Thread: Regarding WILDs and WBTBs

When you wake up naturally in the middle of the night, are you still in REM? I use a mantra before I go to bed, saying "I'm waking up in the middle of the night," sometimes I even specify a time. Can I do a WILD after I wake up, or do I wake up after a REM period, when it's too late? I think I'm confusing myself now.

REM sleep is only while you are asleep. The only way to be conscious and in REM sleep is to be in a lucid dream. WILD/WBTBs are often used in the middle of the night time with REM sleep. They are timed so that you wake up right after a REM period. This way you fall back asleep directly into another one. I'm not sure what you mean by "too late" but the only way you could be late is if you miss the REM period so you wake up in the middle of the next one. All you are aiming for with a WBTB is to wake up between periods to make for an easy transition into your next one, a.k.a. a dream.

That clears things up, thanks. I was only confusing myself.

Originally Posted by Anthonyyy0

I use a mantra before I go to bed, saying "I'm waking up in the middle of the night," sometimes I even specify a time.

You can change your mantra to say 'I wake up after each dream'. People wake up after a dream anyway (when sleep cycle is over), we just don't always notice it. We usually just roll over and continue to sleep. You can use it for WBTB later in your sleep, when REM periods are longer than non-REM.

When you wake up after REM, you 'are not late', as another REM is coming. We sleep in sleep cycles. Each is about 90 min long. Cycle starts with non-REM and ends with REM stage. At first, non-REM is longer, but as we sleep, REM becomes longer than non-REM.

If you want to WILD, you could change your mantra to "I will wake up before REM". That'd probably give you some nice results

Originally Posted by fOrceez

If you want to WILD, you could change your mantra to "I will wake up before REM". That'd probably give you some nice results

Ah! I hadn't even thought of that!