The BIG Remembering Dreams Topic - Part II

Ok, I have a question that may have already been addressed in another thread somewhere…but…theres a lot of threads! If it was, please direct me to it.

How can you tell if you had two different dreams, or it was just one and you dont remember the change of dream?
Also, I’ve read in many places that most ppl can’t remember dreams unless they wake up in REM. Is this true? Can you, with practice, remember dreams from REM cycles earlier in the night without having to wake yourself up to remember them?

It’s not easy, given that you have absolutely no sense of time perception in non-dreaming sleep cycles. You may be able to recognize a distinct gap as one REM cycle ends and the next begins, but I wouldn’t consider it a reliable indication. Anyway, it’s not really that important what REM cycle a particular dream occurred within. If you’re able to wake yourself up between REM cycles (something you can train yourself to do), it becomes much easier to see which cycle a particular dream belongs to.

You don’t have to wake up directly from REM to remember a dream, but it makes it immeasurably easier. It’s commonly understood that memory functions less effectively when you’re asleep, so the more time that passes between the dream and your attempt to recall it, the more difficult it will be to retrieve the smaller details. With practice you can recall much more regardless of when you wake up, but it’ll always be a lot more clear the sooner you wake up after the dream.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Atheist. That was very helpful.

And this morning I woke up to my alarm at 5:15, earlier than normal, so I could try something that ppl recommended. I didn’t remember a dream, like expected. I dont think I was in REM. So I decided to set my alarm and go back to sleep for 45 minutes and see if I could have a dream and remember it. And it worked! I dont get enough sleep as it is, so I can’t make this a regular thing, but at least I found one way that works for my dream recall.

Whenever you sleep for more than 90 minutes, you have an REM stage. The earlier ones are shorter and (apparently) less vivid, so you’re more likely to remember dreams from later stages.

Im having rather a few problems in the remembering dreams department. I read books every night and im not sure if thats helping or hindering me.
The first time i tryed the dream remembering exercise (2 nights ago) i remembered something but since then ive had no sucess. Ill keep sticking at it though and ill try a few adaptions to it.

Also ive had this curious idea:

I compose music and i was wondering if somehow my dreams effected what i composed even though i dont remember what i dreamed about.
I have these big sudden flashes of musical inspiration sometimes and i dont have a clue where they come from. Maybe aswell as a dream diary i should try and write a song if i wake up and cant remember my dream.

Through a comination of working at the dream exercise and working at my sudden musical inspirations im hoping to be able to remember my dreams and eventually i hope to be able to use my dreams to inspire me to create good music.

Has anyone here tryed combining music and dreaming before? ide like some advice in this, i dont have a clue what im wading out into here.

I also have a question.

Everyone seems to recommend waking up after each REM cycle, and that it’s possible to train yourself to do so. I’ve read suggested mantras like “I will wake up after every dream,” but my mantras don’t work very well. I don’t think my mind recognizes that I’m dreaming when I am (actually, it probably does, I’m just ignorant of something somewhere).

Would someone please suggest some ways to wake up after dreams. Alarm clocks are out because I don’t want to disturb my family and I go to bed at different times each night.

Wow the mind truly is incredible. Even against my better judgement, I was skeptical that it was possible to wake yourself automatically just cause you told yourself to before you went to bed, but sure enough I repeated “I am dreaming. I will wake up after every dream,” and I actually woke up three times last night remembering three dreams.

Hopefully with more practice, this will become more natural and from there it should be a slightly smaller step toward successful WBTB MILD.

Wish me luck!

Good luck, Shadowless. :smile:

Sweetdreaminchic, I’m not sure if this is relevant anymore, but you said you could remember your dreams until the morning in the first(?) post. Sometimes it helps to remember the emotions you had in the dreams, just the general feeling of it. For some reason, those stick with you longer. You can’t remember a single event in your dreams, but suddenly you realize you were really angry in one of them, and all of the sudden it starts to come back to you.

I personally can’t get past the 1 dream average marker (the last dream). Even when I tell myself I’ll wake up after each individual dream, it only results in delerious, confused FAs. I’m so out of it, I can’t even think to do a RC. Then I wake up in the morning thinking I have 2 dreams down already, and lo and behold, it’s another blank page. :bored:

Well, since i don’t really have a problem recalling my dreams, i guess i’ll post my sleeping habits to see what i’m doing or not doing that helps dream rememberance.
i sleep everynight around 11-12. I’m a VERY LIGHT SLEEPER due to having to wake up at 7 every weekday morn without the aide of an alarm since that button on my clock is broken. so when i’m sleeping, there’s always a reminder in the back of my mind to wake up. Usually i would wake up several times before 7 to see if it’s time to wake up, and when it’s not i would relapse. those are the times i recall having the most vivid dreams.
on the weekends when i sleep in, i dont’ seem to dream as much. i guess it’s because i’m not consciously alert to check the time. and when i do, i would go back to sleep, too much time will pass and i’d forget.
Maybe exerting too much thought of “i will remember my dream…” can be a hindrance since when u wake up…u’ll be thinking, “i will remember my dream…”
try waking up with your mind empty of thought so that the dreams can have space to come back to.
i hope this helps?=)

fleeting form - have you actually tested that?

Since you say you’re a light sleeper, have you ever tried to visualise something when you drop off to sleep in the morning? It may come into your dreams.

r3m0t, wat do you mean? do i tell myself to have a certain dream or to remember my dream, during my waking interval ? i’ve tried telling myself to become lucid b4 but hasn’t worked yet and i haven’t actually tried to visualze anything in particular. but the remembering part is what comes kinda easy for me.

Because you’re a light sleeper, you drop off to sleep quickly. In the morning you go straight into dreams. So try visualising something and hopefully you’ll drop off and that thing will manifest in your dreams.

i don’t really know what to visualize…actually for the past coupla days i’ve been telling myself i want to meet my spirit guide when i dream …so far…nothing maybe i’m not quailified yet haha

Ok, I finally gave in and started a dream journal. I dont write much, I really dont have time, just a few notes and details that will hopefully spark my memory next time I read it. And I sometimes add extra stuff later when I have time. And I’ve remembered more dreams in the past couple of weeks than I have in years! :happy: But I’ve run into a problem, one that only occurs on weekday mornings because I can’t sleep in. When I first wake up I turn off my alarm, and then lay there trying to recall as much of my dream as I can before writing down a few things and then falling back asleep until my snooze goes off. (I need a LOT of time to wake up). But as I’m trying to recall details, I lay completely still, and try not to move, or let my thoughts wander, just like everyone says you should. But I keep falling back asleep! And when I wake up I can’t recall the dream at all, I can only remember the fact that I DID remember it at one point. This is so frustering. Does anyone have any advice on how I can keep myself awake long enough to recall my dream without doing so much that I lose the dream altogether?

Hi people I’m a newbie! :wave: waves

The last few nights I’ve been keeping a dream journal thats actually readable, and have been remembering about 4 dreams a night. In the past telling myself I would wake up after every dream worked (too) well, so I went to sleep last night telling myself “I remember to recognise dreams.”

However I think I slept more deeply than usual, and I woke up earlier, and didn’t remember any dreams.

Later in the day I felt really tired so I had a nap when I got home, and I was out like a light. I again didnt remember any dreams. My dad called me and the first time I knew he was but didnt react to it (maybe I was half way to dreaming?) and the second time I woke up instantly like I’d been shocked or something! :eek:

It might be due to stress as I have exams soon… but its a bit of a big change to happen in one night?

What do you think I should try tonight? I don’t want to miss out on dream recall again.

Here is an idea to motivate and enhance dream recall (I used it for me) :
I noted every dream I could remember and assembled the pieces to an endless (open) novel. :read:
The dreams came not in chronological order, but usually they turned around some themes, so I searched for the chapters / paragraphs that could form some ongoing story lines and assembled them, just changing some words or names.
After a month or so a plot began to emerge, and every morning and night I tried my best to recall because I really wanted to know how the story would continue …

hope it helps

Just recently, I had perfect recall for 6 of 6 days in a week, then on the 7th remembered nothing. That was very disappointing. Now three day’s later, I remember nothing again. It’s getting frustrating now.

Another curious change is that I was successful at waking myself after each dream for three nights in a row. It worked flawlessly from the very first time I tried. Then after those three nights ran out two days ago, I don’t wake up once 'til morning. What could be the cause of this?

I’ve been drinking mint tea every night before bed for a week, so I’m going to lay off of it tonight and go to sleep a little later so I’m more tired and see if it changes anything.

Has anyone else experience better dream recall while under the influence of alcohol?
About 2 weeks ago I was “under the influence” and had really good dream recall, I was really surprised actually as it was better than usual. Usually I can only remember one dream, but that night I remembered 2.

And one more thing, are there DJ’s for sale or can you use just any book lying around?

That seems like a very good idea. I think I’m going to try it. Actually, my dreams have had the same themes the last weeks. I’m dreaming about a winter ladscape, although it’s summer IRL. I realize it would be easy to tie them together to a story.

Not me… I’ve always had a terrible dream recall after I’d drunk alcohol. Seems like you were lucky that you were able to remember more dreams :smile:

You can just use any book, but it doesn’t have to be big, so you can place it somewhere near your bed. I’m not sure if you can buy dream journals… but there’s always the special LD4ALL dream journal ofcourse: cafeshops.com/ld4all.8638521

:wink: