Dreams occur in the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep. We tend to remember the dreams that are seen just prior to waking up, but often the experience of time during our dream and awake stages is skewed. Swedish and German scientists studied Lucid Dreamers(People who are aware while dreaming and are able to control the dream) and found out that there is a negligible time difference in non-physical tasks done in the dream stage vs in reality.
Physical tasks, like running, took longer in dreams than in reality.

Our Experience Of Time During Dreams

timemanagement

Time Management

<ul><li><a href="#main-content">Skip to Main Content </a> </li><li><a href="#main-nav">Skip to Main Navigation </a> </li><li><a href="#site-footer">Skip to Footer </a> </li> </ul>

<ol><li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com">Home </a> </li><li> <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/">Everyday science </a> </li><li> How does time change when we dream? </li> </ol>

<a href="https://www.buysubscriptions.com/print/bbc-science-focus-magazine-subscription?promo=SPR21BS&utm_medium=brandsite&utm_source=sciencefocus.com&utm_campaign=spring_SPR21BS&utm_content=editorial-link&style=brand">6 issues for £9.99 when you subscribe to BBC Science Focus Magazine </a>

With the help of lucid dreamers, scientists have examined how our brains interpret time during shuteye.

By <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/author/alicegregory/">Alice Gregory </a>

<ul><li><a href="http://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencefocus.com%2Fscience%2Fhow-does-time-change-when-we-dream%2F">Share on Facebook </a> </li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=How%20does%20time%20change%20when%20we%20dream%3F%20%40sciencefocus%0A%0A&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencefocus.com%2Fscience%2Fhow-does-time-change-when-we-dream%2F">Share on Twitter </a> </li><li><a>Share on Whatsapp </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencefocus.com%2Fscience%2Fhow-does-time-change-when-we-dream%2F&title=How does time change when we dream?">Share on Reddit </a> </li><li><a href="mailto:?subject=Wow - look at this How does time change when we dream?&body=This is amazing... With the help of lucid dreamers, scientists have examined how our brains interpret time during shuteye.%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencefocus.com%2Fscience%2Fhow-does-time-change-when-we-dream%2F%0A">Email to a friend </a> </li> </ul>

As many of us know, dreams can feel like they span several days or occur in slow-motion. And they can also be perceived to take place in real-time.

Although difficult to analyse time-perception in people’s dreams, promising research has emerged when studying lucid dreamers. These are people who are aware they are dreaming while dreaming – and can consciously influence the dream content.

For instance, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3893623/">in a study </a>by scientists based in Switzerland and Germany, the time taken to perform pre-arranged tasks when awake and when dreaming lucidly was compared. The participants moved their eyes left-right-left-right to indicate the start and end of a task.

Motor tasks, such as performing squats, took significantly longer when dreaming as compared to when awake (although non-significant differences were found for a non-motor counting task). The authors hypothesised that this could be due to a lack of feedback from muscles when a motor task takes place while dreaming. A difference in neural processing speed when dreaming as compared to when awake was also given as a possible explanation.

Some people wonder why their dreams appear to take place just prior to waking. One possible explanation is that we need to wake up to remember our dreams, which means that those taking place earlier in the night are less likely to be recalled. Dreams are most likely to occur during Rapid Eye Movement sleep, which is more abundant as the night progresses and towards our waking time, providing a further explanation.

Asked by: Charlotte Hewes, Aylesbury

<ul><li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/why-do-we-sleep/">Why do we sleep? </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/why-does-time-go-so-fast-when-youre-asleep/">Why does time go so fast when you’re asleep? </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/why-does-time-speed-up-when-you-get-older/">Why does time speed up when you get older? </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/is-time-real-or-an-illusion/">Is time real or an illusion? </a> </li> </ul>

To submit your questions email us at <a href="mailto:questions@sciencefocus.com">questions@sciencefocus.com </a>(don’t forget to include your name and location)

<ul><li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/tag/qanda/">Q&A </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/tag/sleep/">Sleep </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/tag/time/">Time </a> </li> </ul>

<ul><li>Pay by Direct Debit and get 6 for £9.99* </li><li>Receive every issue delivered direct to your door with FREE UK delivery </li> </ul>

Podcast: The bizarre biology of the mantis shrimp

The blobfish: a bloated guide to the world’s ugliest animal

Does sea air really make you sleep better?

Why do I have more vivid dreams when sleeping in a bed other than my own?

Does time really go faster as we get older?

Why is Big Ben being turned off for four years?

How was the length of a second first calculated?

How did people set their clocks before TV and radio?

Get 6 issues for £9.99 when you subscribe to BBC Science Focus Magazine

Discover our latest special editions covering a range of fascinating topics from the latest scientific discoveries to the big ideas explained.

Listen to some of the brightest names in science and technology talk about the ideas and breakthroughs shaping our world.

Get our daily LUNCHTIME GENIUS newsletter

Our daily newsletter arrives just in time for lunch, offering up the day's biggest science news, our latest features, amazing Q&As and insightful interviews. PLUS a free mini-magazine for you to download and keep.

Thanks! Look out for your Lunchtime Genius newsletter in your inbox soon.

Already have an account with us? Sign in to manage your newsletter preferences

By clicking “sign up” you are agreeing to our <a href="https://www.immediate.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/">terms and conditions </a>and <a href="https://policies.immediate.co.uk/privacy/">privacy policy </a>. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how to do this, and how Immediate Media Company Limited (publisher of Science Focus) holds your personal information, please see our <a href="https://policies.immediate.co.uk/privacy/">privacy policy </a>.

<ul><li><a href="https://www.facebook.com/sciencefocus">Visit us on Facebook </a> </li><li><a href="http://uk.pinterest.com/ScienceFocus">Visit us on Pinterest </a> </li><li><a href="https://twitter.com/@sciencefocus">Visit us on Twitter </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS0P18FM3wfcKIS7Asy6cUQ">Visit us on YouTube </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.instagram.com/bbcsciencefocus">Visit us on Instagram </a> </li><li><a href="/feed/atom/">Subscribe to our RSS feed </a> </li> </ul>

<ul><li><a href="https://www.immediate.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/">Terms & Conditions </a> </li><li><a href="https://policies.immediate.co.uk/privacy/">Privacy policy </a> </li><li><a href="https://policies.immediate.co.uk/cookies-policy/">Cookies policy </a> </li><li><a href="http://www.immediate.co.uk/code-of-conduct/">Code of conduct </a> </li><li><a href="http://www.immediate.co.uk/licensing-and-syndication/">Licensing </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.buysubscriptions.com/?utm_medium=brandsite&utm_source=sciencefocus.com&utm_campaign=company-footer-link&utm_content=corporate-footer">Magazine subscriptions </a> </li><li><a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/contact/">Contact Us </a> </li><li><a href="#">Manage cookies </a> </li> </ul>

How does time change when we dream? - BBC Science Focus Magazine

Our Experience Of Time During Dreams

Violet S.'s ideas are part of this journey:

Related collections

Similar ideas