Thread: Dream time and real time

Hey all i was just wondering if whilst being lucid you could stay there for what felt like hours but in the real world only 10 minutes had past. thanks

It's called time dilation, and there have been a lot of discussion threads about it here, and there have been a lot of really intelligent theories. Some people believe that its possible, while others believe it is only an illusion, and still others say its rubbish. I believe that its an illusion, where you just remember the dream as being very long even though the dream itself lasted for only a few minutes.

Other people have said that you could be "overclocking" your brain, making it process everything faster.

If you want to try it in a dream, you could try creating a time dilation machine as suggested by another member here. This follows the dream control technique where you create a machine to control the dream for you.

If you decide to try it, let us know how it goes. Oh, and welcome to the forum!

its like watching a movie which in the narrative could span years but its only an illusion same applies to LDs.

Stephen LaBerge performed this famous experiment where lucid dreamers gave him signals from within the dream by moving their eyes in a special sequence (eye movements are the same in dream world and reality when lying in the bed). They did this every 10 seconds or so of their dream time. LaBerge measured the intervals between the eye signals and it was more or less the same. So the dream time is most probably the same as the real one.
As somebody mentioned above, the time dilatation is caused by memory hacks.

Time dilation is a touchy subject on here, but I have actually believed in it for a long time and even spent about a week in lucid places. I feel like "memory hacks" wouldn't be possible in very aware dreams, as you would notice the "scene changes" and "time jumps". Just because your mind processes at a certain rate, doesn't mean that it is your perception of time. Stephen Laberge's experiment was done on someone that was not attempting to dilate time.

All of this being said, I would say that it exists, but it rarely happens naturally. I know many people that claim that time dilation exists, while many people claim it is impossible. I find this funny because most of the people claiming that time dilation exists just have their experience, while the ones claiming that it doesn't are throwing their theories. Neither one can really prove to the other is wrong.

I wasn't planning on posting here, but I decided to since time dilation wasn't supported too much. I like this idea as well:
If time dilation is an illusion, then it is a good enough one that I don't care.

If time dilation is an illusion, then it is a good enough one that I don't care.

Yes, it doesn't matter after all.
Anyway from my experience I can only agree with LaBerge. I had some dreams during which I woke up and checked the time and it was more or less correct according to the dream sequences I had. Also when I had once a dream that "longed" for the whole day, I realized after a brief analysis that it was indeed faked a bit. I couldn't really describe the whole day, there were some time skips filled with pictures that somehow convinced my mind that it's normal. I mean like I woke up...TIME SKIP (with some flash scenes like quick picture of breakfast, brushing my teeth etc.)...and lunch and so on.

Originally Posted by Hitokage

Yes, it doesn't matter after all.
Anyway from my experience I can only agree with LaBerge. I had some dreams during which I woke up and checked the time and it was more or less correct according to the dream sequences I had. Also when I had once a dream that "longed" for the whole day, I realized after a brief analysis that it was indeed faked a bit. I couldn't really describe the whole day, there were some time skips filled with pictures that somehow convinced my mind that it's normal. I mean like I woke up...TIME SKIP (with some flash scenes like quick picture of breakfast, brushing my teeth etc.)...and lunch and so on.

Yes, but isn't that how you remember yesterday anyways?

Actually, no. When I compared it to a normal memories I could see the difference. When I go through yesterday I see much more details and the flow of time without flaws. Of course I don't remember every detail but back then when going through the dream I noticed the parts where the memory was strangely disturbed. When you have a dream like that, try to review it as much as you can and you will notice that some places are like they never happened. Don't know how to describe it exactly, it felt like those parts were more like a set of pictures that my mind just added to remove the confusion.

Originally Posted by Hitokage

Actually, no. When I compared it to a normal memories I could see the difference. When I go through yesterday I see much more details and the flow of time without flaws. Of course I don't remember every detail but back then when going through the dream I noticed the parts where the memory was strangely disturbed. When you have a dream like that, try to review it as much as you can and you will notice that some places are like they never happened. Don't know how to describe it exactly, it felt like those parts were more like a set of pictures that my mind just added to remove the confusion.

That is what happens during long non lucids for me, but not lucids, since I am aware and there. If a time skip happens, I notice it.

Except for 2 non lucids I have had that I could remember hours and hours of conversations.

This could also be just be because your memory is worse in dreams than in waking, and a memory that you barely remember is generally more like a picture.

I don't think that the hour in a dream can be different then the hour in our world. I think the time rule applies in dreams to.