remdrifters

Remdrifters is a term used primarily in speculative fiction and discussions of dream exploration to describe individuals who deliberately seek and move through extended episodes of REM sleep, treating dreamtime as a navigable landscape. The name blends REM, rapid eye movement sleep, with drifter, indicating movement across dreamscapes rather than wakeful geography. In most documented uses, remdrifters are fictional or theoretical archetypes rather than established scientific categories.

In fiction, remdrifters may enter shared or individual dream networks, collect information from dreams, or experiment with dream manipulation. Some narratives portray remdrifters forming communities that map dream terrains and develop memory and navigation protocols to aid recall and coordination across dreamers. The concept is often used to explore themes of consciousness, memory, and the boundaries between dream and reality.

Real-world context explains REM and lucid dreaming as real phenomena studied in sleep science. Researchers investigate how lucid dreaming can be induced and how dream recall works, while enthusiasts practice techniques such as reality checks, mnemonic induction of lucid dreams (MILD), and wake-back-to-bed (WBTB) routines to increase lucidity. The remdrifter concept draws on these ideas but remains largely speculative and fictional. Ethical considerations in any dream-based exploration include mental health safeguards, informed consent, and the potential for confusion between dream content and waking life.

Origin and usage of the term appear in science fiction literature and online communities dating to the late 21st and early 22nd centuries. See also lucid dreaming, REM sleep, dream journal.