How can I tell when I'm dreaming and when I'm awake - General

[url]http://www.facepunch.com/showthread.php?t=940989[/url] This thread mentions various methods to determine whether or not you are asleep, or whether or not you are awaken. Things like looking in a mirror while you're asleep - your body will appear all distorted. Or, flicking a lightswitch - they have no effect in dreams.

[QUOTE=Kogitsune;22679865]Get into the habit of looking into mirrors while awake, and make sure to do it while dreaming.[/QUOTE] Oh god no, looking into mirrors while dreaming is like suicide..

No, you can definitely feel pain in dreams. I've fallen to my death in one. Willingly even. The shock of the pain woke me up.

[QUOTE=BmB;22680544]No, you can definitely feel pain in dreams. I've fallen to my death in one. Willingly even. The shock of the pain woke me up.[/QUOTE] I wake up before dying, like when you see a car coming and BAM, before you know it, you're awake.

I remember times where I would be dreaming pretty normal and usual dreams, but then all of a sudden, it would fell like I was smacked, punched it the chest, kicked, etc, and awake suddenly. And this would happen through out the night.

[QUOTE=rulssi;22680526]Oh god no, looking into mirrors while dreaming is like suicide..[/QUOTE] BE prepared to see some DEMONIC SHIT version of yourself when looking into mirrors in dreams. Or see someone standing behind you who looks like DEMONIC SHIT. And one thing: Don't. Ever. Watch. The Supernatural Episode with theese demon kids before sleeping. Never ever.

Maybe you don't exist. Maybe we all don't exist? Maybe time doesn't even exist in this world!

[QUOTE=rulssi;22680526]Oh god no, looking into mirrors while dreaming is like suicide..[/QUOTE] :ssh:

Also, [IMG]http://www.dreadcentral.com/img/reviews/superseas32b.jpg[/IMG] EDIT: whooho epic page king [highlight](User was banned for this post ("Page King" - Benji))[/highlight]

Give that a good stare before trying.

Look at your hands, if they are normal you are awake when you sleep its some weird shit they do always.

But no in all seriousness don't look in mirrors. You will know instantly if you are dreaming, but it could be a very, very bad thing for you depending on how much longer you are stuck in the dream. Can you even lose control of a lucid dream?

[QUOTE=TheForeigner;22681045]Look at your hands, if they are normal you are awake when you sleep its some weird shit they do always.[/QUOTE] Like strangle you?

Press your tounge against your front teeth, if you are dreaming your tounge will go through.

Often I think back on what I've just said (not sure if everyone can do this) and after awhile realize it was complete nonsense. After that it not only becomes alot easier to deal with a possible nightmare, it's also ever so slightly easier to control certain aspects of it. [editline]03:35PM[/editline] [QUOTE=Kogitsune;22681073]But no in all seriousness don't look in mirrors. You will know instantly if you are dreaming, but it could be a very, very bad thing for you depending on how much longer you are stuck in the dream. Can you even lose control of a lucid dream?[/QUOTE] I've shaken myself out of a good few.. If I know for certain it isn't real I kind of do what feels like shaking my head and everything goes blurry until I wake up. It seems like it has an instant affect, but god knows the time scale involved with dreams.

I've heard that if you're stuck in a lucid dream the best way to get out of it is to kill yourself in the dream.

You can loose lucidity, but its ofen accompanied with you waking up.

I believe that the parts of dreams that you can remember are when your brain is starting to wake up and record stimuli. Because I constantly remember trying to run in my dreams and never going faster than a walk, which makes me go to all fours and leap about, which actually works, for whatever reason. Often if you try to consciously move a body part, it won't respond to you, which means that you're dreaming. In addition, if you suddenly become aware of your dream, try not to focus on that, because your dream will probably end. Think about other things like the scenery.

[QUOTE=lintz;22681537]if you suddenly become aware of your dream, try not to focus on that, because your dream will probably end[/QUOTE] It also means the alarm is about to go off in a few minutes :mad:.

Left out the LSD pill after the dinner and you should be ok.

When you know the dream is actually bullshit, like hearing baout Valve releasing a game on it's first release date, you can become aware and you'll know it's a dream. That's what happens to me anyways.

But.. But if you are still in a dream... And I read this... Then that means... I'm not real.

Sometimes when I'm sleeping, i really feel like i need to take a piss, then in my dream i went to the toilet and went to piss, but in reality i didn't D:

You can't raed wahen yuio artt stiekl ashlseep.

I promise I'm real. :)

Just think "I'm asleep, so I can X" My personal favorite is jump really high. *looks at pic* FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUU-

[QUOTE=Numidium;22680956]Also, :O EDIT: whooho epic page king[/QUOTE] AUGH GOD YOU BASTARD Seriously that scared the shit out of me. :ohdear:

I can one hundred percent guarantee you that you are awake. It sounds to me like you are under great stress or you had too much caffeine before you went to bed. You need to find a way to reduce stress.

you have to find a way to get out of a dream, it's how I avoid nightmares. what seems to help for me, is to, mm, no idea what the correct English word for it is, I believe the word is 'tense' or maybe 'tighten' your feet. Or sometimes touching my eyelids (from the inside, yes really) helps OR sometimes it helps for me to open my eyes in a dream, it feels like your eyes are glued together but if I do it long enough, I can get out of a dream. It's probably some kind of weird placebo or something though, but hey, it works for me. You can make dreams fun and exciting once you can easily get out of a dream. If you're then in a nightmare, you make it even more scary by doing dumb things in your dreams and then you just wake yourself up. the problem is that when you're new to it, you can't wake up sometimes and then you're trapped in a nightmare.

[QUOTE=TheForeigner;22681045]Look at your hands, if they are normal you are awake when you sleep its some weird shit they do always.[/QUOTE] This. Just get used to following the outline of your hand every once in a while (as in, every hour or so). That's also a technique used to start lucid dreaming so it's a double win.