Dreams

[Actaeon]

I saw a topic from September that covered this somewhat, but not in great depth. Nethergate had one, too, but... Anyway, we probably have some neuroscientists and lucid dreamers here. So in addition to being curious as to what sort of strange, Spiderweb associated dreams some of you have, I'd be curious as to your take on the purpose thereof.

 

I understand there are several scientific theories, but am under the impression that none are definitive. I tend to feel like my mind is running scenarios to help me cope with otherwise new issues. Others view them as a break from day to day life, a chance for your subconscious to express itself, or messages from another universe.

 

For clarification, I mean the hallucinations you suffer while unconscious, not your hopes for the future (though those are important, too).

[Lilith]

the most definitive answer from neuroscience so far is "it almost certainly has something to do with processing memories". people who are specifically deprived of REM sleep start to experience memory problems pretty fast.

[Actaeon]

I'm commiting the ultimate faux-pas and necroing my own thread. The community is more active than it was in December, and I'd like to modify the question, anyway:

 

What are your dreams like? Do you remember them? Do you lucid dream? Do you experience all of your senses, or only a few? Are you yourself or someone else? Do you dream of the real world, a modified version, or something entirely different?

 

This is a very personal topic, of course, but you should be able to discuss the overall format while withholding the details.

[Randomizer]

Research shows that an erratic sleep schedule increases lucid dreaming. Reaching an old enough age where I don't sleep through the night, I get lots of dreams that vary from pleasant ones where I'm at a library or bookstore reading books I like to nightmares that I rather not remember.

 

Unlike what is commonly held to be true, I actually can read words in my dreams. I can flip back and forth through a book and the same text will be there. However sometimes my real life near sightedness does appear when I'm looking for a book on a shelf and I don't have my glasses in my dream.

[Dikiyoba]

Originally Posted By: Actaeon

Do you remember them?

I remember a fair number of them, but lately not with much clarity or for very long after I wake up.

Quote:

Do you lucid dream?

I never have, although I've come close a few times.

Quote:

Do you experience all of your senses, or only a few?

Yes.

Quote:

Are you yourself or someone else?

Yes.

Quote:

Do you dream of the real world, a modified version, or something entirely different?

Yes.

That is to say, Dikiyoba's dreams are varied. Where they happen, who is in them, and how Dikiyoba' percieves them all changes from dream to dream.

[Student of Trinity]

Something my wife noticed once and seems to be robustly true for us:

 

If you have a vivid dream that you remember when you first wake up, but then the memory fades while you're still lying in bed, roll back into the position you were lying in when you first woke up. That can be enough to re-awaken your memory of the dream.

[Alorael at Large]

I am neither a lucid dreamer nor a neuroscientist, but I will tell you that dreams are quite distinct from hallucinations. Distinguishing among dreams, hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations, and waking hallucinations is very important. Some of those are perfectly normal, and some of them should be alarming.

 

—Alorael, who very rarely remembers dreams. Most of those he does recall upon waking are quite mundane, although he usually forgets those quickly because they're just not memorable. He puts more effort into holding onto the fun, fantastical ones. He'll also note that he recalls more dreams when something during the morning or evening triggers recall than he does immediately upon waking. Suddenly vividly recalling a dream is often surprising, and it's also disquieting to realize that there just as easily could have been no such dream originally but rather a sudden delusion that the dream occurred.

[Callie]

I was not aware that lucid dreaming even existed, so I was surprised to learn about them. Though, I have had those dreams that seem to be real and continuing even after opening the eyes and perceiving the actual world. I would imagine those kinds of dreams account for every single claim of alien abduction.

[Cairo Jim]

Although it hasn't happened to me for a while, I have had some pretty lucid dreams. 9 times out of 10 it was something to do with me being in the military. I've never been in the military, nor do I know many people that were in it. Some of them were detailed enough it seemed I was actually there. There was also one dream that repeated itself a few times, but every time with a different ending.

[Dintiradan]

The night before last, I was opening a door, and out shambled a body, with its charred skin sloughing off and worms writhing around in its eye sockets. Not a zombie, mind you. I don't remember exactly why it wasn't a zombie, but it was plot relevant for some reason or another. It slammed into me when I couldn't move to the side fast enough, and then I woke up.

 

And that, dear reader, is why I'm glad I rarely remember my dreams.

 

(About a week ago, I was in a hurry shaving, and sliced my eyeball. Which was decidedly less awesome than the Pixies would have you believe.)

[ex post slarto]

Eye of Agony! That sucks.

 

The Pixies, of course, were referring to the film by Bunuel and Dali, in that most awesome song.

[shoopypit]

I would just like to point out that the movie Inception is about lucid dreaming. (however, there is definitely more to it)

[Actaeon]

Lucid dreaming because you're in someone else's dream is another matter entirely. That said, the night before I saw that film I had a five layer dream of which the last two were lucid. I certainly drew some parallels.

[Dantius]

Originally Posted By: Dintiradan

(About a week ago, I was in a hurry shaving, and sliced my eyeball. Which was decidedly less awesome than the Pixies would have you believe.)

Okay, I'm sorry, but how the hell do you manage that? Were you trying to shave your eyelashes? My razor never even gets near my eyes when I'm shaving...

[Dintiradan]

I dunno, dream me is clumsy, I guess.

[The Mystic]

I've never had dreams where I was falling, but I have had several where I was floating/flying. They usually end with me waking up feeling like I just fell from the ceiling onto the bed, and the bed is bouncing a little as though I had just landed on it.

 

Originally Posted By: Randomizer

Unlike what is commonly held to be true, I actually can read words in my dreams.

Same here. I find this quite useful, since my dreams occasionally come with screen credits.

[Cairo Jim]

Those dreams that I've had where I was falling was quite a strange feeling indeed. It actually feels like you're falling that much it wakes you up while you do a funny little spasm.

 

As with the reading thing, I've only had one or 2 dreams where I've had to read something, but what i had to read was as if it was in another language. Which strains my brain while asleep trying to figure out what it says, even after waking.

[Actaeon]

I hadn't heard that bit about not being able to read in dreams. Now I'm trying to remember if it's come up.

 

I don't generally dream about falling, flying, or being chased (in the traditional sense... I have fugitive dreams with some frequency). My dream world is parallel to the real one, and consistant in and of itself, but not exactly the same.

 

What really interests me is the Mystic's reference to screen credits. I've noticed that the structure of my dreams is largely cinematographic, albeit with a great abundance of first person shots. Friends have reported video game like experiences, and a basic real life simulation seems to be most common.

 

Oh, and that bit about not dying in your dreams? Just ain't true.

[The Ratt]

I find my most memorable dreams tend to be emotionally jarring dreams. For instance I still remember a dream where I dreamt one of my favorite teachers said they didn't like me, which resulted in me being very confused the next day in class when they treated me like they always did (nicely). Another dream I remember is one where I witnessed my roommate and a girl I was infatuated with kissing, that was so emotionally stunning I actually woke up.

 

I can't help but wonder if the types of dreams you remember is reflective on your personality (i.e. I might remember emotional dreams better because I am rather sensitive about my feelings).

[Goldengirl]

Originally Posted By: Actaeon

What really interests me is the Mystic's reference to screen credits. I've noticed that the structure of my dreams is largely cinematographic, albeit with a great abundance of first person shots. Friends have reported video game like experiences, and a basic real life simulation seems to be most common.

First-person "shots" would be only natural, since that's how we normally see things in conscious, waking life. What interests me are the types of dreams I sometimes have, which are from a third-person point of view, as might be seen in a movie, film, or television show. This goes along with an article I once read, saying that people used to dream in greyscale, back when TV's were also in black-and-white. So, if you watch a lot of TV, that can have an effect on how you perceive your dreams.

I can only imagine how media altered dream perception before the TV. Were dreams once revealed as scenes on canvas, in hieroglyphs, or through mosaics?

[Cairo Jim]

Originally Posted By: Goldenking

I can only imagine how media altered dream perception before the TV. Were dreams once revealed as scenes on canvas, in hieroglyphs, or through mosaics?

Interesting idea, but I have something that may argue otherwise, well with the hieroglyphics anyways. Genesis 40-41

(Sorry if that link offends anyone, it was just for reference)

[Harehunter]

This concept conjures up the 'Programmers Nightmares' I've had in the past. Imagine you've been working hard on a project and the deadline is rapidly approaching. You've run into a coder's block, and just can't think yourself out of the box. You go home, try not to think about the problem, go to sleep, and all night long, or so it seems, you dream that you are thrashing through code, desperately trying to solve a problem that has no definition or purpose. You wake up, frustrated and wondering "what in the world was that program about?" Go back to sleep, repeat, until morning. You go into work, look at the program that had you stumped for half a day yesterday, and in 30 minutes you've solved the problem.

[The Mystic]

I can relate. I had a similar experience the first time I had to write a date validation routine. Ever since, I've had dreams in code every so often.

 

Originally Posted By: Actaeon

What really interests me is the Mystic's reference to screen credits.

I think it stems from the fact that I'm a bit of a movie buff. Watch two or three in a row before going to bed, and you'll know what I mean.

 

Originally Posted By: Actaeon

Oh, and that bit about not dying in your dreams? Just ain't true.

Yah. I once had a dream that I couldn't wake up from until I was caught and half-eaten by a large snake that was chasing me.

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: The Mystic

I can relate. I had a similar experience the first time I had to write a date validation routine. Ever since, I've had dreams in code every so often.

geez dude, if you want her to feel validated just bring flowers

[The Mystic]

It wasn't that kind of date. Maybe if I did, I might have had an easier time writing the code.

[Dintiradan]

Holy crap, date validation. Everyone goes into it thinking "Oh, dates and times are simple, I can handle this." It's not. Just save yourself the hassle and find a good library.

[The Mystic]

Yeah, date validation can suck. The teacher basically wanted us to "reinvent the wheel," so to speak. And this was back when "Y2K-compliant" was a selling point for computers, so there wasn't much if any code to find (especially COBOL). Pretty much all we were supposed to do with the date was make sure it was valid within a certain range, which was kind of simple once I figured it out.

 

I've never done times, though.

[keira]

Or just use a language that has it built-in.

 

I like PHP. Have user input time? throw it through strtotime. Need to get a time? Use date.

[The Mystic]

Or write your own reusable code. I whipped up this little snippet last night in C++; all it does is make sure a user-entered date is valid.

Click to reveal..

Code:

int Month;int Day;int Year;bool Valid;int main() {	cout<<"Enter a date.\nMonth: ";	cin>>Month;	cout<<"Day: ";	cin>>Day;	cout<<"Year: ";	cin>>Year;	if ((Year > 9999) || (Year < 1000)) {        cout<<"Invalid year.";        valid = false;    }    else        switch (Month) {            case 1:case 3:case 5:case 7:            case 8:case 10:case 12:            //January, March, May, July, August, October, December                if ((Day>31) || (Day<1)) {                    cout<<"Invalid day.";                    Valid = false;                }                else Valid=true;                break;            case 4:case 6:case 9:case 11:            //April, June, September, November                if ((Day>30) || (Day<1)) {                    cout<<"Invalid day.";                    Valid = false;                }                else Valid = true;                break;            case 2:            //February                if ((Day>29) || (Day<1)) {                    cout<<"Invalid day.";                    Valid = false;                    break;                }                else                    if (Day<29) {                        Valid = true;   //1 to 28 valid for all years                        break;                    }                    else{       // check for leap year                        if ((Year % 4) == 0) {      //possible leap year                            if ((Year % 100) > 0) {     //not a century                                Valid = true;                                break;                            }                            else {          //century                                if ((Year % 400) == 0) {    //century divisible by 4                                    Valid = true;                                    break;                                }                                else {                                    cout<<"Invalid day.";                                    Valid = false;                                    break;                                }                            }                        }                        else {      //not leap year                            cout<<"Invalid day.";                            Valid = false;                            break;                        }                    }            default:                cout<<"Invalid month.";        }   //end of switch statement    if(Valid)        cout<<"\nYou have entered a valid date."	return 0;}

[Lilith]

Originally Posted By: The Mystic

Or write your own reusable code. I whipped up this little snippet last night in C++; all it does is make sure a user-entered date is valid.

your code has a y10k problem

[Actaeon]

I have trouble believing that humans will be around to worry about code in eight thousand years.

[Tyranicus]

Originally Posted By: Actaeon

I have trouble believing that humans will be around to worry about code in eight thousand years.

We've been around for far longer than that.

[keira]

Back in the day they said people wouldn't be able to use up all the IPv4 address space. Just goes to show why you should always over-prepare.

[The Mystic]

Originally Posted By: Lilith

Originally Posted By: The Mystic

Or write your own reusable code. I whipped up this little snippet last night in C++; all it does is make sure a user-entered date is valid.

your code has a y10k problem

I'll worry about it when the time comes.

[Actaeon]

Originally Posted By: Tyranicus

Originally Posted By: Actaeon

I have trouble believing that humans will be around to worry about code in eight thousand years.

We've been around for far longer than that.

I know. I'm an anthropology major. Perhaps I should say that I hope we're not, unless we've somehow managed to drastically cut back on our negative impact.