Do we dream into the future?

Here’s something that has bugged me for some time.

So, when we dream, inevitably the thing that wakes up up is an alarm or sound.  I’ve had times, and I’ hope you have too, that the sound that wakes me up has somehow been incorporated into the dream.

How does this work? How do we, when you’re asleep know what’s coming and incorporate it into the dream?

It’s like you know what’s going to happen at the end of the story before the story has even been written.

Does any of that make sense? do you know what I mean?

Do we dream into the future?

2 Comments so far »

  1. Kevin Drum said

    am March 10 2010 @ 5:30 pm

    I know exactly what you mean. The misconception here is that your dreams happen in real-time. That is, as soon as your brain perceives the phone ringing, your brain begins to make sense of that sound within the context of your dream (perhaps someone in your dream leads you to a phone booth). By the time, the phone rings a second or third time in reality (and you wake up), several minutes of perceived dreamtime can have gone by. I hope that makes sense. Freud did quite a bit of study on external influences on dreams. Also, the film “Stay”.

  2. Chris said

    am March 10 2010 @ 6:01 pm

    Don't ever fall asleep to the History Channel or you may wake up before you are born! This is a fun observation, and I will have to see the movie “Stay.” Do you have any more details about the movie?

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