I mean YOU, not “one”. I try to include in my DJ entries how long my LDs lasted…but sometimes it’s hard to say… I try to base it off of each part of my dream. for instance, if I’m talking to someone for a bit, then walk over here and do something, then go somewhere else, I might say it feels like 5-10 minutes (figuring talking for a few minutes, walking for a minute or two, activity for a few minutes)
maybe you have other ways of measuring time?
of course I know it’s not necessarily in real time, but… [though according to LaBerge it’s pretty close to real time]
The main reason why dreams can feel longer than they actually were is because your memory plays tricks on you. Very rarely will you remember exactly how a dream started (unless it’s a WILD, of course).
In a lucid dream, as long as you stay lucid, it’s about as accurate as your time telling abilities would be in real life. Personally, I always wear a watch, and I tend to look at it pretty often. Therefore, I have a decent grasp of how much time passes. If 10 minutes pass, I’ll usually be able to tell accurately with about a 1 or 2 minute margin, depending on the activities that took place.
So yeah, I just basically go by how long something feels, because I tend to do that IRL and it’s always at least somewhat accurate. I might be off by a few minutes, but if, say, 20 minutes passed, I would never guess either 10 minutes or 30 minutes or something.
Basically, it’s all you can do in a dream short of actually counting seconds. And even then, you don’t know if you’re accurate. There’s a chance that your dream watch might keep track of it accurately, but only if your brain actually knows exactly how long a second is.
So, long story short. Just go by your gut instinct. If it felt like 10 minutes, chances are it was at least close to that.
I often use the sound of my own voice inside the dream as an anchoring technique for staying lucid. So, if i sing a song that i know takes 4 minutes in real life, it has probably been 4 minutes in the dream too.
When you dream you’re not completely unconscious. The creative part of your brain is still very much active, as are your sensory perceptions. This was pretty much proven in the dream labs where lucid dreamers were able to signal to the waking world. Very sophisticated equipment has measured this since the 1980s.
Well, when I wake up I can approximately tell the time
We all have a rather precise inner clock, and it doesn’t just switch off when we go to sleep and switch back on when we wake up, cause we’d be majorly screwed otherwise if we slept too much or too little XP
But anyway, back on topic, for most things I did in a dream I just hastedly relive them as I write them down, and count the time as the fact would have taken place IRL. It is still only slightly reliable though, as perception of time can vary greatly even while awake
In fact, I’ve been thinking measuring the lenght of a LD by the amount of stuff you’ve accomplished would be a better way
Only through external sounds since there have been some dreams where I felt like being away several hours (I think two days the most), but thats because the scene jumps and it feels longer than it wouldve done.
Through external sounds I at least can be sure that the time in the dream goes exactly like the time IRL
I try to think through what I have done. Have I talked to somebody, flied etc and then try to feel how long time has passed. Would be much easier if my clock would work in LD’s
since there have been some dreams where I felt like being away several hours (I think two days the most), but thats because the scene jumps and it feels longer than it wouldve done.