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Nicotine Dreams - The Effect of Nicotine Patches on Dreams

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Mr X:

explanation :
this experiment is very simple, to determine if https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine has a consistent effect of causing vivid dreams and to check if nicotine helps the participant remember dreams.
i think the nicotine patches will cause vivid intense dreams in all persons participating. i do not know if they will help with remembering dreams however i suspect the intensity of the dream itself will help make the dream more easily memorable.

objective :
participant consumes nicotine via patches while sleeping, participant records their experiences on the patch and the experiences of sleeping with no nicotine patches over the course of one month. four reports are to be made by the participant.

qualifiers :
people who do not smoke tobacco, people who do smoke tobacco, people who have quit smoking for long enough to not be at risk of nicotine addiction due to this experiment.

dis-qualifiers :
pregnant people, people who have recently quit smoking.

warnings :
participant may experience vivid dreams or nightmares, sleep disruption, and possibly not feel rested the next day. take that into account when choosing days to participate.

resources required :
-8 nicotine patches, purchased from a pharmacy/chemist, preferably a name brand. (researching online for what brands are sold in your country before going to the store is recommended.)
-1 month. 2 nights per week.

details of the process :
-participant should say in this thread that they are participating. from that day, they have 4 weeks (4x7 days). two days per week the participant should use the patch, spaced out days would be best but is not required. posting to ask for advice on what patch or dosage to use before committing to the 4 weeks is ok.

-participant should indicate if they are a smoker, non smoker or ex smoker.

-8 nicotine patches are required. depending on what is available locally the strength of the nicotine patch is up to the participant, it can vary over the 4 weeks but the strength of dosage must be recorded. you do not want 24 hour patches, so patches designed for less than 24 hours are what is wanted.

-patch should be applied at least 60 minutes before trying to sleep. it should not be removed until the participant is awake.

-participant should keep a journal of dreams for the entire 4 weeks. this is to determine if the nights on the patch are significant.

-reporting all journal entries is not needed.

-participant should make 4 reports of their experience in this thread, one after each week (2 patch sessions), and the final report at the 4th week. reports should include date of experimental nights.

-content of dreams can be included in reports, and lucid dream attempts are encouraged but not required.

mr x.

Mr X:
ok,

monday the 26th of october is my starting date for this experiment.

will report what strength and type of patch i use after the first week.

i am not looking forward to having nightmares if that happens, but if it does i can live with it. i have recently had experiences of bad sleep disruption and nightmares without nicotine, so what ever happens i will deal with it. i have also done things that i know cause me nightmares in recent weeks, such as taking vitamin d tablets. pretty sure im pretty desensitized to nightmares for now. my point is - bring on the intense dreams.

i am curious if the patch nights are different from other nights.

x.

Mr X:
hello,

report 1 part 1 -

almost as soon as i posted this experiment, i noticed an flaw.

-participant should keep a journal of dreams for the entire 4 weeks. this is to determine if the nights on the patch are significant.

as far as i know, keeping a dream journal is an common system for people wanting do lucid dreams or related things. so it seemed that the journal part could be what results in remembering dreams, not nicotine. although it is also required, how else to tell if the nicotine has any effect other than compare it to nights with no nicotine.

i am just saying that was a concern from the start, that the journal keeping would be what causes any enhanced dream recall. and that is what happened so far.

part 2-

no patch on day 1,2,3,4,6.
patch on day 5 and 7. friday and sunday.

from day 1 i started remembering my dreams much more easily. when i woke up i went straight to my pc and made dreams.txt, and typed down what i could remember. which was an pretty big detour from my normal morning routine. i could remember lots of details, compared to the usual nothing at all.

that was the only dream where there was a f4 character, which was mr j asking me why i had been having nightmares.

that night ended after, according to my notes, 12 to 13 hours sleep. by the end my mind gave up producing content, and it just repeated a scene, a house.

i have to say remembering dreams does give some interesting insight into ones own brain. i noticed lots of repeating themes in the dreams i could remember.

by day 2 i was dreaming about trying to remember my dreams. on day 4 i dreamt waking up and going to type notes of what i could remember, only to wake up and go an type the note of that dream.

patch 1 -
when it came to the first patch, i was excited. it put it on about 2 hours before sleep, had trouble getting to sleep because i felt alert.
it was by far the night with the least intense dreams. as had become expected, there was a half way point of the night, where i would of best used a voice recorder to note the details, as they were forgotten. then the second round of dreams towards the end. intense in some ways, very realistic dreams that i could remember when typing into the journal. by far the least intense dreams of the entire week, as i was alert during the dream, and generally unfussed.

day 6 had very strong intense dreams.

day 7, last night, produced a long list of memory details in my list. again calm not really bothered or not really intense dreams. the first half of that night resulted in the dream stopping on an image of a house again. i had to get up to urinate and get some water to clear my mind and reset things, then back to sleep for the run of dreams i could later remember.

so that is my report. first two nicotine sessions have actually been the least intense dreams of the week. being alert while being asleep was an effect. although i actually slept really well on those nights, after the first patch i was very tired the next day.

the dream journal for a month thing seems to be having the biggest effect so far. that alone could be a worthwhile experiment.

act 1 dreams tended to be about something big. like some big concept or something trying to be intergrated into the mind. i might start using a voice recorder on an old android device to try to remember those bits in week 2 or 3.

will post a pic of the patches for technical details.

mr x.

ps.
the person i live with has started remembering their dreams more. and having terrible nightmares that dont bother them.

edit - pic added, with a few things thrown to show it is an original pic.

tally-ho!:
here, x
 victorious delight!
the Buddha hisself is tripping with your patch

seems he enjoys as well other schismatic ritualistic stuff - like, piercing his ears, cutting his hands off, burning with nicotine hell fire...

tally-ho!:
(luckily it's not Muhammad i got into troubles with... Buddhists are peaceful loving people, no? 

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