Thread: How long do you LD for?

My longest dreams have lasted for years. Of course, like Lusense already explained, it is only a trick. False memories combined with movie-like scene changes make the dream seem like it has lasted for longer than it really has.

In real time, I would say my longest lucid dream is probably around 60-90 minutes. You can get some super long ones with REM rebound and good timing.

Thanks for the replies! So, if you say you've had a dream that lasted years, you are basically just describing a movie you created and starred in which actually lasted 60-90 minutes, but in which the plot spanned years? Seems odd - seeing as you're just as rational in an LD as you are in real life, surely you can tell the difference.

Unless people leave movie theaters and say: "Wow, that sure was a fun couple of years

No, it is different. The main thing that gets me are false memories. They seem just as real as normal memories. I will have memories of my entire back story, what I did yesterday, ect. It is as if the memories just appear when I need them.

Think of it like going to the theatre to see Spiderman2. The movie lasts only 90 minutes or so. If you saw spiderman1, you will have all the memories from it to add to that 90 minutes. If you have ever read the Spiderman comic books, or seen his saturday morning cartoons, you will have those memories, too. That same type of history of memories will be in place, only they feel liike real memories, not cartoons.

This is how your brain works while awake, too. You are only ever experiencing the current moment. You might have short term memory of a day or two. The rest of your perception of time is just memories from the years and years you've lived.

In this way, you can have years and years of memories in a dream. Try it next time you're lucid. See if you can remember what the dream-you did yesterday, or how you got to where you are.