Dream Recall

Remembering your dreams is the first step toward interpreting them.

Many people have trouble remembering their dreams.

Some people never remember having any dreams at all. These people may believe that they do not dream. In fact, everybody dreams, except for a tiny number of people with very severe brain damage.

Why We Forget Our Dreams

There are a number of different theories that explain why people often do not remember their dreams.

Freud thought that your dreams are symbolic representations of troubling memories that are repressed and stored in your unconscious.  These memories are repressed because it would be too difficult for you to deal with them when you are awake. You forget your dreams because your unconscious is trying to protect you from painful memories.

The Activation Synthesis Theory of Dreams says that when you dream, your brain is in a state in which it is unable to remember things. This explains why you sometimes remember the dreams that you've had just before waking, when your brain has been leaving the dreaming state,  regardless of how pleasant or how disturbing those dreams were.

According to the Continual Activation Theory of Dreams , when you dream, you are moving memories from your short-term memory to your long-term memory. You don't remember your dreams because, when you are dreaming, you cannot transfer memories from your long-term to your short-term memory.  You sometimes remember the dreams that you have just before you wake up because by that time, the process of moving memories to your long-term memory has ended.

How to Remember Your Dreams

Some people seem to be naturally better at remembering dreams than other people.  People who enjoy expressing them  creatively, for example, through writing, music or art, seem to be more likely to remember their dreams than people who do not use creative forms of expression.  This could be because creative people have a natural interest in exploring their dreams and understanding what they mean.

If you want to improve your dream recall, you should tell yourself, before you go to sleep, that you are going to remember your dreams when you wake up.  This will send a message to your brain that it is important for you to remember your dreams, and you will be less likely to forget them.

Keeping a dream diary can also make it easier for you to remember your dreams.  When you keep a dream diary, you are telling your brain that you need to remember the details of your dreams so you can write them down in the morning.

Below are links to some articles that can help improve your ability to remember your dreams.