What is a dream? | 7 reasons why you forget them | Can’t remember my dreams, is it bad? | How to remember your dreams
Dreams are as intriguing as they are mysterious, especially if you have trouble remembering them. As it turns out, a variety of factors influence both the quality of your REM sleep (the stage of sleep during which dreams occur) and your ability to recall those dreams once you awake.
In this article, sleep experts explore the factors that affect dream recall and offer tips on how to remember more of them in the future.
To begin, what exactly is a dream?
There are several theories about the function of dreams, but the most widely accepted is that dreams aid in memory consolidation.
According to research, the sleeping brain “replays” new learning and memories as a way to reorganize the new data and integrate it into our long-term memory. So, what does this mean for people who have trouble remembering their dreams? To begin, you must determine why you aren’t remembering them.
7 main reasons why you may not remember your dreams.
If you have trouble remembering your dreams, one or more of the following factors (or a combination of factors) could be to blame:
- Stress: Considered one of sleep’s worst enemies, research has found that stress not only disrupts and reduces REM sleep2, but also increases the number of nighttime awakenings. Both of these factors can make remembering your dreams more difficult.
- Diet: That’s right, your diet has an effect on your body even when you’re sleeping. According to research, a diet high in fruits and vegetables, fiber, and low in vegetable oils promotes good sleep.
- Trauma: Trauma is similar to stress but much more intense. This can result in insomnia, but it can also result in a complete suppression of dream recall in an attempt to forget painful nightmares.
- Substances: If you enjoy a glass of wine before bed, you’re probably disrupting your sleep. According to research, alcohol before bed, as well as marijuana3, have a negative impact on REM sleep and dream recall.
- Specific medications: “Certain medications could affect REM cycles—or induce nightmares,” says sleep expert and Berkeley professor Matthew P. Walker.
- Sleep disorders: Insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy can all have a negative impact on a person’s REM cycles.
- Too quick wake up: According to Eleanor Marshall, Ph.D., a psychologist and dream expert, your painfully early alarm clock may be causing you to forget your dreams. “Grogginess is an exquisite hybrid state of consciousness,” he previously told Sons Of Universe, so the period when you’re just coming out of sleep appears to be important for dream recall.
An extra possible reason could be: you’re just not listening.
Author and lucid dreaming expert Tim Post mentioned in a previous interview stated that some people are simply more interested than others in dreaming and dissecting the dream world
Is it unhealthy not to remember your dreams?
Depending on who you ask, the short answer (and clinically speaking) is no.
“It’s a myth that remembering dreams indicates whether you had a good or bad night’s sleep,” says sleep researcher Michael Perlis Ph.D. Walker continues, “Most people have REM cycles several times per night. As a result, the problem is a failure to remember dreams rather than a hint of being unhealthy.”
Walker observes that while some people are better at remembering their dreams than others, “the art of dream recall can be mastered with practice.” Here’s how it’s done.
How to remember your dreams? Follow these steps:
1) Prepare for a good night’s sleep.
Set yourself up for a good night’s sleep before you consider anything else. Get some exercise during the day to tire your body and mind, and eat a nutritious diet that will not interfere with your sleep. After dinner, forego the cocktail or glass of wine. Consider switching to a supplement that promotes sleep or doing something else to relax and unwind before bed.
Walker also suggests “setting the alarm clock around the time one usually wakes up, as one is likely to wake after an REM cycle” to ensure you wake up immediately after a dream. (A more in-depth guide to deciding when to wake up can be found here.)
2) Make a conscious effort to remember your dream.
When it comes to dream recall, sometimes all we need is the power of suggestion. Walker suggests reminding yourself that dreams are not only important, but they can also “provide important insights about personal or professional matters.” Make it a goal to tune into your dreamworld before going to bed.
3) Experiment with lucid dreams.
According to Walker and Post, lucid dreaming helps people remember their dreams. While mastering lucid dreaming is a completely different skill, simply becoming aware that you’re dreaming will help you bridge the dream back into reality. “Tonight in my dreams, I’ll be more critically aware, and when I see something strange, I’ll realize I’m dreaming,” Post suggests saying to yourself before bed.
4) Have a slow wake up.
According to Marshall, Walker, and even Scientific American, how we wake up is the most important factor in remembering our dreams. “Linger in your morning grogginess and purposefully stay in that half-awake, half-asleep state for a longer period of time,” Marshall suggests. “When most people wake up, they immediately push their dreamy mind away. We only need to linger in order to remember our dreams.”
5) Take notes.
Perlis, Marshall, Walker, and holistic psychiatrist Suruchi Chandra M.D. all agree that writing down what you can remember after waking up will help. “If you wake up from a dream with a faint sense of the content,” Chandra advises, “take notes before you do anything else.”
“By simply drawing more attention to dreams, we can improve our ability to recall dreams,” Perlis adds. “Another strategy is to develop the habit of discussing your dreams with a loved one as soon as you wake up in the morning.”
6) Be consistent and patient.
Finally, Walker advises that if you’re just starting out with dream recall, you should be patient and consistent, “as it takes some practice before mastering the art of remembering one’s dreams.”
We spend nearly a third of our lives asleep, and a significant portion of that time dreaming, so it’s no surprise that we’re always curious about what dreams mean and how to remember them better. So try some of these suggestions; hopefully, your bedside dream journal will be full in no time.
Your Scariest, Naughtiest and Freakiest Dreams Explained
Put your dreams in the best hands possible: get your interpretation from a certified dream analyst at Kasamba, member of the International Association of Dream Studies.
A global organization whose purpose, among other things, is to conduct and encourage research into the nature, function, and significance of dreaming.
