4 Types of Dreams

There are four main types of dreams—daydreams, normal dreams, false awakenings and lucid dreams.
1) Scientific studies reveal that most people daydream for a 70-120 minutes per day. During this time, you are only semi-awake - not asleep, but not fully checked-in with reality, either. It starts with a compelling thought, memory, or fantasy about the future, and your imagination runs away. The longer you daydream, the deeper you become immersed in your private fantasy land.
In daydreams, the right (creative) brain is dominant and you lose awareness of reality. Deeper worries or concerns will surface, usually by acting themselves out in the daydream.
2) Normal dreams are the usual types of dreams, where you have no idea you're dreaming at the time. Normal dreams present us with important messages from the subconscious mind. They are based on your thoughts and experiences from the day before, and sometimes memories from long ago.
3) Lucid dreaming is the ability to consciously direct and control your dreams. It transforms your inner dream world into a living alternate reality - where everything you see, hear, feel, taste and even smell is as authentic as real life.
A lucid dream is any dream in which you know that you're dreaming can control and direct your awareness in the dream. Most people use lucid types of dreams to fulfil desires they can't fulfil in reality, like flying.
The hit movie, Inception, has popularized lucid dreaming and given us new triggers for our night-time musings - from lucid dreams-within-dreams to working with subconsciously-driven dream figures. The movie was written and directed by a real life lucid dreamer, Chris Nolan.
There are a few ways to check if you’re lucid dreaming. Look into a mirror to check and you wouldn’t be able to see your reflection. You can also try turning a light switch on and off. If it malfunctions then the odds are that you are dreaming.
4) False awakenings are basically very vivid types of dreams. You may wake up as normal and plod into the bathroom, get dressed, eat breakfast, and be halfway to work before you realize "oh my God, I'm still dreaming!" It's a bizarre place to be.
They begin in your bedroom, with you waking up, and somehow your conscious brain mimics every detail of the room, exactly as it should be.
It usually takes something quite obvious to shock you out of these types of dreams. Maybe you look in the bathroom mirror and see yourself 20 years from now. Or maybe you're driving down the road and realize there are no other cars.