A question ive been thinking for the longest time

[Mr. SmartyPants]

ever since i was like 12 ive thought of this. And never came up with an answer.

Please, this is purely hypothetical, and please dont take this offensively.

You know when you go to sleep, you feel like you instantly wake up. Like time didnt pass at all? Like when you use anesthesia to fall asleep, you instaltly wake back up? The moment you fall asleep (point A) to the time you wake up again (point B) seems like time hasnt passed at all. Now. Lets say you were to sleep forever, still alive, and never die (purely hypothetical, please dont say you eventually will die. I know that). Would you feel, or notice time passing? Would you see darkness forever? Since we start at point A, but never make it to Point B. What would happen? Would it be like falling down a bottomless pit or something?

[inkhana]

That's a weird question...I guess you'd have no real sensation of time passing, ever. It's like a computer with no power...(<---poor analogy) so without stimulation from the outside, there's nothing to record to indicate time's passing. I guess...^^;; Although sometimes I have the sensation that I've slept longer sometimes than others, and it's true, but there could be other reasons influencing that, like not sleeping deep enough, or something...

[Syaoran]

uuuuummmmm.............................................................ya...............I think are brane would make a dream wold for us to stay untill we wake up

[VioletEyedCat]

Like Rip Van Winkle, except for forever? I guess you would dream. A continual state of REM, a series of dreams that would last forever. Actually, that would be really cool - cause all my dreams never finish, no matter how long I sleep in. So, that's what I think- if one were to sleep forever, they would dream forever, just like they do in normal sleep.

[Felix]

Hmm...yeah. That's a pretty neat thought. I guess our minds would sink into a sub-level state of thought were we have no conception of reality but rather dream forever.
I have blacked out several times and you dream and everything and it feels like you have been sleeping for about 6 hours when in reality you have been out for 10 seconds.
I guess it would be sorta like that. Time would flip out of its boundaries and escape your thoughts entirely. I guess it WOULD be kinda like a black hole or a bottomless pit....scary...

[Mr. SmartyPants]

also, do we dream every time we sleep? My friend said that we always dream at 1 point every night. And we just dont remember it. And during that time of REM. Absolutely NOTHING can wake you up. Is that true?

[Felix]

I'm pretty sure that that IS true. We dream in cycles, a new dream every cycle. I believe that they last about 1 hr. 15 mins. and that it is highly difficult to wake someone in the middle of such a cycle.

[CDLviking]

Based upon the condition of your hypothetical situation. I would say that you would notice no passage of time. The last thought before losing consciousness would be the last thought you ever had... according to your hypothetical situation.

[Kaori]

We dream in cycles, a new dream every cycle. I believe that they last about 1 hr. 15 mins. and that it is highly difficult to wake someone in the middle of such a cycle.

The figure that I have heard is 90 minutes for each sleep cycle, although I believe that is only an approximate number. During each cycle, you experience stages of light sleep, deep sleep, and REM, with anywhere from four to seven sleep cycles per night. People often tend to sleep in hour-and-a-half increments; because of the length of sleep cycles, it is sometimes easier and more pleasant to wake after seven and a half hours than a full eight.

As to the original question, it is rather difficult to relate it to actual experience. Generally during the times when I have slept for long periods (due to illness or some other cause) it has been a light sleep much of the time during which I would often briefly wake long enough to be aware of my physical surroundings. It is hard to conveive of a period of sleep that is both extended and uninterrupted. That said, I suppose the most logical answer is the general consensus--that the sleeper would dream.

[Roy Mustang]

Well, I use to sit in class and think that maybe it was a dream.

Like sit there and start thinking.

What if this is dream?

What I did today was not real?

What if I'm sleep right now and I can't awake up and I'm stuck in this dream forever?


Then the teacher would hit me over the head with a ruler and it hurt. So, I knew that I wasn't dreaming.


Wingzero22

[skynes]

If you didn't dream, you may as well not exist. What's the difference between not-existing and eternally sleeping with no dreams? Nada.

What if those dreams were nightmares? Never able to wake up? Always being chased by whatever it is...

[Mr. SmartyPants]

[quote="Kaori"]The figure that I have heard is 90 minutes for each sleep cycle, although I believe that is only an approximate number. During each cycle, you experience stages of light sleep, deep sleep, and REM, with anywhere from four to seven sleep cycles per night. People often tend to sleep in hour-and-a-half increments]

ive been told that we sleep in 4 hour increments. Thats why when you wake up after 4 hours of sleep. You feel awake, but like in a couple hours you feel really tired. So getting 8 hours of sleep (4 x 2) is atleast the recommended amount of sleep.

Ive come up with a possible exlanation. And it sort of ties in with Skynes: Since you will be sleeping forever. And cannot determine time passing. You Will continue to dream forever. Once that REM is over. You will be asleep (REM-less) for a few hours. Then go into REM again. But to the sleeper it will feel like automatically going into a second dream instanty. That may go on forever perhaps.

And yeah! Sleeping in class. It feels like a whole hour passed but only 3 minutes passed! That happenes to me ALL the time

[Fsiphskilm]

You wouldn't

[Mr. SmartyPants]

We just sparked a new mystery about the matrix didn't we?

[shooraijin]

Where did you get the four hour increments thing from? There's nothing particularly magic about four hours or any multiple thereof.

This is a more accurate graph of relative sleep stage times, although it's only an average of sleep times, not firm numbers.

[agasfas]

I think the experience would be much like a night of sleep. I'm only guessing though... I've heard of stories about coma patients that awake after 3-5yrs of sleep and still think it's the same date as when the accident happend. And the nurses will imform the vistitors not to comment about the date or what changes may have occured during the time - to prevent stress or shock.

Though, this question would be kind of hard to anwser. I think the best way to find an anwser to you question is to perhaps has someone who has been through a long term sleep like that; like people that have been through or comas.

[relientkrox]

this kinda reminds me of the movie 50 first dates...she wakes up everymorning and doesnt remember anything from the day before....but yeah...the dream thing...kinda freaks me out....but it is something to ponder....

[Mr. SmartyPants]

shoo, somebody told me. And he was a guy who knew alot so i took his word for it. Guess he was wrong ^^;;

[Ingemar]

This is a neat thought experiment, and something that would make me not fear death if Atheism is true. Anyway, I think the answer is similar to "How did it feel like before you were born." Uh, I bet it would just be nothingness forever.

[Doubleshadow]

Do you mean a coma like state? I understand people who cme out of long term comas are amazed that long increments of time have passed.

[Pent]

I guess its quite visible that we all have out oppinions on this matter. It seems everyone has heard different aproximations on how long we dream. I mean...I heard that we merely dream around 15-20 at a time, but I mean.....I don't know. And I dream every night and a lot. I have so many dreams a night. I don't remember them all, and as a matter of a fact I hardly ever remember dreams after a couple of hours of being awake....accept the ones like nightmares and dream come true ones lol

[AngelSakura]

Hmm. I suppose you would just dream forever. Sometimes when I wake up, I can tell that time has passed from just the feeling, but sometimes it feels like I just closed my eyes and opened them again. It's weird.
This reminds me of that one time when I knew I was dreaming, so I started pinching the back of my hand and saying, "C'mon, wake up, Lauren." (It wasn't a particularly fun dream.) The person next to me said, "This isn't a dream." And I said, "Of course it is. This" (I don't remember exactly what was happening) "can't possibly be real. Plus, I can't feel myself pinching my hand."

[VioletEyedCat]

I don't think I would enjoy a situation like that at all- a continous state of dreaming. Most of my dreams, though not exactly nightmares, are not very fun. I can't actually remember having a good dream. Can any of you?

[Arbre]

Mr. Smartypants, if you're not aware in the time between your pont A and point B, then I think the answer is that you're just unaware. Then you'd probably just kinda feel like you cease to be. Not that you can feel that... o_O You just... aren't. Scary.

People are mentioning dreams for that time. But with the examples you gave in your first post, it sounded like you meant sleep where it felt like you were completely unaware, even without dreams, during that time.

[RoyalWing]

I think, it would be like a "bottomless pit", like you said. You sleep and you dream, but you never wake up? After some time you would just want to die, just like if you were living forever on earth. It would be too much of a good thing equals a bad thing, and you would just want it to end.

If you did not dream, then you wouldn't be very knowing about anything, you would just lay there in darkness, but wouldn't mind very much since your thinking is not very active (?). For me, this one is worse then the first one...

[Fsiphskilm]

Wait a min

[Mr. SmartyPants]

no. no coma! actual sleep! Like in yo bed with yo fluffy pillows!

[CDLviking]

In your first post you said a sleep like one induced by anesthetics. I could be wrong, but I don't believe you dream while on anesthetics.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

oh i didnt know that. Anyway, the basic thing is:

1. you fall asleep (Point A)
2. You never wake up (point B)
3. you are NOT in a coma, and you cannot die

[agasfas]

Anyway, the basic thing is:

1. you fall asleep (Point A)
2. You never wake up (point B)
3. you are NOT in a coma, and you cannot die

Well with the guidelines it sounds like it can only be a coma minus the trauma. I mean, If you never wake up, then how would you feed etc w/o the help/aid of another? If you never wake up then there is no way of knowing if it's just one long dream or whatever. The closest I can relate it to is a coma, I mean, in a sense they are both are in constant sleep state. Well, at least when the person in a coma wakes, you would be able to ask what the experience was like. *shrugs*