Thread: Average dream length

How long are most of your dreams? Are lucids longer then non-lucids? What's the longest you've had?

Originally Posted by Venomblood

How long are most of your dreams?

Since the vast majority of dreams occur during REM sleep, it is useful (and convenient) to equate REM sleep with "dreaming sleep." Individual REM stages typically last between 5 and 45 minutes - quite a wide range. This is because not all REM stages are created equal. Check out this graph:

As you sleep, two things happen to your sleep cycle.
First is that it speeds up. So while it typically takes around 90 minutes to reach your first REM stage of the night, each cycle will take less time until you are going back into REM quite frequently.
Second is that you spend more time in REM sleep - that is, the individual REM stages last longer. So while the first REM stages of the night tend to be quite short, by the early morning you are actually spending the majority of your sleep in the REM stage.

Originally Posted by Venomblood

Are lucids longer then non-lucids?

It's possible. While most people's lucids that I have read and heard about (and also my own) tend to be the same length that a regular dream would be, some people claim that to be highly proficient at "extending" their dreams. These people say that, if they are lucid, they can willfully make their dreams last much, much longer than they normally would.

Originally Posted by Venomblood

What's the longest you've had?

Off the top of my head, I think the longest lucid dream I ever had lasted about 30 minutes. That is to say, I stayed lucid for about 30 minutes straight before waking up. I think there was some to the dream before I became lucid but I can't recall it.

As far as just my longest regular dream... off the top of my head again, I'm going to say about 45 minutes to an hour? Hard to say for sure, though.

Lucids on average, I FEEL like it's around ten to fifteen minutes, but they usually end because I'm trying to do something new and get excited and thrown out.

Thanks for the info, DuB! I was wondering this myself, because lately, it feels like I'm dreaming all night. You must really know a lot about sleep/dreams.

Come to think about it.. my lucids do seem longer than my non-lucid dreams but that may only be because I recall them so much better. My lucids average about 30 to 45 minutes. My longest would be about an hour and a half (with false awakenings and re-entries).