is this possible?

[Lucid1972]

Apologies, new to this, i fell asleep, had a 'lucid nightmare' and harmed myself in the nightmare to wake myself up. I fell asleep at 0700 GMT and woke myself up at 0708. Is it possible for this to happen in 8 minutes, or do i need professional help?

[paigeyemps]

Hello there. I am very sorry to hear about your lucid nightmare. I think that it is normal for it to have happened within 8 minutes. Time passes by differently in dreams than they do in real life, though they can also happen within the same amount of time. Some dreams feel like years yet only happen within an hour. And some dreams feel like a few seconds even though minutes have gone by. I would suggest not worrying about it. Also, next time you have a nightmare and go lucid, try to change the dream in any way you can, or maybe face the nightmare or ask what it wants. That way you can understand it better, whereas if you keep avoiding it, it might keep returning. Good luck!

[Lucid1972]

Thanks for the advice, i had finished a night shift and redreamt my journey home from work an hour later, this is the most intense dream i have experienced in 40 years and i found this site by googling 'waking from nightmares', i intend to try your suggestion if i can remember to during a dream. I am a self-diagnosed insomniac and sleep 3 hours on average, is there any correlation between insomnia and lucid experiences?

[paigeyemps]

Thanks for the advice, i had finished a night shift and redreamt my journey home from work an hour later, this is the most intense dream i have experienced in 40 years and i found this site by googling 'waking from nightmares', i intend to try your suggestion if i can remember to during a dream. I am a self-diagnosed insomniac and sleep 3 hours on average, is there any correlation between insomnia and lucid experiences? Hmm I'm pretty sure there must be a correlation between insomnia and lucidity. After all, most lucids occur in REM stages of sleep, and if you're an insomniac, you might not be getting as much REM because of constantly waking up in lighter stages. This thread is a bit old, but check it out, you might find something that will help: http://www.dreamviews.com/f12/lucid-...mniacs-109927/

[Lucid1972]

Thanks once again, I am also exploring whether changes in sleep patterns (I work early, afternoon and night shifts on a weekly rotation) have impact too. I never have a set bedtime as day based workers enjoy. My body clock must be totally out of sync.

[Michael]

Thanks once again, I am also exploring whether changes in sleep patterns (I work early, afternoon and night shifts on a weekly rotation) have impact too. I never have a set bedtime as day based workers enjoy. My body clock must be totally out of sync. That most definitely messes with your sleep cycle. sometimes it can help you get lucid, most of the time it's going to drown out your dream recall. I'm sorry to hear you are on such a hectic schedule. Most of the time you probably don't remember much of your dreams, do you?

[Lucid1972]

Thanks Michael, I do remember the more interesting dreams or frightening ones (I am obviously not able to control dreams or face my dream demons), I am still confused as to how I managed to fall asleep, enter REM sleep and wake myself within 8 minutes of falling asleep (this happened 17 hours ago hence my 'debut appearance' on here). It all seems a little odd but at the same time very fascinating.

[Mancon]

Yes, it's possible! You don't need professional help! Lol! Time can feel very different in dreams, 8 minutes can feel like a day in a dream.

[Lucid1972]

My query was more along the lines of . . . . . I fell asleep at 7am, completed the dream/nightmare by 708am, I appreciate that dreams can take seconds to happen, I was querying whether someone can get into a dream state within 8 minutes of closing their eyes.

[paigeyemps]

My query was more along the lines of . . . . . I fell asleep at 7am, completed the dream/nightmare by 708am, I appreciate that dreams can take seconds to happen, I was querying whether someone can get into a dream state within 8 minutes of closing their eyes. I guess the answer would still be yes. Especially if you're adept at doing WILDs. Some people can even enter the dream within a few seconds, which is common when you're doing a DEILD (which is a kind of WILD where you wake up after sleeping, stay still, and reenter the dream). I think it can happen when you're doing DILD too. If you're in the proper mindset, or with other factors, it is very possible to be able to recognize you're dreaming within 8 minutes, though it might be a bit harder since you're not REM then. But that could still happen, for example when you've been awake a long time and/or really tired, and then when you get some sleep, your REM will be much earlier to make up for what it missed.