Smoking in a dream

First, allow me to say, i don't smoke. I don't do it for health, and hygene reasons. I've smoked a few cigaretes after drinking in college. I did it enough to start enjoying it, but not enought to get hooked on it. If smoking had no side effects, i'd probably be lighting up right now

Anyway, on to my point
I was driving home after midnight, and though of something interesting. What if i would start smoking in my dreams? My dreams seem real enough where if i light up, i could enjoy it. The feeling of smoke, the taste, the warmth. All the goodness, minus the surgeon general warning. This actually applies to everything else. I am trying to drop a few pounds, so in my dream, i could, say, pig out on a pizza, or a bowl of ice-cream.
Would that have any impact on me in real life though?
Something along the lines of a placebo effect.

So, has anyone done this? Now, i am sure there's much more interesting things to do in a dream then smoke and eat ice-cream, but still, it makes me wonder.

Nice question, im intrigued. Id also like to know the answer.

I have had dreams where I have done things which I'll just say is "self-destructive". The only effect it has given me is a more aware sense that what ever I do in my dreams, need to stay in my dreams. For example, I might jump off a building, just for the hell of it only to be smashed into a pulp. Now when I think of this, I know that i'm going to die if I would for some reason do it in waking life. But once you have done it in the dream world, it give you a better understanding of what to do and what not to do.


- Axis

i think it is possible to satisfy cravings (small or large) in dreamscape.

i have heard numerous accounts of people who tend to overeat...once they learn wish-fulfillment in dreams they can just say "i won't have that donut now...i'll just wait a few hours and feast in my dreams"

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Originally posted by Axis
I have had dreams where I have done things which I'll just say is "self-destructive". The only effect it has given me is a more aware sense that what ever I do in my dreams, need to stay in my dreams. For example, I might jump off a building, just for the hell of it only to be smashed into a pulp. Now when I think of this, I know that i'm going to die if I would for some reason do it in waking life. But once you have done it in the dream world, it give you a better understanding of what to do and what not to do.


- Axis

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no, no no!
okay think about this, what is a dream? its completely created by YOU. Doing something in a dream maybe nothing like in the waking world, its just your mind interpratation of what it MAY be like. You probably dont really know what its like to chop another human beings head off, but you can do it in a dream, your mind just fills in the details. Understand?

Hmm, this makes me think.

When people get addicted to something, say sugar, it is because the brain gets addicted to a certain hormone or compound it produces, such as opiates or dopamines, etc.

If you were to eat something in a dream, and truly think you were eating something, would your brain release the chemicals as it would in waking life?

Wow! This is a very interesting thread.

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Originally posted by Chympara
Hmm, this makes me think.

When people get addicted to something, say sugar, it is because the brain gets addicted to a certain hormone or compound it produces, such as opiates or dopamines, etc.

If you were to eat something in a dream, and truly think you were eating something, would your brain release the chemicals as it would in waking life?

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i'm almost willing to say it would! I mean, when you are dreaming, your mind makes everything real. If you can get over your fear of public speaking, heighs, spiders...whatever...because they are all in your head...it's crazy to imagine what harm you could do to youself as well.

I wonder, PlayWithFire, if you could get addicted to something in waking life from doing it in a dream. I forget the numbers, but what percentage of cigarette addiction is physical from the nicotine, and what percent is mental. I also know it changes with other things like weed, coke, porn, and anything that you can get addicted too.

So if you think about it, anything that is mostly, or purely a mental addition, if you did that action every nite in your dreams, you'd probably get addicted to it in waking life as well.

But I'm not sure, just my 2 cents. Very intersting!

I smoke a lot in my dreams, though it isn't always the same as in real life. In general, I never get any psychological highs in dreams, though the calming sensation of having a nice burning stick to suck on carries over. I remember once in a hyperreal dream I was in my attic smoking with a girl I know. I remember the way the light poured in through the windows, the familiar taste of some dank ganj, the familiar shape of my piece, the unmistakable smell, the way the smoke curled and whisped through the streams of light.. it was way better than smoking in real life, in fact it was romanticized quite a bit.

Anyway in a typical dream it's merely ok, but in a vivid dream I highly recommend it.

it would be interesting to try a self-destructive behavious in a dream that you have not done in real life

something like trying LSD. I've never done that, or any other drug for that matter. But, i know enough about it to allow my mind to paint some mental picture of the effects.

as for jumping of the buldings, i've not gone lucid enough to try that yet. In my non-lucid dreams i've done that, and i would either end up flying, or waking up mid fall with the most amazing adrenaline rush. I wonder, was adrenaline actually getting released into my system, or was that all in my head?

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Originally posted by psycho_supreme



no, no no!
okay think about this, what is a dream? its completely created by YOU. Doing something in a dream maybe nothing like in the waking world, its just your mind interpratation of what it MAY be like. You probably dont really know what its like to chop another human beings head off, but you can do it in a dream, your mind just fills in the details. Understand?

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I'm talking about the obvious things, sorry if I didn't explain that well. I'm saying that the things you know will harm you and you could have just as easily done them in waking life.