Thread: Short dreams?

My friends have told me about how extensive and long their dreams are, theirs last a long period of time and seem like a lot of fun.

All of my dreams last up to 3 minutes, the longest being 5. Why is this? Is there anything to increase dream length/is this normal? My dreams are always boring and unexciting too.

IF you read my DJ, you can see they're not that descriptive or that exciting either.

There's two measures to consider. One is how long your dreams are; the other is how much you recall after waking up. If you don't recall much, it may seem that your dreams are short. But actually, your dreams might be much longer and you just don't recall the whole experience. So what you should really focus on is not making your dreams longer but making your recall stronger.

Dream recall is like a muscle. With habit and practice, you can make it stronger. It takes diligence and some time, but you will start seeing progress very quickly and it will continue to develop as long as you stick to it. I'm guessing you've just started with lucid dreaming so it's typical that your recall is low to begin with. You should start to see an improvement with just a few days of practice and it will get really strong after about 2-4 weeks or consistent effort.

What is the practice? Dream journaling is what you must do to improve recall. In addition to journaling, there are a couple boosters: (1) Develop a strong intention to improve your dream recall. You can cultivate intention by thinking about dreaming, writing about your goals, daydreaming to rehearse dream situations, and reciting a mantra. (2) You can also improve recall by focusing on sensory details over just plot and action. Try to note colors, shapes, textures, and feelings. What kind of clothing are the dream characters wearing? How is their hair styled? Emphasize those kinds details in your journal in addition to the usual who, what, where.

Why do your friends have longer dreams? Just habit. You say your dreams are boring so you've become habituated to ignore your dreams. Your mind isn't interested in something if it doesn't provide any new information. You remember them less, so they seem shorter in recall. To counter this, as I said above, develop the intention to recall the smaller details. Even if the plot isn't exciting, every dream has a lot of information to record. If you focus on that detailed information, your brain will take notice and remember more. As you develop an interest in dreaming and recall more of them, they might become more varied, fun, intense, and meaningful.