Thread: can increasing the length of your dreams increase REM therefore having you awake more refressed?

True indeed...the more sleep you get, the more refreshed you will feel in the morning. what a crazy theory

But how would you increase the length of your dreams?

Originally Posted by Not

But how would you increase the length of your dreams?

I imagine she means while in a lucid dream, and making sure you don't get out of it.

You'd be forcibly thrown out, because your body won't stay in REM that long and you'd wake up.

Azubiu is correct. Your body has a set amount of REM sleep it gets every night. Once that REM period ends, your dream ends no matter how many stabilization techniques you do. Thats why if your trying something like a DEILD or WBTB. You have to time it so you are in the middle or beginning of a REM period.

oh ok lol newbie question was a cool theory though

Btw What I meant is I have read that REM sleep is where you get your most restoritive sleep. Better healing waking up refresshed etc. I had this idea that by increasing how long you Lucid dream that you could have a better rest waking up in the morning as you dream in REM. This of course you have told me is impossible to do. Maybe increasing LUcid dreaming only makes you remember more not have longer dreams. However I've heard of some ppl dreaming for hours so maybe its not such a crazy idea after all.

It's true that people could dream a dream for hours or even days or weeks. They of course would wake up more refresh but I read from somewhere, they could become more tired because of solving problems in the dream too. I don't really know.

It's not a crazy idea for me. LD can be use as tool to healing. Whether it's short or longer dream it depend on the dreamer, I guess.

Originally Posted by jblb2424

Azubiu is correct. Your body has a set amount of REM sleep it gets every night. Once that REM period ends, your dream ends no matter how many stabilization techniques you do. Thats why if your trying something like a DEILD or WBTB. You have to time it so you are in the middle or beginning of a REM period.

Sorry man your wrong here. Rem is a state of mind just like being awake or meditation or deep sleep, therefore it is perfectly normal to be able to induce it. It is possible to dream for multiple hours using Deild and I wouldn't see why not. It is possible to Deild at almost any time no matter what period.

As for the OP. When we sleep we have the two main states, deep sleep and rem. Deep sleep regenerates your body while Rem sets your mind straight. Wether lucid dreams really contribute to this is under qeustioning. During normal sleep your subconscious is basically just filtering through memories picking out what to keep while or conscious tries to make a story out of it. In a lucid dream your subconscious is more subdued and we are creating new memories instead of processing them. So in theory we might be actually less refreshed. However if you sleep long enough you will still give your brain enough time to do what it has to and the feeling of becoming lucid should give your morning a good start too.

Its bit of a two sides subject hey. Though your responses are very interesting

Originally Posted by dutchraptor

Sorry man your wrong here. Rem is a state of mind just like being awake or meditation or deep sleep, therefore it is perfectly normal to be able to induce it. It is possible to dream for multiple hours using Deild and I wouldn't see why not. It is possible to Deild at almost any time no matter what period.

As for the OP. When we sleep we have the two main states, deep sleep and rem. Deep sleep regenerates your body while Rem sets your mind straight. Wether lucid dreams really contribute to this is under qeustioning. During normal sleep your subconscious is basically just filtering through memories picking out what to keep while or conscious tries to make a story out of it. In a lucid dream your subconscious is more subdued and we are creating new memories instead of processing them. So in theory we might be actually less refreshed. However if you sleep long enough you will still give your brain enough time to do what it has to and the feeling of becoming lucid should give your morning a good start too.

thank you

Originally Posted by Starlia

self explanatory

How's about a new wrench?

Yes, "been there, done that:" Based on where I've been, you can definitely stretch your REM cycle in LD's -- I've managed REM phases lasting well over an hour myself, if anecdotal evidence counts. Here's the wrench: I am almost always thoroughly exhausted for at least a day of waking life after stretching REM (or "jumping" REM through multiple DEILD's, which is about the same thing, consciously-speaking).

So, aside from the fact that everything Dutchraptor said above is true, and the restorative stuff is really happening during NREM (which can also be extended, with practice, but that's another tale) while REM itself is sort of a memory-regrouping phase (or Freudian-subconscious-memo-phase), it's really not terribly restorative. And, if you tax your mind by forcing it to support your waking consciousness during extended LD/REM sessions, you stand a better chance of wearing yourself out than you do getting a recharge.

... Of course, I will take the exhaustion every time, because the long-term rewards of extended LD'ing totally outweigh screwing up one night's mental recuperation, I think!

And for the panicky crowds out there: if your LD's fall within the normal confines of your regular REM schedule, you'll still wake as refreshed as ever; and likely very happy!