Thread: Time in Dreams

Yeah extending dream time to years would be great. Even if a lucid dreamer can count at a normal rate that doesn't mean they can't offset the dream time.

Originally Posted by Zebrah

Yeah extending dream time to years would be great. Even if a lucid dreamer can count at a normal rate that doesn't mean they can't offset the dream time.

O, I just noticed a problem. How the hell would one journal a year-long dream?

Just wondering how long do are dreams seem to last when where there? I know they seem merely short when awoken because we only remember some parts of it, but how long would it be that it seems while we dream? would you know please?

Originally Posted by deanmullen10

Just wondering how long do are dreams seem to last when where there? I know they seem merely short when awoken because we only remember some parts of it, but how long would it be that it seems while we dream? would you know please?

I think you're asking how long does it feel like one is in a dream, but I'm not entirely sure.
Anyway, the time in dreams can range greatly. Mine usually feel 20 to 30 minutes long.

the longest dream i think i've had felt close to 2 hours... but it wasn't really, right?

Originally Posted by The Adventurer

the longest dream i think i've had felt close to 2 hours... but it wasn't really, right?

REM doesn't last that long. It's like how you feel like time moves quickly when having fun and slowly when doing mundane tasks. It's all perception.

Couple of things I got from reading online and through this discussion.

1. The theory of time presented by Stephen only refers to people that are in a "lucid dream state" ... so being conscious of being asleep might force the mind to follow waking life standards of time, like minutes.
2. In terms of REM sleep times, they do vary... so 90-120 minutes or so over all but commented that it happens in 15-20 minute intervals or something around that amount does not mean that some people may reside in REM longer or for short durations.
3. Time is relative as mathamatically shown by Eienstein, but that is just by the knowlegde we currently have. As a race (Humans) we still can't explain anything substantially about the universe and find ourselves mostly in theoretical discussions.

I love discussions like this and have read about lucid dreams and astral projection and OBE's in the past....

In terms of time though, I have realized that throughout this discussion, no one brought up a very simple observation: "We" (ourselves) associate time with events, and as such, if a given number of events happen, our minds apply an amount of time we think will be necessary to complete those events. It's like your boss asking you to do a task at work. He / She says "How long?" You think about it, then estimate an amount of time you think it will take (based on past experiences) to complete the task - in the dream, your mind would work the same way, trying to apply logic to the events / images / etc. you are experiencing.

Great topic and glad others are also talking about this.

well according to many famouse scientist and physicist time is an illusion in reality, its only a measurement which we came up with, just like how money is an illusion and has no real value, it only has cuz we say it does

Originally Posted by Zebrah

So don't go telling people they didn't have a two hour long dream. For all you know they did.

Actually they didn't. They might have felt like it did, but they didn't have a two hour long dream. I have had dreams that went over two days but it was no more than an hour.

Maybe once in the dream you create false memories. And once awake you can't tell a differience between the dream and those memories that you thought you dreamt of.

But still you didn't have a two hour long dream.

I had seen movie Inception according to that movie time passes so much fast in dreams and we can also see dream in a dream. Now think about its a double sleep. What a freaky guys who sleep in a dream also. I think he is sleep lover. lol

Originally Posted by jackleaon

I had seen movie Inception according to that movie time passes so much fast in dreams and we can also see dream in a dream. Now think about its a double sleep. What a freaky guys who sleep in a dream also. I think he is sleep lover. lol

Inception got many of its facts wrong. Time is perceived, meaning that there is no set "X amount of minutes IRL = Y amount of dream minutes" because it's all relative. This is why time passes slower during a bland lecture as opposed to when one is at Chuck E. Cheese or having sex.

Yeah this thread never stays on topic and I really wasn't clear enough in my OP. I'm going to lock this thread an redo it some day.

Also to be clear inception is a fictional movie.