Why can't we remember?

In the waking world we remember things. We remember that we closed that door, took out the trash, eat dinner. Yet when we dream we can't remember that we just went to sleep? What I'm getting at is how isn't Lucid Dreaming more prevalent? Why do our brains shut off us going to bed?

[marwanin]

because, the short-memory and logic parts in our brain shut down and desactivate. you need some-how, to activate them during the dream to get an LD

[Quantiq]

because, the short-memory and logic parts in our brain shut down and desactivate. you need some-how, to activate them during the dream to get an LD Basically what he said. ^ Your concious and logic parts of your brain turn off during sleep and because of this it becomes hard for your brain to tell what is and isn't reality. As to why our brains do this, no one exactly knows why. Many people have theorized why our bodies do this but no one exactly knows for sure. Some of the most popular hypotheses on the functions of dreams are: - The activation-synthesis theory: A theory that states that "there is a randomness of dream imagery and the randomness synthesizes dream-generated images to fit the patterns of internally generated stimulations." - Theories based on evolution that the purpose of dreams is to reduce stress and anxiety in mammals. This includes recent research by psychologist Joe Griffin, following a twelve-year review of data from all major sleep laboratories which led to the formulation of the expectation fulfilment theory of dreaming, which suggests that dreaming metaphorically completes patterns of emotional expectation in the autonomic nervous system and lowers stress levels in mammals. - Evolutionary epiphenomena. Some people believe that dreams actually served no purpose in human evolution.

[Mancon]

I also want to say that I think it because as we grow older, most of us think dreaming is not important and useless. Before I found out about lucid dreaming, I was starting to forget my dreams and not think they were important. I found that once I got back into the mindset that dreams are important and I WANTED to remember them, then my recall started to get better.

[Evolventity]

I think it's because of "evolution epiphenomena." Let's over come it! Imagine being able to naturally lucid dream every night. /me gasms

[Tranquil Toad]

While I am unsure as to why we can't remember most of our dreams, the key seems to be the movement of the physical body. When one reconnects with their body after a dream, it is very easy to recall. As soon as you get up out of bed it begins to slip away. If dreaming is a state withdrawn from the body, perhaps reconnecting with the body hampers your recollection. A state dependent memory. For example, say you played guitar. It may be difficult to remember exactly what cords to string without the guitar in your hand, but once you pick one up it all comes back to you. Similarly, being in a body prevents you from remembering many of your dreams simply because they are two very different states to be in.

[WDr]

I've been wondering about the same for a while, and there is something that I don't understand here: if the short term memory is activated in a lucid dream, why is it so that someone doesn't remember a lucid dream sometime?

[Quantiq]

I also want to say that I think it because as we grow older, most of us think dreaming is not important and useless. Before I found out about lucid dreaming, I was starting to forget my dreams and not think they were important. I found that once I got back into the mindset that dreams are important and I WANTED to remember them, then my recall started to get better. I know it's a bit off topic but I completely agree with you on that one. Before I found out about LDs I thought dreams were just absolutely useless. It's too bad in a way that I was so ignorant about dreams. Now I think dreaming is awesome and I've become encouraged to remember them because I see a new purpose for dreaming.