How long does a dream actually last?

Question

Is it as long as it actually seems or does the brain deal wth it in a matter of seconds?

Answer 1

Scientists recognize sleep stages by tracking the changes in brain waves. The five sleep stages are repeated as many as five times during the night. As the night progresses, each cycle lengthens, and REM sleep, during which most dreaming takes place, extends.

Sleep Stage 1
In this brief stage, which may last only a few minutes, the body drifts to sleep. Brain waves are mostly high amplitude, slow waves and occasional alpha waves (like those found when awake).
Percent of total sleep time for young adults: 5 percent.

Sleep Stage 2
Heartbeat and breathing slow and the sleep is deeper than in Stage 1. Slow-wave sleep continues with peaks of brain waves (known as sleep spindles) occurring.
Percent of total sleep time for young adults: 44 to 55 percent.

Sleep Stages 3 and 4
These are the stages of deepest sleep, when brain waves are slowest. During these stages breathing and heartbeat slow further and muscles relax. Dreams are more common than in the earlier stages and sleepwalking and talking may occur during Stages 3 and 4.
Percent of total sleep time for young adults: 15 to 23 percent.

REM
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stages lengthen through the night. The first REM cycle may be only 10 minutes while the last could last as long as an hour. During this cycle the heartbeat increases, breathing becomes shallow, eyes move rapidly, muscles are relaxed, and dreams are most vivid. Brain waves resemble those during waking.
Percent of total sleep time for young adults: 20 to 25 percent.

Answer 2

Dreams last 5 to 9 seconds, and you have a dream cycle near the end of each 90-minute sleep cycle. You need a minimum of 4 dream cycles per night to remain healthy. Most of those dreams are called "clearing dreams" as we get rid of the emotional baggage and mind-clutter that accumlates thru the day while we dream. Since you are asleep, your dreams are outside time-space and you may dream something that would occur over a earth space-time continuum of several hours, but the dream actually occurs in seconds. You don't think it strange to dream about driving to mall yet you do not actually drive there while you're dreaming, so why should think it strange that a dream "feels" like it lasts hours but is only a few seconds long?

Answer 3

A dream usually occurs during a specific stage if sleep. We actually have about four to six "dreams" a night. An entire cycle of sleep lasts about one hour to 90 minutes. A dream last about 15 and 20 minutes at most, and sometimes less. Time is compressed during a dream. In other words, days can occur in minutes. Just try to sit and close our eyes and try to remove all thoughts from your mind; if you have a thought, let it escape with a breathe. Then try to guess how much time passes. Sometimes it will feel forever, sometimes a few seconds. Time is a concept.

Answer 4

According to my professor, dreaming occurs at the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage after you have completed at least until the third stage of sleep. Now, It usually occurs from 20 to 90 minutes before you wake up.

Quite unreal but it is a fact.

Answer 5

You have to know that dreams vary in time. However, the average time is 8 minutes and 47 seconds.

Answer 6

The people that have claim to study and know, used to say it was over in seconds, but now they study rems, and say it can be minutes, and I say it is all relative to ones perception of time.