I’ve always been able too. When I’m dreaming (that isn’t necessarily totally lucid, but I’m aware that it’s a dream) I can usually pull myself out of it if it appears to be heading south. For example, last week, having a dream, for some reason someone was chasing me. I remember it being a situation where he was after the wrong guy (me) but the circumstantial evidence pointed my way and he didn’t look like he was going to listen to reason. I get away from him, and enter a building, a rec center at a park IIRC. I go into one of the rooms and he’s there waiting for me, fuck, leave the room, dart across the hall and into another room, guess who’s already there. It was at that point that I said “fuck it, I’m done” and I woke up. After I made sure I was FULLY awake, I went back to bed with no problem.
Can anyone else do that? I know my sister can, but beyond that I don’t know if I’m in the minority or if it’s common.
I should probably add that I don’t typically remember having any dreams so I have no way of knowing how often I have bad dreams that I don’t wake myself up from.
I often force myself to wake up from dreams, but it’s due to panic, rather than a normal desire to do so (such as being bored of it)
But the annoying thing is I always wish I hadn’t. The point of it being a dream is that there is no danger. I want to have a strong enough belief before the moment of panic that it IS a dream that I decide not to force myself awake.
Another yes, I can wake myself up from a dream. Usually only happens during nightmares, when something really bad is happening. In the dream, it feels like physically sitting up from laying on my back - even if I awaken still lying flat.
There is one particular dream I have that I CAN wake myself up from, after years of practice. But probably only because I am close to waking up anyhow. If I start dreaming about going to the dentist, I know I have to wake myself up and get to the bathroom. Now, there are plenty of other times I wake up to go to the bathroom without that dream. But I’ve discovered over the years that when I have it, I HAVE TO GET UP NOW! and I can tell myself that in the dream, and wake up.
Only if I die in the dream. But it’s pretty rare for me to remember dreams. When I do, they fade into oblivion within a few minutes of getting up.
I did notice though that if I take a lot of vitamin B-6 (I have pyroluria - not really a recognized disorder) I tend to remember my dreams. The experience is sufficiently unpleasant that I don’t do that anymore.
I can’t remember any time I’ve intentionally woken up from a dream, but I have gone lucid during dreams that have gone ugly, and then was able to escape the danger. Unfortunately, lucid dreams never last long for me as I tend to wake up from them quickly.
Yes, but it involves a lot of physical activity such as throwing the bedcovers and the contents of your nightstand across the room.The cold and the noise wake you up.
Ordinarily, sure. I can lucid dream as well sufficiently late in my sleep cycle.
But I am also prone to paralysis. I usually have a good sense of when it is oncoming, so I can try to shake myself awake (or get my wife to shake me) while it is happening. But if it hits full strength, then I am stuck in hallucinatory hell. You are supposed to wake up before the plane crashes and you die. I dream that I am stuck under the plane, with every bone in my body broken, unable to move.
Sleep paralysis really distorts my sense of time. It feels like hours go by when I am in that state, but in reality, I would be surprised if it were more than a few minutes.
Usually just happens in lucid dreams, for me. Whenever I start to realize I’m dreaming, becoming less groggy and more able to control my surroundings, I start waking up and things fade out.
Nightmares, though, I never seem to go lucid and wake up from.
I can, but usually it’s under duress. If I’m about to be killed or something else extreme, I usually just say “this is a dream,” and I will lift out of it. I have been killed in a dream, however. I was in some kind of North Korean military camp (don’t know where the hell that came from,) and was shot. I felt brief pain, but quickly faded into black before waking up feeling really wierd.
Not now, but I could as a child. But I (inside the dream, that is) always had to take a jump in the air to wake me up. It always worked and was very convenient in nightmares or boring dreams. I was also sometimes able to determine the subjects of my dreams before falling asleep. Unfortunately, I lost these abilities when growing up.
I’ve only recently developed the ability to do this, and only sometimes. First, I very rarely remember my dreams. Second, things have to get extremely absurd before I realize that I’m dreaming.
I haven’t had full blown nightmares since I was a kid (I’m 41), but the few dreams I do remember I call “pain in the ass dreams”, where I have to complete some unpleasant task, or I’m stuck with some annoying person. It’s a relief when I finally catch on that I’m dreaming and pop out of it.
Oh, see for me, nightmares are what kick in the lucid dreaming. Once it gets too scary, I think, “This ain’t right… Ohh, I get it.” Usually it stays scary but if it gets out of hand I wake up.
Stress dreams on the other hand don’t wake me up. Like I had a dream I was rock climbing and Bad Stuff started to happen. It was all suspense, but very much based on plausible reality. Those dreams suck. Chased by a monster or serial killer, yeah, I can wake up. Dreaming I’m in the middle of a 400 foot cliff and realized I never tied my rope, damn that dream just keeps going!
I can’t, but my husband can. For example, he’ll be running from the unseen horror, then look down and think, “This carpet doesn’t belong here: it belongs in another building.” Then he’ll wake up.
I remembered biting my dream-self while in a dream in an attempt to wake up. It worked. (And I didn’t end up biting myself in real life while doing that in the dream).
Yes. I never have more than a few seconds of a nightmare because of this. If things start getting unpleasant, I choose to wake up. If only I could exert any sort of control over what happens in dreams. This also causes me to wake up.
