How do you wake up from a dream?

Ever been in such a horrible situation that you wondered (or wished) it was a dream? How can you tell if it is or isn’t? I watched “Inception” a few days ago, and that’s what got me to write about this.

Sometimes in order to wake up, I try to open my eyes as wide as possible. When nothing happens, I pinch myself and feel pain, but I still can’t get up. So I conclude it’s no dream, but reality.

But when I finally wake up, I realize it was a dream! So what could I have done inside it to make me realize its not real? Googling showed some ways to perform “Reality Testing” – techniques that will tell me if I’m in a dream or not. And I came up with three ways:

  1. Look at your watch, look away and then back again. If the time has changed, you’re in a dream. Apparently digital watches work best here. But in real life, I don’t wear a watch. What if there’s no watch in the dream?
  2. Second option would be to flip a light switch. If the light levels don’t change, it means you’re dreaming. But what if there’s no light switch (say you’re in a desert?)
  3. Third option would be to examine your hands very closely. If they look different, you’re not awake. But I don’t think this will work. I’ve tried this before by examining a spot on the wall very carefully in a dream, and I can see every little detail very closely. So this may not work.

This is important because as we know, nightmares can be horrifying. So horrifying that you wish you were dreaming. You’d like to end it as soon as you can – or maybe continue while knowing it’s not real…either way we need to be sure first.

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you solve it?

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23 thoughts on “How do you wake up from a dream?”

  1. I always try to go back to sleep when I wake up after a nightmare, and try to make it end happily. Only rarely has this worked. But have I ever wished in a nightmare that it was a nightmare… only once.

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    • In reply to Indian Homemaker

      Hmm – I’ve been trying to experiment with “lucid dreaming” where you realize you’re in a dream and then have the dream world under your control.

      So far whenever I realize I’m in a dream, I wake up – I gotta prolong that experience :)

      Reply

  2. I myself just had a dream tonight where i was unable to wake from, It seemed so real to me. I have these quite often than not in the last 5 years of my life, and there are beyond terrifying. Im 22 years old and the dreams seem to flip flop through differenct cycles. From Evil, to Fire, to Robberies, and even sometimes just a long black tunnel you fall down but nothing is there. I have found for me the best way to break these dreams are to role play yourself into the dream, untill you can kind of get away from the intense part and snap back to reality. Now the tricky part is how do you snap back to reality, Again your mind is the most powerfull thing you have, so you have to take it where you want it, this is quite simple, if you have a burning house and your trapped inside, if you can for a brief second think of Niagra Falls but not think of it too much because other wise you will end up trapped in all of the water, just think of it briefly and your mind should snap to a much peacefull state of mind. Just give that a shot and if it work remember to PRAY TO GOD. <== He is the most amazing support group anyone can ask for he will make you feel so much better before going back to bed. I hope this helps out a little bit beings i just broke out and escaped from this dream about 10 minutes ago.

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  3. If you want to tell if you are in a dream or not, count your fingers! If you are dreaming, they will never add up to five. I just had a dream where I knew I was dreaming and was in complete control of the dream, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t wake up. I couldn’t find my body, and it is one of the freakiest things I have ever experienced. I didn’t wake up until my boyfriend nudged me in real life while he was rolling over.

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  4. I find that either dying in the dream or lying on the ground in your dream works, if it fails, it’s time to test your zombie survival skills…

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  5. To wake up you can in your dream… -Don’t believe me? try it…

    1-die
    2- jump
    3-fall down
    4-go to the wash room (liquid flow) – but this may mean you will wet your bed…
    5- spit saliva – This will make you do the same action in real life also…
    6-kick or punch really hard –will make you kick or punch in real life, hitting your sleeping surface which will awaken you

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  6. In a dream i always 1- close my eyes very thight for 5 seconds , then open them
    And usually im awake. If not 2- think about stuff im afraid of , and usually those things appear in the dream , big badass monsters and stuff :p .

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