaholic** · 11-19-2015 07:06 AM

Thanks for replying sageous! I probably should have put those details you were asking about in my main post haha. Well, I had spent about 45 minutes (ish) trying to get back to sleep with no success. As soon as I wake up, I go to the toilet then get back into bed and try to go to sleep, so there are no tvs or anything like that. I have been trying to go for a shorter period, but so far, it seems to be tricky. I'm falling asleep regularly, so I don't know if I have got the timing wrong, or if I just need to focus harder on the technique.

**Sageous** · 11-19-2015 07:21 PM

^^ Sounds like your WBTB is as short as it can be right now; no sense making it shorter.

45 minutes might seem like a long time, but you could take probably twice as long to fall asleep and still successfully WILD. In fact, as I think I sort of said above, for me 45 minutes is a very short time for getting back to sleep. You might try to be patient, and give yourself up to an hour and a half before giving up... just don't think about how long it's taking to fall asleep: just relax and keep your mantra going, or if you must think about something, use the time to think about your dream goals, or maybe visualize the dream you'd like to have... make the time interesting, rather than difficult.

Also, I don't know if you do this, but you might try a relaxation technique to help you fall asleep, like the 61 points meditation.