From what I’ve read your supposed to set your clock 3-4.5 hours after you’ve gone to bed.
Some sleep research has shown that with each sleep cycle your REM duration gets longer. So if you become lucid in a later sleep cycle you will have more time in dream state.
I find that after only 4 hours of sleep, I am too tired to focus properly on MILD.
Then there is a great method for you! There is one called FILD. Click on where it say Best Technique in my Sig and it will take you to the topic. : 
Maybe its just that you are increasing mental activity just before an REM cycle and as such dont have to go through the non-REM periods to get to REM so you retain your brain activity levels helping keep logic and reason and memory neurons still firing when you actually begin to dream making it easier to realise its not real or to remember to LD.
It worked for me last night, second ever LD and best one yet (thats not saying much but telekinesis and pyrokinesis where a blast)
Ok, now, after al looooooong break from trying to get lucid I’m working at it again.
But I have some trouble >.<
Last Night I tried WBTB, i went to bed at midnight and fell asleep … mh, I think half an hour later. My Alarm was set for 7:45. It woke me up, first i was scared I would be to late for school, but then i realized it was a weekend. Because I was scared, i moved very quickly and forgot about every dream. But i was awake enough to get out of bed. I surfed the Net for 40 Minutes, then I went back to bed. And tried some counting and things “Im dreaming, I’m dreaming…” but i was too awake. I didn’t fall asleep. And in the end, after 3 hours of waiting, I finally got up.
Was the alarm set to late? Or why was that?
And in those 3 hours wating for sleep or something to happen, I had my old “weekend-problem”. During the week, when I have to get up at six, i mostly don’t have the time to write any dream down, but I don’t have to, i don’t remember anyway very much when i have to get up that early. On weekends, i get up naturally, at around 9 oClock. Then it’s war, and everything in bed and I have time, so I stay in bed. Sometimes till it’s 12 oclock. During that time, I don’t really dream. I have 2 phases: In Phase one, I’m awake, my eyes are open and I remember dreams. In the other phase, my eyes are closed and I “dream” but at the same time i “Know” i’m in my room and feel where my pillow touches my head. When I’m back to Phase 1, i know what I’ve dreamt, but not with pictures or something, i just “Know” what happened. But these dream are never… really “Dreams” which come from my innerst, they’re just about meeting my fave band or something. I like dreaming about that, really. But I wish there were more “strange” dreams, with pictures and everything.
.< and that’s waht destroyed my Motivation the last time, and it’s going on like that again >.<
this is why i don’t use an alarm clock, i use autosuggestion 
its so wierd how it can work, like just last night i told myself to wake up at 4:30, then i suddenly woke up in the middle of the night for no reason. I immedietly checked my alarm clock, it was 4:27
THAT’S just cool
I think I have the same problem. I tried the FILD tec last night, and I couldn’t seem to get over the fact that I could feel my face on my pillow. I tried rubbing my dream hands together, though, and I could feel that, so I think I was close! any advice on how to take that last step into my dreams?
Is there some sort of spacing period i should use in relation to nights when i do WBTB?
For example i do it almost every night but last few nights i havent due to a movie marathon, should i try spacing out attempts to give my mind a break? You know maybe try something else that dosent involve perpetual exhaustion?
moved into the big topic 
I am very new to lucid dreaming, infact i had my first lucid dream the other night because i used the WBTB method wich to my surprise, worked the first time and i had my first lucid dream a couple of nights ago 
i succeeded by going to bed at 12:00 waking up at 06:00 staying up for half an hour and had no troublle going back to sleep but then i tried the same the past two nights and i can’t go back to sleep, so my question is Does it matter how long you stay up before going back to sleep, because if i stay up for not very long at all i am fully awake? 
I’m trying to do the same combination you did; 
About the minutes, it depends, for some it works longer time awake and other less.
If it worked for you these 30 minutes then try it again, try not to get too excited or you’ll get too awake, but try not to get drowsier either.
Success! 
I encountered a strange problem since I started my search for Lucid Dreams again 2 days ago. I have tried the WBTB, which was what I was originally trying 2 years ago, and which seemed to fit me the best.
The problem is the that 2 last days I have OVERSLEPT for work, I can wake up easily at 4am, VERY tired. I stay up for 5 minutes maximum, while doing normal dream recall exercises.
The thing is when my alarm clock goes off at 6.15am I don’t wake up, the alarm clock goes on for an HOUR before I wake up. I have woken up 7.30am 2 days straight now, I hate getting late for work. 
Any advice?
(I’m not sure this should be in stuff since it is basically a WBTB problem)
… but if it was me I would try to either alter the time you wake yourself in the night (it could be just the wrong part of the sleep cycle for you) and if that didn’t work make the time I go to bed a little earlier in the evening. 
I didn’t really find a fitting place for it, but it is as you say a WBTB problem.
Alter the time might work, problem is I only have 6-8 hours of sleep every night, MAXIMUM.
so instead of 4 am … try for example 4.30am
you would still be in bed for the same amount of time.
You’re right, thanks for your tip, I’ll try it.
I tried WBTB and it was more like WSAW (Wake Stay Awake). 
I really want a lucid dream, but nothing is working for me.
This is towards iona, from page two: You may be Sleep walking, and because your still partially conscious during the lucid dream, you may simply be aware of what you’re doing when you’re sleep walking. I had that happen to me once before actually, I walked downstairs and was talking to my dad, and I thought that he was General Hammond from the show Stargate: SG-1.
He ended up telling me to go to bed, and I did. It’s strange because I remember both things. You may have experienced something like this.
Just keep trying man, nothing has worked for me either, but I’m sure if you keep it up you’ll do it. Every step you take is a step closer, and you’re road may be a long one. Remember that, just don’t give up. I mean it took God 7 days to build the earth, and he can do anything. But I share your pain. 
I don’t think WBTB directly induces a lucid dream. From my experiences with normal dreams, by far the most vivid dreams have been those which I have woken up in the morning and gone back to sleep. These dreams are the ones which you could easily become lucid in but you still need a way to become lucid. You should try waking up, going back to bed and doing MILD as you fall asleep. It works the same way I think as when you are going to sleep and you are thinking about an important thing you have to wake up for in the morning… you just will wake up because you were thinking about it when you fell asleep. Just keep telling yourself that when you are dreaming you should realise you are dreaming and do a reality check etc.
Well Borbus,
WBTB doesn’t induce directly a ld but increase a lot the awareness and intentions accuracy. Most of my lds happened because i either was starting to know ld and it was a common theme in my dreams or because i would wbtb w/o the intentions…