This is something that is really boggling my mind… I believe I’ve read it here, and I’m sure I’ve read it in one of Laberge’s books - the fact that when you first go to sleep at night, the first two hours of sleep are a dreamless sleep. Well, just last night, I proved that wrong.
I was very tired, and fell asleep relatively fast around 1:00-1:10 AM (so much for WILD at the FIRST sleep onset…ppl say that can’t be done either) - I had not one, but two dreams that I distinctly remember, and for some reason I woke up at exactly 1:36 AM. The dreams seemed pretty long from what I remember, yet I was asleep for a mere 20 minutes to a half an hour.
Maybe I’m misinterpreting the “No dreams in the first 2 hours of sleep” premise, but if that’s what is being proclaimed, then it’s obviously incorrect. Can someone try to shed some light on this for me?
I don’t think LaBerge and other dream researchers claimed that there are absolutely no dreams in the first part of the night. But they DO claim that REM-sleep, which IS the best dream period for lucid dreaming, increases in length within sleep cycles (one cycle is around 90 minutes) during the night. And I think most people will have to admit that they remeber most vivid dreams in the morning, not when they wake up some hours after falling asleep.
But there is no reason to believe that there are only dreams in REM-sleep, there is also non-REM dreaming but this is usually more difficult to remember and less vivid. And naturally there is no reason why this found REM-sleep cycle mechanism should be an eternal law everytime for everyone: it is just the most recurring mechanism in people and that’s why it is useful to follow LaBerges (and others) advice and focus on lucid dreaming in the last part of the night. Specific circumstances (for example sleep deprivation, certain drugs or medications, or just an individual deviation from the mainstraim dreamer) could alter those sleep cycles.
Actually, one of my first lucid dreams was only 1 hour after falling asleep, and I remember there was this typical dark/grey look in this dream, only for a very short period there were colors. Maybe one can recognize a non-REM dream when you don’t have colors in your dream?
Perhaps you’d missed out on some REM sleep on previous nights. I think the ‘No REM in first two hours’ thing assumes you’re getting the correct amount of sleep every night.
Could be. I remember one afternoon, in one wake induced LD of mine, when I entered it, there was only blackness. A black void. Only after a few minutes a scene appeared from above my head. Could be that in the beginning I was not yet in the REM phase…
Right.
Rem seems to have some resting features as if we dont sleep for longer(i.e a night)or we sleep too little for some time the sleep has a tendency to start with REM.Its somwhere on Brainhacker`s sciencific posts,cant rem where.
actully this is my question too!
most of my lds happend right after falling asleep at nights
and every time i woke up after 2 hours of sleep , i could
remember a dream , sometimes too vivid.
actually in that kind of lds , i see how i lose visual and then just
black and then i fall in sleep.
Thanks Dreamwalker And about your LD…I wish I could have one that seems like it lasts days. I’ve read about that a lot - dream time versus RL time, and supposedly they are about equal based on lab tests of dream sessions. The only catch is kinda related to Einstein’s theory of relativity, and/or “lost time”. When we’re not completely aware of time, or consciously thinking about it, it can appear to move very slowly, or contrastly very quickly.
The perfect example would be that time almost always seems to fly when we’re very busy, or having fun, as opposed to time seeming to crawl when we’re having a bad time, or are bored and/or unoccupied. The only problem is, I don’t think there’s a way to deliberately slow down time in an LD. Perhaps Auto-suggestion would do the trick? Just demand for “more time”, just like you can demand more lucidity. I thought making an LD last would be as simple as using prolonging techniques over and over (like rubbing hands together), but it’s not that simple. Those techniques always work the first, maybe second time, but by the third attempt to prolong the LD, I’ve always failed. maybe I’ll try to auto-suggestion method and demand my LD last LONG, before it starts to fade – that just may be the key.
Mazdak-of course you had a dream and perfect recall after 2 hrs sleeping.First REM starts (if we talking normal sleep,without any sleep debts) after 90 mins from falling asleep.It lasts around 10 mins(roughly).So you woke up just after that,which is good:)
Hmmm…so, if you do have a sleep debt, it’s possible to dream before the first 2 hours of sleep in any given night? …let’s say, after 30 minutes as in my case??
And also, what is the official “recommended” sleep time? I believe I read that It varies with age - but the general concensus was 7-8 hours a night. I read the older you get, the less sleep you need, which explains why only the old folks are always walking into Denny’s to eat breakfast at 5AM lol
Anyways, that said, maybe it is because I have a sleep debt, because I sure as hell don’t get 7-8 hours per night - I’m lucky to get 6!
Hmmm…so, if you do have a sleep debt, it’s possible to dream before the first 2 hours of sleep in any given night?
Sure.Also sciencifists say we able to dream in nonrem periods.It might be linked with sleep debts or seeing hipnagogics as dreams.Its still in discussion i guess.
I believe I’ve read it here, and I’m sure I’ve read it in one of Laberge’s books - the fact that when you first go to sleep at night, the first two hours of sleep are a dreamless sleep. Well, just last night, I proved that wrong.
And about your LD…I wish I could have one that seems like it lasts days. I’ve read about that a lot - dream time versus RL time, and supposedly they are about equal based on lab tests of dream sessions. The only catch is kinda related to Einstein’s theory of relativity, and/or “lost time”. When we’re not completely aware of time, or consciously thinking about it, it can 
maybe I’ll try to auto-suggestion method and demand my LD last LONG, 