this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2025
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I don't really dream. It's extremely rare to the point where I'll have a handful in a year and I don't remember them. Waking up with an emotional reaction to an odd dream inspired by life events or entertainment... Then the details slip away from me and I can't even talk to anyone about the experience.

What's it like for you?
Do you enjoy, dislike or analyze your dreams?
Is it really a window to the subconscious for you?

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What’s it like for you?

There's a lot of different degrees of dreaming, and it's still kind of a mystery to science why exactly we dream like we do.

At the most basic, it's usually just something your memory gets rid of immediately, just leaving you with a vague memory of a memory of a sensation, I think you experience those as well.

And on the other end of the spectrum are dreams, which basically are like being in actual situations, acting and experiencing something as if you are actually there, feeling "real" for the lack of a better word. Those then can range from realistic and mundane to surreal and extraordinary. Most interesting here is, that the surrealness is usually not perceived as such. A remarkable feature of most dreams is, that their internal logic, even where it would make no sense in real life at all, is in-the-moment perceived as just what is natural. (e.g. people appearing and vanishing, places morphing into different places, etc.)

Then there are lucid dreams, where you "wake up" to the fact, that you are in a dream, and sometimes even get a certain amount of control over the world and situation you are in. I have had those at times in the past with some medication. Including really interesting ones, like with ones where I ended up confronting my grandfather and parents, my brain clearly working through some memories in some way.

Then there are dreams that feel like movies or video games, with different degrees of being "in" what is happening, feeling more like an observer.

In general - dreams feel like actual situations, with varying degrees of vividity and control and varying degrees of sensuality (with some, you can hear, see, touch and smell, others just have sight or sound). And they can range from mundane things to fantastical stories. And can range from insightful, to joyful, to genuine horror that doesn't leave you after waking up for a while.

Do you enjoy, dislike or analyze your dreams?

Personally, I enjoy dreams, even when they are full of negative emotions, there is usually something interesting to reflect on. I remember reading a German study recently, that came to the conclusion, that how vivid dreams are and how much you remember is at least partially also influenced by preconceptions about dreaming and "training". The most obvious, for example, is a dream journal helping with more clearly remembering dreams, as memory usually fades quickly after waking up, so catching the memory and putting it to paper as quickly as possible can help.

For others, dreams can become more of a nuisance where they keep reliving traumata, without any closure beyond re-traumatisation and exhaustion. For those, too, there is at least some hope in that things under our control seem to be at least a part of the equation of how vivid and well-remembered dreams can be.

Is it really a window to the subconscious for you?

I'd say so, but I'd caution to not pay too much heed to "objective" theories of dream interpretation. What is pretty well proven, as far as I know, is that dreaming plays some part in memory, and that it is fed by memories. But how exactly that can be a reflection of the unconscious mind is, in my opinion, so heavily subjective, that answers like "seeing this in a dream means that" at least feel like nonsense to me.

E.g., when I dream of seeing myself in the mirror with scars and pustules all over my body, that has a meaning that will be related to me, that could completely differ in meaning from the same dream for another person. And not every dream has to be profound there, too. E.g. simple dreams of good food or of sex can be as surface level as they seem. Another example here is a common phenomenon of having dreams of needing to go the the bathroom (which I occasionally have before waking up) - where that is as simple as it seems - very simply reflecting what is happening in the not-yet-awake psyche.

[–] auraithx@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I have aphantasia so don’t really have full fledged scenic dreams with a narrative like some people have.

It’s more like I see my daughter crawling and falling into the plug socket so I need to go in after her, and then I’m suddenly in a field full of wasps.

I don’t ‘see’ much, it’s more like flashes of images and emotions; and I’ll often open my eyes and talk or shout but still be asleep mentally.

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[–] Brotha_Jaufrey@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

Very often I’ll have a repeat dream, or a dream about a previous dream. Then I lose track of which was the original dream

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I'm similar to you, but probably not as bad. I don't often remember my dreams, or I might wake up with a fragment of a memory in my head: "Oh no! I need to let someone know the cats are playing cards in the oven!" But any of the context is lost. Also, if I don't immediately focus on that fragment and try to remember more about it, it will disappear from my mind completely.

Sometimes, I'll get a big chunk of the story, or multiple fragments that I can chain together to figure out the overall plot of the dream, but that's only a few times a year, if that.

I wish I remembered more of them more frequently. I find them very entertaining.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yeah I get fragments too.

Usually wake up to some pieces of life in a zombie apocalypse... And I was a blacksmith? Making bullets? Farming tools? WTH

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's a good skill to have in that scenario. Dream you must have planned well!

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I've always been fond of working with my hands but growing up and living in apartments doesn't support wood or metal working.

I'm a keyboard jocky my whole life.

[–] LambdaRX@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Recently I've dreamt of having a lucid dream, so dream me thought he had control of the dream, but I don't think I did. I remember trying to master flying, but it was difficult, and I was afraid of heights.

[–] CptInsane0@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I don't dream much either, according to sleep studies. Do you have a sleep disorder and/or smoke weed?

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I don't do drugs. Even skipping pain meds for a bad back. No real reason I just dislike pills. Drug free for work reasons.

I tend to sleep 4-5 due to overwork. Even if I have 8-9 hours free my internal clock wakes me up at night.

The times I dream are often when I take a 30min-2hr nap.

[–] CptInsane0@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sounds like you probably aren't getting enough sleep to get into REM very often. 4-5 an hour isn't the healthiest.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Valid. I'm trying to fix it.

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[–] knight_alva@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

This is my experience exactly! I have never heard of someone else having a similar experience. If you end up going to a sleep specialist or finding any sort of explanation, please DM me about it.

I’ve had near zero dreams for much longer than I’ve smoked. A few nightmares as a kid, then maybe 3 total dreams until after college. Then weed

[–] charade_you_are@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I used to dream better when I was younger and even took control of a few them. Now I'm pretty much like you, it's rare if I even remember one.

A couple were probably windows to my subconscious like the nightmares that involved me waking up sure that nukes were about to strike or the ones about tornadoes attacking me.

[–] Landless2029@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

I think this is me now. Only dream I can remember from childhood is jessica rabbit haha

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 3 points 1 day ago

You sound a lot like me but maybe you are younger. I can't remember the last dream I could remember but I do recall that I have had neat dreams scary nightmares in my life. Definately had variations on flying and crawling ones and had a reoccuring house break in one as a kid but on average it was like maybe one a year.

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