Dear LPG,

I want to talk about something that has always interested me over the years but that I have never really taken the time to explore until now.  I know that many people will identify with my next observation which is that now that I have got older I don’t sleep as well as I used to. 

I remember having to drag myself away from my bed in the mornings when I had to get up for work which always included the harsh sound of the alarm clock, or a sudden and quite frightening jolt administered by my wife which was usually followed by a shouted warning about being late, and I have no doubt that this would have been the experience of so many people on so many mornings during their working lives. 

Now I have reached the age of retirement, and to be honest I reached it a while ago.  This is the time when one of the most anticipated rewards is to have the luxury of not having to get up until you really want to, but I soon found out that this is not all it is cracked up to be, and I started researching what I can do about that fact.

I went off-topic a bit with this one but my research is at least giving me a reason to stay in bed a bit longer each morning…

Dreams; everyone has them and according to the facts I have read, we all do it although few of us remember what we have dreamt almost immediately afterwards and arrive back at reality none-the-wiser.  So the first thing that is needed is working on remembering your dreams.  Most of the online literature I have read about this suggests that you have a pen and paper (or if you are as lazy as me) a Dictaphone by your bedside so that you can make notes as soon as you wake up.  I have to say listening to a tape you made as soon as you wake up is something you need to do alone because of the somewhat embarrassing slurred, almost drunk sounding version of you that such an audio tape will produce.

But have you ever heard of lucid dreaming?  This is the art of being in control of what happens in your dream… just imagine being able to create the circumstance of your dream, looking perfect and being perfectly dressed, knowing that it will end exactly how you want it to; in fact, your own personal ‘happily ever after’ the morning after every night’s sleep.

…and think of it this way; for most of us the techniques are going to take a long time to learn and all that practice will have to be done while you are at least trying to sleep.  The longer it takes to perfect the mastery; the more practice you will get at sleeping (well that’s my theory anyway) …

 WD, Southwark

WD offers some of the theory behind the research…

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… some general information …

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.. and one version of the complete guide for beginners…

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