Dreams and perception of time..

Have you ever had a dream that seemed to last for hours and hours only to wake up and find that barely an hour has passed?

I remember reading an account on another forum some years ago where someone said they went to sleep, had a dream in which it seemed to last for an entire day. When the person woke up, only a few hours had passed.

I read or heard just the other day that an hour in dream time is only actually a 5 minute period in reality.

So what you say, seems right.

Funny I was just talking about this same idea in thisThread

Our minds can speed time up in our dreams. I have had dreams that seem to last for a week, yet only an hour passed in real time. Our minds can do some amazing things. I would see the movie Inception if I were you.

The sleep state is nothing more than the body being in hibernation, the mind and body are at full rest(some times) during this period. So your waking perception of linear time stops the moment the body goes to sleep. I have had the same dreams, that seem like they are hours long, and at the end of those dreams, i wake up and look at the clock only to find I was out for only a half hour. Isn`t it funny how time is perceived in the sleep state, and in the dream state compared to the waking state? This is no different than people who are in a coma for weeks, only to wake up from it later, and they think they were only out of it for a few minutes.

Originally posted by bringthelight
Funny I was just talking about this same idea in thisThread

Our minds can speed time up in our dreams. I have had dreams that seem to last for a week, yet only an hour passed in real time. Our minds can do some amazing things. I would see the movie Inception if I were you.

It`s the minds perception of time that changes during the sleep state. The waking mind is shut down during this state, and the subconscious mind is active. The subconscious mind does not perceive time the same way the waking mind does.

Its funny this just happened to me today, I had been at work all day and when I got home I went to take a nap. There was no one home so I knew I would be getting woke up within an hour because someone would come in. so I layed down about 4:20pm and I had the same dream over and over about 4 times. The dream was of me getting woke up just like I knew I would the 1st time I woke up (in my dream) my dad came in the room and woke me up. Still asleep and never really being woke up; it happened again the same dream nothing different from the first. Then again he came in the door (for the 3rd time) this time I caught on and was aware that I was still dreaming he still came in the room and I could see him but I was telling myself while sleeping that this was still a dream so don’t wake up. I didn’t wake up in the dream this time, then the 4th time he really came in the room and I really did wake up and it felt as if I was asleep for hours but when I looked at the clock it was only 4:44pm only about 15mins had passed.