Lighter Sleep

[AnonymousTipster]

I've seen this thread on how to get deeper sleep here, but I'd like to know how to get lighter sleep. At the moment, after falling asleep I'm pretty much a rock that cannot be awoken until either my body feels like it, or there's some sort of war going on outside. I've also heard that lighter sleep increases the chance of lucidity, as you're closer to consciousness. I try to go to bed earlier to get more sleep, but don't end up falling asleep until hours later and I can't often lie in in the morning. Any ideas?

[Vespertine]

I've seen this thread on how to get deeper sleep here, but I'd like to know how to get lighter sleep. At the moment, after falling asleep I'm pretty much a rock that cannot be awoken until either my body feels like it, or there's some sort of war going on outside. I've also heard that lighter sleep increases the chance of lucidity, as you're closer to consciousness. I try to go to bed earlier to get more sleep, but don't end up falling asleep until hours later and I can't often lie in in the morning. Any ideas? [/b] If you feel the problem may be in the fact that you can't get to sleep at a more reasonable time, try things to help you go to sleep early. Warm milk works wonders on me but I'm naturally a light sleeper until I actually start a lucid dream; well, that's if it's a lucid dream I don't interfere with (I still know I'm dreaming) and it turns into a scary dream, lol. Which is why I wake myself up at the first major hint the dream may go bad. Don't take sleeping pills though, I don't THINK that helps. Warm milk is a bit more natural so that may be better if you wanna try getting to bed early.

[LucidT]

I have about three friends who are natural lucid dreamers...they're able to LD without ever really putting any conscious effort in. They've had this gift since they were little. They're all light sleepers. These light sleepers were able to LD usually by "phasing" into it and almost being continuously conscious while the transition to sleep happened. I, on the other hand, am a very deep sleeper, like yourself. I had to "coach" myself into lucidity. I have a very hard time "phasing" into lucidity, like my friends. I've been able to "phase" into lucidity after much effort a few times, but I'm a way more effective lucid by doing the Reality Check method. Just like every technique &/or gift in anything, there's pro's and con's. The disadvantage I've seen with light sleepers is that they are awakened easily and the LD is over. The advantage to light sleep w/ regards to lucidity seems to be a more often occurrence of LDs, if my naturally lucid friends are any indication of this. My advantage of a being deep sleeper is that the LD seems to have a stronger grip on me than what my friends describe. Outside noises rarely affect me and the majority of my LDs seem to last very long compared to what my friends describe w/ most of their "phased" LDs. The few LDs I've "phased" into didn't seem to last as long, or have as strong of a grip on me either. Of course, I think the drawback to heavy sleep is the difficulty and generally infrequency of actually becoming lucid. You can still train yourself to recall just about every bit of all your dreams, but crossing that awareness line to lucidity seems to be harder for me, despite having very vivid dreams every night. It's so easy to play along with vivid dreams. Being a deep sleeper, my vivid dreams may have wacky ass stuff happening, but it's so easy to accept that this is the way the world is and never gather it together and realize to do a RC. That seems to be the biggest lucid obstacle for me being a heavy sleeper. I think you can still achieve regular lucidity as a heavy sleeper. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying to develop new skills either. That's what I was trying out when I would practice w/ "phasing" into LDs; In the end, I ended up mostly sticking w/ my natural tendencies though.

[Vespertine]

I wonder if there really is a connection. I'm a light sleeper and have had these dreams easily since I was a little girl.

[Daen]

Have you heard of the concept that when we sleep it is not our physical bodies that need the rest? In "Conversations with God" by Neale Donald Walsh, God says that (and I'm paraphrasing, despite the blashpemy&#33 it takes a lot of energy for "us" (at our essence) to remain in our physical bodies, on account of them being so dense. The underlying constant that is "you" is not rooted in the physical "layer" of reality and is granted a free'r (more free) rein and release while "dreaming" and does not have to remain so rigidly focused in this "waking life". So... what does this mean for a deep sleeper? Well, I would say that it means that your Soul/Spirit needs that time (and takes it in the form of deep slumber) for it's developement in this "lifetime period" that is your "life" now. So, perhaps some spiritual practice, like meditation, during your waking hours will connect you more firmly with your soul/spirit/essence when you are "asleep". When talking about Lucid Dreaming, I have always said (and so have hundreds of others) that brining more Awareness into your waking life will bring more Awareness into you dreams... ands what is Lucid Dreaming but dreaming/being with a high level of awareness? So yeah, I would dedicate increasing amounts of regular time to awareness and contemplation meditation; watching any thoughts that arise but not identifying them as YOU thinking... rather seeing any thought as a result of your current Ego structure, basically, learning about how your mind (which is not you either) has created Who and What you Think you are... and then gently pushing forward and into this underlying and whole field of consciousness that You Really Are. Dae, Rob.

[AnonymousTipster]

Just like every technique &/or gift in anything, there's pro's and con's. The disadvantage I've seen with light sleepers is that they are awakened easily and the LD is over. The advantage to light sleep w/ regards to lucidity seems to be a more often occurrence of LDs, if my naturally lucid friends are any indication of this. [/b] I think that this is a good assessment. It seems sensible that light sleepers (nearer consciousness) would be more likely to have an LD, but are more easily woken than those who sleep deeply. During waking life, I tend to do a lot of RCs, and even if the dream only lasted 4 minutes of dream time, I would have done at least one RC. I therefore conclude that my sleeping mind is not acting the same way as my conscious mind would. It sort of feels like when sleeping, I am in a trance, and never question the reality presented to me (this is likely a result of sleeping too heavily). I expect that there is some sort of balance that can be met between the light/deep sleeping behaviours to give regularly timed, reasonably immersive LDs. I find it quite hard to WILD (maybe to do with deep sleep patterns), any particular methods that helped you? Daen, although I tend not to go the more spiritual root, your point does hold useful information. Habitualising awareness of reality could be very useful, providing that I carry that across to the dream world. I may also try meditation, as that could help get some restful time during the day which may ease my sleep.

[skuruza]

Have you heard of the concept that when we sleep it is not our physical bodies that need the rest? In "Conversations with God" by Neale Donald Walsh, God says that (and I'm paraphrasing, despite the blashpemy&#33 it takes a lot of energy for "us" (at our essence) to remain in our physical bodies, on account of them being so dense. The underlying constant that is "you" is not rooted in the physical "layer" of reality and is granted a free'r (more free) rein and release while "dreaming" and does not have to remain so rigidly focused in this "waking life". So... what does this mean for a deep sleeper? Well, I would say that it means that your Soul/Spirit needs that time (and takes it in the form of deep slumber) for it's developement in this "lifetime period" that is your "life" now. So, perhaps some spiritual practice, like meditation, during your waking hours will connect you more firmly with your soul/spirit/essence when you are "asleep". When talking about Lucid Dreaming, I have always said (and so have hundreds of others) that brining more Awareness into your waking life will bring more Awareness into you dreams... ands what is Lucid Dreaming but dreaming/being with a high level of awareness? So yeah, I would dedicate increasing amounts of regular time to awareness and contemplation meditation; watching any thoughts that arise but not identifying them as YOU thinking... rather seeing any thought as a result of your current Ego structure, basically, learning about how your mind (which is not you either) has created Who and What you Think you are... and then gently pushing forward and into this underlying and whole field of consciousness that You Really Are. Dae, Rob. [/b] really? coz i sure can use that... iam a deep sleeper, but LD comes to me naturally, of course i have a very low level of lucidity in dreams... the only dreams i remember are lucids- every 2-3 nights.

[QwinsepiaSquared]

One way I've found to keep myself sleeping a bit lighter is to either leave a light on in my room (brighter than a nightlight, unless it's right next to your head), or leave on the TV/some music. Anything that adds a bit of backround noise should keep you slightly more conscious while sleeping, or at least it does for me.