Why can't I ever remember my dreams?

Question

I can't remember the last time I remembered a dream. People have told me to try and write things down the minute I wake up, but there is nothing to write down?

Answer 1

because you dont think

Answer 2

You need to sleep more!  The better rested you are the more you'll remember.

Answer 3

Maybe your dreams aren't good enough to remember? Or it could be that your dreams aren't that important to you so you forget.

Answer 4

i heard that if u go to bed rele late or something, then ur body is sooo tired that when u wake up, u cant remember ur dreams.

Answer 5

maybe it isn't important to u so u forget it...

Plus most dreams are too complicated for us to remember....

Answer 6

Tips To Recalling Your Dreams

Remembering your dreams will require some effort on your part. But what your dreams can offer and tell you about yourself will be well worth it. Here are some tips in helping your dream recall:

1. Before going to bed, keep a clear mind. Tell yourself that "I will remember my dream when I wake up". This is actually a proven and effective way to help dream recall. Having too many thoughts

on your mind can distract you from remembering your dream in the morning.

2. Have a regular bedtime and wake up time.  Make this your routine. Going to bed and waking up at a regular time every day aids in dream recollection.

3. Avoid alcohol consumption and taking medication before going to bed. These things may hinder you from remembering your dream. Eating fatty foods too close to bedtime can also divert bodily resources away from the brain and hinder dream recollection.

4. Keep a pencil/notebook or tape recorder next to your bed so that it will be within reach as soon as you wake up.  You want to make recording your dreams as easy a task as possible. Having a small lamp by your bedside is also a good idea should you wake up in the middle of the night and want to record your dream immediately.

5. Do not get out of bed immediately. Upon waking from a dream, lay still in your bed, keeping your eyes closed and moving as little as possible. Wake up slowly and stay relax. Hold on to the feelings you have and let your mind wander to the images of what you have just dreamt. Were you frustrated, terrified, or happy?

6. Write down  as many details in your dream as you can, no matter how minute or seemingly unimportant it may be. Do not judge the content or worry if it makes sense.  The idea is to get it down on paper so you can evaluate it later.  Make it a habit that this is the first thing you do. Talking about your dreams to friends or participating in forums and chats also help you remember.

7. Sometimes it may help to draw pictures. A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes. Even if you are not an artist a simple drawing can help to jolt details of your dream.

Answer 7

Brains are barley working while in sleep so that's why. People forget 905 of their dreams.

Answer 8

well they say remembering your dreams is a sign of inteligence. soooooo yeaaaaaaaaaaa.

Answer 9

You are lucky! I have bad dreams every time I sleep! Let's trade..

Answer 10

You brain goes through 5 patterns during the night and and thats the transition from light to heavy. Your subconscious works during the heavy and thats when you dream. (so usually people haev 5 dreams, they just all seem connected)  if you wake up during light your probably wont remember it.

Here is a quick Five Step process for dream recall:

1. Night Before: Keep a pad of paper and pen and a couple of pencils by your bed. Date the paper the night before. When you awake, in the night or in the morning, write something down. Even "I recall nothing this morning" is good to write down. If you are keeping a journal, read the last dream you had.

2. When you go to bed, relax your body and review the day in reverse. How did I get ready for bed? What was I doing just before going to bed? What did I do this evening? What was it like coming home from work, what did I do at the office, what did I have for lunch, and so on, all the way back to how you got up and either recall your last dream or recall your writing down "I recall nothing this morning.". This exercise (From Psychosynthesis) is very relaxing and helps us learn to reflect back and focus the way we need to focus to recall dreams.

3. As you are getting close to falling asleep, repeat over and over, "When I wake up, I will remember my dream.". Jill Gregory of the Novato Dream Library says that a physical "trigger" along with the verbal suggestion often helps, i.e. pressing your thumb against each finger as you say each word of the suggestion.

4. When you wake up in the morning, don't move! Stay in your same position, relax your body and let your mind drift closer to your dream. Remind yourself that you want to remember your dream. Shutting your eyes may help. Thinking about what you are going to do in the future, like shower or at work or appointments is the best way to miss a dream.

5. Once you begin to recall the dream, start writing! Write down whatever you remember right away so you're not trying to remember that material while trying to recall new material. If after a minute you don't have any recall, write down "I don't recall anything." Or even better, write down a short made-up fantasy about what you would have liked to have dreamed. If you have other dreams in the journal, read one of them.

Answer 11

Not recalling your dreams has nothing to do with intelligence. It has everything to do with your sleep patterns. Your itchy scalp is a sign that you are under great stress (as if you didn’t know that). What to do in order to calm down and have a better sleep? You practise meditation!

This means your mind gets away from your studies, your anxieties. There is one meditation that would probably appeal to you. It is mirror gazing. You set up a mirror in a dark room. Do this before sleep. Place a tiny light away from the mirror so it gently lights your face and does not directly reflect in the mirror. Do this first for only 15 minutes before going to sleep. Then extend the time to 30 minutes and finally to 40 minutes. Do this every night before going to sleep. Do not be alarmed if in time your face will change from one type to another. Keep gazing calmly into your eyes without blinking. Be steadfast in this task. Once you have done this for three weeks or more, there will come a time when there won’t be a face in the mirror. When that happens, close your eyes and allow yourself to be immersed in your true Self. Your mask will have gone. Your calm will be restored and a normal sleep pattern will emerge.

If meditation is not your cup of tea I have 13 points to help you recall your dreams. Here they are:

1. First you stop worrying about not having recall.

2. When you wake up stay in the position you are. Do not sit up or get up or turn around.

3. Do NOT ask: "What did I dream?"

4. Instead follow the FEELING you have as you wake

5. Watch what goes on in your head. What is the strongest thought? Follow it.

6. Sleeping-in at the weekend is good training to recall your dreams. When you wake up, go back to sleep and when you wake up again you may well recall a dream.

7. Have a massive drink of water before bed so that you will have to get up in the night. When you wake you will recall a dream; probably a toilet dream. (It’s a start!)

8. During the day say to yourself: "This is a dream. I am dreaming this; in what way will this dream change in the night?”  

9. Put a notebook and pen next to your bed with the intention to write down your dream/s.

10. Read a book on dreams or check out the Internet on dreams before going to sleep. Check the Internet for other answers about your question.

11. Set yourself a really hard problem before going to bed, one that you cannot solve and go to sleep with it. Instead of a problem you may prefer to plan something creative. R. L. Stevenson used to ask for a dream so he could write a new story. What’s your creative flair? Follow it as did Stevenson.

12. We dream every 90 minutes. So set your alarm clock to wake you after 90 minutes. Allow for 5-10 minutes of going to sleep time.

13. If you are totally desperate to have a dream get someone who is prepared to do a night-watch with you; tell them to wake you when your eyes flicker in REM (Rapid Eye Movement) which will be most likely 90 minutes after you have gone to sleep.

Since you are a bad sleeper, you may not need to try point 7 or 12.

Indeed you may want to ignore all 13 points. If that should be the case I want to tell you about a sleep laboratory experiment done by Dr. Cartwright. She woke the subject always at the point of REM and then had him or her do simple math exercises. Late in the morning, when we dream longest, she did not interrupt her subject, but simply watched. This dreamer who had to do the math exercises dreamt furiously during the last REM phase. This told the Dr. Cartwright that this dreamer was catching up on lost dreaming. She called this dream rebound.

Then on the following night she woke the subject as before at the onslaught of REM. But instead of making him or her solve math problems she said: What did you dream about?” when the subject told the dream so far, Cartwright encouraged the dreamer to continue the dream while awake, in the way the dreamer’s imagination fancied it. Then, during the last REM phase the dreamer was not woken up as in the first exercise. There was NO DREAM REBOUND. The conclusion to be drawn from this is that the dream that was interrupted was spontaneously completed while the dreamer was awake.

So you could, in the morning, when you wake up, follow the strongest thought in your head and take it as the MAIN THEME of the last dream. Take it up and spin an appropriate story and write it down as if it had been a REM dream.

Now comes the test: during the day watch if your fantasy matches up with any events that took place during the day. If you find a match or matches, you have proof that you have caught and retold your last dream unwittingly.

Why am I so sure of this? I had given a weekend dream workshop once where there was one attendant who kept saying: “I just can’t recall my dreams!” So I said to her: when you wake up, catch the most dominant thought and write it down. I assure you it will be predictive of an event that will follow later in the day.

On the second workshop day this lady said that that dominant thought was GAS. When morning tea came round and we tried to boil the jug for tea, there was no electricity.

We had to resort to the camping oven and boil the water over a GAS flame!!!

Answer 12

It's natural. The brain is doing so much while you sleep, that it doesnt always remember what you dream. You can't try to remember it.

Answer 13

personally I used to remember my dreams verbatum.  but that was in my younger years.  I'm 34 married with 2 children and I don't know where my next paycheck is coming from.  Now I rarely remember my dreams...could stress be it.  No stress then, more stress now, hmm?  Is there a connection.  I don't know, but sometimes I do remember my nightmares...great the one's I don't wanna remember.  Good luck to you.  I hope you get it figured out.

Answer 14

if ur sleep cycle goes without interruption u will most likely not remember your dream, you forget it while your body wakes up, even before your mind does. make it a point if you feel as if your waking from a dream try very hard right as you wake up to recall any details and think about them untill you are awake. sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night, write down a dream and dont remember doing it...

Answer 15

well, a  couple of years ago i did a speech on dreams, and the internet says because your mind is clearing everything you learned the day before, it may of cleared your dreams. this is totally normal.

Answer 16

You're probably waking up during one of your periods of REM sleep. You dream during REM, and waking up during that time disrupts your dreams, which is why you don't remember them.

Answer 17

i've always heard if you've ever suffered any kind of traumatic experience that you may not remember your dreams..like how the brain blocks out certain things cause it cant handle them..your brain may be doing this while you dream.also having anxiety and trouble sleeping probably means you dont get enough deep sleep to have a good solid dream..when you continue to wake up through the night your dreams are interrupted before they can really begin..i have anxiety to and have alot of trouble sleeping and this is what the dr told me.