Can anyone give some general guidelines for having lucid dreams?

It's pretty simple.

You need to develop a habit of checking your surroundings every five minutes IRL, and asking if anything you see proves that you are in a dream.

Your habits IRL will carry over to your dreams.

You will question it, and then realize your are in a dream. Then you have control.

... but, you have to fully commit to making this an everyday habit of checking your surroundings, and whether you are in reality every five minutes. You cant just do it one day and ask why it didnt work.

Checking your surroundings for authentisity every five minutes has to become part of who you are.

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>>17211029
Lucid dreams aren't real.

Don't fall for that new age nonsense. Just dream normally.

>>17211144
I think it's worth a try, what bad thing could happen if I do?

>>17211104
does going to bed later tend to make it harder to happen? I generally go to sleep around 1-2am. should I try shooting for 11? and what about those light alarms that wake you up during REM sleep and supposedly increase the chance of it happening? how does that work?

This is also a good way to improve your situational awareness in real life. If you are more aware of your surroundings, you are less likely to run in to trouble in everyday public places.

>>17211128
>didnt
Would checking my watch periodically work? Will the hands spin or something as I've heard?

smoke weed for a week. it slows melatonin from metabolizing...then stop, spend on day drinking water and cranberry juice, then take 100g of melatonin supplement. you'll dream clearer than you've every dreamed.

>>17211186
I think that's the key to making it happen, yeah. I saw in another thread where the guy was talking about doing the 'check your surroundings' thing but with a specific object, like you said a watch. something will be out of the ordinary if you look at it more than once and that's when you'll know. then he said the trick from there was just not waking up.

>>17211175
I never really believed that any external alarm/lighting/glasses helped anything. I figured they were just a gimmick to rake in cash from people who didn't want to commit to changing their life habits. I never really tried them myself.

As far as sleep cycles go; you want to be able to dip in to as many REM cycles as possible. Better sleep helps... Eat at a decent time, go to bed at a reasonable time...basically get on a regular healthy schedule, and you'll have better chances of triggering a dream.

Although, if you have trouble remembering regular dreams, you may have the same problem with dreams in which you have control. That may defeat the whole purpose.

>>17211186
Hmmm...ive never really worn a watch on a regular basis, so I wouldn't really know about that one. Sorry.

>>17211205
I figured they were something like that, I figured I'd check to make sure.

sleep schedule shouldn't be too hard to fix, and I already eat decently.

I saw on some other thread that it's a good idea to practice remembering dreams so that once you actually have a lucid one you can remember it. well thanks for all the help, I might post what I'll be able to remember when it happens.

>>17211236

Wishing you the best of luck. Just remember, try not to get too excited when you finally realize you are in a dream.

The first time I finally was able to catch myself dreaming, I got overly-geeked...and then woke up. I was BEYOND pissed, almost crying with frustration.

>>17211213
They're called reality checks, and can be anything from checking the time to see if ir changes, or trying to fly when walking around a mall. Anything that you can to to question your current environment will work as a check. Do it multiple times a day, to make it habit, then when the check fails, you know you're dreaming.
> For example
in dream, unbeknownst to me. Reading a piece of paper that was something like a resume, I noticed that the words didn't make sense, and were changing soon after I read them. When I went to re-read a phone number on the paper, I was cognizant enough to notice that it was changing, and sparked lucidity. That's all it takes for Dream Induced (DILD).

It takes practice, and some getting used to. A dream journal helps you remember them on the morning, and helps you remember in general with time

You can use your hands as a totem if you will, just like in the movie Inception. Get used to looking at your hands and become aware of them. During a dream, they'll look different, or something odd will be going on when you look at them. That's when you'll notice you're in a dream. Then have fun. Usually my mind goes straight to sex, lol, but flying is fun too.. And it doesn't usually last long

>>17211236
When you do achieve lucidity, but realize you're slipping out of the dream, focus your mind on something so hard, that it grounds you into the dream.
You can grab a pole, or lean on a wall, and focus on how they feel under your palm, what the texture is, temperature, etc. Or focus on your hands, look for every speck of dust, every line om your fingerprints, etc. You get the idea. That'll help anchor you back in Dreamland. Keeping your heart rate down will help too.

>>17211144
There's been some peer-reviewed studies.

>During the 1980s, further scientific evidence of lucid dreaming was produced as lucid dreamers were able to demonstrate to researchers that they were consciously aware of being in a dream state (again, primarily using eye movement signals).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dream#Scientific_history

For me it just happens. I think of doing events or something, and it just progresses. sometimes I do forget I am dreaming tho in the middle of it. Other times I end up going into a sleep paralysis mode where my mind is awake and aware of what is going on around my room, but my body is in sleep mode. will toss/turn in the natural sleep type movements without me controlling it.