The only thing that ever reliably worked for me was laying down to sleep and staying entirely still but "typing" my name with my fingers in incredibly subtle motions over and over again. Something about it let's your body fall asleep but keeps your mind just barely awake. Also doing this after waking up in the middle of the night is highly effective.

The only thing was that instead of realizing i was in a dream while inside it, o was fully aware while undergoing the transition from awake to sleep which was... somewhat disturbing. Usually you forget the exact moment you fall asleep by the time you wake up, but i distinctly remember a dark cloud descending over my mind, flowing past me. Then a skeleton hand reached out from the cloud and i _felt_ it grab my shoulder. It tried to whisper something to me, maybe it did and i can't remember what it said. It was giving "you shouldn't be here" vibes though. Then as quickly as the state came, it left and i was fully awake and aware, standing on a street in my neighborhood. I tested the fidelity of the dream world by scrutinizing the tiniest details of the visuals, sounds, smells, physical sensations of the world and the acuity of simulation appeared perfect to me. I can't be sure that sensation wasn't part of the dream but i literally bent down and took a flower apart, piece by piece, it had water in the stem, smells grassy when i crushed it, and the closer i looked the more detail everything had. It honestly shifted my perception of reality a lot