I have a Severe Sleep Disorder

Hi, i’m Dragon. I’ve been trying to have lucid dreams for 3 days now, and it’s making sleep in general harder. I have had a severe sleep disorder my whole life (it takes me hours to get to sleep) and I was just wondering if someone with my condition is able to have lucid dreams. I’ve been trying to perform WILD, but i’m still not certain how it’s done and I end up never getting to sleep because I can’t find a perfectly relaxing position and I keep moving around.

In summary, can people with sleep disorders still have lucid dreams? :sad:

Hello, Dragon, and welcome to the forums!

https://community.ld4all.com/t/how-to-choose-your-technique-by-treader/21732 is a good FAQ on how to choose a technique, because it seems to me that trying WILD in your case isn’t exactly the best thing to do.

However, I’m in your situation, and my favorite LD technique is WILD. I go with WBTB, where you wake up in the middle of the night, then go back to sleep. I recommend not staying up long at all, unless you want to jot a few notes in your DJ.

WILD is different for everyone. Some people will start seeing HH, and some people will hear HI, and some people won’t experience anything severe at all. I have a kind of audible cue where I’ll hear an amplified noise (usually white noise) and when the noise fades out, I’m usually dreaming. Other people, of course, have different methods. The most common is counting, I believe… See the topic above yours: The BIG WILD Topic for more help.

In summary, yes, unless my sleep disorder is not as severe as yours, you can still have LD’s.

P.S. It takes me about hour+30 mins to sleep when I sleep at my normal time…

Are you supposed to concentrate or anything? Because when I try to do it, I close my eyes, stay still and think. But I just can’t stay like that for however long it takes me to sleep, and I just keep moving around. What’s the exact best way to do this?

Well, the key with a WILD is that you have to go to sleep BEFORE you can dream. Concentrating too hard won’t let you sleep while concentrating too little and you’ll fall asleep too easily.

Again, I suggest WBTB because when you wake up, you’ll still be drowsy, thus making it easier for you to fall back asleep. I personally do it naturally, but if you don’t wake up spontaneously in the middle of the night, you could use an alarm clock.

Should I listen to some music and focus on that until I get into my dream?

I would go with a dream journal and dong reality checks throughout the day.
It does not sound like WILD is the best idea when it takes so long to fall asleep.

I would suggest not doing WILD.

I would think someone with a sleep disorder (depending on what type) would be better off sticking to their normal bedtime routine to help get the right frame of mind for sleep.

As Thomas suggested, reality checks and dream journals would be the best way to go as these do not require specific focus at night.

I also would suggest staying clear of WBTB. As an insomniac if I wake up (even if I’m really tired and only had a couple of hours) I cannot just go back to sleep. Once I am up, that’s it I’m awake. You might have the same problems with sleep disorders. It’s worth a try, but could be an issue.

OMG! :content:
Last night I nearly got a WILD! I’d just woken up from about 6 hrs of sleep, then I closed my eyes for a while and my body fell asleep. I think I got to the paralization part, but I was sort of still able to move if I wanted (but I didn’t). My eyes were also not closed properly, they could close but they wern’t relaxed like that and I actully opened my eyes twice. I was counting each breath I made and listened to the buzzing in my ears (though it never really got louder) and I could think about flying and stuff, and it was like a dream but I couldn’t actully see it, but just imagine it. I eventually just turned over, without getting to the dream state because I forgot what I was supposed to do :sad:

Is that what you’re supposed to do, or was that something else?