Thread: Does WILDing mean I have to wait through non-REM sleep?

You'll very likely bump into a bit of NREM during any WILD attempt, but the length of its duration can vary a lot. As you already noted, you're much more likely to have a very short duration of NREM late in the sleep cycle, but there is no real way to estimate how long it will last.

But you know what? It doesn't matter! ...I think it is a much better idea to ignore technical details like this, and just do your WILD as best you can, and include some patience in your work as you find the best time and conditions for your WILD attempts. Worrying about NREM will only become a distraction during the WILD, especially if you encounter a few moments of nothingness.

Also, and more to your question, I think: trying to figure out, in advance, how long a WILD attempt might last is probably an exercise in futility. WILDs last as long as it takes you to fall asleep and enter a dream, and that length of time will always vary, depending on many factors, including (but not limited to) how sleepy you are, your focus, possible distractions around you, etc. Complete WILD transitions can occur in a few seconds or take hours; there really is no minimum duration of a WILD attempt.

Thank you very much for your elaborate explanation. I will keep practicing.

I have a theory that the act of being woken up by an alarm to do a WBTB "resets" the current sleep cycle, so that the next REM period is pushed back. That doesn't mean you have to wait through nrem sleep as you put it, because by definition the WILD is going direct from wake to dream, but I suspect it can mean waiting a while for your brain chemistry to return to the REM state before you can transition into the LD.
I suppose the quickest scenario would be to wake only enough to be aware, just before your REM period, and then try to transition immediately before walking fully and "resetting" the sleep cycle back to the beginning.