While dreaming, is there a way of telling how much time you have left in the REM cycle?

**Cobalt Storm** · 01-26-2014 06:43 AM

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**splodeymissile** · 01-26-2014 12:53 PM

Perhaps. Time in dreams can be surprisingly accurate to real life, though it is rarely perfect. You would probably need to know how long your average cycle lasts in the first place, to get anywhere near an accurate answer. Not to mention that in the cases of DILD, it can be difficult to work out when in the cycle you started.

**Cheshirecat** · 01-29-2014 02:03 AM

Once while I was LDing I was talking to someone, and told him we didn't have much time left. I explained we were dreaming and I would be waking up soon. I somehow knew when i'd be waking up. To my knowledge I did not wake myself up (which I can do so I know what to do and how it feels etc), I just knew when i'd begin waking up.

So, not sure if this answers the posters initial question or not... but i'd say the answer would be yes.

I've not done it again to my knowledge however. But I find judging time a very cold, harsh and strict thing I don't like to do. (I don't even wear a watch). When I don't have to be doing something, I prefer to just let time slip on unchecked. perhaps I knew when i'd be waking in the mentioned story there, because I was doing something important and didn't want to run out of time doing what I was doing heh who knows.

all just subjective.

**FoxyGrandma3000** · 01-29-2014 03:50 AM

I absolutely HATE the sounds of alarms, so I almost always wake up a few minutes before the alarm goes off. I don't know why I still set the alarm, but maybe it works as an incentive for me to naturally wake up. I don't wake up at the same time every day, so it is not out of habit.

So if it is possible for me to subconsciously know when to wake up, and I know this is true from daily experience. Then the ability to track time in the dream state should be possible. Whenever I am lucid, this has not been the case though. So it may be that the part of the brain that knows when to wake up is unrelated to that part of the brain used during dreaming.

**Phased** · 01-29-2014 09:07 AM

I'm not sure how well this will work, but I'll go ahead and suggest it anyway..

What I would suggest is setting music up to play during the last 5 minutes of Your REM Periods, I mean, set alarms with music as the tone for the alarm (I recommend classical music.) and then set the alarms for 5 minutes before each REM Period ends, in theory you should hear some sort of form of the music play in your dream when it goes off, just make sure it's not so loud that it will wake you.

If you're unsure of how REM Periods work and there timing see below.

Spoiler for REM Periods:

**Impossibleman** · 01-29-2014 09:48 AM

Honestly, alarms will mess up the whole thing I think. You'll be expecting an alarm so you may be shifty and wake up before it knowing it will go off. I would time about 15 minutes; if you can gauge that with your mind, then that's cool. I now can time how long I am lucid. I kind of use video game timing. Something like Grand Theft Auto 5(or Online). The timing is what, 30 minutes is a day(I could be wrong). You have to adjust your timing to your own world view. I can simply lucid dream a whole 15 minutes and wake. Though, I may be still lucid, I may fall back into a dream because this is my recreational creative time lol. But you can time. Create a stream of water and keep that in mind. There are may things. Hope this has helped.