Thread: How long schould I be awake in a WBTB attempt.

First, when doing a WBTB, it is a very good idea to actually get up. The purpose of a Wake Back to Bed is to stir up a little waking-life self-awareness (though while still maintaining a dreamy state so you don't lose touch with your sleep cycle), so you really need to get out of bed and, well, simply be awake for a little while.

My general rule of thumb for this is that a WBTB should last a minimum of 15 minutes and a maximum of 45 minutes of "up" time. While you're up, try to keep your thoughts dreamy and avoid things that will wake you too fully, like your phone, computer, TV, chatty family members, etc.

Also, as a sort of aside: WBTB is not something you attempt, but a technique that you actually do. The thing you're attempting is a successful WILD, using WBTB and FILD as techniques to reach that end. I know that wasn't what you were asking, but the clarification seemed worth mentioning.

I go a little further into WBTB in session 2 of my DVA WILD class... you can check it out here, if you're curious.


Good luck!

Thank you so much for the response! That cleared up a bunch of confusion for me. Well let's give a shot then!

Mine are often just long enough to dreamily get up and pee. I may take the moist fingers from hand washing and swipe my forehead with it. That wakes me a tiny bit. Then I go lie down and attempt whatever it is I am attempting.

For me, it isn't a time, but more a state of awareness that I am trying to get. I usually do 3-5 minutes 5 times a night and the about 15 minutes near the end of the of the night. I am always a bit wary of staying up too long or becoming too awake that I cant get back to sleep. basically, I don't keep my eye on my clock I keep my eye on my mind.

Originally Posted by Sensei

basically, I don't keep my eye on my clock I keep my eye on my mind.

Same here.

Originally Posted by Sensei

For me, it isn't a time, but more a state of awareness that I am trying to get. I usually do 3-5 minutes 5 times a night and the about 15 minutes near the end of the of the night. I am always a bit wary of staying up too long or becoming too awake that I cant get back to sleep. basically, I don't keep my eye on my clock I keep my eye on my mind.

Pretty close to the same routine I do. I also use a snooze alarm at the end of the night 9 minute snoozes for 4-5 attempts. How would you describe what you are doing for the 15 minute part?

Originally Posted by sivason

Pretty close to the same routine I do. I also use a snooze alarm at the end of the night 9 minute snoozes for 4-5 attempts. How would you describe what you are doing for the 15 minute part?

Usually I visualize and reset intention and push my limit of how aware I can be without worrying about needing to go back to sleep since it is near the end of the night. During the other ones I try to raise awareness and not awakeness, because I really don't want to lose a lot of sleep at night.

I love a repeating alarm at the end of the night but I can never do it since I have had young children since the second year of LDing for me.

Well usually as short as possible
if you fall sleep in 10 minutes that's great
although I usually induce sleep paralysis as a way of entry which is said to be unnecessary and scary sometimes
but I'm too used to it for it to be scary anymore...usually I'm just paralysed, hear screeching noises , I don't even hallucinate when I open my eyes

I recently read a book that suggested waking up 2 hours before your normal wakeup time, and then stay awake for 15 minutes before going back to bed.

I did this on the morning of 12/5, preceded to have a WILD followed by two other DEILDs where I asked my dream characters to advise me about a couple of personal matters in my waking life - one of which turned out to be abstractly prophectic, and another that was quiet literally prophetic. It was so impactful that I decided to log in here after a long time of being inactive (hi).

And so, naturally, I tried it again the next night, 12/6, same exact method...except this time nothing. From this experience, and others of course, I can tell you that it's less about the specific times and more about the state you end up going back to bed with.

On 12/5, the 15 minutes was enough to get to the point where I was fairly awake, and could have stayed up for the day if there was some important matter necessitating it. It took me a good while to get back to sleep, but it worked. The second time, 12/6, I was drowsy the entire 15 minutes, hovering on the edge of falling asleep on the couch while waiting for the 15 minutes to be up. I fell asleep quick, but without result.

(Edit)
Also, what is this garbage with all of the ads? It's really ruining the user experience here.

Originally Posted by TheUncanny

(Edit)
Also, what is this garbage with all of the ads? It's really ruining the user experience here.

I actually do not see any kind of ads. I do not remember the cost, but in the community hall you can donate money to DV and you then get a add free package and a few upgrades to privileges. It can't cost very much as I have it on auto-pay and never notice. Called Executive something I think. Well worth it.

It is a matter of numbers sometimes. WILD after WBTB is a special skill and if you can hit one out of three you are doing great. Honestly, if you can hit one a week with WILD that is a start to be happy with.

Hmm, it looks like it's not as bad on the desktop version of the site as compared to the mobile version. I also found the paid subscription section, I might go for it.

I also use the desktop version with my phone and it works fine, has more functions and there is only on block of ads on the bottom, that's fine