Thread: Dream Recall - How quickly After Wake?

Bit long this post, but please bear with me, my question is in bold at the bottom.

I’m usually in bed by 10:00 and fall asleep within 15-20 minutes. I invariably wake at least once to use the loo (I drink a lot of water during the day and being almost 40 does this).

01:30 – Awoke needing loo, remained motionless attempting recall but couldn't’t achieve clarity of mind to recall dream, Also, physical urge to use loo was very off-putting. After several minutes of a combination of needing the loo and zero dream recall I gave up and rushed to the loo. Once I was up, I was able to recall some dream fragments, not much but certainly more than the previous several minutes in bed.

This has occurred for the last week or so. I seem to have difficulty in even attempting to recall a dream whilst still in this sleepy state. It’s not so much a problem in dream recall itself, it’s the attempting to focus my mind on anything at all.

I’m unsure if I need to work through this problem or accept that it doesn’t work for me and wake myself slightly before performing dream recall.

So my question is.....

How crucial is that dream recall be performed immediately following wake up whilst remaining motionless or can some people achieve the same levels of recall if they first arouse slightly.