Thread: How to induce a nightmare?

Scary movies before bed, no longer work for me and i really want to have a nightmare. For 2 reasons
1. I like the intensity of emotions in a nightmare, the relief after you wake up and it helps me build up courage in the waking life
2. I could use it as a dream sign and become lucid.

So are there any known ways to purposely induce a nightmare?

I am also into the idea of being in a nightmare, the rush of adrenaline and being scared in general.
Building up courage would indeed be a good thing.

Sorry for not answering your question.

Hi neighbour! Well there is a way to induce a nightmare but you have to be lucid and have a decent level of dream control. If you want you can lose your lucidity but if you want to have nightmare especially to achieve lucid dreaming this won't work with you. But I still going to write the method, maybe others are interested : Go in a dar place, like a underground parking zone or a field in nightime, somewhere where you have much space. Than shout out loud at the sky : Show me my darkest fears! Of course, you are in a lucid dream so you know that you can defeat those fears but for some time pretend that its a life or death situation, and take it for real. You will soon lose lucidity and have a proper nightmare. Gosh, I never thought that I`m going to teach somebody how to HAVE a nightmare ))

As someone who's had DILDs as a child due to continuous nightmares, I'm also interested in inducing nightmares. Nightmares basically guarantee me lucidity 90% of the time, since I've learned to recognize the dreamsigns of one and naturally RC whenever anything bad has happened, so I'd like to have them more often. Like you said, they're also good for building up courage and I'm really interested in the intensity and vividness of nightmares. I've yet to try it myself, but on the top of my head I think mantras could be a big help: kind of like MILD, before going to sleep think to yourself, "I have nightmares" or (though I don't think future tense works as well) "I will have a nightmare tonight," something like that. Truly believe it, put emotion into it, and maybe visualize having a nightmare.

Y'all are crazy.

When I go to sleep at a different time than usual, I often have nightmares (and yeah, they make great dream signs). Though I don't know if it's the timing or the difference in lighting that makes the difference.

I don't think you want a nightmare, it sounds more like you want an intense action-packed dream that gives you an adrenaline rush.

Keep in mind that a nightmare is a dream that actually makes you feel bad when you wake up.
So a nightmare isn't necessarily about monsters and pursuers, it can be about any scenario that would make you feel sad and gloomy in waking life, like watching a friend die or being in a major argument with people.
I doubt that you want to have a dream like that.

Anyway, try watching scary movies before bedtime and vividly imagine that you are the main character in some very threatening situation.
I also think I saw Stephen LaBerge mention that alcohol could increase the chances of nightmares, since you sleep deeply the first several hours of the night and then have a REM rebound the last few hours, when your brain tries its best to regain any lost REM sleep.
I guess the REM rebound makes the dreams more chaotic.

Try classic dream incubation. Negative emotions are easier to incubate