From Inner~Peace from the post The Astral Pulse

The time IS a factor simply because it would generally be much harder to keep consciousness at night (in my opinion) , when you’re so used to drifting off too sleep and are usually drained. I like to practice as I fall asleep too, like personalreality, though that’s more to familiarize myself with that state than to actually attempt projection.

I used to hold this belief too.  I always told people that practicing before bedtime is generally a bad idea because you’re exhausted and chances are much higher that you would just fall asleep.
But then I thought about it for a second and my own non-physical journeys… when was the last time you ever felt “tired” or “exhausted” in a dream?  Personally, I can’t think of a single dream I’ve ever had in which I’ve felt tired or exhausted.  Quite the opposite really.  In my dreams I’m always wide awake and going head-long into whatever the dream is about.

What does this tell me?  Well, it tells me that being “tired” isn’t a non-physical or consciousness thing.   It’s a physical body thing.
It tells me that we sleep so our “physical body” can rest, not for the benefit of our non-physical consciousness.

I feel that keeping consciously aware while you fall asleep is definitely something that you can learn. This also means that “time” of day shouldn’t really matter regarding keeping yourself consciously aware, as being “tired” is, literally, all just in your head… your physical head, that is.

Both Robert Monroe AND Frank Kepple mentioned that they hardly ever had non-astral projection dreams at night.  They both said that as soon as they fell asleep, they would begin their nightly journeys whether they wanted to or not.  How “physically” or “mentally” tired they happened to be at the time didn’t seem to dissuade this aspect of their non-physical lives at all.

Perhaps they LEARNED to get past the “tiredness”?