False Awakenings - Why do they occur?

I’m curious about false awakenings and I wanted to read more about them. I’m sure there is lots of discussion regarding them somewhere on this forum but I couldn't find one specifically.

I have a few questions:

Do false awakenings necessarily require a higher awareness than a normal dream? I have heard many descriptions of people waking up, getting ready for work etc. only to then wake up again. It seems that this like the vividness of a lucid dream but without being aware of being lucid.

But can false awakenings also include dreaming that you wake up in your dream and then carrying on with the dream even if it is in a similar fussy dream state?

Do false awakenings greatly increase your chance of later becoming lucid? Are they an indicator that you are a little bit more aware than you normally are?

Why do false awakenings occur – are they occurring simply because it is the brain doing something that you do everyday just like you often dream of work or the people you are around a lot? Or is it some kind of middle-ground where the brain is getting confused between waking and sleeping worlds?

I’ve only had one lucid dream (I don’t count the ones that only last a few seconds) and this occurred after a false awakening (at least what I think was a false awakening, but it wasn’t vivid – it was waking up in my dream although I felt really sleepy just like I often do when coming out of a deep sleep – then I actually fell asleep later in my dream and after waking up again in the dream had a lucid).

So that’s why I would like to know and understand more about false awakenings :)

A false awakening is simply a dream like any other that happens to be a simulation of something from your waking world. And you're exactly right, you've probably dreamed about being at school or work before and believed that you were really there while you were actually dreaming so waking up in your bed and not realising you're actually dreaming doesn't seem too out of the ordinary. If anything this would suggest a lack of awareness at the time. You can become lucid in a false awakening just like any other dream if you happen to pick up on one of the details of the dream that doesn't make much sense.

A false awakening does include dreaming that you wake up seeing as that is what a false awakening is. They can increase your chance of becoming lucid if you have them frequently and learn to check whether or not you're still dreaming as soon as you wake up. I hope this make sense, I'm a little tired at the moment :offtobed:

Yeah that does make sense I think. From my understanding then they increase your chance of becoming lucid just because you learn to look out for them, in the same way that a dream sign would?

I am currently trying to set the intention of doing a RC every time I wake up to catch this. But I only remember about 30% of the time to do it first thing.

I just found it particularly interesting because waking up and getting out of bed is something that I do every single day, but I rarely actually dream it and the fact that it happened for the first time in years (that I can remember) on the same night I lucid dreamed seemed interesting :)

Yeah, some beginners write something on their hand when they first start practising reality checks so they remember when they wake up and see it. After a while though you might get used to seeing it so you might see it in a dream and not perform a reality check. There's also the problem that you might smear ink on your face or bedsheets :rolllaugh:

It's definitely interesting, but sometimes can be frustrating when you have multiple in a row and don't identify them and end up going through your morning routine 3 times before actually waking up :chuckle:

When I was truly into lucid dreaming a couple years ago, I would frequently get False Awakenings - in fact, almost all my lucid dreams started that way.
My experience of them was that they greatly increased my chances of becoming lucid, because for some reason I always had lucidity on my mind when I got those dreams, and made a point of doing a reality check (my typical, somewhat unreliable reality check was to test if my bed lamp worked - if it didn't work then I took that as a sign that I was probably dreaming, and became very aware of my surroundings).

My sensory experience of a False Awakening was that they always started out in two specific ways:

1.
The entire dream is dark and somewhat colorless, almost as if I am seeing everything in Night Vision - kind of like this.
Actually, that night-vision image is extremely close to what my "dark" False Awakenings would look like - it's almost like a photo of one of my dream environments - and I am sure a lot of people in here recognize that slightly blurry and "flowing" quality.

2.
My vision is amazingly crystal clear, literally exactly like waking like - however, for some reason I would always be blind on one eye, and only be able to use my lower half of my other eye.
This would sometimes stop during the lucid dream though, and I would eventually get perfect vision, which was mindblowing.

Also, I believe False Awakenings occur because you are so focused on "catching" a dream that you will eventually start dreaming about waking up, because that's the environment that you are most used to, and thus it is easier for your brain to create a dream about that.

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Originally Posted by midnightfire

Do false awakenings necessarily require a higher awareness than a normal dream?

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No, false awakenings are just like other dreams.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by midnightfire

But can false awakenings also include dreaming that you wake up in your dream and then carrying on with the dream even if it is in a similar fussy dream state?

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Yes. The false awakening could be caused by you coming close to "waking up" to the fact you're dreaming.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by midnightfire

Do false awakenings greatly increase your chance of later becoming lucid? Are they an indicator that you are a little bit more aware than you normally are?

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Yes, although perhaps not greatly. False awakenings do because they usually take place in an environment you know well so things that are off are easier to spot, especially if you're not distracted and are therefore more present.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by midnightfire

Are they an indicator that you are a little bit more aware than you normally are?

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Maybe. It depends on the symbolism behind the false awakening.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by midnightfire

Why do false awakenings occur – are they occurring simply because it is the brain doing something that you do everyday just like you often dream of work or the people you are around a lot? Or is it some kind of middle-ground where the brain is getting confused between waking and sleeping worlds?

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No and No. False awakenings are caused by things which symbolize awakening in some way in your life. Whether it's about anxiety about having to wake up, waking up to a new idea in your life, getting closer to waking up to the fact you're dreaming, or having something stirred up or produced inside of you (a feeling or memory awakening inside of you, for example), among other things.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by midnightfire

I’ve only had one lucid dream (I don’t count the ones that only last a few seconds) and this occurred after a false awakening (at least what I think was a false awakening, but it wasn’t vivid – it was waking up in my dream although I felt really sleepy just like I often do when coming out of a deep sleep – then I actually fell asleep later in my dream and after waking up again in the dream had a lucid).

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If you woke up in the dream, it was a false awakening. It doesn't matter how vivid it was.

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Originally Posted by midnightfire

So that’s why I would like to know and understand more about false awakenings :)

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I'm very experienced with false awakenings. :)

Thanks for the reply's everyone I have a better understanding now, very interesting :)
I think because they often take place in a familiar environment and in the same way that you will wake up they are of extra interest compared to some other dream settings and in that way make you more likely to notice something is off as Dolphin said.

Yeah I don't particularly want to experience a series of false awakenings all in one night though that would be very frustrating I can imagine.

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Originally Posted by Araishu

Yeah, some beginners write something on their hand when they first start practising reality checks so they remember when they wake up and see it. After a while though you might get used to seeing it so you might see it in a dream and not perform a reality check. There's also the problem that you might smear ink on your face or bedsheets :rolllaugh:

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That gives me a good idea. I will write a reminder and stick it on my alarm clock face so it's the first thing I see when I wake up :) that should get me into the practice and I don't need to worry about colouring my face haha