# Do we see our dreams in the middle of the night? Or before we wake up?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-see-our-dreams-in-the-middle-of-the-night-or-before-we-wake-up/218386>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 11, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-see-our-dreams-in-the-middle-of-the-night-or-before-we-wake-up/218386 "2003-12-11T17:07:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![caramelboy23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bc8723/32.png) [@caramelboy23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caramelboy23)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-see-our-dreams-in-the-middle-of-the-night-or-before-we-wake-up/218386/1 "2003-12-11T17:07:24Z")

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Do we see our dreams in the in the middle of the night? Or when we are about to wake up?

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-see-our-dreams-in-the-middle-of-the-night-or-before-we-wake-up/218386/2 "2003-12-11T19:31:30Z")

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We have short dream periods every 90 minutes or so, lasting about 10 minutes each.

Something like that, anyway.

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**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-see-our-dreams-in-the-middle-of-the-night-or-before-we-wake-up/218386/3 "2003-12-11T19:50:40Z")

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Close **Lob** - our dream cycles run about 5 times a night in the normal 8 hour sleep range. Our brain waves spend most of the night just below wakefulness i.e. we are basically not dreaming, but thinking. Then at the end of each cycle we enter what is called REM - or rapid eye movement - state of sleeping. This is when we dream. According to the op, it would be called “seeing” our dream. And this happens 4 to 5 times a night. Each time getting progressively longer, so right before you wake up, you are dreaming the longest portion of REM, lucid dreaming.

So yes, to answer your question, we do see our dreams at night, it is whether or not you remember them that counts.

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**Author:** ![jmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmonster)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-see-our-dreams-in-the-middle-of-the-night-or-before-we-wake-up/218386/4 "2003-12-11T20:15:20Z")

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Well, it’s only lucid if you realize you’re dreaming.

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**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-we-see-our-dreams-in-the-middle-of-the-night-or-before-we-wake-up/218386/5 "2003-12-11T21:42:10Z")

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That was my first reaction too **jmonster**. Only a minority of people have Lucid dreams.