Thread: Too awake for WBTB?

Personally I don't set alarms for WBTB, I wake up naturally multiple times during the night. I don't like to wake up too much when I do my WBTB's though, I tend to lay still, remember my dream clearly then write it down in my dream journal. I might have a sip of water but then I'll just lay back down and still be tired enough to go to sleep.

It's really about finding what works for you, some people like to get up and do a lot of things, but it sounds like you need to stay more relaxed and sleepy

Thanks, I think you're right. Tonight I'm just gonna lay in bed when I wake up, then try to WILD from there. But another thing, I don't think I could get more tired than I am right now. I wanna just close my eyes ans fall asleep, but I just sit there, my body refuses to go back to sleep when I wake up, and it has made me lose hours of sleep on more than one occasion.

you want to play with your wakefullness groggy periods and see what works best in regards to falling back to sleep. example: if your sleep begins at midnight, try to get up and go back to sleep between the hours of 2am and 3am. Non rem (rapid eye movement) is about 90 mins on avg at onset. So if you can get up right after your 1st non rem period you'll still be sleepy enough to fall back to sleep but you'll be falling back to sleep in your rem period more aware which is where the majority of dreams happen during the night. As you develope a routine of waking up early in the morning your body will adjust and create a natural alarm for you. you'll just wake up on your own at a certain time early every morning. namaste

A couple of problems I've experienced in the past that may or may not be of interest to you:

You can try too hard to get back to sleep. Often relaxation (maybe related to meditiation techniques?) can be the focus and sleep just happens.

You can keep telling yourself, "I can't get back to sleep!" when you could be concentrating on relaxation.

Hey there.
This is definitely a problem, but one that can be easily solved the use for wbtb is so that you are aware enough to go into a dream but still so that you're in a sleepy state. Some people say up for about half an hour before going back to sleep, but some people, like myself, wake up for maybe <5 minutes. In these 5 minutes, i lay there for about 30 seconds letting my dream come back to mind clearly before writing them down. After writing them down, i might have a sip of water (I keep a drink bottle by my bed) or grab some apple juice from the fridge, have a wizz and then get comfortable back in bed before attempting to WILD or just going straight back to sleep.
Just find out on what feels comfortable for you.
Good luck!

Originally Posted by fOrceez

Hey there.
This is definitely a problem, but one that can be easily solved the use for wbtb is so that you are aware enough to go into a dream but still so that you're in a sleepy state. Some people say up for about half an hour before going back to sleep, but some people, like myself, wake up for maybe <5 minutes. In these 5 minutes, i lay there for about 30 seconds letting my dream come back to mind clearly before writing them down. After writing them down, i might have a sip of water (I keep a drink bottle by my bed) or grab some apple juice from the fridge, have a wizz and then get comfortable back in bed before attempting to WILD or just going straight back to sleep.
Just find out on what feels comfortable for you.
Good luck!

Thanks, fOrceez, and everyone else, for the tips. I basically tried what you did, but even with the TRYING to stay up for five minutes, I just COULDN'T go back to sleep. I don't know what it is, my body was aching, every muscle HURT, I wanted to just close my eyes and sleep. But I just, couldn't. I was wide awake. I was up for two hours before I fell back asleep for three hours after that, then woke up again. . . I just don't know what to do