How do I stop lucid dreaming?

First of all, I am not a troll before you say so. So please do not be an idiot by suggesting so. This is a genuine question. I am 24. Do not work. Never have. The past year and a half since leaving university I have had strange sleeping habits. I get out of bed silly times. I go through phases. I will go weeks or months getting up 12/1 pm then 10pm then 4pm. Silly times. The last few weeks I am up anywhere between 3-5 pm (yes pm, not am). I have struggled to get to sleep since at least the age of 16. It takes me many hours to fall asleep, hence the times I get up.

Those times above are not what time I wake. I set my alarm clock every morning for anywhere between 7am and 10am. But when I get up I just keep resetting my alarm and getting back in bed. I do this numerous times. In between my alarm going off I am usually lucid dreaming. So some mornings I can lucid dream for hours.

I recently found out (via Google) that lucid dreaming is liked some sort of prized possession and many people would actually love to be in my situation. So what is the problem you ask? Well, as well as being aware that I am dreaming, I am also sort of aware at the same time that I do not want to be in bed right now. That I am wasting my life away in my bed. That I have goals I wish to work towards and lying in my bed is not going to get me anywhere. I know I should not be in bed and want to get out of bed. But I just cannot for the life of me get out of bed. I am always aware of a dream I am having.

I cannot get out of bed because the dream I am having is too enjoyable, certainly compared to my shitty reality. The only enjoyment I get out of life is in these dreams. I live a lot of fantasies in these dreams. But a lot of the time, I am not even sure if the dream is exciting at all, and I believe I am just convinced it is important, and that I must stay in bed so I do not miss something. It is like I am terrified of missing something. I also seem to be unable to move. I feel paralysed (it is not sleep paralyses). I want to get up, but I cannot get up. Something in me is aware that I do not want to be in bed but something is keeping me in bed. This is not just pure laziness, like I am awake and can't be bothered getting up or something. I am aware I am dreaming, every single morning, and for at least a couple of hours.

Another thing that has been happening lately is False Awakenings. This is horrible. I genuinely think that I have finally managed to get myself out of bed and do some morning (afternoon in my case) rituals and I may even feel a slight satisfaction that I have managed to drag myself out of bed. Yet suddenly I realise I am still in bed. I am pretty sure this is repeated a number of times. It is horrible because I just do not know when I am out of bed. I also seem to have a lot of scary experiences of a morning. It is hard to remember what they are thinking about it NOW, but I just remember feeling really frightened at times.

So what is the problem? You must be thinking if my real life is so bad and the dreams provide the only joy, then what is the problem? The problem is, I do not want to live my life in dreams. I want to live my life in reality. I have goals and staying in bed for so long I will never amount to anything. It would be impossible for me to even get a job or live a slightly normal life in my current predicament. The problem is, my lucid dreams are so good, they make it impossible for me to get out of bed. Yes impossible.

Another major problem is that sometimes I just do not know whether I am dreaming or in real life. I feel like Leonardo Di Caprio in Inception. You are probably thinking, but if you are lucid dreaming, then by definition, you are aware you are dreaming. Not entirely true. Yes I am aware I am dreaming when I am lying in my bed each morning. In other words, I am NOT lost in the dream, like in a normal dream. There is some awareness in the background of the dream. But, despite the awareness, these dreams still feel very real to me. In other words, they feel the same as real life. Also, the False Awakenings I am having (which I presume are linked to lucid dreaming somehow) seem so completely real.

Anyhow, I have gone on a bit here. I believe these are playing a major part in preventing me from getting out of bed of a morning and getting on with life. I want them to stop now. I am sick of living my life in dreams. I want to live it for real. Right now I feel like my life is a dream within a dream and I want to start living the dream instead (what I mean by that is, I believe life is just a dream anyway and a dream is actually a dream within a dream).

Help me please.

BTW - I know I have said I live many of my fantasies in these dreams, but I do not think I actually have control over these dreams, well certainly not the way some people seem to have (" 1000 things to do in a lucid dream!!!"). I do not remember actually thinking, right I am going to do this or do that. More than anything, I am aware of the consciousness in the background of the dream. The consciousness that does not want to be in bed right now. Even if you could control your dreams, as some seem to be able to, how can you actually remember come morning time what you would like to do. Come morning time, I can't even remember that resetting my alarm and not getting out of and staying out of bed NOW, is a mistake I have been making for years. It always feels like the right thing to do every morning, yet when I am out of bed I totally regretted that decision. The morning consciousness (unconsciousness) is not the same consciousness later that is fully awake.

What time do you usually get up in the mornings? At one part you mentioned you got up to do "some morning rituals or evening in my case" so I'm assuming you wake up 11am-1pm? Why not setting a loud and annoying alarm clock to wake you up a few hours earlier than normal, waking you up AND making you able to accomplish things throughout your day. No, this will probably not stop your lucid dreams but it will however let you not worry about wasting your day and be confident you will be woken up by your newly found annoying alarm ;). If you have an Android phone like me, the default clock applications alarm goes off repeatedly every 5 minutes until you unlock the phone, and click the button. I don't really know how to stop false awakenings.. they happen to me too and they scare me. I'm sensitive. Learn to embrace the time you spend lucid dreaming. It's no different than having actual dreams, you're just aware!

If you need anything feel free to message me via PM.

sounds like the problem is just that you need to sleeps and get things accomplished(and not actually the dreams). Start getting up early (6-8) and getting on a regular schedule (getting a job might help :P). If you are waking up on a regular schedule consistently and still have trouble sleeping/staying awake, then see a doctor.

What you need is need is not to stop lucid dreaming but to get a healthy dose of self-discipline. Moreover your circadian rhythm seems to be all over the place. I advise you to try chronotherapy; going to bed each day 30min earlier and waking up 30min earlier than normal. For example if you wake up usually at 3 pm, wake up tomorrow at 2:30 pm; it's no use trying to put the alarm clock much earlier as you won't get up. It allows you to gently reset your biological clock and within a few days you will be able to have a normal sleep schedule. Also it is no use going to bed if you know you are not going to fall asleep within 30 mins or less; just go when you're really tired. In the morning expose yourself to some bright light and do some exercise, only 30 minutes help already!
And remember, willpower is like a muscle, if you don't strain it a little bit it atrophies.

PS: you should also download F.lux if you use your computer at night, it is a software that filters the blue spectrum of your computer screen at night, it helps falling asleep more quickly

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Originally Posted by yozzo

Help me please. I am close to suicide.

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Right... I think you might be over reacting a bit. I don't have much else to say that hasn't been said, but killing yourself is just ridiculous. If you really feel like this, seek medical help.

Yeah if you're having a depression you should not seek within a forum...

My father suffered from clinical depression for over 3 years and all he would do is lay in bed most of the day (until dinner) and would always seem better in the evenings after he had gotten up and moving. What ever you do, I highly recommend against getting on extreme meds. They put him on a bunch of stuff and they talked to many doctors. When we were moving (from AU back to the US) and a couple doctors told him to get electroshock therapy ASAP after getting back to the US and basically the would remove his short-term memory. Well, we talked to a natural doctor (and did not do the electroshock therapy) and he got him on some "natural" (so, no side effects) meds but he (my dad) was already going into hypo-mania. Meaning basically the opposite of depression, except just kinda.. crazy. Which happened because the doctors put him on so many meds, and they were finally really, really kicking in and put him in hypo-mania. Now he is doing much better after a few years of natural meds. Although natural meds have no side effects, they also do not work near as fast, and you must be consistent with them. He is great now.

And I would recommend using melatonin since it would promote NREM sleep (very rare to have a lucid in that). And probably take it before bed, and if you wake up early take some since you would start having more REM in the morning. And, find something really fun to do, a hobby. Also read. Reading really helps before bed and something productive to do. Also exercise so your body will actually be tired when its bed time.

Just my thoughts, hope it makes sense and helps.

My my, alright the problem here is not dreaming, the problem is your waking life, first you are sleeping too much from your post, have you gone to a doctor? Sounds like a sleep disorder that makes you stay asleep for so long. Before when I got "addicted" tried to stay asleep, but it was just plain impossible so I didn't bother with it anymore. Second, why are you living fantasies in the dream if you know you want to wake up? Just wake yourself up from the dream, no matter how important you make it sound, you don't really enjoy it if you are trying to get rid of it and came to ask for help, you are already stressed so there is no way to stop the sleep, just go see a doctor to check if there is a sleep disorder.

And last, you can study in dreams, if you have so much lucid time take it as a chance to study and to better yourself, instead of just live fantasies out.