Thread: Impossibility of waking up / dying in a dream

1. I would say no. I don't see how this would work beside making highly improbable hypothetical or metaphysical examples... so no. You might encounter stressful situations with several False Awakenings... but you always wake up in the end.

2. No, same as above. Not only do people die in dreams and lucid dreams all the time, but the whole "mind making it real for the body" doesn't make much scientific sense. There are loads of ways the mind and body interact in interesting and perhaps powerful ways. But I highly doubt that dreaming about getting shot in the head will ever make me die. The only thing people often warn about is dieing from a heart attack if your body is too weak in that area to endure positive or negative stress and excitement... but if that is the case, you might as well die watching a horror film or doing something else exciting like going up the stairs.

3. Well, again... as far as the current scientific explanations go, an OBE is a phenomenon of the brain, not an actual departure from your body, as has been documented in various experiments. So this depends on what your spiritual or religious beliefs are. Personally, if I find myself floating outside my body, I'll register it as a LD or as being in the process of a WILD - in sleep paralysis and on the verge of dreaming/waking up.

So glad you asked this, was wondering the same thing but felt stupid for asking. A month ago I would laugh if someone told me he's afraid to die in a dream. Now, after finding out what crazy things people can do, I'm not that convinced anymore .

@Bonsay: isn't the comparision with a horror movie pretty weak? I mean, I keep hearing how real and vivid lucid dreams can be. Dieing from watching a horror movie seems highly unlikely, dieing while BEING IN that horror seems... not that crazy at all? And isn't that what lucid dreaming is all about, creating a world with your mind and walking around in it?

Just to be clear, we're obviously not talking about physical damage. I think everyone understands a headshot won't do any harm. I'm talking trauma's/mental damage.

Someone has been watching to much matrix...

Well, I have been killed in a few dreams...and obviously didn't die in real life...so that's a myth.

thanks for the encouragement... and i think that there are no stupid questions, only stupid answers, so i asked.

Originally Posted by Siphorix

Someone has been watching to much matrix...

About the matrix comment...

We are members of a site that gives us techniques and speaks about controling dreams, puts the shared dream theory in perspective (wich implies some level of telepathy if the theory is correct), and you give me the " don´t be ludacris" routine with the matrix remark...
yeah...keep living in your little special place and don´t admit possibilities, just limit yourself to your reality tunnel, it obviously makes you happy.

I´m sure you´re that kind of people that makes alot of mistakes, because you don´t ask things when in doubt, you prefer to do things without knowing, or else you wouldn´t stand with that posture towards my question. Your post wasn´t usefull in anything

1st. and 2.nd Even if people died because of something that has happened in a dream - how would we ever know?
It is quite interesting, I got shot in the head once, it was a very warm, peaceful sensation as I had always imagined it to be.
There was more, it is too hard to explain, I just felt for the first time of what my dream body substance was made of.

Originally Posted by Ade

1st. and 2.nd Even if people died because of something that has happened in a dream - how would we ever know?
It is quite interesting, I got shot in the head once, it was a very warm, peaceful sensation as I had always imagined it to be.
There was more, it is too hard to explain, I just felt for the first time of what my dream body substance was made of.

Have you ever heard in the news cases of people that died during their sleep...i´m talking about those cases that have no medical explanation...do you think (speculating) that it could be dead in a dream?

About the headshot...you´re saying that it was warm and peacefull, just like you imagined...the sensation you felt in your dream...could it be a transposition of what you tought while you were awake (i´m assuming that you were thinking, while being awake, how would feel to be shot in the head, and you concluded that it would be warm and peacefull, and that, somehow your conscient mind imprinted that in your unconsciousness, wich made you feel the way you did in your dream?


One more thing, i liked your post and your example so much that i would like your permission to add you as a friend here in dreamviews.

1st: Is there a probability off not being able to ever wake up from a dream? Even if we want to?
No, because your REM cycles don't last forever. You'll always wake up, even if you keep getting false awakening after false awakening. There's no such disease or health problem that causes endless sleep.

2nd: Can we die in reality if, for example, we get a headshot in a dream (theory of the mind making it real for the body)
No, it's not the matrix. I've died many times in a dream. Usually I end up staying in the dream and watching from a port-mortem perspective, or come back as a ghost. And you could always wake up if a bullet to the head shocks you enough, or peaks your adrenaline. I'm sure everyone's probably died in some dream they can't recall, or that they woke up not remembering.

To add onto this, you can't be hurt in real life if you're hurt in a dream, although there may be leftover sensations from the dream. I had a dream once that I lost a leg; I woke up with an almost phantom limb sensation and some mild pain for a few seconds.

3rd: How do i know that i´m not having an out-of-body experience?
In a lucid dream, you can change things, control things, and even change your own appearance. OBEs are simply travelling outside your body, half awake and half asleep, I believe (but I know hardly anything on the topic).

Oh jeez, if you died in RL because of your dreams, I'd be dead a LONG time ago

In all seriousness, I've never heard of someone not waking of from a dream, or dying in a dream. Ever. There is people that die in their sleep, but not because of dreaming! Although I do wonder if an event in your dreams could trigger a heart attack or something.

Don't be worried though, millions of people lucid dream, and don't die.

Originally Posted by Muggler

Oh jeez, if you died in RL because of your dreams, I'd be dead a LONG time ago

In all seriousness, I've never heard of someone not waking of from a dream, or dying in a dream. Ever. There is people that die in their sleep, but not because of dreaming! Although I do wonder if an event in your dreams could trigger a heart attack or something.

Don't be worried though, millions of people lucid dream, and don't die.

Yeah, there's sleep apnea and all sorts of wonderful conditions. But if you had one, you'd know about it by now; you'd have woken up and not be breathing.

Originally Posted by Puffin

1st: Is there a probability off not being able to ever wake up from a dream? Even if we want to?
No, because your REM cycles don't last forever. You'll always wake up, even if you keep getting false awakening after false awakening. There's no such disease or health problem that causes endless sleep.

2nd: Can we die in reality if, for example, we get a headshot in a dream (theory of the mind making it real for the body)
No, it's not the matrix. I've died many times in a dream. Usually I end up staying in the dream and watching from a port-mortem perspective, or come back as a ghost. And you could always wake up if a bullet to the head shocks you enough, or peaks your adrenaline. I'm sure everyone's probably died in some dream they can't recall, or that they woke up not remembering.

To add onto this, you can't be hurt in real life if you're hurt in a dream, although there may be leftover sensations from the dream. I had a dream once that I lost a leg; I woke up with an almost phantom limb sensation and some mild pain for a few seconds.

3rd: How do i know that i´m not having an out-of-body experience?
In a lucid dream, you can change things, control things, and even change your own appearance. OBEs are simply travelling outside your body, half awake and half asleep, I believe (but I know hardly anything on the topic).

I enjoyed alot your intervention. Another question...actually a recurrent question...people have been known to die from fear (that feeling caused a heart attack); Being lucid dreams so vivid (at least some of them) could a person, in your opinion, die from a heart attack caused by shock/fear ?

Thanks again

In dreams, parts of our mind are turned off. It's like when you're in a nightmare, and you know we're going to die, but you don't fear it like you would in real life... You're half-asleep almost. If that makes sense. I've never suffered a heart attack, panic attack, strong fear, or anything like that myself.

I once experienced sleep paralysis before I even knew what it was; it was probably one of the most intense experiences I've heard of anywhere. It felt like I was going to die. My heart rate spiked hugely and I could feel it pounding through my chest, but when it ended I was fine.

Only rumors, but if you ask me people die every day, without any mediacl explanation.
You can never know for sure, if a brick isn't going to fall on your head while passing a house, but I can tell you one thing, there are far more cases when people have claimed to die in dreams with no ill effect, even more, a death in a dream can result in a quite insightful experience.


Yes, you are right, I did thought about that,though this was one perticular case, usually when I am attacked by any other weapon I don't feel a thing, even when I am not lucid. More fear that actual harm.

It seems to me, and please correct me if I am wrong, that you are in some way, overwhelmed and yet affraid of lucid dreaming?If so, I know that feeling, but don't be...lucidity allows you to control the enviroment, the matter of dreams themselves. No harm can come to you there and there is no reason losing sleep over it.


P.S. feel flattered, permission granted