Thread: Things that NEGATIVELY impact lucid dreaming....

I've found masturbation just before bed ruins my recall and ability to WILD.
I think it depleted me of a lot of energy and so when I wake up and try to WILD I'm simply far too relaxed/exhausted to focus on entering a dream while staying lucid.

Originally Posted by Matte87

Playing too much video games.

This is something I found out first hand. The main reason I'm so interested in lucid dreams is because they're so much fun! When I started practicing I had just injured my wrists, which prevented me from playing video games. I got that "video game fix" from the LD's instead and it got my motivation going for an entire year. Once I could play again I noticed that my previous motivation was fading along with my monthly LD rate. Has anyone else noticed something like this?

PercyLucid also claimed that sitting by the computer just before bed is not good. Not sure how much truth there is in that statement, but I did notice an increase in recall if I meditated for 20 minutes before bed and cleared my head.

TV puts you in a trance

Originally Posted by tommo

I've found masturbation just before bed ruins my recall and ability to WILD.
I think it depleted me of a lot of energy and so when I wake up and try to WILD I'm simply far too relaxed/exhausted to focus on entering a dream while staying lucid.

chi deplete!

Originally Posted by WakingNomad

flouride

Well, I'm pretty sure I'm full of fluoride....probably soon after I was born...
Although, my dreams are usually vivid, but in any case, should I be worried?

Originally Posted by tommo

I've found masturbation just before bed ruins my recall and ability to WILD.
I think it depleted me of a lot of energy and so when I wake up and try to WILD I'm simply far too relaxed/exhausted to focus on entering a dream while staying lucid.

That used to happen to me. Then at sometimes it was just a losing battle and I'd get no recall. But then for some reason I could do it and still have recall. I'm not sure why.

Television. Unhealthy foods. To much stress. Uncomfortable environment you are sleeping in.. Anti depressants or similar drugs that effect your brain.

It has been mentioned already, but stress and pretty much any negative emotions (and ofcourse a lack of confidence) have a negative impact on LD

Originally Posted by Matte87

Once I could play again I noticed that my previous motivation was fading along with my monthly LD rate. Has anyone else noticed something like this?

I agree, especially with the motivation part. Whatever it is that motivates me to lucid dream, if I'm "getting it" in real life, I don't need the lucid dream to have the experience. I think lucid dreaming just for the sake of lucid dreaming, without any other motivation (for me), leads to sporadic LDs. I need that extra motivation, that subject to be obsessed about , to be desperate to dream about, to have a really good streak of LDs, instead of just having them randomly. It's funny, for me, I could almost say, the more content I am in life, the less often I LD.

I would say that losing motivation has a very negative impact. It's quite frustrating when its hard to be motivated about LDing when you haven't had one for over 6 months.

Omnis already said this, but pot is no friend of the lucid dreamer. I have no moral opinion about pot, but from all my experience, if you make it into a LD you have trouble stablizing, and then your recall is ruined.

Originally Posted by sivason

Omnis already said this, but pot is no friend of the lucid dreamer. I have no moral opinion about pot, but from all my experience, if you make it into a LD you have trouble stablizing, and then your recall is ruined.

same with alcohol I wonder

or certain amounts

I use to smoke marijuana daily and never could recall dreams, I cut it down to only smoking and drinking on the weekends and its made a drastic difference on recall and clarity...

Originally Posted by milehighjoe

I use to smoke marijuana daily and never could recall dreams, I cut it down to only smoking and drinking on the weekends and its made a drastic difference on recall and clarity...

Really good to know. I think I'll experiment on this.

Sadly, my homework

Originally Posted by fOrceez

Sadly, my homework

=/

that sucks

Originally Posted by milehighjoe

I use to smoke marijuana daily and never could recall dreams, I cut it down to only smoking and drinking on the weekends and its made a drastic difference on recall and clarity...

Yeah I smoke daily and it definitely affects my recall, but after awhile my body gets accustomed to it and I can have decent recall with effort. However, on days where I have a paper or something and don't smoke, I get crazy REM rebound. Do you experience any REM rebound when smoking for a weekend and then stopping?

By the way I like your name. I am a proud Denver red card holder

Yeah I smoked so habitually that I didn't start forgetting my dreams until I stopped smoking, and then it took me about a week to remember them again. But they were much more vivid then when I smoked, and I could remember pretty much the entire dream rather than the last 10 minutes or so.

Yeh I get bad and good results from weed, the only problem is it's too inconsistent, like one night you recall loads of crazy ass dreams, next night, nothing.

^^ yeah

I had crazy lucids the other night, actually early morning, and the night before I drank like a fish

but I'm at a hormonal time of the month, and I'm noticing a link between that and my crazy lucid streaks, regardless of alcohol consumption

Originally Posted by cytotoxicT

Yeah I smoke daily and it definitely affects my recall, but after awhile my body gets accustomed to it and I can have decent recall with effort. However, on days where I have a paper or something and don't smoke, I get crazy REM rebound. Do you experience any REM rebound when smoking for a weekend and then stopping?

By the way I like your name. I am a proud Denver red card holder

LOL I am also a proud Denver Red Card Holder....When I smoke on weekends it usually involves lots of drinking too and I dont even know if I have REM rebounds lol. I know when I smoke and take a nap i have some pretty weird dreams...I am going to try an experiment this weekend and see how it goes. I herd smoking then going right to REM sleep makes for intense crazy dreams, hopefully giving away to a lucid state...So I am going to try a sort of WBTB method...sleep for 5-6 hours, wake up smoke some marijuana and go back to sleep....this shall be interesting.

Originally Posted by milehighjoe

So I am going to try a sort of WBTB method...sleep for 5-6 hours, wake up smoke some marijuana and go back to sleep....this shall be interesting.

That sounds goood lol

These are my ones, I have had only 3 LDs though

Obvious ones: Any mind effecting drug, Not keeping a dream journal, uncomfortable sleeping

Not Obvious:
Not being really aware of reality this could be anything from video games to repetitive tasks to reading books (outdoor dynamic stuff helps me overcome this like skiing or running)
Masturbating
Not being that tired when going to sleep
Doing nothing active all day
Days without seeing a dream sign
Not doing RCs

I heard masturbation but i dont know if thats true or not, and I do it almost every night so it better not be true

I think the thing about masturbation is that when you masturbate before bed, though you're a lot more relaxed, you're also a lot more distracted because you're not quite focusing on your intent as you normally would or you're not focusing on your dreams.

Ugh, children.

A good hard fever really brings out the crazy in my dreams, including flying, and I'm more likely to experience lucidity.

Caffeine is bad, puts me to sleep but makes my mind chaotic when I close my eyes. Not good for dreaming.

Originally Posted by ShadowOfSelf

I've yet to find a natural toothpaste, somewhat out of lazyness. Do natural toothpastes even exist?

We just bought some the other day at a natural food store (Vitamin Cottage, but Whole Foods also carries it.) The brand is TOMS