Want opinions on sleep and relaxation related things.

the Stuff Dreams are made of...
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moved from lounge to stuff forum :moogle:

(NOT sure if this should be posted here but ill go with it)
Before i begin with this i feel that reading peoples personal experiences is far more beneficial then looking through google for solutions to this stuff. This feels alot more reliable being that real people are sharing their thoughts and such on a subject. This is more associated with sleeping habits and relaxing into sleep rather than trying to achieve lucidity (even though the last point does mention dream recall a bit). I put it in spoilers because i feel there is ALOT that i may end up typing.

SPOILER - Click to view

This field of lucid dreaming has motivated me to start putting myself to bed alot earlier (more or less 10:30PM). As opposed to last year where I’d put myself to bed at 12 or 1AM and have to wake up at 6. I normally got 3-6 hours of sleep and now that I’m trying to go to bed earlier to get more sleep. I usually dont fall asleep early at all, and when i wake up at night (not even necessarily after a dream) I take too long to fall back asleep. The end result is that i get as much sleep i got last year. Last night was the worst for me, in that i hardly fell asleep, feeling as if i only took short naps than went into actual deep sleep, and i woke up i think 2 or 3 times. I’m wondering if any of this is temporary as i try to adjust to the fact i can get more sleep (by going to bed earlier of course).

I also notice that even though my mind is clear of all stressful thoughts, I still cannot fall asleep. I often just lay there for 1 or 1&1/2, until i fall asleep. I wake up 3 or 4 hours later and still suffer this same issue, even though all i did was go up and go to the bathroom. No matter how much I clear my mind, relax myself, and just lay there, I simply take forever to fall asleep. Im curious to know about anything anyone else has done to effectively relax themselves and has(or still does) suffer(ed) from these same things.

This last thing is more dream recall related and is just something I’m simply curious about. I notice that when i am so dreadfully tired I feel as if i’ve had absolutely no dreams. Usually when i have those bad/no recall moments I at least know i had a dream. These situations where i feel as if i had no dreams have been happening so much since school has started. I’d like to know what peoples’ take on this is. :eh:

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There was a good while were I couldn’t get to sleep. Oddly enough, attempting WILD before bed usually gets me to sleep, with or without a dream.

As for dream recall, I hardly remember my dreams, just because I’ve horrible recall.

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I get my best dreams when I exercise a lot. I find that when I’m mentally tired, but not physically tired, it’s harder to get to sleep. When I’m physically exhausted, I relax better when I’m trying to sleep, so it doesn’t matter how mentally awake I am. This translates well into dreams. Also, being outside a lot during the day (or at least getting natural sunlight) regulates your sleeping patterns. If you’re a lot like I was at 15, you spend a lot of time in class and doing homework or surfing online, yes?

Also, what do you do right before bed? Do you watch TV or text or go online? The light tricks your circadian rhythmic system into staying awake, because it thinks it’s daytime. I’ll usually take a shower or read a book/do homework before bed. I also have a playlist on my iPod for nights I can’t sleep well. It has relaxing music like the theme from Jurassic Park and some acoustic songs.

When I first joined LD, I had trouble sleeping too. If something woke me up in the middle of the night I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep again. (Then again, I was also trying to WILD, so that put a lot of stress on me). The problem was, I lived a mostly sedentary lifestyle and spent most of my nights on the computer. I also drank a lot of caffeine during the day and I would eat dessert often. The extra caffeine and sugar would completely keep me from sleeping. I learned that I would have sleeping problems if I drank coffee after 10am. (Now, however, I can have coffee and go to sleep two hours later. I’ve built up a tolerance to caffeine I suppose.)

When I was little (and before I had a CD or MP3 player) I had to sing myself to sleep. The same three songs too. It was just a relaxing part of my routine. Also, I find writing (by hand) before bed really organizes my thoughts, and I tend to have more vivid dreams. It’s also a good way to de-stress.

I hope any of that helped. :smile: