# How do \*you\* know you're dreaming? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 8, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115 "2012-09-08T19:49:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/21 "2012-09-08T22:55:12Z")
If I’m in a nightmare (and recognized this fact in a dream), I generally can wake myself up. (I have very vivid nightmares …) If I don’t like what I’m doing in a dream, and my behavior/actions keep repeating, I can wake myself up. My dreams often feature me packing up / trying to get away / and everything gets complicated and harder to do and I just can’t ever seem to finish, and actually GET AWAY. Then I’ll try to wake myself out of the dream. I invent fabulous flowers and cityscapes in my dreams / often in color / or treacherously black (nightmares – got lost in Chicago IN MY DREAM, and this would NEVER happen in real life) … Ah, dreams! ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/22 "2012-09-08T22:57:37Z")
Breathing underwater. Usually starts out as some weird scenario involving me drowning… I’m afraid, and holding my breath, then I’m relieved I can breathe, and my dream proceeds into that wild exploration. I don’t fly, so much as I can hover. It always seems surprising at first, then I realize I can float/hover just as easily as walking. Some mental thought to where and how I want to defy gravity, but it’s always a cool dream. Other than that, dreams can be hyper-specific and at the same time, completely vague. Sometimes people I know, or houses I grew up in are not at all the same, but in my dream, it doesn’t even register. Only when I wake up, I’m like… my mom isn’t Kathy Bates. She looks and acts NOTHING like Kathy Bates! Except that one time she called me a Dirty Birdie. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/23 "2012-09-08T23:01:01Z")
I’ll also have dreams of me playing the guitar like a god. I’ll even write music, with a what seems a great melody and lyrics. Then I wake up, and remember I can’t play guitar. I’m not even a _musician._ And from what I remember, those lyrics were gibberish. Well, I guess most bands I listen to are gibberish. The tune’s usually good though, but I can’t seem to hold onto it for very long. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/24 "2012-09-08T23:06:07Z")
None of us ever really know for sure. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/25 "2012-09-08T23:25:11Z")
When I perceive less details or it feels like I’m in the Matrix, I know I’m dreaming. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/26 "2012-09-09T02:28:32Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > I’ll also have dreams of me playing the guitar like a god. I’ll even write music, with a what seems a great melody and lyrics. > > Then I wake up, and remember I can’t play guitar. I’m not even a _musician._ And from what I remember, those lyrics were gibberish. Well, I guess most bands I listen to are gibberish. > > The tune’s usually good though, but I can’t seem to hold onto it for very long. Once – once! – I remembered the tune long enough to write it down. I showed it to a professional songwriter, who said, “Eh…not too awful.” (This is also how I know I snore in 5:4 time.) ---
**Author:** ![Questioning\_Zion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/58956e/32.png) [@Questioning\_Zion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Questioning_Zion)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/27 "2012-09-09T22:53:50Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > There are a few things that are common in my dreams and if I stopped _in_ the dream and considered, I’d know immediately I was dreaming. > [ol] > [li]For some reason I cannot - for the most part - behave violently. I cannot punch or shoot a gun. When I try to shoot in a dream, I find I do not have the strength to pull the trigger. Oddly though, I can \*sometimes \*body-slam people. I find these things very strange - not sure what it says, if anything, about my sub-conscious.[/li][li]Likewise, I cannot seem to shout. Just this morning I was trying to yell in my dream and it only came out as a whisper.[/li][li]I can’t _fly_ but I can glide. Going down steps, I find I can glide down a flight, sometimes I can even cut corners and glide down several flights. It seems so natural in the dream. I always think (in the dream) that I am never more than a few feet off the ground, so it isn’t unusual.[/li][/ol] > Do you have tells in your dreams? Cellphone will not work properly in an emergency. Weird “Texts” come on the screen and I’m yelling at the damn thing. Having relinquished my driver’s license due to injuries that limit my range-of-motion, I never drive anymore, but I always have dreams about getting in a car and harming somebody. Shifting into reverse in my dreams has instantly disastrous effects. Playing a musical instrument in a dream, I find that I’m playing some bizarre hybrid of a guitar and bass. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/28 "2012-09-09T23:14:40Z")
I only know I’ve been dreaming when I wake up. I fall hook, line and sinker for the dreams every time. Which I’m grateful for, there’s some kind of strange consistency there that I appreciate. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/29 "2012-09-12T18:11:52Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > None of us ever really know for sure. And thats the fact, sometimes we know, sometimes we don’t, and we often forget the dream in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/30 "2012-09-13T03:55:40Z")
Only in my dreams can I bluff my way through “reality.” As in, I can close my eyes and walk through walls because I can’t get the door to open. Only in my dreams will I eat the foods I know give me bad reactiosn, and then suddenly become aware of it and worry about it. Only in my dreams do I turn around and see a completely different scene than the one I just passed through. (My visual memory is crap.) Only in dreams do my dead relatives turn out not to be dead. And I mean, yes, in the dream, I thought they were dead, and they come back. My grandma was even buried, but got out. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/31 "2012-09-13T05:11:54Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > . . . Only in dreams do my dead relatives turn out not to be dead. And I mean, yes, in the dream, I thought they were dead, and they come back. My grandma was even buried, but got out. Oh, God, yes, I had that for a year after my father passed away. In my dreams, he came back! At first, he was kind of zombie like, but, with time, he got stronger and healthier and more dream-real. He spoke more. At first, he’d just come in to a room and sit there, but, after about a year, he would chat and laugh and even make mock of the idea that he might actually be dead. The dreams stopped being disturbing and started being reassuring, although in a weird way. About that point, I guess my unconscious mind finally got the message, and those dreams ceased. (Very, very selfishly, I sometimes hope I die before my sister does. I’m not prepared for those kinds of dreams about her.) ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/32 "2012-09-13T16:32:31Z")
Dad’s there. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/33 "2012-09-13T16:40:36Z")
triplets. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/34 "2012-09-13T17:35:08Z")
I’ll dream that I’m visiting my parents, and they’re still living in the house where we lived when I was a kid, even though in real life they’ve long since moved to a new and much nicer house. All the old furniture is even still there. In the dream I’m always angry at them, and I can’t understand why they’ve moved back the old house when they have the nice new one. For a while, I had this dream so often that I actually got confused even when awake about what house they actually lived in. I had to call them to check. I still have the dream now and then, though not so often anymore. Apparently, I have some issues. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/35 "2012-09-13T17:47:36Z")
I can count on one hand the dreams I’ve had where I didn’t know I was dreaming. It’s just really obvious. I could list ways that dreams look, feel, and act different from reality, but really, I know I’m dreaming when I’m dreaming. It feels completely different. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/36 "2012-09-13T22:34:14Z")
I can float in the air, which is nice. I can’t fly high into the sky but I can jump and then float 50 feet or so until I get where I want to go. Ironically when I do dream I’m doing this I never think ‘I must be dreaming’ I always think ‘how can I have lived this long and not realized I could do this’. So that alone doesn’t make me realize I’m asleep. The only time I realized I was asleep, at least lately, was when I was looking into a mirror in my sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2012, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/37 "2012-09-13T23:58:11Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > . . . The only time I realized I was asleep, at least lately, was when I was looking into a mirror in my sleep. I’ve only done that once… I didn’t realize it was a dream; it seemed perfectly normal. AND THE FACE IN THE MIRROR WASN’T MY OWN FACE! I woke up, remembered the dream, and was astonished for the whole rest of the day. Whose damn face was it? ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/38 "2012-09-14T01:28:55Z")
I don’t really know how to answer the OP question, so can I reverse it in a way? I know that I’m _not_ dreaming when my teeth start to crumble and fall out of my mouth, because these dreams always seem the most real. Flying dreams, dreams without clothing – I have these also but never experience the amazingly real emotions that my teeth dreams evoke. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/39 "2012-09-14T01:46:48Z")
If I get into a fight, and everything is a swing and a miss… I think “I spent WAY too much time studying martial arts to not be able to land a single shot, here…” However, in general, no matter how weird things get in my dreams, it never occurs to me that I’m dreaming, even when I’m flying, or being chased like in a James Bond movie… ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2012, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115/40 "2012-09-14T01:50:43Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > However, in general, no matter how weird things get in my dreams, it never occurs to me that I’m dreaming, even when I’m flying, or being chased like in a James Bond movie… Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say. Do people actually think “Hey, I’m dreaming!” in the middle of dreams, and keep on dreaming? I’ve certainly awoken myself on purpose during a particularly bad dream, but I would think that if I ever realized I was dreaming, even pleasantly, I would wake up then also. “Awoken?” Is that even a word and did I use it correctly?? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-know-youre-dreaming/634115.md?page=3)