Thread: Time in Dreams?

I think that time would be mostly the same for most of my dreams, except that I tend to dream in metaphors a lot, and just like saying that a picture can tell a thousand words, thus also I think a well chosen metaphor can pack a lot more into a single moment, and I just know that a lot of those metaphors must have required thinking time ahead of time, so the time spent in the dream is only part of the time because one's thoughts preceding the dream are kind of part of it, and then if you count the analysis time if you do dream interpretation. A well dreamed dream can lead to a shortcut providing insights that the waking mind would have taken a lot longer to figure out, so in that sense time is compressed in dreams.

It's simply the same, it might be possible to change in some way but the fact that we spend 16 hours a day in the same time means that we pretty much think and function at a certain speed. It's a mind bending concept but I don't see why dreams should allow for any increase in speed of thought over any normal day.

Both really awesome inputs, If I can get my lucid dreams down I will be doing some little experiments on this :3

It's a curious subject.
One time i woke up and looked at the time. Then i went to sleep and had a dream that i believe went for 10 minutes. No shortcuts, because i can remember all of the things i did. I woke up and there was only 5 minutes passed.
I always get the feeling that time in dreams goes faster than the real life. Or maybe the time is the same but we dream in fast forward motion (?!) I don't know. I don't have an answer, just what i experienced.

Originally Posted by DreamHighlander

It's a curious subject.
One time i woke up and looked at the time. Then i went to sleep and had a dream that i believe went for 10 minutes. No shortcuts, because i can remember all of the things i did. I woke up and there was only 5 minutes passed.
I always get the feeling that time in dreams goes faster than the real life. Or maybe the time is the same but we dream in fast forward motion (?!) I don't know. I don't have an answer, just what i experienced.

Interesting for me, I always had the idea that time in dreams is actually slower then time in waking life.. I don't know, just me, I don't have anything to say it does like you do though, so just my idea at the moment :3

Ive read that when we dream there is dmt released into our brain from the pineal gland and when under the influence of that chemical, there is no time anymore. So 1 second in waking, can feel like hours in a dream. If you should look up dmt and how it affects time.

I've read some interesting mention about studies regarding time in dreams:

For a simple countdown study, 10 to 1, made in 1985 by LaBerge, it was noticed that the time was equivalent as waking life.

But a surprise came in the recent studies by Daniel Erlacher made in 2004, where they were told to do some sit-ups...

*FREAKING MOSQUITOS!!!!*

...and according to it the 5 subjects in the study took an average of 44,5% more time to realize those actions. I can't link this study because the link seems to be broken :x

I think that time is irrelevant in dreams cause we can all bend stuff around if we're lucid & sometimes non-lucid, i don't remember where but i think Hyu mentions it in one of his dream journal entrys that he can change something in the dream & it'll make it so that it'll last up to a few days (in the dream of course) so time should not really matter at all.

I think time works differently in dreams in that our concept of it changes. In waking life we have routines and organise ourselves around time, such as, 'i'll have my tea around noon ish because i won't have time afterwards because i have a lecture/ a place I must be at 1pm', etc, etc. There are better examples but that's just the first that came to mind. I think because we experience a reality in the dream world so different to actual reality that time takes on a different form, we may be aware of the passing of time in dreams but things happen differently. We can dream a reality that lasts hours, days, months, maybe even more and wake to find we'd been sleeping an hour or two. In a dream we can miss out the time consuming things in real life- eating, working, sleeping and even if we do dream of those things they seem to go by in a much quicker manner. Indeed the scene can change instantly as the mind takes you into another dream. Of course this is just how I understand time in waking and dreaming life, it's probably different for everyone. What is interesting however and what can change this perception is when we're lucid. I've had lucids where i'm aware that I must wake up soon, otherwise i'll oversleep and be late for whatever i need to get up for and i always manage to wake myself with a few minues, usually around 10 to spare. So I think we're much more aware of time in that state, as we are of ourselves dreaming. This is a very interesting thread though and i've enjoyed reading through the responses

I don't know how fast time goes in dreams.

I will say, though, That on occasion there are dreams one just feels like "Ending now" but can't. Do make haste to avoid having such dreams in the first place.

^ And "Becoming a vampire" Is not a good thing, In life or in a dream.

Originally Posted by 101Volts

^ And "Becoming a vampire" Is not a good thing, In life or in a dream.

Oh, you are such a prude! As long as one does not believe that vampires are real, what's the harm with becoming one in a dream just for fun. There is a whole subgenre of supernatural romance fiction about vampire romance, and it's harmless. I have at times day dreamed that I was a vampire or was friends with a vampire. As long as it is not real, what's the harm? Or do you believe that vampires are actually real?

Being a vampire doesn't necessarily mean you're literally a white-faced individual with long teeth drinking blood from someone's neck. Have you ever had dreams of vampires after spending time with someone you felt drained your energy (Not by literally biting you) if you'd let him/her? I'm beginning to wonder if that is partially where the whole Vampire thing originated, Through dreams.

Hey hey now, dreams are great for creating little fantasies, it's a great way to keep the imagination fueled. Bring on vampires, werewolves, ghosts, zombies, talking animals etc, etc anytime! and yes, if they appear in a way you had not initiated then they're great for your personal dream analysis, what is your dream trying to tell you about yourself?

I read that fantasizing isn't a good thing to be doing. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't it like imagining something to be something it's not? That's lying, Even if it's only to one's self and there's nothing that actually "Is" in a lie. I do believe it's best to avoid lying to the best of one's ability, Though there may yet be times when one slips by; It's not something for a person to beat their selves up over nor do I recommend a person doing that, Ever.

I'm not against seeing vampires/werewolves/etc in dreams, It's just pretending to be one that I don't like; It's called "pre-tending" For a reason. "See them copy what their parents have done 'till they're old enough to do it for real" "Tending my fruit trees, Ah you've got to have a hobby." (Both quotes from XTC songs but with one word added to the fruit one. Songs are "Fruit Nut" and "Toys", Though not in that order.)

In other words, Envision it enough and you'll be or do what you envisioned in some way, shape or form.

I'm not saying these things to pop balloons and deflate spirits here but rather, Give chance for the opposite to happen. There's great opportunity for life.

And I must add that I'm not perfect so don't think I'm trying to be, Surely I posted something that's not quite right lately. I will add that in the past, My mother has often said "You go from one extreme to the other" And when I do something I may indeed focus on it quite much.

...

And I'm posting this at night.

(Let's get back on topic soon...)

I really believe that fantasizing is not at all like lying. It's like telling fiction stories to oneself or imagining oneself as a character in a fictitious tale. It's fiction. One knows it all along. there is a big difference between fact and fiction. If I were to tell myself that vampires are real and try to convince myself, then I would be lying. But I never do that - and even if I did, I would not be stupid enough to believe myself. I like fantasizing about all kinds of stuff that is completely fictitious: for example science fiction where I am in a spaceship and travel to other inhabited planets. But again, I know it is not real, so it is not a lie. I also enjoy reading fiction books and watching movies, and for me fantasizing and also dreaming sometimes fall into the same categories of entertainment. If you believe that fantasizing is lying, do you then read only fact based books and not watch any fictitious movies? Let's face it, when we watch movies, we fantasize that we are there and imagine ourselves in the story. We could of course keep in mind that what we are watching is frame after frame of pictures that have been recorded by actors who may not even have liked playing the role, and keep that firmly in mind when watching the movie, but what would be the fun in that?

I don't believe I should be in search of having fun. In the past I'd sometimes listen to a band or do something until all the fun was drained out of it, Then continue doing it expecting it to still be fun even when it didn't give any fun. That was draining of things I could've been doing.

Perhaps we're not quite on the same page here but are "Talking about two different movies", So to speak.

Can a moderator split this discussion from this topic, Please?

Dreaming is just another form of escapism, like reading, listening to songs and watching movies is. All dreams are 'fantasies' or whatever you want to label them, everything that happens in them is pretend, you're playing a part in your dream, it doesn't matter if you're lucid or not and I don't think you should stop yourself from having fun, you're going to dream whatever happens so you may as well make the most of it and get the most out of them. The only constrictions to what can happen in your dreams is yourself and it seems like you're making what you'll allow yourself to dream of very narrow. Now i'm not talking about vampires again, (I know from my emoticons it looks like i'm obsessed with them, but it's only because I'd been having a True Blood binge and I think Dracula is a great novel while we're on the subject)- sorry got off topic there- but I think you should relax (if that's the right phrasing) with your mindset on these things, there's honestly nothing wrong with 'pretending'. At most it'll be for a few hours a night, then you wake up and get on with your life and go to sleep again and dream of something completely different. The extent to which you pretend and which narrative you follow is in the dreamer's control.