Z
Variable Constant
A couple of points:
1) Dreaming can occur at any stage of sleep - with or without REM. The idea that dreams are accompanied by REM is an outdated theory, long since disproven.
2) Events within lucid dreams move at the same apparent rate as the passage of real time; however, there is some controversy as to whether or not this is true of other dreams. Some research indicates that what we remember as a long dream is really a series of short snippets with pre-formed, false memories, which, upon waking, our brains synthesize into a timeline which is longer than that which actually occured... thus, the length of a normal dream may be merely an illusion. Other research, however, suggests that event processing can be severely compressed during some stages of sleep - that is, since this is direct inter-brain activity without the interference of senses, conscious awareness, etc, that dream-activities may be occuring at rates 2-3 times faster than possible when awake.
3) There is some research - as yet, insufficient to draw solid conclusions - that people will dream even under extreme circumstances, i.e. during surgery, when nearly frozen, etc... and that, in such cases, some sensory input can be integrated into the dream experience even though we would ordinarily assume they could not sense anything. If this research does become conclusive, it would strongly undermine the idea of OBE/NDE experience in favor of a unique form of dream. However, from what little I was able to find, they've only scratched the surface of this concept.
4) Not everybody dreams... there is a tiny fraction of the populace that suffers a disorder preventing dreams from occuring. However, most people dream every night, and immediately forget all dreams upon awaking.
Just some minor fodder for debate...
1) Dreaming can occur at any stage of sleep - with or without REM. The idea that dreams are accompanied by REM is an outdated theory, long since disproven.
2) Events within lucid dreams move at the same apparent rate as the passage of real time; however, there is some controversy as to whether or not this is true of other dreams. Some research indicates that what we remember as a long dream is really a series of short snippets with pre-formed, false memories, which, upon waking, our brains synthesize into a timeline which is longer than that which actually occured... thus, the length of a normal dream may be merely an illusion. Other research, however, suggests that event processing can be severely compressed during some stages of sleep - that is, since this is direct inter-brain activity without the interference of senses, conscious awareness, etc, that dream-activities may be occuring at rates 2-3 times faster than possible when awake.
3) There is some research - as yet, insufficient to draw solid conclusions - that people will dream even under extreme circumstances, i.e. during surgery, when nearly frozen, etc... and that, in such cases, some sensory input can be integrated into the dream experience even though we would ordinarily assume they could not sense anything. If this research does become conclusive, it would strongly undermine the idea of OBE/NDE experience in favor of a unique form of dream. However, from what little I was able to find, they've only scratched the surface of this concept.
4) Not everybody dreams... there is a tiny fraction of the populace that suffers a disorder preventing dreams from occuring. However, most people dream every night, and immediately forget all dreams upon awaking.
Just some minor fodder for debate...
