How to avoid insomnia when trying to LD?

Hello,

I guess I was blessed and cursed as a kid when I had so many sleep paralysis episodes. I was a champion sleeper but boy were they scary.

Now that I normally get a good night’s sleep - if usually a little under the recommended amount - nothing ever goes bump in the night. If you’ve read my other posts you’ll know that from time to time I experiment with trying to LD, I get some minimal success but can’t go any further, and ultimately give up.

Or, like now, I end up with insomnia!

Something about laying there meditating on this whole thing, expecting, anticipating, revs up my mind and causes me to have less sleep during the night. Then I am over tired, stressed, and get caught in a vicious cycle where the insomnia gets worse. I haven’t had it for years, and yet, right when I begin to experiment with LD, I get it.

What am I doing wrong? How to I get back a regular night’s sleep, then attempt LD again without another bout of insomnia?

Seems counterintuitive that I am trying to create a scenario where I wake up IN my dream but my body remains asleep and I CAN’T (at least temporarily) wake it up or move it, and yet the result is I get less sleep and less quality sleep. What is going on here? Is this normal in pursuit of LD?

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In order to have a LD, you first need sleep. This is important. No lucid dream technique has ever worked without sleep. Getting insomnia from excitement is a common beginner’s mistake. The excitement is also the number one reason for a lucid dream ending too soon. Relaxing and taking it slowly helps a lot!

How are you trying? From the sound of your post, it sounds like you are using a variety of MILD. Maybe spreading the meditation and mind exercises out through the day would help?