Straight to REM?

[sonkal]

Last week I succesfully did WILD for the first time. The strange thing is, I got into a lucid dream immediately after waking (I checked my watch afterwards). I thought dreams only occur in the REM period, and the first REM period begins only after two hours or so. Can someone clarify how this is possible?

[Ysim]

Congrats on the successful WILD.

Your dreams are usualy more vivid in REM, but you do have many dreams in other stages of sleep. It is also possible to go straight into REM. (I think that normally happens when you take a nap or something.) I'm not sure, but I think it is also possible to go straight into REM if you have a WILD.

I hope that helped

[Basilus West]

Hi Sonkal,

The first REM period begins after 90 minutes of sleep. You didn't give enough information to make possible an answer. After how many time did you wake up? How did you enter your LD after waking? Was it during the night or during an afternoon nap? Did you wake up naturally or with an alarm?

[Icelos]

If you have been sleep deprived lately, it's possible that your body dropped into REM faster than usual. Also, if you have used and substances that reduce REM sleep (pot, etc) you could have gone into it faster due to the rebound effect.

[sonkal]

Okay, I will try to describe my experience more in detail.

I went to bed in the evening like every other night, so it was no afternoon nap. There were no special circumstances: no pot, no extreme exhaustion, no alcohol,... nothing. I just went to bed like every other night.

First I did a relaxation exercise, my body was completely relaxed now, and it felt like my arms and legs were already sleeping. Then I started counting from 1 to 100 to keep my mind awake, because I knew it would not take long before I would fall asleep. I slowly counted and feeled myself gliding into sleep several times. But every time right before I would fall asleep, I had a sudden moment of increased clarity, a little bit as a shock (I bet you al know this) and thought: "o yes, I should continue counting". Then, I had such a moment again, but this time I realized I was in a dream. I could not stay long in this dream, and woke up, after 30 seconds I guess.

During the relaxation I heard that it was twelve 'o clock. A few minutes after the dream, I looked at my watch, and it was twelve thirthy. There was maximum 15 minutes between the start of the counting and the waking up. I had the impression that I slept only a few minutes, and knowing that the counting and dream together lasted only 15 minutes, this seems very propable.

I would like to add that, a few seconds after I entered the dream, I felt very intense, and pleasant, shivers over my whole body. Not exactly shivers, more like 'energy waves' or something, hard to explain. I think I felt my body falling asleep at this point. This would also indicate that I got into a lucid dream immediately after falling asleep.