Originally Posted by TDHXIII
I'll be aiming for 4 or 4.5 hours and i'm going to resort to a FILD approach.
As you already know, I recommend moving that up to 5 or more hours, if possible.
How do i make sure i wake up drowsy in the first place? does it have to do with how many hours i choose before awakening?
My first rule of thumb for this is don't use an alarm. Alarms, even the gentler ones, tend to wake you up too thoroughly. If you can manage to simply get up during one of your sleep cycle's many moments of brief wakefulness without an alarm, you will be in better shape to fall back to sleep...and don't worry about catching REM: if you are doing your WBTB after 5hrs or so of sleep, and stay up for at least 30 minutes, rejoining REM will not be a problem.
Do things like waking up at daytime or nighttime affect my level of drowsiness?
Not really. Yes, light is the enemy of sleep, so if your bedroom is full of sunshine you might be inclined to more thoroughly awaken. But simply darkening your bedroom will resolve that. If you are still in the midst of your sleep cycle (which generally you will be for 6 to 8hrs), and you do not do too much to awaken yourself (i.e., using your computer, watching TV, using your phone) your body will still be interested in going back to sleep for about 90 minutes or more.
Upon every attempt, i feel like i can't sleep while doing my anchor.. Is this my mind screwing around with me?
Yes, your mind is screwing around with you. But remember that you are your mind; it is not a separate entity, so you are fully empowered to do a little unscrewing.
So the first -- and most important -- step in getting to sleep is simply not feeling like you can't sleep while doing your anchor (or any other reason). Indeed, don't think about getting to sleep at all; just focus on your dream, use your anchor/mantra, and let sleep come when it does. Also, be prepared to take up to 2 hours to get back to sleep, and assume that you will go to sleep eventually (if you last much more than 90min without falling asleep, you're likely up for the day). If you feel like you cannot sleep, or that doing your anchor keeps you awake, then you will indeed not fall asleep. I know this sounds simplistic, but sometimes simple is good: Don't think about falling asleep; just do your WILD and let sleep come when it comes.
Finally, if you are sure your anchor is keeping you awake, then choose another anchor or mantra. Pick something, for instance, that both holds your focus and soothes you a bit. Or, as I may have mentioned before, consider using a mantra rather than, say, a counting anchor. Activities like counting tend to inspire wakefulness, so if you're having trouble falling asleep, counting might not be the thing to do. Also, the nice thing about a mantra is that you can use it while you are doing other things that help you fall asleep (like the 61 points exercise).
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