Thread: How long can Lucid dreams be?

How long as in the maximum they can be? They can be hours long, I've heard.... But, I have not found substantiated claims as to anyone's length of lucids above, say, ten minutes or more, and that's cause those cases were in Lucid Dreaming (LaBerge) as laboratory studies.

Okay, because my longest is one minute

XD Yeah, I've heard of them lasting up to an hour, but I haven't heard of longer LDs than that. They can probably go for longer, it just depends on if you have control over them strong enough to keep them going for that long.

Okay. so being as lucid as possible means that you can make dreams last long? Cool!

i've had a non lucid dream that involved me falling from like an avalanche or cliff and finding these people that lived in this town, felt like i was there for a few months like i built friendships and had a bond with these people, i wasnt in the dream and it seemed to go on for months but in reality it was only probably 15-45 minutes.. it felt more fastforward then actual time. When i have lucid dreams they can feel like a minute, or it can feel like an hour, it just depends on how far you are into your sleeping stage, and how much control you have in ur dream

Originally Posted by the-dragon-whisperer

Okay. so being as lucid as possible means that you can make dreams last long? Cool!

Well, not necessarily. However, having better control over your own lucids will undoubtedly allow you some control over their length - your activities will be less likely to destabilize a lucid dream, for example.

Okay.

They can last like up to 2 hours I think? Inside your dream though time is weird. It can seem like days.

A dream cannot outlast an R.E.M. cycle. R.E.M. cycles get longer and longer during the course of a sleep, maxing at about an hour. Lucid and non-lucid dreams can seem like they lasted longer than an hour, but it is an illusion. Lucid dreaming for an hour is extremely difficult. I am not even positive it has ever been done. Maybe it has. It is also really hard to know after a lucid how long it lasted. I have had some that seemed like they were ten to twenty minutes, but there is no way to know how long they really were. Fortunately, you can keep going back into R.E.M. sleep and have multiple lucid dreams in a night.

If you watch my dream journal and read the dream named "The epic school",
That dream fellt like 5 hours but that was because my mind skipped the dream 2 times

Yes, as Universal Mind said, there's the time illusion of the length of the lucid dream, and then there's the real time. If you were asking about the real time, then yes, it may be possible to have a lucid dream that lasts the entire duration of a REM phase. As for how long they can FEEL like, that's up for massive debate.

UM: I've met people who've had an hour long lucid dream. Even one guy who claimed it lasted 2 hours. I've had one that lasted roughly 40 mins.

Here's a good hour long example of an LD:


http://mortalmist.com/forum/index.ph...c,622.288.html

If I have a lucid dream which lasts for more than a second or two I consider it an achievement.

I would love to have a really, really fucking long LD.
Before I die, I want to find a way to have an LD that's like, a day long.

Also, Taromon, I love your avatar, that's classic.
I lol'd.

Originally Posted by Universal Mind

A dream cannot outlast an R.E.M. cycle. R.E.M. cycles get longer and longer during the course of a sleep, maxing at about an hour. Lucid and non-lucid dreams can seem like they lasted longer than an hour, but it is an illusion. Lucid dreaming for an hour is extremely difficult. I am not even positive it has ever been done. Maybe it has. It is also really hard to know after a lucid how long it lasted. I have had some that seemed like they were ten to twenty minutes, but there is no way to know how long they really were. Fortunately, you can keep going back into R.E.M. sleep and have multiple lucid dreams in a night.

Basically this. Your later REM periods last around 45 minutes on a good night sleep. Though it wouldn't surprise me to continue the same dream between REM periods, making the dream story-line longer.

They can last over hours, especially when having slept for a long time before, because that causes you to stay in REM for a virtually unlimited time. REM is not the only state to dream in, but the easiest to recall and to become lucid. Some opioids can also induce very long dream experiences. I'm not talking about hallucinations (opioids usually don't cause that), but regular sleep and dreaming.

As far as I can recall, my longest unbroken chain of dream lucidity lasted about 4 hours. I applied WILD after a very long period of sleep on the weekend. I very much advise to have a completely calm environment or to use earplugs for that. Darkness is no requirement at all, dim sunlight actually seems helpful.

Originally Posted by slash112

I would love to have a really, really fucking long LD.
Before I die, I want to find a way to have an LD that's like, a day long.

You'll just become weary from it and get up after a few hours, believe me. Dreams can be very exhausting, especially lucid ones. Chances are also good you drift into regular dreaming, because you can't maintain concentration any longer. Better to have profound experiences of a rather limited duration.

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.