time in dreaming

[a_dreamer]

is one second in a lucid dream equal to once second in real life? or can you experience a day in lucid dreams in only an hour of sleeping?

[Snooze]

no the time isnt same. I once read a rumor bout some buddhist or monk or something who had a .. was it 80(?) year lucid dream in one night, where he lived another life had kids n such. someone better clarify me on this one, its a while since i read it.

[AwesomeEvs]

no the time isnt same. I once read a rumor bout some buddhist or monk or something who had a .. was it 80(?) year lucid dream in one night, where he lived another life had kids n such. someone better clarify me on this one, its a while since i read it. I read one bloke had hundreds of years in just one night

[thegnome54]

Actually, I'm pretty sure the time IS the same. One of the first experiments done with lucid dreaming involved the eye movements of lucid dreamers. Apparently, sleep paralysis does not paralyze the extraocular muscles, meaning that if you look left in your dream, your eyes will move left. The test subject was able to induce a lucid dream, and as soon as he became lucid he was instructed to look left, count to one-onethousand, look right, repeat, etc. His eye movements were timed by an assistant, and it was found that we do in fact dream in real time. I think this whole 'time dilation' thing is fantasy. You can do whatever you want during the lucid dream, but you can't make your brain speed up and record more time passing than actually does.

[Snooze]

but umm, what about this one, the gnome on my only lucid dream i was doing jump tricks in slooooowwww motion, so umm, i actually controlled time?

[thegnome54]

Slow motion, yes, not slow TIME. Big difference. You could slow down your motion and do a dropkick or whatever, BUT if it seems to you in your dream that your slow kick took five seconds to execute, you would have been doing it for five real-time seconds.

[Snooze]

damnit, i was wasting major time then -.-

[thegnome54]

If you had actually managed to slow time, you would have been thinking in slow motion as well, and you wouldn't have noticed anything. I'd be willing to bet that you could still think normally, you were just moving slowly - slow motion and not slow time.

[Bonsay]

People here claim to have had LDs like that. Living years in one dream. Won't know for sure until I try.

[Snooze]

unless i sped up my thinking while slowing up the time

[Vortex]

When I've noticed the flashing lights of the NovaDreamer in a LD the flash rate seems the same as when I'm awake, if dream time was faster or slower then the flash rate would be different. I've had many a ND though where it feels like I've been doing something for years but I think that is just a dream feeling.

[KuRoSaKi]

Phsyically a dream can only last for the duration of your REM period. However there is a technique known as Time Dilation or Time Incubation in which one can increase the length of the dream to an extravagant amount of time like hours days weeks months years etc. However I have only gotten it to seem to last for a few hours, but I have heard of people getting their dreams to last for months and years.

[jankai]

I have found timing in dreams to be weird. One night i could have a dream were am in it for months yet i could have another dream were it lasts for as long as am asleep. The whole thing of stopping time in a dream i found doesnt effect ur dream time. You are whats making the timer in the dream count down to waking up you cant stop it that impossiable (or is it).

[thegnome54]

Phsyically a dream can only last for the duration of your REM period. However there is a technique known as Time Dilation or Time Incubation in which one can increase the length of the dream to an extravagant amount of time like hours days weeks months years etc. However I have only gotten it to seem to last for a few hours, but I have heard of people getting their dreams to last for months and years. Are you sure those 'few hours' weren't actually the length of time you were asleep? Because if you think about this, making a dream last 'months' would require your brain to do enough thinking to fill up 'months' of normal-speed-thought-time. That means you would have to think hundreds of times faster than in a 'normal' lucid dream in order to give the illusion of months passing. Is it possible that A) These people are full of shit, or B) "Time Dilation" is simply an effect, wherein you FEEL like you've been asleep for months, but really it's only a vague memory of lots of time?

[Bonsay]

The way you get there isn't important, what's important is the result. If I had a LD that, to me, seemed to last forever, I'd be happy. Ofcourse the 100 years didn't really happen in 10 minutes (probably). All you have left after any dream is memories, if there's a way to improve them by adding extra time I'll take it!

[thegnome54]

The way you get there isn't important, what's important is the result. If I had a LD that, to me, seemed to last forever, I'd be happy. Ofcourse the 100 years didn't really happen in 10 minutes (probably). All you have left after any dream is memories, if there's a way to improve them by adding extra time I'll take it! Very true, but I'm trying to dispel the notion of 'time dilation' as an actual supernatural phenomenon, as some people seem to be implying. We don't want to spread the doubt and disdain we already get from some skeptics, better keep things scientific if we can.

[G007]

Are you sure those 'few hours' weren't actually the length of time you were asleep? Because if you think about this, making a dream last 'months' would require your brain to do enough thinking to fill up 'months' of normal-speed-thought-time. That means you would have to think hundreds of times faster than in a 'normal' lucid dream in order to give the illusion of months passing. Is it possible that A) These people are full of shit, or B) "Time Dilation" is simply an effect, wherein you FEEL like you've been asleep for months, but really it's only a vague memory of lots of time? I have had dreams that have felt as if they had lasted months. But then again the way it happens in a dream is different from real life. DUh! Wait what I meant is that lol .... In real life you feel all of the seconds, minutes, hours, days etc. In a dream it just does a scene change. Atleast for me. So I will be in one scene and lets say its summer, then instantly the scene changes and Its winter. So my dream felt as if it was months long but in reality it was about an hour long. You get me? I think the fact the the scenes jump into new time frames cut the actual length of time yet you feel as if a long time has passed. * At least for me* I cannot speak for others.

[thegnome54]

You get me? I think the fact the the scenes jump into new time frames cut the actual length of time yet you feel as if a long time has passed. * At least for me* I cannot speak for others. Makes sense to me... I was under the impression that some people claim to actually be able to go through years in one night, moment by moment, and 'live' in their dreams indefinitely.

[Bonsay]

Makes sense to me... I was under the impression that some people claim to actually be able to go through years in one night, moment by moment, and 'live' in their dreams indefinitely. How do you know if you are as old as you claim to be? Can you remember every moment of your life? If you can then ok :p , but anyway... see my point?

[G007]

Makes sense to me... I was under the impression that some people claim to actually be able to go through years in one night, moment by moment, and 'live' in their dreams indefinitely. Hmmm.. *I* have never had a dream of a month or longer in which I lived moment by moment. It has always been scene changes making it feel longer. And I see Bonsay's point. If I think back I can only remember the times that stood out from my past. I can't remember every single moment. Thegnome54 is correct though. They did test real life time and dream time and found it to be the same. So I can't believe that someone can live for years in their dreams "moment to moment" But then again I would have never believed in LD's either if someone had approached me and told me it was possible.

[thegnome54]

How do you know if you are as old as you claim to be? Can you remember every moment of your life? If you can then ok :p , but anyway... see my point? I've grappled with the issue before - all of our memories are technically from a different person, and could be, for all we know, fabrications. In fact, most early childhood memories are probably fabrications based on things people tell us happened, instead of what we actually remember. But the point is, though it's entirely possible to have an illusion of extensive dreams, it's important to be specific about what we're discussing - is this an actual 'distortion' of time, or is it just an illusion? If we're ever going to conduct experiments on this type of thing we need a good hypothesis to jump from.

[Spamtek]

Some possibilities with time dilation: 1)Bullshit 2)Scene changes give the illusion of extended time 3)Appropriate temporal memory gives the direct illusion of a long span of time occurring 4)Overclocked brain subjectively experiences more moments in an objective period of time than it does while awake. 5)You slip into a magical time vortex where anything is possible. First three are very likely, fourth (I think) is very realistically possible (but to what extent?), and fifth... go ahead, guess. For those who absolutely claim to have experienced every moment of days or longer periods of time in a single night, then we have to consider #4. People already ramp their brains to higher and lower levels of activity all day long and subjectively experience varying speeds of time. My classic example: Does an hour spent lazing at the beach feel anything as long as an hour spent struggling against a killer exam? Your brain is operating faster and making more reference checks against reality with that exam than it does staring a beach ball buried in the sand. When people are in near-death situations, they say their lives flash before their eyes - and regardless, see and react to their situation in what feels like extreme slow motion, because it really is that slow for them. So while dreaming, the same thing has to be possible. These are extreme examples, and just like a person in waking life in an average situation can count a minute's worth of seconds and usually stay very accurate, so will an average person in an average lucid environment default to that average temporality. But unbound from the sensory pace of objective reality, I have good confidence that a lucid dreamer with enough intent and influence could induce themselves to experience their dream world at a far faster or slower pace than their time asleep might suggest. I can't even begin to guess at the limits of this, whether there's a neurological stopping point to how far you can stretch time or an objective time limit of how long you can pull it off or even a point at which you start temporarily or permanently damaging your own brain... but I do think it's possible. Magical time vortexes, though, not so much. Also: How to stop time!

[G007]

I've grappled with the issue before - all of our memories are technically from a different person, and could be, for all we know, fabrications. In fact, most early childhood memories are probably fabrications based on things people tell us happened, instead of what we actually remember. But the point is, though it's entirely possible to have an illusion of extensive dreams, it's important to be specific about what we're discussing - is this an actual 'distortion' of time, or is it just an illusion? If we're ever going to conduct experiments on this type of thing we need a good hypothesis to jump from. I go with illusion.

[Bonsay]

I've grappled with the issue before - all of our memories are technically from a different person, and could be, for all we know, fabrications. In fact, most early childhood memories are probably fabrications based on things people tell us happened, instead of what we actually remember. But the point is, though it's entirely possible to have an illusion of extensive dreams, it's important to be specific about what we're discussing - is this an actual 'distortion' of time, or is it just an illusion? If we're ever going to conduct experiments on this type of thing we need a good hypothesis to jump from. Also, I've heard that in a lifetime (or even sooner?) all the atoms in our bodies are replaced. So technically you really aren't the same person. Spooky

[G007]

Also, I've heard that in a lifetime (or even sooner?) all the atoms in our bodies are replaced. So technically you really aren't the same person. Spooky Evolution lol That is spooky... Buts its so true. I was staring at my niece the other day and I remember thinking that exact same thought. She is not the same person she was at 10 that she is now at 15. I miss the 10 year old lol