I have noticed that if i sleep longer than i need to get rested, one of two things usually happens:
Either i get a ld, of the kind that i can drift in and out of almost when i want to, or i get a nightmare. The nightmares are usually about being stuck in an uncomfortable position or situation, and i don’t have the mental power or clarity to recognise it as a dream.
Is this a common experience in later sleep cycles? It usually happens when i sleep for more than 8 hours and choose to sleep more. Maybe doing WILD in that situation would help?
You could definitely try WILD after that many hours of sleep, although I find that I’m usually a little too well-rested by then. I prefer to do some chaining during those times. It’s relatively easy to become lucid, and one of my favorite things to do is to incubate dreams.
I do that by setting my alarm ahead by roughly 15 minutes. 90% of the time I’ll wake up of my own accord (usually from a dream) about a minute before the alarm goes off. I set it ahead by 15 minutes once more and repeat the process. I’ve had upwards of 10 dreams in as little as two hours that way.
The alarm clock works as an autosuggestion for me. If you’re good enough at it you can just do without the alarm. Short and vivid dreams also really help in the LD department, since you basically get more chances.
i can recognise the many short dreams, and the ability to continue where another dream stopped. My mother has always used this state as her main way to get lucid. Could it be that we don’t require deep sleep at all after all that sleep, and fall asleep almost instantly into REM? I have managed to drift off, dream something and wake up again within as little as 3 minutes when i was young.
The nightmares seem to come when incubation fails, and when i have had one, falling asleep again just sends me back into one. Btw, how often do you get enough sleep to do this? For me it is usually only on sundays.
Well, the thing is, after you’ve already slept a certain amount of time, REM kicks in almost instantly, especially if you’ve already slept for like 8 hours. You just skip the deep sleep altogether, basically. I know this because some dreams last about 10-15 minutes, and when I wake up I see that that’s exactly how long I’ve been sleeping.
As for getting enough sleep: I tend to get more than enough every single day. I actually make time for dreaming. If you have a really busy life, I can understand that it doesn’t work quite as well, but I reserve 9 hours for sleeping every day. Usually 8 for the actual sleep, and the other hour is for WILD, writing down dreams and falling asleep in the first place. Works wonders for me.
I rarely do that whole chaining thing, actually. I love doing it, but usually I just don’t want to stay in bed too long. Sometimes on weekends, when I’m too lazy to get out of bed (and there’s nothing in particular to get up for in the first place).
I have it easy, though. I’ll admit that. Not a busy, stressful life at all.
i can recognise the many short dreams, and the ability to continue where another dream stopped. 
My mother has always used this state as her main way to get lucid. Could it be that we don’t require deep sleep at all after all that sleep, and fall asleep almost instantly into REM? I have managed to drift off, dream something and wake up again within as little as 3 minutes when i was young.