What Really Happens When You Die in a Dream?

Everyone knows the rule: if you die in a dream, you wake up before it happens. Or you die for real. Neither is true. Here is what the science of dreaming says about dreams of dying, why you only remember some of them, and what helps if nightmares keep coming back. CHAPTERS 0:00 The rule everyone knows 0:41 Why you only remember some dreams 1:53 Why some dream deaths do wake you 3:08 What dreams of dying really look like 4:10 What a dream death means 5:06 Where the myth comes from 5:51 What helps if nightmares repeat 6:14 You only remember the deaths you woke up from IN THIS VIDEO Deirdre Barrett's study of dreams of dying: rare, mostly pleasant, and often the dream does not stop Why REM-sleep awakenings give us the dreams we remember Hypnic jerks, the alarm response and how a nightmare is defined Why dreams of death can be your brain working through waking worries Where the "die in a dream, die for real" idea comes from Imagery rehearsal therapy for repeating nightmares FILMS MENTIONED A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Matrix (1999), Inception (2010) SOURCES Barrett (1989), research on dreams of dying, Omega: Journal of Death and Dying Aserinsky & Kleitman (1953), "Regularly occurring periods of eye motility, and concomitant phenomena, during sleep", Science Dement & Kleitman (1957), "Cyclic variations in EEG during sleep and their relation to eye movements, body motility, and dreaming", Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophysiology Barrett (2020), research on pandemic dreams, Dreaming Morgenthaler et al. (2018), "Position paper for the treatment of nightmare disorder in adults", Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (American Academy of Sleep Medicine) This video is for general information and is not medical advice. If nightmares are frequent or distressing, talk to a doctor or a sleep specialist. #dreams #sleep #psychology