Quest for lucidity: Sleep patterns

[SleepyUniquePolar-be (SleepyUniquePolar-bear)]

Hey guys,

So I was going to bed right now: hoping, like each night, for my first full-fledged LD.
But then I had a thought running in my mind and that is keeping me awake for now almost two hours.

In my last thread, I told you guys that I rarely recall my dreams, and that for once I almost had two LDs during one night.

Well, a few days after that, I just happen to speak with a friend of mine, who dreams every night. Intrigued and still looking for answers, I asked her more about her typical dreaming nights, and the fact just slapped me in the face like I couldn’t believe how of a moron I am.

From what I understood, she basically wake up at the same time everyday. And when the alarm starts, she snoozes, and at that point she remembers her dream(s). I believe it’s partly the between-awake-and-asleep phase that is responsible for the dream recall thing.

Lately, I was trying the WBTB method without any success. I couldn’t even manage to get a ND. Tired of my failures, I decided this morning to not use a clock (it’s sunday), and just sleep as much as I can. So I went to bed at about 2:00 AM. And then I had the most vivid dream I’ve had in months, if not years. But when I noticed I was dreaming, I immediately woke up and looked at the time. It was 7:00 AM.

At this point I understood all that time, the main barrier that kept me away of LD was simply lack of sleep.

I didn’t give it any second thought for the rest of the day, but when going to bed earlier, I realized that during all that time, my body never really adapt to 6-hours night and I was always missing crucial REM sleep. Then I remembered an article I read some time ago on kuro5hin.org, about the Uberman Sleep Schedule.

The author said:

One particularly noteworthy effect (I consider it a benefit, but others might consider it a drawback) is that all of my dreams are very intense and I find myself remembering them as well, down to minute details. Personally, I don’t have any difficulties handling the imagery that my dreams produce, but many people have difficulties with their dreams in a normal sleep schedule - if that is the case, Uberman is simply not for you.

But, other people like Dr. Piotr Wozniak strongly recommend not to do that, amongst other interesting insights, saying that humans are fundamentally biphasic. Supposedly, nap time should be around:

Naps = 5.6 - 0.8*CoreSleep

So I’m asking to frequent lucid dreamers:
Do you think your sleep/nap patterns help you with your LD?

• Are your sleep patterns constant (same time to bed/to wake everyday)?
• Do you nap ? If so, how long ? And, do you LD or ND during your naps?
• How do you pass from asleep to awake? Do you use snooze to get this semi-awake period where you remember sleep or do you have another approach ?

[Ardosk]

I have two different sleep patterns I switch between:
-Days off, 1AM-6AM at which time I have my alarm set to wake me up to attempt WILD, and usually end up going back to sleep till about 10:30AM.
-Days on, 9PM-3AM, at which time I attempt WILD like above, before falling back asleep till 6:30AM
I have about an equal amount of LDs (not WILD only) with each. The more sleep I’m getting, the better luck I have with LDs. When I used to go for 12AM-6PM I’d hardly have any.

I don’t, or more accurately, can’t nap.

I usually wake up before my alarm, switch it off, go to the toilet and then try to lie back down and WILD. I’m still pretty close to sleep the whole time, unless I walk into a door frame or something on my way to/from the toilet.

[Leijona]

For me, naps seem to be a highly effective way to get LD’s.

During my last holidays I decided to take naps here and there to see if they have any positive effect. I took seven naps in this period (one month) and had a total of five LD’s, four of them during the naps. So, yes, naps help me with my LD’s. I slept for about 8,5 hours, got up at 8 A.M., was awake until 10 eating breakfast, visiting LD4all and got back to sleep then and took the nap until 12.

Constant sleeping patterns are very important for my DR though so I try to go to sleep at a steady time which doesn’t always work. When I have school I sleep around seven/eight hours, up to ten at weekends/holidays.

I usually don’t use the snooze function of my alarm because it makes me even more tired than I am anyway, but if I do I either don’t remember any dreams at all or they are really short and fuzzy.

[Rhewin (Who is The Doctor?)]

Yes, yes sleep patterns greatly affect your DR and chances of an LD. If you’re especially tired, even to the state of REM relapse, the chances of remembering your dreams goes way down. Also, the times you try WBTB and how long you stay up makes a difference.

What I do when I get my more vivid dreams seems kind of similar to what your friend does. I may wake up 4-5 hours after I first sleep, but I basically shut off my alarm (if I’m using one) and go back to sleep immediately. WBTB does not have to include getting up for an hour, 5 minutes or even at all. For me, it’s just a brief moment of consciousness which helps considerably.

Now, as for the Uberman sleep schedule. It can work and if done properly is fine (I know a few people who’ve tried it), but it is very difficult to get into, very difficult to maintain and really doesn’t give that much more of a boost than keeping a regular schedule. It may help with your recall, but I don’t believe the time and effort is worth it.

[SleepyUniquePolar-be (SleepyUniquePolar-bear)]

4.5 and 6 hours seems to fit between 2 REM cycles perfectly with the WILD or WBTB methods !

I’m still not sure about the buzzer/snooze thing though; I’ll have to try to know for sure.

Thanks for your input guys, I’m starting now the different you’ve enumerated here; I’ll let you know if I have any luck !