How long do dreams last?

For almost all of my dreams, I can only remember enough details to write a few sentences down on paper. If the later REM periods can last up to an hour, why is it that I can only remember a few minutes of your dreams? Is it that you are forgetting the rest, or is it that time works differently in your dreams and an hour-long REM period doesn't actually produce an hours worth of dream content?

When I play one dream back in my head it lasts maybe 15 seconds. Does this mean I was only dreaming for around 15 seconds?

Your brain is designed by nature not to remember a good portion of dreaming. Some of the neurotransmitters involved with the dream cycle have a side effect of partially disabling the short-memory->long term storage mechanism of the hypocampus and hypothalamus.

However, like with most mechanisms of the body, it can be altered through exercise and concentration. This is why getting in the habbit of writing down dreams helps; the faster and sooner you write down dreams, the further and further back you will be able to reach into your short-term memory and pull those down into long-term memory as you transcribe them onto paper.

Some people are blessed with the ability to remember all of their dreams, an others, like myself, find it virtually impossible to remember much at all.

Thanks for the quick reply. So my dreams actually are much longer and lasting the whole REM cycle, I'm just not remembering most of it, and will be able to remember larger portions through dream recall? Ie, that "dream" I had last night of eating lunch in a cafeteria, was probably only a portion of a much larger dream?

For me, there's a strong correlation between dream clarity and recall. Whether lucid or not, my most vividly detailed dreams are the easiest to remember. Also, I find that dreams with plots that progress in an orderly manner are easier to recall than dream that occur with little logic or order.

In my most orderly and easily recallable dreams, I can recall the scenes and dialogue in order, and once I've reconstructed the main scenes, I can usually concentrate and recall some "less relevent" filler material inbetween that I didn't recall initially.

A first version might look like, this comes from a recent non-lucid dream:

Sitting for some kids in a nice house.. kitchen is filled with water to ceiling.. water held in place by unseen force.. able to walk in and out of flooded kitchen.. later talking with parents in living room.. mother of kids discussing religion with me .. left out back door .. stacks of $20 bills on table.. decided against stealing any.. cut to cliff over rocky shoreline.. who was I with? Looking over edge trying to accomplish something......

and there's a lot more from there, but this represents the first 5 minutes or so.

Then I study what I've recalled and I can fill in more detail, so it becomes (with the additionally recalled material underlined):

Sitting for some kids in a nice house.. kitchen is filled with water to ceiling.. water held in place by unseen force.. able to walk in and out of flooded kitchen.. decided that I should unflood the kitchen.. opened window and water drained out into backyard.. later talking with parents in living room.. father of kids thanks me for taking care of the leak in the kitchen.. mother of kids discussing religion with me.. left out back door .. it is night-time and the sky is clear.. backyard lit by torches.. warm and pleasant.. stacks of $20 bills on table.. decided against stealing any.. cut to cliff over rocky shoreline.. with my younger brother.. looking over edge trying to pick debris off of beach with long rope with loop on end.. none too successful....

If I want to, I can go from there and recall more detail.. the layout of the rooms.. what people are wearing.. the texture of the stone.. etc etc.

By starting with what I recall easily, and putting it in order, I can fix those items in my waking memory, thus allowing me to dig deeper for more and more details.

It is possible to have very long dreams, although they may not have been as long in real time as you think they are.

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Originally Posted by logan1

Thanks for the quick reply. So my dreams actually are much longer and lasting the whole REM cycle, I'm just not remembering most of it, and will be able to remember larger portions through dream recall? Ie, that "dream" I had last night of eating lunch in a cafeteria, was probably only a portion of a much larger dream?

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Indeed, you dream throughout the entire REM cycle (which, as you stated, can last anywhere from 15 minutes when they first start, to up to 60-90 minutes later in the sleep cycle). You don't remember it as one continuous dream because you often have quick little 'jumps' between REM and NREM stages, which can happen if you feel discomfort and turn over, or encounter something too exciting/stimulating in your dream. These jumps will cause momentary breaks in dreams, and will sometimes change the dream entirely, thus creating the illusion of shorter dreams. Most of the dreams that occure prior to the final one or two jumps before waking will be forgotten.

If you're woken during the middle of REM cycle, you will also be more likely to remember it, since you don't have time enough to have it completely flushed from short-term memory.

-Scott