How to remember your dreams – Dream Recall 101

Remembering your dreams can be difficult at times. Sometimes they can be recalled nearly as vividly or just as vividly as a past experience, while other times only small details can be remembered. Other times entire dreams go forgotten. I’ve encountered some people who have claimed to never have dreamed (this, of course, being very unlikely as we all sleep, thus dream). It is only a matter of actively wanting to recall your dreams. The first step to becoming lucid while dreaming is to improve your dream recall abilities. Here I will layout some simple techniques to help you remember your dreams.

Get adequate sleep

If you aren’t getting an adequate amount of sleep then you surely won’t be waking up refreshed and probably won’t have the capacity to take the steps necessary to remember your dreams. Although amazing things can happen to you by altering your sleep patterns and even depriving yourself of sleep, these are not good habits for the novice dreamer as they can damage your mental and physical health. Get a proper amount of rest (about 7-9 hours for most adults) and you’ll be closer to recalling your dreams.

Think about your dreams

As soon as you wake up, do not think about anything but the dream you just experienced. Often times we wake up, hit the alarm clock, start thinking about what day it is, what the weather is like, who will be at the office that day, etc. but what you need to get into the habit of doing is thinking first and foremost about what you had dreamed. Try to visualize a place, a person or a theme of what you just experienced before you even consider where you are in real life. It may help you to close your eyes so that nothing in your room distracts you as you attempt to recall your dreams (although this can be risky as you may fall back asleep). It helps me to close my eyes and speak aloud in order to trace back what happened in the dream piece by piece. I tend to focus on moods, images, settings, dream characters and other details to help me piece together the dream.  After you have a fairly clear idea about the dream you just experienced you should have a way of referencing that dream. This brings us to the most important step that will help you vastly improve your dream recall.

Keep a dream journal

Writing down your dreams will help you in many ways. First, it will give you a solid reference point to track your progress as a lucid dreamer. You will be able to look back and see how your dreaming abilities have improved over time as well as being able to gauge which techniques worked best for you. Second, the dream journal will give you an insight into your unconscious mind. Often times we will dream about scenarios that frighten or thrill us yet we don’t understand why or even realize we are dreaming about them! A dream journal can allow you a way to view trends and recurring themes and investigate them further to better understand yourself.

It will probably be beneficial to you to write down your dreams immediately once you wake up. Don’t wait until later to do it as key points may be forgotten and the dream may not make sense later on (or you might forget the entire thing). If you wake up in the middle of the night and don’t have the time to write a detailed entry in your journal, try to write down a few notes to help you recall the dream at a later time (general plot, character names, setting, etc.). You can fill out the rest in the morning.

Time your alarm clock

Most vivid dreams occur during the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) periods of sleep. The first dream of the night is usually quite short (possibly 10 minutes in length) compared to the later dreams (up to 45 minutes or more). REM periods tend to occur in about 90 minute intervals. The later dreams will be much more vivid and will probably be the ones you will recall once awakened.  When setting your alarm clock try to set it based on REM patters (say 4.5, 6, or 7.5 hours after you fall asleep), as this can increase your ability to remember your dreams.

Now you have 4 simple tips to help recall your dreams. Once you have the ability to remember your dreams, becoming lucid will be much easier. Just remember to write your dreams down!