Thread: Does Temperature Influence Recall?

Originally Posted by MrManGuy16

So last night, I went to bed without sleeping under my heated blanket. Turns out, when I woke up later that night, I could not recall any of the dreams I had. Afterwards, I decided to use my heated blanket. After that, I was able to recall two dreams from the time I went to bed with the blanket to the time I woke up!

Now, I'm wondering if the temperature will influence your dream recall. Is there anybody that has a similar case? Is there anything anyone could say concerning dream recall and temperature? If so, please post a reply below.

I would think that being slightly less comfortable would enhance recall. I actually have no idea, butit is an interesting thought.

Originally Posted by sivason

I would think that being slightly less comfortable would enhance recall. I actually have no idea, butit is an interesting thought.

Perhaps that could be the case. I've thought about it, and I figured that I need to find the sweet spot with temperature and sleeping position.

With temperature, I learned that coldness means being awake, and warmness means being asleep. So I need to balance those two out. Also, with sleeping position (also may refer to the WILD technique), I need to find the sweet spot - not too comfortable to where I accidentally lose consciousness, but not to uncomfortable to where I move around too much.

I agree on the WILD thing. Some people do WILD asjust falling asleep and hoping to be aware, but I find that if I want to truely stay aware in to the actual sleep, I can not be too comfortable. Like you say, a sweet spot is needed.

It's good that you asked However I have never asked myself this before, so I don't know.

If you want to know what's the right answer for you, the solution is simple. Experiment!

Try on night with ice cubes on your chest (ok perhaps not) but try with a blanket one night (note the results), then try without a blanket one night (not the result).

Compare the results and there you got one answer, it is of course more accurate if you expand the experiment over a few days and make better statistics.

Also keep in mind that other things can affect your recall, such as bedtime, your state of mind as you fall asleep (stressed, happiness, etc.)

But to add something about the comfortable theory of yours I always sleep in a sitting posture nowadays and it is comfortable for me now, and it seems to help for both awareness and recall. So that's just a tip for future experiments.

Good luck!

It's a fact that warmer temperature induces sleep more easily.

I guess a sweet spot would be not so hot as that you would fall into deep sleep and lose awareness.