Remembering Dreams

[NoroUK]

Hi all



Just wondering if this is an INTP thing or just a random thing with me.



I tend to have really really vivid dreams and nightmares (I tend to prefer the latter as they have a bit more depth and immersion). When I wake up I remember some of the dream's content while I'm still in my sleepy state, which takes multiple alarms and a lot of time for me to snap out of (I'm a very deep sleeper). The thing is, once I've properly woken up, I can't for the life of me remember any of the dream at all. I stand in the shower thinking over and over about what it was but can't seem to remember anything, apart from the fact that I've just had a crazy dream. It gets quite frustrating, despite its lack of importance. Mainly since it happens virtually every morning.



I've tried having a notepad by the side of my bed to write it down before I fully wake up, but by the time I am physically able to write anything it's gone.



Does anyone else get this?



Noro

 

[smithcommajohn]

I think it's common to forget our dreams. If a dream is particularly vivid or enjoyable, it will stay with me almost indefinitely. I still recall some very wonderful dreams from years ago.

The notepad by the bed is a good idea. If you can get it down on paper it will help reinforce the memory. If you're losing it before you can even start writing, it will be difficult to capture. :/

 

[Pyropyro]

In my case I quickly type it in my creations thread.

The notepad technique is great and I used to practice that before I got Web access. I think it's practice makes perfect so the more you will yourself to remember and write down dreams, the easier it becomes.

 

[Happy]

I'm a vivid and sometimes lucid dreamer, but I don't really remember many of my dreams. I can remember them, especially if they're lucid dreams, for up to a couple of hours, over which time they gradually become more distant. I can hold on to them longer if I recall the dream to someone else.

So, when I have a particularly interesting dream, I'll usually describe it to my partner (which is okay because my best dreams happen at around 7am which is not an unreasonable time to wake someone)

I find the verbal delivery better than writing it down because it's much quicker and more forgiving; it makes for an interesting listen because of the lunacy of my dreams; and I don't have to read what I've written later on and remember how unhinged my cuckoo subconscious is

 

[EditorOne]

I remember some dreams, but of course none of us can say we remember them all because we're asleep, right?

The most recent ones have been quite troubling, in which I am tasked with some challenge but am never prepared, whether that is simply because my trousers are unhemmed or because, last night, I took SAT tests that gave such a high score they immediately made me take new tests that involved a kind of Dungeons and Dragons create-a-story with a set of given characters, but NO DIRECTIONS. It was in a room with 60 other people and not one of us had the same test.

Also alarming, several of these "bungling idiot goes on a quest" dreams featured people who have been dead for quite some time. Very disconcerting. I'm considering writing a book in which the protagonist, a lifelong lackadaisical atheist, dies and find out there is an afterlife and he is totally unprepared. :-)

 

[Harshil2772thinker]

I can remember my dreams, but the memory lasts for a few months most of my nightmares involve falling through empty space my dreams are a lot more vivid though

 

[QuickTwist]

I often forget my dreams as soon as I wake up. That said, the ones I do remember are really quite remarkable. I think this is because I too am a very heavy sleeper.

Here's a thread of interest:

http://intpforum.com/showthread.php?t=23285&highlight=dream

 

[Joe13414]

The science of forgetting dreams is that when we sleep at night, we have 3-5 dreams, not including sleep-paralysis, we remember lucid dreams and flat out vivid dreams just because their vivid enough to remember, it's like basic memory. So when we dream (R.E.M.(Rapid Eye Movement)) we forget things when we wake up because of neurochemical conditions in our brain.

 

[Sinny91]

Yup, the exact same.. I can remember everything in the in between state, but forget almost everything in an awake state. Unless, I've had a lot of time to take note in the in between state.

It's the main reason I hate being woken up suddenly.

 

[baccheion]

First, you should eliminate vitamin/mineral/nutrient deficiency issues (AOR Active B-Complex and maybe Alpha-GPC). You can also listen to brainwave entrainment audio (Neuro-Programmer 3) to see if that helps steady your mind.

 

[Starfishtea]

I've always had intensely vivid dreams and nightmares too, though most people tend to misinterpret my regular dreams as nightmares. I used to remember my dreams every day, but then I entered a period where I was remembering between 4 and 7 different dreams every night and I guess my dream memory capacity got overloaded because it made me forget a lot of the dreams I already remembered, and recently, I have barely been able to remember any dreams and I'm also having a lucid dreams less often.

A therapist encouraged me to keep a dream diary because my parents expressed deep concern for the content of my dreams, but I'm not the kind of person that's able to keep up with a daily diary and I probably only logged between 10 and 20 dreams. This was in 2011 and I realized when I reread them recently that I had forgotten nearly all of them.

I think I experienced sleep paralysis for the first time in my life today and I don't think I'll be able to forget that anytime soon. I have been lucid dreaming regularly for 14 years but I never encountered sleep paralysis until now and I have seen it be reported more often in people who have lucid dreams.


(my beautiful dream universe)

 

[jamestoffee]

On a notepad, write a note to yourself every night..."I will remember my dream tonight."..and before you go to bed, say to yourself, ""I will remember my dream tonight."

Then let your subconscious do the rest.

Do the same thing with any problems you are working on and need to "sleep on it". The subconscious will work for you if you ask it to.