How detailed ARE your dreams?

This is something I wonder about. I keep an eye out fro this, lucid dreaming or not.

How detailed are your dreams? Do things have textures? Does the sun feel hot? Are there stars in the night sky? If, walking through a city, you were to stop and enter a randon shop, would it be filled with things like in real life, or bare? What about other people? Do you see the other people in the city, going about their lives, or is it just you and whoever you're specifically dreaming about?

Do you feel pain, see colors, listen to music? What about books, if you opened up a book in some random dream store, would there be words inside?

Actually, dreaming books really interests me. What would they be about? O.O
I dreamed one once, and I remember it told me something that was going to happen, but I couldn't remember when I woke up.
I sometimes dream that I'm looking through beautiful paintings I've done, trying desperately to memorize them, so I can really paint them when I wake up.

most details I find in my dreams are right in front of me. anywhere else is pretty much blank :P

Well, there are two sides to dream detail: the physical detail and the creative detail.

The creative details are all things such as a shop filled with items and customers instead of being empty, other people around, etc.
These are present depending on...you, basically. Creativity isn't something that dreams give you. After all, your own mind makes up your dreams.

The physical details, however, basically depend on your memory. The sun shining and feeling warm, the faces of people around you, the textures of objects, etc. -- since dreams are conceptual thought and we merely interpret it into sensory information, the amount of physical detail in dreams depends on how well we remember the dreams, not how much physical detail there actually is (unless you were to dream of a specifically bare and greyscale world all around).

I find that dreams are incredibly detailed, and when I wake up I am like: 'how the hell did I think up all that?!'

I think the textures of things in my dreams, and the physical sensations, aren't that different from real life.
We feel these thing in RL because of electrical messages sent to our brain that make us go, ouch, hot! or, Ooo... tree bark is rough.
I wonder if those same neurons fire when we dream, only caused by internal stimuli instead of external.

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Originally Posted by Desert Claw

most details I find in my dreams are right in front of me. anywhere else is pretty much blank :P

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Same. Lots of times the things that I'm focusing on are incredibly detailed. I remember one lucid dream I looked up at a night sky and it was full of stars, far more than normal. Oh man it was gorgeous.

Interestingly my lucid dreams are usually less detailed than my nonlucid dreams. I suspect this is because in my lucid dreams when I focus on how real everything is I can only focus on one or two senses easily. In nonlucid dreams I just think it is real life, and in real life you sort of sense everything but may disregard it if it is unimportant. Anyways, this sounds interesting so I'll write about the details of both. The lucid details are based on the past two lucid dreams I've had which were about 8-12 minutes long and the longest and most realistic I've ever had.

Nonlucid Dreams:

Sights: In my nonlucid dreams, I usually see very clearly. I wear glasses, but unless I think about it I find that I'm not wearing any while dreaming. Outdoors, I mostly see places that resemble where I have lived. This makes it very rare for me to dream of things like snow falling. However, the streets are organized in a believable fashion (even if they may be somewhat inconvenient) and structures are also well supported. I'm actually impressed with the ability of my mind in creating a realistic picture of things I know almost nothing about such as the interior of an engine. Everything I see in nonlucid dreams is basically indistinguishable from real life. One thing that really differs is watching television or using the computer. In these cases the screen fills up my whole field of view as if I am actually there, but I have control of the remote or mouse and keyboard.

Touch: The way I feel the world around me is pretty realistic when I do, but some details are missing. For instance, I have never felt wind in a dream. It is very rare for me to feel water and other things in nature. When I do, however, it is very realistic. Man made objects show up more in my dreams. When I feel these objects they are usually right, or a very good guess if I've never felt something like it before. I also can feel mild pain.

Sound: Sound is mostly unchanged in my dreams. The only thing that may differ is having people talking in different voices than in real life.

Interacting with the World: In my nonlucid dreams, objects do not act very realistically. Gravity is usually low (about 85% that of normal) and as a result I see objects that tend to float farther when thrown. Some things don't work the way they should. Computers are an example of this. If I'm online when dreaming the sites change without warning. Lights work fine. I can usually read. However, even though the sentences may be grammatically correct they tend to run on and on about unconnected subjects. The ground is usually softer in my dreams, and quite slippery. This makes running difficult. My body also has trouble moving quickly, which adds to that fact. Whatever I taste is exactly the same as in the real world.

Interacting with People: People in my dreams are very predictable. They don't usually talk to me unless spoken to. In fact, in may take them a few seconds to even react to anything I say. Sometimes they don't react at all until I wonder what could be wrong with the person. Personalities of those I know not too well are wrong. People who are sweet in real life may turn cruel, and mean people can turn nice. People I know well are more quiet and usually don't talk to me, favoring other dream characters. Sometimes people just act really weird, like posing as lions in their front yards naked!

Lucid Dreams:

Sights: This is a tough one. My focus tends to go crazy in lucid dreams. When I'm looking at something with my focus correctly it looks just like in real life. If I focus too hard the image becomes fuzzy, and when I see the object again it has changed. Colors though... I see the most wonderful and bright colors in my lucid dreams. Last night when I had a lucid and went outside and looked at the night sky, I got chills just seeing how it looked. Not going into too many details, the night sky was glowing with stars and had a neon red glow. Generally my sight is just as good as real life, but it has a tendency to blur or disappear altogether before coming back good as new.

Touch: I haven't had much experience with touch yet. If I focus on it everything is as real as real life. If I don't I don't really notice it, and can't remember really feeling anything at all but small shocks like when you walk or run. I cannot feel pain.

Sound: Once again, I don't have enough experience to say for sure. It isn't very realistic though and like in nonlucid dreams voices don't sound the same.

Interacting with the World: Well, in the past two lucids I had there was no control. I think this is because of how realistically everything behaves, which really makes me wonder if flying is possible. Gone is that 85% gravity; everything acts normally. Well, not lights. I could not get lights to work at all. I haven't had experience with machines yet. Taste was interesting. I wouldn't call it "realistic" because when I ate a beef patty on a bun, it tasted like a complete hamburger. It still felt like I was eating though.

Interacting with People: Like the other parts of my lucid dreams, I can't say for sure. I've only talked to my friend and my mom. They didn't "care" being dream characters at all, and actually gave me a hug when I told them. I'm not sure about strangers though. I expect them to ignore me, so they probably will...



OK, so to answer your questions without all the crap above:

Do things have textures? Yes.

Does the sun feel hot? I've never felt it.

Are there stars in the night sky? Sometimes.

If, walking through a city, you were to stop and enter a randon shop, would it be filled with things like in real life, or bare? It would be filled with things. Most things I want are near the front and in stock.

What about other people? Do you see the other people in the city, going about their lives, or is it just you and whoever you're specifically dreaming about? I see other people, but I usually know them from school, or I'm with my family. This is because I have a lot of school dreams.

Do you feel pain, see colors, listen to music? I feel slight pain, and can see vivid colors, but I can't say I've listened to music.

What about books, if you opened up a book in some random dream store, would there be words inside? Yes. It would be nonsensical but technically correct sentences would be in there.

Some times i find they are almost more detailed than RL

I'm bumping this very old post of mine, because I'm still interested in hearing from people about it.

Lately my dream detail has been a 3/10 but I have been drinking apple juice and that seems to help. :D

Mine can be really detailed if I'm looking around. If its just a normal dream then sometimes it can get a little fuzzy.

mine are sometimes so vivid and detailed that i dont even want to write them down in the morning cause i dont even know where to begin cause theres just so much shit to write

The details in my dreams vary but generally lucid dreams are more detailed, and detail increases if I focus more or put on glasses. Yes, I can feel textures as well as real life. No, I hardly ever feel temperatures. I feel whatever temperature I am when I'm sleeping (so if I have a blanket over me I feel warm). I've never seen the night sky in my dreams. I walked into a McDonalds once and it was furnished just like a real McDonalds, but the guy kept serving me sushi!! Most of the time I'm alone, but when I see people their faces aren't really detailed.

Hoi there,

I thought i should post because of the reference to reading books in dreams.

This actually happens regularly for me, maybe becuase i read so much in RL i dont know. I try hard to remember what i am reading but invariably fail. I know when i am doing it that i am generating the text as i go, a very strange feeling.

If your interested, do some research on edgar casey, he is probably the most prolific "chaneller", who managed to dictate his "dream reading" to someone so they could write it down. I know i mumble words while im dreaming but nothing as acurate as Casey.

Personally i would rather dream visually than in text but something is better than nothing i guess.

All the best,

FunK

Last night, I was driving my car and I noticed the smell of heat and smoke. I looked at my temp gauge, where it is in RL, and it was starting to overheat. This car has never overheated so I had no precedent for it but still, I reacted to it EXACTLY as I would in real life. I'm not sure why, but functional devices used for measure in the dreamworld fascinate me.

They're so detailed than the real life.

Textures, environments, and people are the same as they are IRL in most of my dreams. Textures are funny though...it's somewhat like eating mushrooms; at a distance they seem normal but at close range they seem almost more detailed than they should be.

I can't say I've ever felt the subtlety of the sun on my back though, which makes me a little sad now that I think about it.

Reading presents a bit of a problem sometimes, but mostly because I invariably end up losing the book I'm carrying with me. But I do remember reading them before, and they seemed mostly normal...except I noticed a tendency for the words to run on without spaces sometimes.

As for color, mine are mostly like RL. But I've had occasional dreams where all the overtones were of one color, and a few in black in white [but usually in that case red tended to appear normal].

I like seeing how the experience varies from person-to-person in regard to detail...fun post to read.

Last night I had a dream where an old woman grabbed my arm and I felt her hands were very smooth and cold. It felt just like real life. That was one of the most detailed dreams I've had in a while.

I find my dreams and my lucids can be just as equally realistic. I have recurring dreams at the moment about my teeth falling out, and trust me it feels so real I really wish it didn't.

In a couple of lucids I've felt temperature when I've touched things. But when I view things, I mean, look at them real close; they get pretty realistic and detailed, but most of the time they're blurred.

Pain tends to also occur in my dreams as well as real physics e.g. reality checks failing due to logic :( I can turn the logic off but it means I have to become really lucid before I even reality check =S I still RC, but just for the sake of it.

My dreams have always been pretty detailed, but ever since I started lucid dreaming, the detail level has kept increasing. A while ago, I had a dream in which I got sunburned! It was amazingly real.

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Originally Posted by omegadecisive

I have recurring dreams at the moment about my teeth falling out, and trust me it feels so real I really wish it didn't.

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I have this same dream! Also recurring. I hate that one. Haven't had one in awhile, though, fortunately. Recently I discovered my mother also has similar dreams. Odd.

As for dream detail, I find my dreams are pretty darn realistic. Especially textures and taste. I've had food and drink in dreams that are better than anything I've had in reality. Colors often tend to be more rich, too.

In the case of nightmares or dreams with a generally darker theme, the colors are sometimes subdued or there seems to be a dark fog over the entire dream, but even then there are generally some colors. I don't think I've ever had a dream in black and white.

As for pain. Hah! Yeah. I feel that too. Just recently I had a dream that I was pregnant (and I'm a guy). When I woke up, I discovered that my kidneys were hurting from having to pee really bed, which induced the sensation of pregnancy in my dream. Amusing.

My dreams are just as detailed as waking life, if not more. I will generally find any details I am currently on the lookout for. As soon as I look for something, it appears. At times, I've noticed huge amounts of detail streaming all at once, and even marveled at how amazing my brain is to be generating it all.

most of my dreams are more detailed then real life when i wake up. by the end of the day though i can only remember the stuff i wrote in my dj.

For example, the other night, my poster of shivering isles (video game) was falling all day in real life, and when i dreamed, i dreamed of an awesome oblivion game, but i was in it. It was like real-world with video game creativity. It was so awesome, i even had climates and active volcanoes and stuff. The only thing was that the monsters behaved like AI.

EDIT: also, my 2nd ld, i tried to do the finger through hand thing, but it didn't work, however it felt SO detailed it was kind of scary. Like i could feel each tendon and everything in my hand.

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Originally Posted by Small Town Wizard

I have this same dream! Also recurring. I hate that one. Haven't had one in awhile, though, fortunately. Recently I discovered my mother also has similar dreams. Odd.

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Ok now that's just plain creepy, my mum has dreams like it too...I'm being serious she's always telling me about the dreams where she imagines her teeth are falling out =S she also has a lot of dreams about bugs etc. and so do I, dreaming and DNA?