Thread: Does anyone know how to intentionally have a nightmare?

hey everyone, quick question: When I was younger I would always become lucid during nightmares whenever they got too scary. I haven't had a nightmare in years now I think, but a few days ago I was drunk driving in a dream when I ran over a cop, they caught me and someone said I was going to jail for a long time. At that point I was so afraid I had just messed up my entire life that I was genuinely hoping this would only be dream. Obviously that thought let to awereness, RC etc...then I attained lucidity. That reminded me of how being in really bad situations always helped me become lucid, so now I was wondering if it was possible to increase the chance of having nightmares or somewhat unpleasant dreams. I've tried watching horror-movies before going to bed but that didn't help. Now I was thinking about a selfhypnosis kind of thing. Any Ideas?

Horror movies rarely have horror anymore, try reading something more mundane like a creepy pasta and visualizing yourself in there instead.
Also, have you tried thinking of the reason why the fear triggers lucidity? That might be a key to nightly lucidity =D

I don't know though, dou you have an Idea?

mhh I think it's something like my brain looking for ways to go back to what life was like before going to bed. And then see that it would be possible if I was only dreaming? Or maybe I start to recapitulate what happened to see how things have gotten so messed up...

Recapitulating is a good one. Have you tried a mental excersice off that? As a RC, I know that ninja# used that and he got lucid on a very regular basis.
Another thing is that you wish for that to be not real, so there comes the analisis of the world, not just being aware but trying to see fault in the world in order to confirm non-reality. So maybe look out for faults of the world instead of general awareness? I don't know, really.

Yes, during RCs I always ask myself what I've been doing the last hours and how I got to where I am at moment. I will definitely keep doing that. And i guess I could try to find faults in the world as in looking for strange things and maybe trying to explain to myself why some things can't work they it do. I don't need to ever actually find anything I could consider a fault, right?, I think simply seriously wondering and looking for those faults should do the job?

If you want to make yourself really scared I'd advice to search the internet for true horror films, I won't provide links but I've stumbled across video's about murders, executions, torture and more. At the same time I strongly encourage not to watch these things cause for me they usually don't scare me but instead make me feel depressed for a month depending on the brutality. I've decided to stay away from anymore of these video's, I guess curiousity teached me lesson.

Hello.

You've made my head "click", I just remembered I dream I had a long long time ago where a bomb was supposed to go off soon and I was trapped with my family in some closed space (Don't remember if it was a subway or something else). And I have the feeling I also gained lucidity in another terrifying occasion that I don't remember (Deja vu). I guess it's a pretty good method.

About the inducing part, I also share the opinion that horror is not horror anymore, but if you go back to the 80s or before when it comes to choose horror movies, and you don't get lost in the exploitation titles (those movies that are just gory or violent) you could find some decent horror titles that, when watched absorbed in them, could leave some kind of seed. I don't know, just a thought.

You could also use some more pessimist drama titles of these last years, you know, those movies where people screw their lives up completely. "21 grams" came to mind now, but there's a lot to choose in that venue.

Cheers!

Yeah, but don't try to explain them too much, if you give it too much thought it could lead to dream-logic explanations. You know how really illogical explanations satisfy us in dreams and all that lol

Originally Posted by Hukif

Yeah, but don't try to explain them too much, if you give it too much thought it could lead to dream-logic explanations. You know how really illogical explanations satisfy us in dreams and all that lol

Yeah that's true but usually the moment this whole dreaming thing crosses my mind in a dream thats already enough to make me do an RC, so I shouldn't have a problem with overthinking dream-related stuff in dreams...I hope but I know exactly what you mean about nonsense dream logic, you just accpect anything.

I might look into those LDMan and I've watched a couple older horror movies but I don't really think thei're that much better...I know I only need them to be scary but you still want to watch a good movie haha.

And I really had to laugh ab out that cheese thing, I take it you mean the bad digestion causes nightmarish dreams? Or lucidity in general cause I have a hard time believing it helps with vividness and memory...dreamviews would know and have a threat on that right? But I don't know you might be right LDman. And I can see how cheese might cause bad dreams, pickman, so I think I'll try this.

Originally Posted by icasio

And I really had to laugh ab out that cheese thing, I take it you mean the bad digestion causes nightmarish dreams? Or lucidity in general cause I have a hard time believing it helps with vividness and memory...dreamviews would know and have a threat on that right? But I don't know you might be right LDman. And I can see how cheese might cause bad dreams, pickman, so I think I'll try this.

The bad digestion did cause nightmarish dreams in me, and they were pretty vivid too. I didn't become lucid though. I'm just going by my own experience here. And there is a thread around here about this - try searching "cheese induced lucid dreams". Iit was actually a thread on that topic I was linked to on another forum that drew me to dreamviews.

This will probably sound stupid, but it has worked for me - eating cheese before bed.

I know this is an old wives tale, but I think there is truth to it. I think the reason for this is that your body finds digesting cheese difficult, and this gets reflected in your dreams somehow. In fact, with that theory in mind, you just try eating anything that is difficult to for your digestive system to process.

Originally Posted by Pickman

This will probably sound stupid, but it has worked for me - eating cheese before bed.

I know this is an old wives tale, but I think there is truth to it. I think the reason for this is that your body finds digesting cheese difficult, and this gets reflected in your dreams somehow. In fact, with that theory in mind, you just try eating anything that is difficult to for your digestive system to process.

Cheese contains chemical compounds that greatly help with dream vividness and memory...

Oh ok so it actually is some kind of lucid aid...I'll look into that thanks

I have had nightmares in my first REM period after doing this exercise: I try to will the greyness when I shut my eyes to became jet black as I drift off to sleep. (I'm assuming everyone else sees a very dark shade of grey when they close their eyes rather than jet black). It's pretty good for me because verbal affirmations keep me awake, but this exercise is fairly passive. Still experimenting with it, you may like to try too.

Some people said that horror isn't horror any more. What do you mean by that? (I haven't watched a horror for years).

Icasio. What could possible be the worst thing happening to you in real life? Or maybe to others that you really love?

Make a fantasy out of that, and go into the thought's as if it really happen in real life. And that should make a pretty good night mare for you! Good luck

Oh and, bobblehat, I think what they meant when they said there wasn't real horror anymore is that nowadays there's simply alot of jumpscares and loud noises used instead of an actually scary plot with horror scenarios.

Hey bobblehat that's an intresting method, I never really payed much attention to the colours I see when I close my eyes but I actually asumed it would be black? Well I dont know I'll see about that tonight.

And to Dreamybear: I've tried this already but I don't dream about things I think about before falling asleep...Maybe I should try to make those imagination excercises a major part of my free time but that would make life terribly miserable right?haha

Maybe try autosuggestion! Like you told me you do with commanding yourself to remember your dreams

I'll preface my post by saying that I think it would be preferable to use more positive incubation methods, like daytime awareness/mindfulness and MILD techniques... but here is some advice for taking the nightmare route:

I induced nightmares a while ago so that I could confront some recurring nightmare characters (doctors.)
I used MILD incubation methods - mantras/autosuggestion, meditation, and giving my thoughts to the doctors daily.
I had a doctor as my phone's wallpaper so I would always be reminded to think about doctors appearing.
It didn't take long before they appeared in my dream, and I was able to confront them while lucid. (They never came back after that!)

I think you would have more chance of inducing nightmares if you chose something that's personally scary to you, rather than general horror themes.
It doesn't have to be something gory... lots of emotions scare people, like the fear of loss, death, change, uncertainty, etc. and I think emotions are more prominent in dreams than specific symbols or characters.
Stress is a common dream sign for me, and I pick up on it quite often and become lucid as a result, because I've recognised that my negative emotions in dreams are much stronger than in waking life.

If you're wanting to take a supplement route, nicotine is an option. Please only consider this if you are already a smoker, as it's a highly addictive substance.
People who wear nicotine patches to bed often report having vivid nightmares. I personally found that to be the case when I quit smoking using patches (I occasionally forgot to take them off at night.)

Like you said though, intentionally thinking about unpleasant topics all day would make life pretty miserable... So, refer to my preface for more appropriate advice.

Besides what everyone else said you can increase your chances of a nightmare naturally by sleeping in a really cold environment(so turn your ac on to make the room temp around 55-60 degrees celsius) and also make yourself uncomfortable if possible, and yea watching scary stuff will make your mind dwell on it and thatll also help

Originally Posted by OneUpBoy71

Besides what everyone else said you can increase your chances of a nightmare naturally by sleeping in a really cold environment(so turn your ac on to make the room temp around 55-60 degrees celsius) and also make yourself uncomfortable if possible

I don't think you mean Celsius... that would be very uncomfortable indeed, but in the other direction - he would boil!

Originally Posted by ~ Dreamer ~

I don't think you mean Celsius... that would be very uncomfortable indeed, but in the other direction - he would boil!

LOL yeah just noticed that, haha my bad, Fahrenheit was supposed to be there not celsius

Originally Posted by ~ Dreamer ~

I'll preface my post by saying that I think it would be preferable to use more positive incubation methods, like daytime awareness/mindfulness and MILD techniques...

Yes I am doing all of this, I've had some success with it and I will definitely keep trying to become lucid the proper way. But I found that this was a ways that works for me too and I thought it was a pretty interesting one. Also I figured if I end up having a shortcut here I might aswell take it

Focusing on emotions rather than typicall scenarios is a really good idea. I will try that and I think stress would work for me too but I will also see if I find other feelings that could work as a dream sign. The feeling that someone's watching me or that I am being followed occured a couple of times during my dreams I think and I was actually running from..well things I guess.. in a few dreams lately. (It just never was anything that made me feel genuinely scard)

Smoking isn't really option for me because lately I try to smoke as little as possible and the last thing I need right now is a valid reason to smoke.( I know how I would play that card the next time I crave a smoke haha) But I will probably quit smoking alltogether soon and I might get some patches then too so I could try this then.
Thanks for the advice.

Originally Posted by OneUpBoy71

Besides what everyone else said you can increase your chances of a nightmare naturally by sleeping in a really cold environment(so turn your ac on to make the room temp around 55-60 degrees celsius) and also make yourself uncomfortable if possible.

Like Dreamer said I would probably get a stroke or something if I managed to get my room that hot. It's actually so hot here that I'm already doing everything I can to make the room as cold as possible and I don't have an ac only a fan but I can try this as soon as it gets colder again. I could think of other ways to sleep uncomfortable though, I'm gonna try a night on some old, hard matress I should still have lying around here somewhere. I'll let you know if it works. I will only try that for a night or two though that thing is terrible to sleep on.

Good to hear nightmares work for you too sinisterdezz. Thanks, so will I

And to Dreamybear: I've tried this already but I don't dream about things I think about before falling asleep...Maybe I should try to make those imagination excercises a major part of my free time but that would make life terribly miserable right?haha

Haha probably! But if you want this to work, I think that you have to practice it some at the day so you develop your imagination about things that scares you.

But I got one for you to practice at night When you are about to fall asleep. Imagine that you are lying in a smal boat way out in nowhere at sea. And that it's night time. The sea will be so deep that that there is no possible way to get down there. And then just imagine that you are siting in that boat without any way to make it move. And also keep in mind that this might not be the safest place to be, just at this moment. Keep that thought in your mind all the time. There might be something fast and slimey down there that might notice your boat at some point... Sweet dreams!