Thread: How long can Lucid dreams be?

I think once your lucid, you can make it last as long as you want. But, I haven't been lucid enough to do it, so...

Had my first long lucid dream this morning. Not sure how long it was in waking time but it felt like a good 20 - 30 min long lucid dream. I remember doing so much and just enjoying the fact I knew I was dreaming and could stay in my dream without having to wake up. I think I could of stayed even longer but I woke up because my shoulder was killing me from the position I feel asleep in.

Time is very subjective, so we are never completely sure how long a dream was just from guessing by how long it felt. False memories and other feelings in dreams can make them seem to last extremely long. I have had lucids that seemed to last hours, but when I wake and look at the clock, it's only been 30-45 minutes since my last WBTB. The only way I've been able to clock my lucids with some accuracy has been checking the time, WILDing within a few minutes, and checking the time again upon waking. These WILDs are typically between 20-30 minutes, and the longest I'm sure I've had was around 40 minutes.

If I were to guess on some of my DILDs, I would say that I've had some which have lasted at least an hour. But I can't say that with complete certainty because I have no way of objectively measuring time when it comes to those dreams. The other thing to take into account is that I sometimes chain lucids together--so I'll spend a half hour dreaming, wake up, and fall right back into the dream without even moving (DEILD). The next dream can be equally long. This usually happens in late mornings or days that I sleep in.

I want to put my 2 cents in here. In the Laberge Studies, they found that it took 44 percent longer to bend your knee in the dream than in waking life. They found that in general all activities took 44 percent longer than they take in waking life.. meaning, that even though the action (a jump for instance) happens instantly in dream time, it actually last 44 percent longer than a real life jump. This brings me to personally believe that the average 1 minute of a Lucid dream is 44 percent longer than 1 Minute of real waking life, hence 1 minute/60 seconds of real time = 86.4 seconds of a lucid dream, and that 30 minutes of real life time = 2,592 seconds/43.2 minutes of lucid dreaming time. So 1 full hour of real waking life would equal 86.4 minutes (almost a full hour and half) of lucid dreaming time.... However, this entire argument is almost completely invalid considering that Dr. Laberge also concluded that some of his studies showed that some of his dreamers could actually prolong the time frame that the lucid dream lasted regardless that the real life time of their rem period had not changed.. So, in conclusion, it seems that lucid dreams have longer time frames than real waking time, but some people can extend dream time regardless of real time... That's my 2 cents. lol.

After falling into a WILD using the DEILD method, I have timed various lucid dreams.
My longest so far is 1 hour and 15 minutes. I enjoyed every second of it.

Originally Posted by atkins513

I want to put my 2 cents in here. In the Laberge Studies, they found that it took 44 percent longer to bend your knee in the dream than in waking life. They found that in general all activities took 44 percent longer than they take in waking life.. meaning, that even though the action (a jump for instance) happens instantly in dream time, it actually last 44 percent longer than a real life jump. This brings me to personally believe that the average 1 minute of a Lucid dream is 44 percent longer than 1 Minute of real waking life, hence 1 minute/60 seconds of real time = 86.4 seconds of a lucid dream, and that 30 minutes of real life time = 2,592 seconds/43.2 minutes of lucid dreaming time. So 1 full hour of real waking life would equal 86.4 minutes (almost a full hour and half) of lucid dreaming time.... However, this entire argument is almost completely invalid considering that Dr. Laberge also concluded that some of his studies showed that some of his dreamers could actually prolong the time frame that the lucid dream lasted regardless that the real life time of their rem period had not changed.. So, in conclusion, it seems that lucid dreams have longer time frames than real waking time, but some people can extend dream time regardless of real time... That's my 2 cents. lol.

WOW!! Good mathematic!!

Originally Posted by Loaf

After falling into a WILD using the DEILD method, I have timed various lucid dreams.
My longest so far is 1 hour and 15 minutes. I enjoyed every second of it.

Awesome going Loaf!

With good conditions, I can have a lucid dream that lasts an hour or two. Good conditions would be REM rebound from lack of sleep the previous night, a well timed WILD, and possibly some supplements.

In terms of dream time, my dreams always seem longer than they actually are. I get false memories and storytelling-type scene changes that can make the dream seem to last days or even years.

Laberge studies show that counting down in dream time and counting in real time (monitored via eye movements) were roughly on a par. There is a fair amount of concensus on this.

http://daniel.erlacher.de/index.php/...n_lucid_dreams

Atkins513 appears to have it backwards. The motor activities study indicated that dream exercises took approx 45% longer in perceived dream time than they would physically take in real time.
This would actually reduce the perceived dream length, not increase it.
i.e. 30 mins of dream squat thrusts would waste 60 mins of REM time.
Cutting your perceived dream time in half.


I'm really not sure how a dream can "seem" to last years.

I presume when Robot_Butler refers to "false memories" he means that when he ponders gaps in time, his brain then takes the time to rationalise the experience. Meaning we're still stuck in an approximate real time.

Those compelled to boast about literally living years in a dream, based on their zen like mastery of the cosmic dream arts...well putting it diplomatically lets just say they're "mistaken".

Originally Posted by moonshine

Laberge studies show that counting down in dream time and counting in real time (monitored via eye movements) were roughly on a par. There is a fair amount of concensus on this.

http://daniel.erlacher.de/index.php/...n_lucid_dreams

Atkins513 appears to have it backwards. The motor activities study indicated that dream exercises took approx 45% longer in perceived dream time than they would physically take in real time.
This would actually reduce the perceived dream length, not increase it.
i.e. 30 mins of dream squat thrusts would waste 60 mins of REM time.
Cutting your perceived dream time in half.


I'm really not sure how a dream can "seem" to last years.

I presume when Robot_Butler refers to "false memories" he means that when he ponders gaps in time, his brain then takes the time to rationalise the experience. Meaning we're still stuck in an approximate real time.

Those compelled to boast about literally living years in a dream, based on their zen like mastery of the cosmic dream arts...well putting it diplomatically lets just say they're "mistaken".

No, think about this for 1 minute without jumping to the conclusion of automatically knowing... if a jump in a dream takes 44 percent LONGER, than a jump in real life, YET the jump in the dream still feels exactly the same, then that would mean that a LUCID JUMP in LUCID TIME is 44 percent LONGER, than a real time jump in REAL TIME. Comparing the two side by side would show that LUCID TIME is 44 percent longer than REAL TIME. Hypothetically, once again, the lucid time frame would have to be 44 percent longer, per minute, per hour. So that would mean, that I do not have it backwards at all. If you and I both where to jump up and down at the same time, and it seemed to be the exact same jump and that jump lasted the same amount of time as it was perceived.. I am lucid, and you are not. Yet my jump takes 44 percent longer, that would mean when you land, i would just be starting back down from the jump... so in all, my jump took 44 percent longer, for the exact same 3 seconds in perceived time compared to real time.. therefore, THE TIME PERIOD IS PERCEIVED TO BE LONGER IN LUCID TIME... Your making the assumption that time is slowed down and perceived as slowed down to the brain, which it is not. When I jump up and down lucid, it is perceived exactly the same, not slow-mo... which means, once again, lucid time lasts longer according to the dreamer... Who else see's the logic in this? How could it be that the lucid time is slower?

Originally Posted by atkins513

No, think about this for 1 minute without jumping to the conclusion of automatically knowing... if a jump in a dream takes 44 percent LONGER, than a jump in real life, YET the jump in the dream still feels exactly the same, then that would mean that a LUCID JUMP in LUCID TIME is 44 percent LONGER, than a real time jump in REAL TIME. Comparing the two side by side would show that LUCID TIME is 44 percent longer than REAL TIME. Hypothetically, once again, the lucid time frame would have to be 44 percent longer, per minute, per hour. So that would mean, that I do not have it backwards at all. If you and I both where to jump up and down at the same time, and it seemed to be the exact same jump and that jump lasted the same amount of time as it was perceived.. I am lucid, and you are not. Yet my jump takes 44 percent longer, that would mean when you land, i would just be starting back down from the jump... so in all, my jump took 44 percent longer, for the exact same 3 seconds in perceived time compared to real time.. therefore, THE TIME PERIOD IS PERCEIVED TO BE LONGER IN LUCID TIME... Your making the assumption that time is slowed down and perceived as slowed down to the brain, which it is not. When I jump up and down lucid, it is perceived exactly the same, not slow-mo... which means, once again, lucid time lasts longer according to the dreamer... Who else see's the logic in this? How could it be that the lucid time is slower?

The perceived time of doing squat jumps is the same in both dreams and reality.

Rem periods are measured in real time.
If you spend a 60 minute REM period doing squat jumps,
the perceived time in the dream is going to be much less that 60 mins.

So in fact its reducing the perceived length of your dream.
Which, in terms of what you experience, means a shorter dream.

I would say the salient point is that this - very limited - area of research cannot be used to justify dream elongation, as it in fact demonstrates just the opposite.