Do i have to?

[Lizh]

ive been having good dream recall thanks to what ive been taught here. but i just noticed that it said that its better to wake up in the middle of the night after REM periods to help dream recall. but, do i really have to wake up in the middle of the night just for good dream recall?

[Mancon]

Moved to Dream Signs and Recall No, you don't. Waking up in the middle of the night is just a way to improve recall. You can still have good recall and not wake up in the middle of the night.

[Kona]

Yeah Mancon has a good point. It helps but really isn't that necessary if you are already having good recall. Just keep up your DJ how it is! As long as you get a dream or two a night I would say you are on the right track! Good luck and happy dreaming!

[Lizh]

so what do you guys do? just curious

[lawilahd]

I naturally wake up around 5-5:30 in the morning, 2 hours before i actually have to get up, and I stay up for 5 minutes and go back to sleep, its been working pretty good.

[Lizh]

ok

[LupinTheThird]

What I do..I trained myself to naturally wake up at a certain time. I started by putting my alarm clock set to go off at around 3:30. After 2 or 3 times of this, I naturally wake up before 3:30 almost every night. But if I'm sleep deprived then I wont wake up. And I can control when it happens and when it doesn't. Unfortunately it didn't help that much with my dream recall, so now I just curse myself everytime I wake up that early..however it might work for you so feel free to try it if you want to improve your dream recall. But judge the time according to when you usually go to bed and when you have to be up.

[Lizh]

ok

[Erii]

After time your recall will build up naturally, when you wake up, shut your eyes and just focus on dreams, you will probably remember a few more

[Puffin]

You may end up forgetting dreams in between the REM periods that you don't wake up from. People have quite a few REM periods per night, yet many only remember a couple dreams, which may in part be caused by not waking up after each of their REM periods. You don't necessarily need to "wake up" after every one, or even wake up that much, but if you want to improve your recall, you should have a pen and paper at your bedside. Just sort of lean over and write down jot notes of any dreams you can remember, in the dark and without turning lights on, then you can go right back to bed. In the morning, you'll see the notes you wrote down (often I write down just enough to remember the rest of the dream, using key descriptive words), then you will be able to recall everything else. Once you build up some good recall, you can then try ditching the midnight journal and see how your recall does. But if you're still developing dream recall, I'd definitely recommend it.

[Lizh]

thanks