amount of sleep and LDs

i have only had LDs on nights where ive slept at least 9 hours. on a school night where i sleep at most 7 hours i find that i never have any LDs. fortunately, im out of school so i can sleep at least 9 hours and have had 2 LDs in the last week (bringing my total to 4).

does anyone else find that they cant get LDs if they sleep 7 hours but they can if htey sleep 9? i assume more sleep means more LDs, but could less sleep mean NO LDs?

thanks

Yes, that’s exactly how I am. I can only have LD’s on weekends. I normally have no or little DR during the week due to the fact that I get up at 5:45 for school. On Saturdays though, when I wake up after about 9-10 hours, I can usualy use WILD and MILD techniques much more easily.

I think it’s more about the timing, not how much sleep you get. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but the rule of thumb is 90-minute increments from your bed time. That is, REM sleep occurs about 90 mins after you close your eyes and relax in order to sleep. So… REM is at 1.5hrs, 3hrs, 4.5hrs, 6hrs, 7.5hrs, 9hrs, 10.5hrs, and so on. This would explain why waking up after 7 hrs wouldn’t help with your recall… if REM started at around 6 hrs after bedtime, and only lasted 25-40 mins (REM is supposedly only 5-10 mins at its very first occurrence, and gets longer as the hours pass), you would’ve missed it. LaBerge’s book says dream recall is greater when you awake directly from REM sleep. So if for example you go to sleep at midnight, set your alarm for 7:45-7:50am. Or if you need more sleep, try 9:15-9:20am or so.

I’m just starting out in the whole LD exploration thing, so I am trying to figure out a sleep schedule where my alarm brings me directly out of REM so I can increase my dream recall.

my understanding is that REM sleep ends around those time periods and begins some time before (for example, 5-10 mins before 1.5 hours of sleep, 25-40 mins before 6 hours, etc). i set up my sleep schedule to try to wake up around those times.

lets assume for a minute i wake up every day after about 7:20 after falling asleep. i find that i have no LDs on those days. yet, when i wake up 8:50 or 10:20 after falling asleep, i have LDs.

restating my question, would not getting that extra hour and a half or 3 hours of sleep be hurting my LDing to the extent that i cant have any unless i sleep more? if so, i wouldnt mind trying to get another hour and a half of sleep a night

Not sure if I can answer your Q…but about the 90 minute period thing, LaBerge says:

[color=red][:wolb:] Second post merged with the first. :wink: [/:wolb:][/color]

Something else from LaBerge:

More sleep means more REM, but not necessarily LDs. :wink:

No! NOOOOOOOO!!

Just kidding :wink: I know. But hey… more sleep = more REM… and waking up in the middle of REM = better recall. And the more you improve your recall… then you can start practicing LD! :smile:

It’s always good to think postively, your mind responds well to that. :good:

:welcome: Welcome, btw, I don’t think we’ve met. :content:

Thanks!! New here, but not new to LD… sorta. Tried it 6-7 yrs ago or so, did reality checks, kept a dream journal. I THINK I may have had one LD… but anyway, I’m so busy lately and I figured hey… might as well try to have some additional recreational time in my dreams, right? :smile:

Yeah, i have been trying to set up my own schedule for waking up at the right time, and i simply suck at it. Oh well, ill keep trying.

All of the above about REM sleep is true, but there’s another factor: if you’re not getting enough sleep consistently, you’ll have A LOT more trouble waking up after REM periods in order to recall dreams and do techniques like MILD, WILD, or WBTB. Most techniques are best performed in the early morning so that you can return to REM sleep quickly–if you can’t get up in the first place until your alarm goes off, you lose that opportunity and you have less LDs. I have that problem a lot. If I want a strong chance at LDing on a given night, I have to get plenty of sleep the night before.