OT Dreaming in non-REM sleep?

Last night I had a vivid dream that seemed to go on forever: a series of sequential events that I could recall upon awakening, a full "story" linking those events (travel, a lost suitcase, various events occurring in an airport).

When I awakened, I looked at the clock: 1:47 a.m. I was shocked. I had turned off the light to go to sleep at 1:02 a.m.

It made me wonder: was I still awake (by EEG standards) during those 45 minutes? I don't think I was awake by the normal definition of being awake, since I lost consciousness within seconds of turning out the light, but it also seems unlikely that I achieved a REM phase of sleep in 35 minutes (the dream had to have lasted at least 10 minutes).

Can any experienced dreamers out there comment?

I believe I have seen Mollete mention fairly often that dreams aren't limited to REM sleep and that they can occur in any stage sleep.
Of course REM is the most common but not all inclusive.
This is a bit dated since it refers to 5 stages of sleep and not 4 that we now use.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/i ... dream2.htm

and this talks about Sleep Onset REM Periods SOREMPS
http://www.carlos-m.net/2005/03/24/drea ... rem-sleep/

Pugsy,

Thank you for those links. I find the information about 'sleep onset REM' very interesting.

I also found an article that talks about 'covert REM sleep' (dreaming during phase 1B or other phases accompanied by medium or fast eye movement): http://www.academia.edu/468967/Covert_R ... dence_2000_

The author takes pains to differentiate between sleep onset REM and covert REM sleep.

What a relief!
I was afraid I was hallucinating!

PBS "what are dreams"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/insidenova ... reams.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4yhtjm76WU

BlackSpinner wrote:PBS "what are dreams"

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/insidenova ... reams.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4yhtjm76WU

Thank you for the links, BlackSpinner.

Quite often I dream almost immediately after falling asleep or even WHILE falling asleep (very much aware that I am dreaming, and able to change events within the dream). Many nights, as I am falling asleep, I go right back into a dream that I had the night before. I hate dreaming, because I am often analyzing the dream while it is happening, and since my brain is working so hard the sleep is not restful. Most nights I notice textures and colors and even smells.

Bons wrote: Many nights, as I am falling asleep, I go right back into a dream that I had the night before.

I used to do that. It was nice when the dreams were good dreams. It was like my own private movies.