Can't seem to lucid dream, figured it is due to my lack of dreams in general. Sleep Habits inside.

**Kafke** · 07-15-2011 06:13 AM

I can't seem to figure out why I don't dream. I tried the dream journal thing for a few months, along with mantras and other stuff. It's now summer vacation, so I have nothing to stress over. I just can't seem to figure out whats wrong. I only have a dream maybe once every month or two. Before, it was even more sporadic.

I get 12+ hours of sleep per night (can't help it). All night, I am dead asleep. My family says I am a heavy sleeper, to the point where I don't even hear the fire alarm go off. I don't wake up in the middle of the night at all. As a kid, I used to have "problems" with bladder, thirst, and other things. I now take care of this by going to the bathroom and drinking water before sleeping.

I have recently been experimenting with telling myself to wake up at a certain time (like say 7, when I usually get up at 12). And I seem to be able to do that. However, dreams seem to stay far away. My only dreams I remember are really bizarre, or have one specific theme, usually related to how I'm feeling.

Everyone I talk to seems to have dreams on a daily basis and are usually really light sleepers. They say they wish they could sleep like me. How come I am so different? How can I fix my sleeping problems?

Thanks for reading this wall of text. If you have any questions, ask away.

**Ctharlhie** · 07-15-2011 08:54 AM

You get 12 hours, and you wake up at 12? Try going to bed earlier. Also for you WBTB would be fantastic, basically you want to set an alarm during the night (if the noise won't wake you then put in on vibrate and wear your phone in your sock

) stay up for 20-60 minutes doing some kind cognitive activity (reading, anything that will wake you up a bit) and immerse your mind in lucid dreaming (browsing dream views, for instance). For you, drinking some kind of stimulant like an energy drink may help, but not too much!

**Trevorm7** · 07-15-2011 09:51 PM

Go to bed at 12 at the latest and limit your sleep to 8 or 9 hours, open the blinds so that light can come in in the morning, also set an alarm. When you get up eat breakfast, and you can take a walk to help stay awake.

After a while you can set the alarm to a later time to help catch up on sleep if you're behind and give your body a chance to wake up naturally at a more optimum time. Also when you do wake up, get out of bed right away. It also helps to have something to look forward to doing when you wake up.

Having a good consistent sleep schedule will increase the efficiency of your sleep which means less deep sleep and therefore a higher percentage will be R.E.M. sleep. Also keep a notebook by your bed so you can quickly write key words about any dreams you had each time you wake up (as your recall increases you are more likely to be aware of your dreams and waking up when they end.). Later you can spend more time to fill in all the details using what you wrote earlier as a point of reference.

Diet is also important, don't have sugary crap for breakfast or close to bed time. Keep it to a minimum in general. Take vitamins too.

**Kafke** · 07-15-2011 11:39 PM

@Trevor, Your post looks like suggestions to get better sleep in general. I feel well rested when I get up, and I am generally not tired throughout the day. My sleep schedule is usually consistent, Usually sleeping from midnight to about 11 or noon. Breakfast is usually not sugary, maybe honey bunches of oats cereal or some leftovers. Dinner is always healthy, and I don't eat right before sleeping. Lunch has recently been skipped, due to me waking up late. Vitamins are usually off/on for me. Some days I take them, some days I don't. If you think waking up earlier will do the trick, I'm willing to try.

@Ctharlhie, thanks for the suggestions. I was just hesitant to try WBTB, because I share a room with someone else. I felt waking up in the middle of the night may disturb them. I'll try it anyway, I'll just have to be quiet.

**Trevorm7** · 07-16-2011 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by Kafke

My sleep schedule is usually consistent, Usually sleeping from midnight to about 11 or noon.

Ah, your first post made it seem worse. That's actually the same as my normal schedule except it takes me from 1.5 to 3 hours to fall asleep usually, which is the problem for me. Does your time count the time it takes to fall asleep?

For WBTB check out http://www.dreamviews.com/f44/apple-...d-dream-61014/. What I did was set my alarm to 5:45, drink 2 cups of apple juice, rinse my mouth off with water(helps prevent rotting), pee(gonna need all the bladder space you can get.) and go to sleep right away. I had some of my most vivid lucid dreams that way. But sometimes I failed and couldn't fall asleep before I had to pee. Apple juice that's not from concentrate should work best. When I did this I didn't W.I.L.D., I just went to sleep with the intention of becoming lucid and just "woke up" to blackness where I was then presented with vivid imagery.

Another thing I've done to get lucid was trying to adjust to the Everyman schedule with 2-naps Core: 12:00am to 4:45am Naps: One at 12:00pm and one at 4:00pm. The first couple days I couldn't fall asleep for any of the naps but I had some vivid H.I., when I did fall asleep for a nap It was sometimes just as lucid but not as vivid as the apple juice dreams and was a W.I.L.D.. You can play around with the times and just have a nap whenever you start to feel really sleepy, the best time would probably be around when you would have normally be having your last REM cycle.

The basic idea is to try to get adequate non REM sleep which mostly in the earlier half of your sleep and deprive yourself of REM so your body becomes desperate for REM and you get REM rebound which makes it easier to W.I.L.D. instead of the normal sleep deprivation which just knocks you out.