<p>Many activities are possible in dreams, but reading (and related tasks) is not one of them. In an dream with awareness, trying to read a label or enter a phone number can be very frustrating and can cause the dream to focus on trying to acheive what was an insignificant passing task.</p>

<p>What is the reason? </p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-24T04:16:28.673Z
The effect appliea to using a keyboard or smartphone, it seems.  Nobody knows?
JDługosz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-24T22:04:49.887Z
Math's difficult altogether, but in dreams it's real hell. I also often have weird programming dreams, but the code is sort of building from the logic instead of being typed somewhere. No reading or writing.
Tomáš Zato
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-26T16:35:39.653Z
What do you mean "dream with awareness"? Lucid dreaming, knowing that you are in a dream? Also, many oddities we experience in dreams usually stem from reduced activity of certain areas of the brain. If I find anything related to reading, I will try to write an answer.
Lazaros Mitskopoulos
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-27T00:03:54.460Z
I think it applies to lucid dreaming as well. In fact that can trigger lucidity. In the recent experiences, though, I don't know that I'm dreaming but feel conscious. Maybe that's normally the case and the events let me remember, even though not truly lucid.
JDługosz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-12-04T01:41:19.127Z
I'll keep fictional characters out of clinical trials.
JDługosz
CC BY-SA 3.0
2015-08-25T13:12:45.770Z
I have experienced difficulties reading in dreams too, many times. From what I have gathered, I remember reading in several various sources that this difficulty is related to the functional change in the brain area responsible for reading during the sleep. The question that seems more interesting to me is do we already know the meaning of the text in our dreams before we even read it? In real life we usually have to read the text first and just then know what is written there. But is it the same for dreams? To produce something that is unknown before recognized back again seems like a paradox.
noncom
<dreams>
Why is it so problematic to read in a dream?
JDługosz
# Why is it so problematic to read in a dream?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-11-11)

Many activities are possible in dreams, but reading (and related tasks) is not one of them. In an dream with awareness, trying to read a label or enter a phone number can be very frustrating and can cause the dream to focus on trying to acheive what was an insignificant passing task.

What is the reason?

**Tags:** dreams

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: The effect appliea to using a keyboard or smartphone, it seems.  Nobody knows?  
> **username_1**: Math's difficult altogether, but in dreams it's real hell. I also often have weird programming dreams, but the code is sort of building from the logic instead of being typed somewhere. No reading or writing.  
> **username_2**: What do you mean "dream with awareness"? Lucid dreaming, knowing that you are in a dream? Also, many oddities we experience in dreams usually stem from reduced activity of certain areas of the brain. If I find anything related to reading, I will try to write an answer.  
> **username_0**: I think it applies to lucid dreaming as well. In fact that can trigger lucidity. In the recent experiences, though, I don't know that I'm dreaming but feel conscious. Maybe that's normally the case and the events let me remember, even though not truly lucid.  
> **username_0**: I'll keep fictional characters out of clinical trials.  
> **username_3**: I have experienced difficulties reading in dreams too, many times. From what I have gathered, I remember reading in several various sources that this difficulty is related to the functional change in the brain area responsible for reading during the sleep. The question that seems more interesting to me is do we already know the meaning of the text in our dreams before we even read it? In real life we usually have to read the text first and just then know what is written there. But is it the same for dreams? To produce something that is unknown before recognized back again seems like a paradox.  

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## 0 answers

