Why Don't I Ever Have A Complete Dream?!

[The Simpleton 2]

Most of us may not be remembering how our dreams start in the first place, but we remember very well how it ends, i.e, when we wake up. I have a doubt though - is it common to get the feeling that we always wake up when the dream gets exciting? In my dreams, when suddenly something exciting happens, I wake up precisely at that moment, due to some or the other reason (milkman banging the door, me knocking down the alarm, etc). It's as if the timing of the dream was preset to end exactly at that moment!To the best of my memory, I've never had a complete dream. Every single time the dream remains incomplete, even though if it's something silly. So is there any theory for why this happens?

[magnafrost 0]

Maybe you got a kick or died in the dream? (Inception btw). But seriously, I think there's a rationale for that. Every time you have a complete dream (not really sure what that is.. For all you know it could be endless), you'll be "sleeping" for a while after the dream gets over. I assume that this greatly reduces the chances of you remembering the dream, especially considering how volatile they're. Am I making any sense? :|

[andresf91 0]

There's obviously sense in what magnafrost says, but the thing is that I can't remember ANY dream... I think that besides the matter of probability, there's an issue of possibility.

What I mean is that not only are few chances of remembering the end of the dream because, according to the regular cycles theory of oneirology (the scientific study of dreams), dreaming happens at stages, and it's pretty hard to coincide the moment in which you wake up with the ending of that stage... but also, because I don't think it is possible to remember all the dream, specially the last parts of it, even if that remote coincidence occurs.

 

Did I make myself clear? It's quite a blurry topic to discuss, dreams, and I'm not talking here about those nightmares in which you suddenly fall into a hole, crash your car or some kind of shocking stuff which wakes you up in the middle of the night sweating. No.

I refer to "normal" dreams, those of which you can remember some parts immediately after you wake up... and then, it's gone - unless you consciously gave it a thought. And I think that is the point: dreaming is an unconscious activity, which has several uses for our brain, including refreshing the synaptic activity, (meaning that we usually dream about things or people we already know).

If we take Freud, he would tell you that those dreams are "wishes" and should be analysed as such. There's a whole theory behind it, so you could read him if you're interested.

On the other hand, there's this theory of lucid dreaming which refers to those dreams in which the dreamer knows that is dreaming (sorry for being repetitive in this sentence)... and they have methods to induce to it, which theoretically gives you the way to remember and shape your dreaming. Google for more info.

Hope my opinion was helpful.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I almost always have complete dreams. In fact, if I wake up to use the restroom or something during it, I can even get a drink and check email and things like that and go lay back down to continue it. I just keep the thought in my mind while I continue going about whatever it is I needed to do.This does only last for a short period though. I'd say after 10 minutes or so I will be unable to continue the dream, but shorter periods haven't been an issue yet.

[mahesh2k 0]

The reason we don't remember dream is because dreams are result of our subconscious memory and instructions or impacts. Because of this many uncompleted actions are shown within our dreams. For example, many times we see dreams where we are falling from some higher place or mountain, jet etc. Why don't we see anything after the fall ? Because we never programmed our mind for that. We assume that after fall there is end of life hence we trigger our mind to wake us up. And that is the reason we wake from dreams with some shock. Many times we don't remember dreams because they're from our subconscious memory.What we suppress in real life is not always suppressed from memory. Many things in memory remain forever and it's just that they get back with memory and not that you can remember when you're conscious. This is just my observation, let me know if i'm wrong with that.

[buxgoddess 1]

There's obviously sense in what magnafrost says, but the thing is that I can't remember ANY dream... I think that besides the matter of probability, there's an issue of possibility.

What I mean is that not only are few chances of remembering the end of the dream because, according to the regular cycles theory of oneirology (the scientific study of dreams), dreaming happens at stages, and it's pretty hard to coincide the moment in which you wake up with the ending of that stage... but also, because I don't think it is possible to remember all the dream, specially the last parts of it, even if that remote coincidence occurs.

 

Did I make myself clear? It's quite a blurry topic to discuss, dreams, and I'm not talking here about those nightmares in which you suddenly fall into a hole, crash your car or some kind of shocking stuff which wakes you up in the middle of the night sweating. No.

I refer to "normal" dreams, those of which you can remember some parts immediately after you wake up... and then, it's gone - unless you consciously gave it a thought. And I think that is the point: dreaming is an unconscious activity, which has several uses for our brain, including refreshing the synaptic activity, (meaning that we usually dream about things or people we already know).

If we take Freud, he would tell you that those dreams are "wishes" and should be analysed as such. There's a whole theory behind it, so you could read him if you're interested.

On the other hand, there's this theory of lucid dreaming which refers to those dreams in which the dreamer knows that is dreaming (sorry for being repetitive in this sentence)... and they have methods to induce to it, which theoretically gives you the way to remember and shape your dreaming. Google for more info.

Hope my opinion was helpful.

 

There are days (nights ) when you wake up and do not remember if you dreamt. Later on that day you recall that the same has happened to you before as well, only to find out that you dreamt it the previous night. Scary!

I analysed many of them and realized a few. To dream you see a friend standing like a statue on a hill, denotes you will advance beyond present pursuits, but will retain former impressions of justice and knowledge, seeking these through every change. If the figure blew, you will ignore your friends of former days in your future advancement. If it is on a plane or level with you, you will fail in your ambition to reach other spheres. If you seem to be going from it, you will force yourself to seek a change in spite of friendly ties or self-admonition.

When you dream of gas, denotes you will entertain harmful opinions of others, which will cause you to deal with them unjustly, and you will suffer consequent remorse. To think you are asphyxiated, denotes you will have trouble which you will needlessly incur through your own wastefulness and negligence. To try to blow gas out, signifies you will entertain enemies unconsciously, who will destroy you if you are not wary.

When you dream that God sends his spirit upon you, great changes in your beliefs will take place. Views concerning dogmatic Christianity should broaden after this dream, or you may be severely chastised for some indiscreet action which has brought shame upon you. God speaks oftener to those who transgress than those who do not. It is the genius of spiritual law or economy to reinstate the prodigal child by signs and visions. Elijah, Jonah, David, and Paul were brought to the altar of repentence through the vigilant energy of the hidden forces within.

For a man to dream that he wears a new hat, predicts change of place and business, which will be very much to his advantage. For a woman to dream that she wears a fine new hat, denotes the attainment of wealth, and she will be the object of much admiration.

And when there is a dream of a holiday, foretells interesting strangers will soon partake of your hospitality. For a young woman to dream that she is displeased with a holiday, denotes she will be fearful of her own attractions in winning a friend back from a rival.

These were my findings and I think many will have more to share.

Edited July 23, 2010 by buxgoddess (see edit history)

[magnafrost 0]

Lucid dreaming! I've always wanted to be able to realise that I am dreaming when I'm dreaming. But so far, I haven't been able to achieve it. I've noticed that creativity is at its peak during a dream. No, I'm not talking about Star wars or Star Trek or any other sci-fi creativity. I'm talking about being able to have a better understanding of everything, and have a clear mind. I'm not sure if people will agree but I remember occasions where I actually made headway in some thought processes in the dream which were valid, but I couldn't make any progress after I woke up. Put simply, you are smarter in your dream. If there was a way to make it a little more orderly, it'll be simply awesome.And I don't think you can 'foresee' the future in your dreams, but you can definitely 'predict' them! For instance, think about someone you know really well, a friend you've known for 7 or 8 years maybe. Think of something that you tell them and try to figure out how they respond. You'll notice you can actually figure that one out. In fact, there are a few friends of mine I admire for their logic and I try to think what they would do when I have a decision to make and let that help me. Same way, in the dream you are able to predict happenings and you might get pretty close to "forsee"ing the future there.

[mandla 0]

i dont know much about dreams but I have always assumed that there's 3 stages of consciousness1. Full COnsciousness similar to what you are know as in fully awake and fully aware of whats happening.2. Uconscious which is when your brain switches off and runs with minimum activity3. Semi Consciousness the place in between the two consciousnesses I have listed above.i believe that the process of waking up is similar to a pc booting up. so wen you are waking up you are moving from the unconscious to the conscious . While you are unconscious you dream because dreams are basically your brain just sieving through all the thoughs you went through all day, it throws away the useless information and tries to retain all the good bits but while processing we process the images but because the part of our brain that visualises things is swiched off we sort of dont see a picture but as we start to come back into consciousness mode evrything starts switching back on including the part of our brain that projects the images/pictues in our mind we can call this the minds eye. as this switches on we start to dream and the pictures project into our minds eye and we see a movie playing in our head we call this a dream. but sometimes we fail to become fully away because we fall back into unconsciousness and then reboot but the part of our mind which process the thoughts still works while we are uncoscious it will continue going through the info while we are unconscious hence wen we start to wake up again therby going back into semi consciousness our minds eye will come back on and project the picture our mind in processing hence the dreams are usually wierd like one moment you dream of yourself driving a car going the beach then next thing your dream seemed to change and show you now eating cake in the bahamas. similar to watching TV and falling asleep then waking up and the movie has changed completely or when you wake up at night look at the clock its 3 am and you go to slep for 5 minutes and your alarm goes off and it now 7 am.the reason why our dreams seem to get disturbed by eg the postie or milkman is because we are only semi conscious while we reboot. similar to starting up your pc. once all the things are turned on your sense are completely turned on the the part of your brain that says hey thats a dream open your eyes and get up kicks in hence the time we thinking no no no doing wanna wake up im enjoying this dream but once we fully conscious the dream is replaced by reality I dont know if any of this doesnt make sense then maybe Im useless at tryna explain things. Also this may not be a scientific based explanantion but Im sure its very very close to the real thing. Maybe just the examples I am using might be a bit crazy.

[rpgsearcherz 5]

i dont know much about dreams but I have always assumed that there's 3 stages of consciousness
1. Full COnsciousness similar to what you are know as in fully awake and fully aware of whats happening.
2. Uconscious which is when your brain switches off and runs with minimum activity
3. Semi Consciousness the place in between the two consciousnesses I have listed above.

Your brain never slows down, nor does it turn off or anything while you are sleeping -- that's why you still dream and why people can still learn while sleeping. Sleeping isn't for the purpose of "resting" the brain -- in fact, it has to do with regenerating dead cells in the body. When you are asleep your body goes into a slight fever for the purpose of boosting the speed of protein synthesis. This is why you feel energized again when you wake up.

But in terms of the information your brain processes while "awake" or "asleep" there is no difference.


Source: Anatomy, Physiology, and Psychology classes.