# Advice for lucid dreaming **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [April 23, 2006, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-lucid-dreaming/353846 "2006-04-23T09:36:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tonkytonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@tonkytonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonkytonk)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-lucid-dreaming/353846/1 "2006-04-23T09:36:19Z")
I have had limited experience with lucid dreams, but here’s what I’ve learned: It seems to help if I have had lots of sleep. Perhaps when I am well rested, I sleep lighter and the dreams are closer to consciousness. My best lucid dreams seem to be related to “old hag” experiences, that is, those half dream/half awakened states that are usually accompanied by a sense of fear. Some years ago I had an “old hag” experience with the usual acute fear, but instead of desperately trying to wake up, for some reason I just relaxed and “gave in”. I found myself in my bedroom in a dream, totally aware. After awhile, I started to slip into a more usual type dream. I had the same experience some time later, and woke up after something happened in the dream that was a little disturbing. The short version of my advice is this: get lots of sleep, and try to relax when having an “old hag” experience. ---
**Author:** ![What\_s\_That\_Smell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3bc359/32.png) [@What\_s\_That\_Smell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_s_That_Smell)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-lucid-dreaming/353846/2 "2006-04-23T11:09:43Z")
…and eat lots of cheese before going to bed. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-lucid-dreaming/353846/3 "2006-04-23T19:07:15Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, tonky. A link to the column is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. The column in question is this one: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050805.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050805.html) Your “old hag” experiences sound like sleep paralysis, which Cecil discussed here: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_408.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_408.html) ---
**Author:** ![BadBadger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@BadBadger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadBadger)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-lucid-dreaming/353846/4 "2006-04-24T10:17:24Z")
I’ve had just the one lucid dream some years ago now. Always meant to pursue it a bit further but never got round to it. The first thing you must do (apparently) is to keep a dream diary. Sleep with a notepad and pen next to the bed. Wake up and jot down immediately all you can remember… May start this off soon. Ofc Giving details of your dreams is entirely voluntary (and inadvisable in my case) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![tonkytonk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8491ac/32.png) [@tonkytonk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonkytonk)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-lucid-dreaming/353846/5 "2006-04-26T04:55:19Z")
[QUOTE=bibliophage] Welcome to the SDMB, tonky. A link to the column is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. The column in question is this one: [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050805.html](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/050805.html) Your “old hag” experiences sound like sleep paralysis, which Cecil discussed here: [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_408.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_408.html) [/QUOTE] Thanks for putting in the link. My entry needed more info in general. Yes, it is the same thing. The expression “old hag” refers to the experience of pressure on the chest during sleep paralysis, similar to the “black cloud” referred to in Cecil’s article about it. I have never kept a dream journal, and don’t recall my dreams that well. I do have a fair amount of lucid dreams, but what I found so exciting about the two lucid dreams that seemed to spawn from sleep paralysis was that I had a “real life” awareness in them, at least to begin with, whereas in most lucid dreams I have, even though I know I’m dreaming, I can’t recall most things of my real life at the time. It was very much like “walking through the looking glass”. Btw, I never actually experienced the chest pressure. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-lucid-dreaming/353846/6 "2006-04-26T21:14:43Z")
And here I was after thinkin’ it was one o’ the new tracks by the Corrs. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-lucid-dreaming/353846/7 "2006-04-26T21:31:39Z")
I’ve done it twice, many years ago, both times when I was trying to “astral plane”. Didn’t necessarily believe you _could_ astral plane, but in the interest of research I thought I’d give it a go. I think intense concentration while in a restful state allowed my conscious mind to remain awake, while the rest of my brain fell asleep. It was a freaky feeling, and I wasn’t totally in control of the “external” stimuli of my dream, but it was pretty amazing nonetheless. I also found out how to wake up and fall back into the lucid dream at will.