Thread: How to get more dreams and dreaming sleep?

Recall is the first thing, of course. Make a point to remember something each night. It adds a sense that such is important and your unconscious mind will start focusing more on dreaming.
Next, think about the chemicals you take in. In my case strong sleep aids make me have fewer dreams and less recall. Weed is bad for lucid dreaming in general. I am completely convinced on that score.

Hi Sivason,

Thanks for your input, do you have any suggestions on particular sleeping aids to use? I haven't touched any drugs in over a decade, I also don't take any prescription medication only supplements and natural remedies.
I've seen first hand what drugs and prescribed medication does to people, I won't go into detail here suffice to say I prefer a more holistic and natural approach and prevention is better than a cure.

I'm eating healthy, exercising, meditating, etc. etc. Like I said before, it was just that I took my focus away from dreaming few years ago to focus on life, and now I'm putting my focus back onto dreaming but having some difficulty.
I've been drinking some chamomile tea before bed which helps, I also have some other herbal teas like valerian root and mugwort, the only supplement/vitamin I have at home that may be useful is melatonin and perhaps magnesium.
I went and picked up an amethyst necklace today, as I'm open to spirituality I read amethyst can help with many things with sleep and dreaming being one of them.

Open to any other idea's people can suggest, my dream recall is improving and I'm having slightly more dreams now just through shifting my focus back onto dreaming.

I think if someone wants a truly effective sleep aid that will not prevent lucid dreaming then diphenhydramine is a good choice. It is the ingredient in most over the counter sleep aids. 25mg will help sleep but wears off between 4-6 hours later.
For sure working on recall is the best way for anyone with past experience to regain their former dream levels. I started focusing on recall recently and with in 2 weeks their was a dramatic shift in my level of frequency and vividness. I think as far as natural sleep aids that melatonin seems to have no negative impacts on dreams but valerian root has caused very disturbed sleep for me. I did have some vivid dreams the two times I tried but they were far from lucid, in fact they were somewhat delirious.

Forget about Benadryl, it causes memory loss and bad dream recall. Get valerial root extract pills they have higher potential than tea. There are some combination with Lemon Balm extract, they are the best. Also take some vit b6 25mg supplements, it increase vividness and recall(but don't take more than 100mg per day, 25mg is more than enough). Alternative to valerian is Melatonin prolonged time release capsules, they work full eight hours. Before I was taking 3mg slow release melatonin + l-theanine 100mg + 100mg lemon balm. Look around locally at stores, they can have a lot of those combinations.

Originally Posted by sivason

I think if someone wants a truly effective sleep aid that will not prevent lucid dreaming then diphenhydramine is a good choice. It is the ingredient in most over the counter sleep aids. 25mg will help sleep but wears off between 4-6 hours later.
For sure working on recall is the best way for anyone with past experience to regain their former dream levels. I started focusing on recall recently and with in 2 weeks their was a dramatic shift in my level of frequency and vividness. I think as far as natural sleep aids that melatonin seems to have no negative impacts on dreams but valerian root has caused very disturbed sleep for me. I did have some vivid dreams the two times I tried but they were far from lucid, in fact they were somewhat delirious.

Sivason, that antihistamine can be dangerous in long run, it can increase your risk of developing Dementia, also:

First-generation antihistamines like Benadryl not only block the effect of histamine, but as anticholinergics, they also block the effect of acetylcholine, a chemical in your brain that helps send messages between cells. Blocking acetylcholine can cause temporary drowsiness, confusion, and memory loss.

I would highly advise not to take Diphenhydramine for a sleep aid.
You are better off seeing a doctor's Advice about sleeping aid med or supplements. For we are only a forum and not really a place for a substitute for medical advice. You can try changing your diet? Eating things that are high in tryptophan, Like eggs, meat, red meat, or beans? Also, don't forget to dream journal. (imo)

If you are leading a healthy lifestyle - good diet, exercise, meditation and enough sleep, it seems to me that the issue is more in the emphasis on dream recall, especially if your watch indicates that as well. I have a fitbit and the REM cycles do match with times when I am dreaming, but during the week my recall is much poorer on the whole as I naturally wake to face the challenges of the day and sleep much less.

The more you begin to reclaim your dream life by journalling - the more you will begin to remember your dreams. I recommend spending at least 5 mins in bed after each natural wake just trying to recall as much as possible, make a few mental notes to yourself about the key items that happened. Then write them down whenever you have the opportunity (ideally the sooner the better). Finally, review the day’s or previous days’ dreams either mid day or prebed to set the proper mood for the night. This can be nicely complemented by adding MILD whilst reviewing previous dreams as well.

Mmmm, diphenhydramine (Benadryl) one of the best chemicals ever. I think it is truly a gift from God. I had to do a research paper and presentation on a medicinal chemical of my choice in Medicinal Chemistry and I chose diphenhydramine because it greatly improved my life as a child. I suffered from brutal hay fever and that drug would help me so much. It did cause drowsiness, which is why the second generation antihistamines are now much better for allergy. That drowsiness is quite useful though for sleeping. It is something to avoid in elderly folk who suffer dementia because when they wake up they can be confused. Any sleep aid will probably inhibit dream recall, that is why I think this is a good choice. It has an effect that goes 4-6 hours. Most of my dream work starts after six hours. 25 mg is a low dose and 50 mg is a strong dose. To each their own and I appreciate any one who wishes to remain "natural", but I give two thumbs up on this one. HumbleDreamer is right, this is not a medical venue, but I was asked specifically about recommending a sleep aid and consider this more general knowledge of an over the counter product available in every drug store across the planet. Valerian disrupts my sleep and the two times I did it were nasty. It may have just disagreed with me, but I would not recommend something I actually hated. Melatonin and such may help restful sleep but I do not consider them to have an undisputable strong effect of inducing sleep.

Originally Posted by NyxCC

If you are leading a healthy lifestyle - good diet, exercise, meditation and enough sleep, it seems to me that the issue is more in the emphasis on dream recall, especially if your watch indicates that as well. I have a fitbit and the REM cycles do match with times when I am dreaming, but during the week my recall is much poorer on the whole as I naturally wake to face the challenges of the day and sleep much less.

The more you begin to reclaim your dream life by journalling - the more you will begin to remember your dreams. I recommend spending at least 5 mins in bed after each natural wake just trying to recall as much as possible, make a few mental notes to yourself about the key items that happened. Then write them down whenever you have the opportunity (ideally the sooner the better). Finally, review the day’s or previous days’ dreams either mid day or prebed to set the proper mood for the night. This can be nicely complemented by adding MILD whilst reviewing previous dreams as well.

Thanks, guess it probably does come down to dream recall then. I'll have to start journalling again, since I have a smartwatch I suppose I could just use voice recorder on it.

I'll try out some valerian root pills instead of tea along with some B6 and slow-release melatonin if I can get my hands on some.