Thread: Vivid dream recall from 4 months ago

In reading about dream recall, to my understanding, to be able to recall effectively, you have to awaken during rem sleep. On some days my recall is great (4 dreams per night) other nights I can't recall one, but each time I awaken and do remember I would quickly jot down bits and pieces so I don't forget.

I read somewhere that the reason your supposed to jot them down is because the brain tends to erase the old dream upon entering a new stage of rem. Is that correct? I'm puzzled because I can still recall dreams that I had 4 months ago.

What is the longest time you could recall a dream from?

Welcome to the forum!

You don't need to awaken during REM - it's effective, but not at all necessary. Keeping a dream journal is usually all it takes.

It is true that the brain tends to erase dream memories, but obviously that doesn't always happen. We can train our brains to actually remember the dreams. Writing down something about them can help you remember them later. Sometimes I'm just going through my day, and I see something (like someone on a bike) and I suddenly remember an entire dream. Also, I think that once you wake up, and write down the dream, you've put it in your regular memory - so it won't be easily forgotten. I don't look over my dream journal and not remember any of the dreams I wrote down - actually, I remember all of them.