Thread: Dream Recall Improvement

http://www.dreamdoctor.com/common/remembering1.shtml

In the above link, it is stated that certain people are born with the ability to remember dreams better. However, it gives tips to improve recall and gives a statement that after two weeks, TWO WEEKS, you will remember many dreams. I've been trying for over 6 months, and haven't noticed any improvement. By trying, I mean writing down a dream in my journal, provided I have one. If not, writing down what my emotions were or such, just anything to get me into the habit. I also think about dreaming 24/7.


Admittedly, I've remembered a small dream twice in the last three nights, but I honestly can't tell if they were really dreams or not... If they were, they were AWFULLY bland and more thoughtlike.


Has anybody actually gone from remembering few/no dream at all and poor clarity, to remembering 2-3 a night consistently?

No, it's been more of a gradual thing for me... I wouldn't remember any dreams, then slowly I'd be getting them every night, and then 2 a night, and so on, with gradually increasing dream vividness as well... Maybe you're not being thorough enough in your DJ or somthing? beats me, sounds like you should be having some good recall.

are you waking up naturally or to an alarm clock? because being jarred out of sleep by an alarm will often destroy my recall. if i wake up naturally(through suggesting "wake up after every dream during the night" or just "wake up naturally before my alarm" which is backup incase i don't) i find that it is much much easier to remember dreams. though like anything on this site, learning to wake up this way takes time, practice, and motivation.

Hope that helps

Originally Posted by Richter

Has anybody actually gone from remembering few/no dream at all and poor clarity, to remembering 2-3 a night consistently?[/b]

Yup. Before I joined DV, I had no recall whatsoever. I would rememebr a few dreams a YEAR. No exaggeration.

I now usually get 2-3 dreams a night. Also, the clarity and frequency and length of the dreams I remember is improving, albeit unevenly.

Basically, what I'm saying: KEEP WORKING AT IT. If you have naturally bad recall, like me, you WILL improve. It may not be "two weeks" likie the thing you posted, but, you WILL improve. Definitely. And, significantly.

Originally Posted by Richter

Has anybody actually gone from remembering few/no dream at all and poor clarity, to remembering 2-3 a night consistently?
[/b]

Yeah, went from none at all to 4-8 dreams per night.

Ok, this is really cool! That gives me a bunch of hope! Thanks guys; I'll stop complaining now.

Seriously, though, just hearing that others have faced this similar situation helps, ESPECIALLY from some of the more "proficient" lDers here.

As for the alarm clock thing, YIKES. I've been trying to wake up early with an alarm during my REM period every night. That's what many sources have said to do, so I bet my problem isn't not trying the right thing, it's probably trying too much! Although I don't understand how one would remember above one dream a night without waking up during the night... I'm willing to take baby steps.

I've also totally gone off caffeine for the last 3 weeks, and am JUST starting to stop withdrawl. I dunno if this will help recall, but I certainly FEEL better throughout the day. I recommend quitting caffeine for everybody, seriously.

I've been off and on with dream recall and keeping a dream journal for about the past 3-4 years... I picked it up again about 10 days ago and the night before last I was able to recall 9 dreams. After each dream I woke up and I've got my laptop on my bed with my dream journal open so I just typed in some key words after each dream and pass back out.

I noticed this morning (just woke up about 30 minutes ago) that when my alarm woke me up from deep sleep I would have a hard time remembering the dream... but it automatically defaults to snooze about every 9 minutes and I can clearly remember almost every dream I have between that snooze period...

on my own however, I'd say on average I probably only remember one, maybe two dreams a night before my alarm clock steps in...