Dream. Do you dream?

[DansMaTete]

1a. Everyone dreams as often as the next guy - it's a matter how often one recalls his dreams by memory, not whether or not he is having them often.

I don't think this has been established as a fact.

How often do we dream, and when?

Most people over the age of 10 dream at least 4 to 6 times per night during a stage of sleep called REM (for Rapid Eye Movements, a distinguishing characteristic of this stage of sleep). During REM periods our brains become as active as they are during waking, although not all parts of the brain are reactivated (the parts of the brain that are reactivated in REM are discussed in Chapter 1 of Domhoff's The Scientific Study of Dreams (2003)). REM periods vary in length from 5 to 10 minutes for the first REM period of the night to as long as 30-34 minutes later in the night. It thus seems likely that dreams can be a half hour or more in length.

There is also evidence that we can dream in non-REM sleep in the hour or two before waking up, when the brain has become more activated than it was earlier in the night. That's why we said that we dream "at least" 4 to 6 times per night.

From here (good source of sientific data)

 

[benzyme]

of course I/you dream. the more appropriate question is, do you remember them?

 

[universecannon]

Question: do folks have a full range of sensory inputs in dreams? I never experience smells in my dream, or sounds, just taste, touch, and vision. The tastes are often very strange.

I always experience sound, but I can't recall a time where I smelled anything specifically. Perhaps that sense is harder to remember than other dream senses. It might also have to do with the fact that my sense of smell has never been that good, so it's not a very dominant sense for me to begin with.

A good amount of the time though most of my senses seem very heightened and I'm in a psychedelic/synesthesiac type state.

 

[brilliantlydim]

Question: do folks have a full range of sensory inputs in dreams? I never experience smells in my dream, or sounds, just taste, touch, and vision. The tastes are often very strange.

Blessings
~ND

Great question, I never thought about it. I guess I have never smelled or tasted anything in my dreams. Vision is probably the most dominant, although its never a clear as it is when I am awake, or maybe its because I'm recalling it from memory. I don't recall hearing things except for sounds from real life incorporating themselves into my dreams. Definitely have the sensation of touch.

Something you just made me wonder, when you folks imagine something that you have previously seen in real life, how vivid is the picture in your mind?

 

[brilliantlydim]

1a. Everyone dreams as often as the next guy - it's a matter how often one recalls his dreams by memory, not whether or not he is having them often.

I don't think this has been established as a fact.

How often do we dream, and when?

Most people over the age of 10 dream at least 4 to 6 times per night during a stage of sleep called REM (for Rapid Eye Movements, a distinguishing characteristic of this stage of sleep). During REM periods our brains become as active as they are during waking, although not all parts of the brain are reactivated (the parts of the brain that are reactivated in REM are discussed in Chapter 1 of Domhoff's The Scientific Study of Dreams (2003)). REM periods vary in length from 5 to 10 minutes for the first REM period of the night to as long as 30-34 minutes later in the night. It thus seems likely that dreams can be a half hour or more in length.

There is also evidence that we can dream in non-REM sleep in the hour or two before waking up, when the brain has become more activated than it was earlier in the night. That's why we said that we dream "at least" 4 to 6 times per night.

From here (good source of sientific data)

Thanks for that. I read somewhere that they still weren't sure whether some people dreamed are than others, or whether some people just recall less.

According to your link, I can increase my dream recall ability.

 

[Psybin]

Question: do folks have a full range of sensory inputs in dreams? I never experience smells in my dream, or sounds, just taste, touch, and vision. The tastes are often very strange.

Blessings
~ND

Yeah, I've always had all 5 senses in my dreams, which makes them harder to tell from reality. There are even some memories from my childhood that were actually childhood dreams, but that i just treat as memories to stay consistent with myself. There have been times where I've felt sex, smelled fresh cookies, been shot to death and felt it, etc. in my dreams. Typically it is either so vivid I do not realize it is a dream, or I'm somewhat lucid (enough to enforce control over the dream but not enough to realize it is a dream) and the sensation is so intense I wake up or become terrified.

 

[○]

Question: do folks have a full range of sensory inputs in dreams? I never experience smells in my dream, or sounds, just taste, touch, and vision. The tastes are often very strange.

Blessings
~ND

Yeah, I've always had all 5 senses in my dreams, which makes them harder to tell from reality. There are even some memories from my childhood that were actually childhood dreams, but that i just treat as memories to stay consistent with myself. There have been times where I've felt sex, smelled fresh cookies, been shot to death and felt it, etc. in my dreams. Typically it is either so vivid I do not realize it is a dream, or I'm somewhat lucid (enough to enforce control over the dream but not enough to realize it is a dream) and the sensation is so intense I wake up or become terrified.

Yes, nearly every single time. There's been a handful of experience where as I was coming back from a dream into waking reality I would be able to smell or taste what was in my dream for several seconds as I would be sitting there in my bed.

On a few occasions it was cannabis that I could smell/taste as I was lying there in bed, which it dissipated by the second, typically lasting 7-8 seconds before vanishing. Same with an experience a few years back where I was walking down the street in another country with this random beautiful woman; we kissed; I could taste her lips along with smelling her perfume, then for several seconds after waking, I was lying there so upset that I had woken up, but could taste and smell what I had for several seconds until it vanished.

 

[KillaNoodles]

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[brilliantlydim]

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Please forgive my inexperience, but what does this mean ^^

 

[GMM]

Every day , sometimes i remember them , sometimes not .
A lot of different stories , some coming back{like tv series) ,other ones are like movies , one seperate story.
I believe dreams are all about fears and desires , mixed with evereyday life experiences ,

When i have a period of psychedelic discoveries (i dont travel a lot anymore)
my dreams become more vivid , and more dmt like vissually.

Its also fun to stay in a dream while half awake .
Move from the sofa to bed , or have a piss , get back in bed , and immediatly i am back in my dream.

 

[oversoul1919]

For me, dreams are neurological noise. While lucid dreams might be something different, I don't know.

 

[Bancopuma]

I remember dreams nightly, and these days pretty vividly as I'm making more of an effort to recall them and meditate before sleep which I've definitely found to increase both vividness and recall of dreams. I don't ingest cannabis much these days and have definitely found this to suppress my dream recall. I believe dreams definitely can have significance at times. They are a way for the mind to look at issues from a new perspective which can be useful in the cold sober light of day. I've also had a few precognitive dreams, and a few deeply intuitive dreams (one shortly after an ayahuasca experience) where the dream informed me of something that I was yet to confirm in "real" life...I awoke from this dream, and unusually the feeling of this dream did not evaporate and persisted, until I confronted this person about their feelings, and all was confirmed.

I've also had reoccurring dreams in the form of very large tsunami type waves...sometimes I'm looking them in awe from a safe distance, sometimes they are coming to get me. I recall a particularly emotionally turbulent time of my life having two very vivid tsunami dreams within a close proximity to one another...in one dream I was driving a jeep by a sandy beach, and decided to drive out and meet this tsunami head on as it came in, having sucked all the water ou of the bay. I met the wave head on and it hurled me far in land, but I survived. In the other I was by the sea in an urban area and out of nowhere this tsumani appeared, but this time I stood my ground, and when it reached me it was just a trickle of white fizz. I don't really have much faith in dream interpretation, but one hypothesis regarding large waves or lots of water is emotional overload, which does accurately reflect my state of mind at the time. In both dreams I survived he onslaught as well...one time by meeting the issue head on, the other by standing my ground. I had another dream following this stage of my life when I was in a much better mental space, I was by the ocean and it was perfectly flat and calm. I've also had a few dreams and lucid dreams that were converted into brief OBE's which had a very distinct feel to them when compared to "normal" dreams and lucid dreams, but these experiences were brief...the sensations each time were powerful and kinda caught me off guard.

There is some science now linking lucid dreaming frequency with certain traits such as self-reflection, aka metacognition, and that lucid dreamers are a little more mindful in their day to lives, better at spotting discrepancies than non-lucid dreamers (these reality checks of course being one of the main lucid dreaming techniques...it seems like this trait spills over into one's day to day life which is interesting). Lucid dreaming is a definite step up from normal dreaming in some respects, and lucid dreamers do report being able to practice skills in their dream space, and that the benefits of this practice there do spill over into the waking lives.

I've definitely found dreams to have taken on much more psychedelic traits following psychedelic use. I've had a fair bit of dream LSD and ayahuasca...I've found dream LSD to be unreliable but sometimes very effective. I remember one dream, seeing some DMT fractal patterns dancing in the sky, and that acted as a lucidity trigger for me which was cool. Another time, having returned from Peru and experiencing ayahuasca there, I remember waking up one night and seeing dancing geometric patterns in the darkness above me for a few seconds...just to be clear this was NOT a false awakening and I was definitely awake, and the patterns were definitely ayahuasca-esque, and for a brief time they spilled over from my dreaming consciousness into my waking consciousness which I thought was pretty cool!

Liminal dreaming may be of interest to some here...it is using that borderline state between wakefulness and dreaming as a launchpad for deeper explorations into consciousness, also makes a good springboard for lucid dreams apparently.

 

[Spaced Out 2]

I used to remember all or most my dreams when I was in my teens and early 20s. Since then they have been just sporadic. In the most recent several years I have taken notice that I almost never remember my dreams. Again I've been taking notice to this recently and have found it strange that if I get a full nights sleep (7+hrs) then they are sporadic or I just don't have/remember them.
Now if I know I'm only going to get minimal sleep (2-4hrs) then I can almost guarantee that I'll have a dream and remember it. Not sure why it's like that. I like dreams and wish I could remember or recall more of them.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

I've always dreamed very vividly, yet, paradoxically, lucidity is something which on the whole escapes me. I would concur that smell is a very rare to non-existent feature of my dream sense modalities although of course smell is something that tends to trigger memories rather than being particularly easy to recall. My experience of taste in dreams is infrequent but when it is bizarre that makes it more memorable. Kinaesthetic and proprioceptive sensations can often be as intense as the visionary aspect of dreaming and definitely on a par with the emotional component.

At any given moment I can recall several dreams that I've had within my entire lifespan (or at least since the age of 4, which was, er, maybe a couple of decades ago. Well, nearly four decades.) It's quite hilarious the number of times I've dreamt that I'm back doing the job I got sacked from over 15 years ago, having been inexplicably re-hired. There are several dream landscapes which I've persistently revisited over the years, some of them based to a greater or lesser extent on real places known to me, or hybrids of them, and some of them fictitious renditions of real world places I haven't yet visited. A couple of my dreams have been clearly precognitive but on the whole they're not.

Curiously, cannabis doesn't appear to have much effect if any on my dream recall. The effects that foods, spices and other substances have on dreams are also noticeable but sadly I'm typically so sluggish on waking that I have seldom taken notes. Otherwise that subject would warrant a whole book.

As far as dreamtime 'drug' experiences go, I did have some good MDMA in a dream once but another time the LSD was, as Banco said, best described as unreliable. I even had the fabled DMT pipe handed to me in a dream but couldn't get my lighter to work! These occurrences are quite the rarity also.

That's quite an important point about the liminal phase. When I can allow myself the indulgence it's nice to cram what seems to be a week in dream experience into one lazy morning. Dreaming has a noticeably different quality once it's officially daytime.