Thread: When How long does it take to have a REM Cycle after you fall asleep?

Hello,
I read the WBTB tutorial section and i did not understand the ideal time i should wait to WBTB, so i would like to know how much time do you guys who use this technique wait
It says it is an estimate so i guess i'll have to practice and get to the ideal amount of time by myself, but i have no idea if it starts 15 mins or 2 hours after you fall asleep
It would help alot to have a better idea of when should i set the alarm clock as i dont know when i will fall asleep.
Thank you

At the end of your sleep, REM periods lasts longest. For me this means after 6 hours of sleep is my best time to wake up for WBTB. REM is long, I dream fast and I still need a bit of sleep so I dont become insomniac. But indeed you have to figure your own preference out. Good luck with it!

Thanks for helping answer his question Xetrov . To piggyback off of what Xetrov said, attempting to lucid dream after about 4 - 6 hours of sleep is best seeing as REM is minimal in the first few hours of our sleep cycle. REM tends to cycle every 90 minutes (with the latter stages of our sleep cycle housing the longest periods of REM with shorter intervals).

Also, I strongly recommend getting OUT of your bed during the WBTB and keeping the lights OFF (do not let any light enter your eyes while upf or that WBTB time). You don't want your eyes adjusting to the light, that will only make it harder for them to remain still once you are attempting your WBTB. I cover many other problems/hurdles to watch out for and beat post-WBTB (for WILD's) HERE.

When you are ready to attempt to re-enter the dream state on a conscious level, I suggest doing so in a DIFFERENT location other than your bed. This reason I say this is because your mind has been heavily trained and conditioned to fall asleep as fast as possible in your bed. You will need to condition it to understand that "THIS is my bed where I go to sleep to get a good nights rest...and THIS area is my lucid dreaming area where I am consciously attempting to enter the dream state". Hope this helps.

REM cycles aren't required for dreams or lucid dreaming. Non-REM dreams are just more mellow. Which would probably lead a greater probablility of waking up during a non-REM lucid.

I was wondering this too... thanks Jeff, that's like what C911 told me, about switching positions, but I didn't know the trick about the light.
This should help me revise my failed WBTB last night .
If you had a very quiet alarm clock that you set for, say, 6:15 hours into your sleep, do you think that you could recognize the sound in your dream and become lucid, or would your dream make up a stupid excuse? My guess is the latter from my experiences.

Jeff, rather than a different location, couldn't it work by using a different sleeping position?

I find easier to fall asleep in a specific position if i try another wouldn't my mind be able to see the difference between the two sleeping positions? It is also more difficult to me to sleep in those different positions, wouldn't that make me more awake and make the WILD easier if i use them?