this time ~ this space

Dream Duration
The greatest myth about dreams is that they are over ‘in a flash’. It is surprising how many people today accept that idea as true. It stems from the Frenchman, Maury, who reported having had a long and involved dream which culminated in his execution by guillotine. At the moment the blade fell, he was woken by part of the bed collapsing on his neck. He reasoned that the whole dream construction must have occurred in that moment.

It sounds a plausible notion, but we know that expectation certainly affects dreams and it may have been that his bed often collapsed and perhaps gave warning creeks. The facts of that case cannot now be known. As there was no counter evidence that dreams occurred in ‘real time’, Maury’s theory stayed around and gained considerable ground.

However, Dr Hearne was the first person to show that dreams do actually take as long as they appear to do. In his sleep-laboratory, studies of lucid dreams, where subjects signalled information from within the dream by making coded eye movements, Hearne found that the estimated passages of time between signals corresponded to the actual measured durations in the polygraphic chart record.

Dream Forgetting and Recall
The reason for rapid evaporation of dream memories is probably to prevent confusing dreams with reality. The memories do not seem to be actually erased - because something the following day can trigger the recall of an entire dream. It is more a case of them being filed away somewhere marked ‘Not normally to be accessed’. Of course, those seeking self-insight and self development from their own dreams have to overcome that obstacle.

Recall is best immediately after the dream. The brain is very active in REM and the thought-processes can function on waking. However, waking from SWS can be quite different - especially from stage four sleep. Often the individual woken from that condition is disoriented, and ’sleep-drunk’.

Dreaming in Colour
Finally, let us briefly consider the big differences between individuals as regards colour in dreams. In general surveys on dreams, colour is usually referred to in about a third of cases. If, however, subjects in the sleep lab are asked to report any colours in dreams on being woken from REM sleep, nearly three-quarters can recall colours. The content of the dream seems to be remembered in preference to any colour factors.

Related blog posts:
Journaling Your Dreams Part 1 - Beginning
Journaling Dreams Part 2 - Tips
Journaling Your Dreams Part 3 - Questions
Dragon Dreaming: Symbology
Dragon Dreaming: Learning About Dreaming
Dragon Dreaming: Lucid Dreaming
Black Dragon Dream

References: An abundance of references on lucid dreaming can be found on the internet perhaps you would like to start here http://www.dreamviews.com/tutorials.php.