Question about late night alarm...

OK I usually have my alarm set for 4:00AM to do WBTB, but I’ve been noticing that I wake up almost every night anywhere from 3:15-3:45. Is it better to go back to sleep and wait for the alarm to inturrupt a REM cycle, or is it better to do it whenever you wake up naturally at the end of a dream? I think this does have an impact on WBTB because waking up independently feels a lot different from being waked up by an alarm. Sometimes waking up from an alarm helps dream recall I noticed too.

So does anyone know any other advantages/disadvantages between an alarm and natural awaking?

Sometimes alarm for WBTB wakes me and I find myself exhausted, which isn’t usually a good thing. Natural awakenings varies also, but they may be too early or too late for applying any method.

If your sleep cycle causes you to wake at night, I find it not bad for dream recall sometimes, but putting more time between WBTB days helps.

well I usually only do really long WBTB on weekends. During the week I only stay awake 5-10 minutes or else I’d be a zombie in the morning :bored:

I would favor the natural awakenings, or at least a quieter alarm (stuffed under a pillow…) that you can shut off easily. If you naturally awaken after 5 hours of sleep or so, great. Use that instead of your alarm. But maybe you should also set your alarm an hour after your natural time, because it could get unreliable. Just shut it off when you wake up. I find alarms really hurt my recall and they’re very annoying. :bored:

"I find alarms really hurt my recall and they’re very annoying. "

you could do what I do, set it to static on radio and low volume. the gradual awakening is excellent when directly out of a dream

Ah, last time I tried that, I woke up 2 hours after the alarm with the radio still going :tongue: Has to be very loud or I’ll just ignore it. Sometimes I can remember hearing it, but not knowing to wake up and just laying there asleep.