It was winter, January to be specific, when I first thought of the idea of and started keeping a dream journal. Subsequently, in the December of the same year I started pursuing lucid dreams, becoming absolutely obsessed with the possibilities of lucid dreams. Which is the key to success, right. Naturally, I too had my periods of low motivation and bad dream recall, but in the wintertime I don’t seem to get this as much.
Wintertime is something I’ve come to associate with dreams, it seems. As recently some new found energy to practice the different techniques and research dreams sparked up yet again with the first signs of snow, I got curious as to whether other dreamers have found this to be the case. I should also add that I live in the north where wintertime means that we get considerably more darkness and cold than in summer.
BTW, I also had my only true, high-level-lucidity LD in the winter.
mindset can do a lot of good things for dreamers–as you probably know, mindset can almost make or break your chances.
That said, while it may harm you ion the off season, having a “dreaming season” could really serve as a subtle confidence boost.
At any rate, i agree. I’ve always sort of associated winter with dreams. It’s a dreamy time–all the snow on the ground, everything so very still, it doesn’t even seem real.
Longer nights, and cold weather does make for some great sleeping, and dreaming. Plus we tend to eat more in the winter espesaly around the holidays. There is supose to be a chemical in turkey that makes you sleepy. Does anyone notice any change in there dreams on Thanksgiving night?
From a biological viewpoint…
Well sunlight in general can have a big impact. Sunlight raises levels of serotonin in the day which get converted to melatonin which helps you sleep, impacts dreams and a larger amount of it can lead to more lucid dreams and OBE’s. That’s why if you take a melatonin pill an hour or two before bed it can give you crazy dreams. So summer time can help.
On the other hand during the winter, if you don’t get sunlight in the morning you’re brain doesn’t get the message as heavily to switch from melatonin production to serotonin, which is part of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) basically people feeling more down in winter months. The significance of this varies from person to person, but this would lead to more melatonin in the body which could also have an impact on dreaming.
As for myself my dreams have a more “bright” characteristic in the summer not necessarily more complex or immersive but just different .
So far winter doesn’t do my DR and LDing any good at all. I sleep with my curtains open to sleep less deep (due to sunlight), but during the winter it’s dark the whole time. Also I seem to be unable to force myself to write in my DJ or get out of bed for a WBTB-attempt because it’s too cold outside my bed.
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