Are dreams within dreams possible with sedatives?

[DON]

I just fininshed watching Inception (again), so I'm pretty intrigued by the concept. Safety aside, would the concept work in theory (or practicality if anyone's tried it)? And would you really be able to "feel" a week or a month pass by in a dream with a strong sedative?

[ShadowOfSelf]

Most of what's depicted in inception isn't really realistic. Shared dreams are debateable but there is definitely no way to enter someones dream with the use of a machine (that is known of anyway...) Sedatives are likely to have a bad effect on your dreams, doubt they have any positives apart from help insomnia maybe, you probably won't remember even remember your dreams though. As for dreams within dreams, i've been told a few times it's not possible, any dream you think that was in another dream was just an illusion, i'm not 100% convinced but I don't see why anyone would want to do it anyway, it's hard enough remembering normal dreams let alone dreams within dreams. Lastly, time dilation, ive heard that it works, though theres no need to go into a dream within a dream, it can be done for instance by saying "through this door, dream time will be 1 hour to every 1 minute in real life" something like that, I have no experience with this myself though.. I have heard people that say its possible, people that say its not, that your mind just fills in the huge gaps with nonsense or false memories.

[Desert Claw]

Inception is just a concept, kind of like a "what if" film, kind of like "what if aliens tried to take over the world" or "what if 2012 was real" or "what if we had a timer on our arms that, when it ran out, we would die" It is just an exploration of an idea. The producer himself says it was all based on an idea he had been working on for years, not facts. So facts.. A dream within a dream is not a seperate layer, but a continuation of the same dream. thought and visualisation in a dream is the same thing, and can be mistaken for another layer. Its just thought continuing in a linear fashion - for example: you a dreaming of walking down a road when you see a building. While in front of the building, staring at it, you think that you have seen that building before... You begin the next part of your dream as like a thought, or memory, of you inside that house. The dream continues from there, you are no longer outside that house. Dreaming is not like real life, if you are not thinking about it, it isn't there. Your dream body is no longer in that hotel. It aint in the sinking van either... :/ Therefore if there isn't dreams in dreams, then there is no time dilation. But the feeling of dreaming for days is not unheard of. I believe that is just main events happening one after another, its seems like a lot longer than normal, say for example the beginning of "up" goes from When mr fredricksen is just a kid till when his wife dies in about 15 minutes. We see it on tv every day.

[Choi]

Although time can still be percieved longer than it actually is in the waking word in normal dream and lucid dreams. Anything is poissble in dreams, but it can only be proved to you by you.

[Arch]

You just believe that you are dreaming within a dream, where you resume where you left off.

[Ctharlhie]

Sedatives suppress REM sleep, shared dreaming is open for debate, but I've certainly had dreams where I fall asleep, go into a new dream, and wake up in the previous dream.

[Oneironaut Zero]

Yeah, I've had 'dreams within dreams' (going to sleep in one dream, having an entirely 'different one' and then 'waking back up' in the first dream again later), but as said above, they aren't necessarily different layers, but a continuation of the same one.