for myself, there seems to be 'levels' of lucidity attainable during sleep...
sometimes i will realize i'm dreaming, but am still caught up in the dream senario....this effect is almost like a trip ego dissolution amidst dreaming. i am aware, though i am not capable to rationalizing things to do, rather i'm consciously watching myself doing dream stuff...
other times it seems that my ego awakens in the dream state...this allows me to say 'hmmm, what should i do in this dream state?' resulting in extreme intensity and perceptual analysis.
i rarely wake up right after realizing i'm dreaming. sometimes, during the ego-dissolved lucidity i will get wound up in the senario and forget that i'm dreaming. other times though i will remain lucid for the whole dream.
i remember before realizing i was dreaming and then thinking about how i was just laying in my bed and i could feel my body laying there and turning over in my sleep. i was also thinking about how the whole 'dream world' i was witnessing was really just a bunch of thoughts stacked atop a view of my eyelids....very trippy.