STORM2K

How long do dreams really last?

I heard they only last for a few seconds or maybe a minute or so, but not longer.

It sure seems funny that you can have a big dream with tons of detail and they only last for that short of time.

I took Psychology in college under a doctor who studied dreams. She said that dreams typically last 30 seconds to a few minutes, but can last 20 minutes and you have several per night. You don't remember them much because you have to be awakened during the dream cycle to be able to remember.

Did no small amount of research on this topic myself. Typically, when one first falls asleep, they aren't dreaming--however the deeper the sleep (talking REM here) gets the greater the chance that a dream will arise in that section of the brain retaining "memory". A typical "dreamer" may have as many as 5--7, to as few as 2-3 dreams in a night/sleep period. The first few dreams are indeed very short, anywhere from seconds to a few minutes. They get longer as one remains asleep. It is not unusual for a person to have a dream that lasts as long as an hour-or even more just prior to awakening... which is why that last one is the one we remember the best, and all the previous are relegated to the "deleted" section of the brain. In fact, unless it was a particularly moving experience (e.g. nightmare, or deja vu situation), even that last dream you may remember so vividly when you first wake up, becomes such a part of "short-term" memory, that it is all but forgotten within hours of being up and moving around.

I once had one so amazingly real, and impacting on real events in my life.. that upon waking (still a couple of hours before normal waking), I had to rush to the computer, turn it on, and type in the storyline...it became a topic for a novella I would write a few weeks later. And it's good that I did, because, sure as heck, going back to sleep, then waking up the next day, I had completely forgotten what I had dreampt--until I opened that file! Voila! Good thing I took that precaution.

A2K

I remember dreams from years ago, although probably not as much as I did then.

I do as well... especially some of the nightmares!

A2K

It all depends if it's a dream......or a nightmare.

so how can they explain that i'll wake up from a dream and when i go back to sleep, it starts up where it left off? and the dream will last all night long.

so how can they explain that i'll wake up from a dream and when i go back to sleep, it starts up where it left off? and the dream will last all night long.

sometimes that happens because your subconscious is so very focused on a previous dream.. happened to me too; but usually there are some modifications/changes... and while it may "seem" to last all night... it rarely lasts more than an hour or two, and that only if it's the last dream before you wake up.

A2K

I have had off and on dreams too. This happens when I get up for a bit. Sometimes I will dream a similar dream more than one night. Strange how you will dream of things that would never happen or people who you have not seen in tons of years. Especially when you have not even thought of them during all that time.

Dreams and aspirations can last a lifetime.

Dreams during sleep can last from a few seconds to many minutes. For some reason I always wake up later when I have dreams.

Do you think all the action in dreams disturbs your sleep? Would you sleep better with no dreams?

I have woken myself up from many of a bad dream. Just did it the other night when I was dreaming my 3 year was screaming from the other room, and heard my mother in law scream OMG, I was coming in the door to see what happened to her and I woke myself up before I could see. Had to sit up a while and smoke a cigarette and get a drink of water so I could clear my head before I went back to bed. Did not want to continue that one. Its weird because in my dream I did not actually see her or get to her yet, but in my head I was thinking lots of blood and I think that is why I woke up before I could see it.

Again a dream about my 3 year old crossing a busy road alone I could see her from the other side of the road and was yelling nooooo, I stayed long enough to see her make it across and then I woke up. I hate those kind of dreams about my kids. Freaks me out big time.

Janice wrote:Do you think all the action in dreams disturbs your sleep? Would you sleep better with no dreams?

Not really; rapid eye movement sleep, or REM, is considered the "deepest" sleep your body gets, and while your mind is oftimes running amok, the rest of your body is getting a very well deserved rest. Additionally, for all of the lengths they seem, they probably account for well less than half the time you are sleeping--as the rest is total oblivion, accounting for how "fast" it seems to pass from light's out... to hearing that annoying alarm.

A2K

Have you ever dreamed that your alarm was something else when its going off? I have a few times, once I was dreaming it was a railroad crossing that was beeping, and another time I dreamed it was one of my kids toys and I was so trying to get it to stop. I even took the batteries out of the toy in my dream and it still kept making noise. I finally woke up and relized that it was the alarm.

Yes, I have been so asleep that when I finally realized the alarm was going off, I knew it was going off for a long time.

Janice wrote:Yes, I have been so asleep that when I finally realized the alarm was going off, I knew it was going off for a long time.

I've done that too.

I don't remember much about any dreams I've ever had, usually just one little portion of it(like a few seconds). I used to dream when I was younger I was falling and there was no end before I would wake up.

I've had dreams, and woken up and actually think it happened. I do it a lot really, I think I did something, but really I didn't and I get all confused. Especially with the placement of objects.

Once I was awakened from a dream by a loud clap of thunder, and was shocked to find out there was actually no thunderstorm around! I think the thunderstorm was in the dream.