Dreams. Do you have to be in R.E.M sleep to have them?

Question

I can dream within minutes of falling asleep, but was told you can only dream in R.E.M. sleep which is halfway through the sleep cycle. Is this true? And if so how can I dream before it?!?

Answer 1

It is believed you can dream even during NREM sleep. If your interested in this topic a highly recommend the book 'Counting Sheep' by Paul Martin.

Answer 2

You've answered your own question. The most believable fact is one that you know yourself, without relying on other people.

Answer 3

i can dream within moments of falling asleep and feel like they have been minutes but could have been 20 seconds i think it depends on the persons brain activity

Answer 4

Not sure why people say that you can only dream during REM, but some people insist this is so.

Like you, I can lay down for 15 minutes and have dreams.

REM doesnt happen until several hours after going to sleep.

I've seen this come up in court cases, where someone killed another person while sleep walking.

I would like an explaination for the difference between REM dreams and non-REM dreams.

edit: I just found this site, which says this

- Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It's possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.

- REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non

-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery - obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.

Answer 5

You can have a dream but your mind has to be in complete relaxed state that means no thoughts.  The more you think the less you dream.  Since your body has a lot to think about it wants to get up QUICK in the morning so you have less dreams.

Answer 6

yes, it is only in the Rapid Eye Movement phase of sleep which had dreaming in it for the eye movements seem indicative of the  visualization of certain images in the cortex.

Answer 7

I think you can dream before you're in REM sleep, becasue I do it too.  I can be sitting on the couch giving my son a bottle, and I'll doze off and have dreams--some of them pretty weird, like a werewolf stalking through the kitchen or I'm flying in a tornado.  When the baby finishes the bottle and I wake up I find I've only been sleeping for 5-10 minutes.  So pish-posh on all the studies.

Answer 8

the most vivid and memorable dreams occur in rem along with the the story like dreams. you probable are not dreaming within minutes of falling asleep, its probably intense hypnagogic imagery and sounds.

edit: ok, maybe im not clear, it takes you 90 minutes after falling asleep at the begging of the night to have your first dream, hypnagogic sounds and images are only mid dream, you should look them up

here are links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream

http://www.lucidcrossroads.co.uk/WILD.ht...

the first one explanes dreams, the seconds one kinda explanes hypnagogi images.

Answer 9

How to we know people only dream during REM? We wake them up ask ask them. We cannot know if anybody dreams at all, objectively. Wake someone up during non REM sleep, perhaps we just don't remember dreaming.

Answer 10

I thought that we could dream at any point when we are asleep, but only remember our dreams if awoken during the REM cycle...

Answer 11

REM sleep, just just may get there fast.

Answer 12

You can only dream during your REM cycle of your sleep.

Answer 13

the thing is that  dreaming occurs during the other stages of sleep, only the most vivid dreaming occurs during the REM stage,basically that's what happens,

http://www.dreamviews.com/sleepstages.ph...