A Theory and A Study

[pj]

The Study first:

We are looking for anybody who keeps a regular dream journal and would be willing to keep track of three factors through the end of July.  The three factors, explained further below, are Focus, Stress and approximate number of RCs done each day.  The goal is to look for any statistical correlations between these factors, dream recall and lucid dreams.

Focus is a value relating to how much time lucid dreaming is on your mind in a given day.  The scale is from 0 to 10, with 0 being not at all and 10 being pretty much continuously.

Stress is a value relating to how stressed you have felt during the day.  The scale is from 0 to 10, with 0 being not at all and 10 being about as bad as it has ever been for you.

Number of RCs is an approximation of the number of times you did Reality Checks each day, from 0 to whatever seems to be right.  This is an approximation, but it does need to be somewhat reflective of reality.

An example Dream Journal entry would include this line at the bottom:
F=4  S=6  RC=15

The goal is to be able to correlate these numbers to the DLF data we are already accumulating for this period of time.  If trends can be demonstrated, a more formal way of studying these relationships will be the next step.  If not, we will search for other possible variables to study.

The Theory:

The idea for this study comes from a conversation with GH after completing the move of my Dream Journal here.  During that move, I re-read two years worth of journaling.  What really struck me was how arbitrary my lucid dreaming and even dream recall seems to be.  Why is it that I had so much success from time to time, while at other times it was all I could do to recall any dreams at all?  Why is it that some nights I have had strings of lucid dreams, one after the other, and it didn't seem to matter what technique I was using to get there?  Is the reason for my present drought because I have gotten worse at using techniques over time?  That does not seem likely.

This has led me to theorize that the techniques employed might have very little to do with getting lucid.  This is one possible explanation for why we have so many techniques - because when we are actually able to get lucid for whatever real reason, ANYTHING we try that brings us to a minimum level of awareness is likely to work.  Likewise, when whatever outside factors are not favorable, it doesn't matter what we try - nothing is likely to work.

In an attempt to demonstrate some correlation to factors other than technique, we've decided to begin with three factors that are commonly believed to be influential.  Stress levels, focus on lucid dreaming and Reality Checking are almost axiomatic in any discussion about successful lucid dreaming.

So let's start working on proving whether these factors really might be influential or not!

If you are interested in participating, please reply to this thread and begin keeping statistics as soon as possible.  This means that even if you have zero recall and no reason to make a Dream Journal entry for a given day during this time you will be tracking these three factors.  If you are offline for a period of time, please keep track and make the entries when you are able.

Thank you!

[joshbotch]

i'm in!  how do we reconsile meditation with the stress ammount?  since after meditation i feel very stress free even after a quite stressfull day.

[Raklet]

I will do this.  It will give me a reason to write in my journal even though I currently have no dreams.

[pj]

i'm in!  how do we reconsile meditation with the stress ammount?  since after meditation i feel very stress free even after a quite stressfull day.

It is a measurement for you of how stressful your day was, not how stressed you feel at the end of it.

I am quite literally never feeling stress at the end of a day, but looking back on my day I can point to things like city driving, dealing with kids, interruptions, things going wrong, etc., which would be "stressers" and increase how much stress I experienced during the day.  That's how I am going to measure it.  For me, it will be pretty low most days.

[iadr]

I'll do it.  I'll just add these three things to my Awake Journal and start tracking them.
Come to think of it, I should start tracking the number of lucid dreams I had each night following my stats also, so will add that at the end.

[pj]

Excellent!  That's at least four of us so far.

iadr - aren't you using the stats package built into the board here already?  You shouldn't have to duplicate that effort unless you wish to.

[iadr]

Excellent!  That's at least four of us so far.
iadr - aren't you using the stats package built into the board here already?  You shouldn't have to duplicate that effort unless you wish to.

Yes I am, but I thought it might be nice to see it right next to the stats in my Awake Journal to see how the two might correlate.
If we had those new stats for Focus, Stress, and Reality Checks in the stats package, then there would be no need to keep them here, but it is no problem keeping them here.

[pj]

Makes sense, and it IS nice - especially considering the way you are using your Awake Journal.  I may do the same.  It doesn't really matter, so long as we know where to find the data and it is accurately dated.

This study is, in part, to determine whether we might want to add these or other variables to the stats package.  If we find a correlation, we're going to want to do a much larger study.  If we do not, we'll try this again with other factors.  (I've decided to track my supplement usage through this study, just for kicks and grins.)

Ultimately we'll be using the results of what will likely be a series of short studies like this in modifying and improving our Dream Statistics package.

[Oneironaught]

You already know I'm in. I started tracking yesterday. I think part of the ultimate objective here is to try to determine, not only how these factors affect dreaming but, how influential placebo is on LDing and dream recall. From there we can take it to the next step and hone in on certain elements that seem to correlate with 'success'.

i'm in!  how do we reconsile meditation with the stress ammount?  since after meditation i feel very stress free even after a quite stressfull day.

Like pj said, evaluate your overall stress level. You can think of it almost as if you averaged out a graph that charts your stress level every 15 minutes through-out the day.

[hint to my subconscious] I'm currently wearing my black MM shirt, drinking from my MM mug, watching my MM clock and making a post on MM. I want an LD tonight [/hint to my subconscious]

[unseen wombat]

I'll do it. How do we reconcile using supplements like Galantamine though? I can almost guarantee that nights when I don't use it, I won't have any lucids. If I were making a guess, I would say it has an effect on my focus, so I could maybe add two or three points to that category. Also, what about other factors like amount of sleep we get? I sleep more on the weekends, so I almost always have more dreams then.

[dallyup52]

There are so many factors.  It won't be perfect but it might show a trend.

[Oneironaught]

There are so many factors.  It won't be perfect but it might show a trend.

Hopefully it will provide some kind of general direction to start looking into.

[pj]

I'll do it. How do we reconcile using supplements like Galantamine though? I can almost guarantee that nights when I don't use it, I won't have any lucids. If I were making a guess, I would say it has an effect on my focus, so I could maybe add two or three points to that category. Also, what about other factors like amount of sleep we get? I sleep more on the weekends, so I almost always have more dreams then.

We aren't tracking amount of sleep this time.  If you want to keep track of your supplement use, several of us are already doing so anyway, so just make note of when you use it (and any other supplements) when you use them, if you wish to participate in that little side study.

Thanks for jumping in!

[joshbotch]

btw, where would like us to post the data? in our dream journals each doy or save it up as a report until the end of july?

[Oneironaught]

I was thinking about putting a post in either my DJ or this topic and updating it every day or two. I haven't decided where yet. It would be nice to have a common place for all of them (like the workbook section from Seeker's Back to Basic, maybe).