[conundrumus]

David Overton  asked the Naked Scientists:

Hi Chris,

Can anyone explain a thing that quite often happens with my dreams i.e.  the loud noise that usually wakes me from the dream is at the end of the dream as though it has been written into the script before hand, how can this be? Do dreams run backwards like a tape or are they only micro seconds long.

I always listen to your excellent  programme  whilst driving to London through Cambridgeshire on Sunday night and always laugh at the Kitchen Science sound effects !

Best Wishes,
Dave Overton.

What do you think?

[Madidus_Scientia]

This happens to me sometimes, I think you're hearing the sound while you're still dreaming and it becomes integrated into your dream. Like i've noticed if someone is talking near me while i'm dreaming then that person can sometimes come from nowhere and be in my dream, and be saying the stuff they're actually saying in real life, which makes no sense in the context of my dream, then you sort of get confused and wake up. Dreams don't really follow a script, they're very fluid.