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So I'm having a bad problem affecting my dream recall... sleeping in. I can't seem to resist the call of the bed when I wake up after a dream on the weekends. I know I need to wake up and write in my DJ and then I can go back to bed but I just can't break it. My dream recall is suffering. Have any of you guys faced this problem? How did you break it?
Find some reason to get up and set an alarm to wake you. Do something for a while, 25 minutes to an hour, and then go back to sleep.
I have to get up every morning to get my daughter to school. When I come home, if I go back to sleep, I have the most amazing dreams and super-detailed recall.
Sticking to a schedule often helps.
I do not wake up on purpose to write down dreams, unless it was a long LD. Here is how I worked on recall, I still go back to this if I am having less recall.
The idea is to write down or record only key words. If it won't wake up your partner the best method is a voice activated mini tape recorder. You can also use a pen, but that involves a table lamp or some easy lighting. You could figure out a way to use a smart phone. When you first open your eyes anytime during the night say outload for the tape recorder (or scribble it down somehow) one or two words that have to do with your dream. You should do this for each scene you can remeber.
So a dream you have about a circus and being chased by ghosts of pirates, only warrents these words 'chased at circus, pirate ghosts.' If you look at the key words later, you will be able to recall parts of the dream. A simple word like 'windmill' recorded or scribbled, may easily ttrigure dream recall, but if you did not know that key word, you may loose the dream forever.
So sleep in and enjoy it. Just make up a way of doing this sort of task, it works great.
Keywords can be really helpful if you absolutely cannot break the urge to go back to sleep. This might be more of an issue of how determined you are for seeing through to your goals. If you have no lucid goals yet, set some, and focus on those after recalling your dream. Use that wake up as an opportunity to do a proper WBTB and try one of the induction methods as you fall asleep again.
But for me, I usually have to set multiple alarms and then take a short walk around in my very groggy state (that grogginess is usually temporary, and will lessen in severity after a few minutes). One alarm is usually not enough, even if I actually have to wake up for something. The number of times I missed classes, or an appointment, a meeting, or something important because I thought one alarm would be enough is just...too...embarrassing (I've slept through 3 or 4 set in 5 minute intervals once, without memory of turning them all off) x_x
I have a pad of paper and pen next to my bed when I go to sleep. When I wake up in the night recalling dreams, I slouchily reach over to grab a pen and record notes; key words from my dreams. I don't turn any lights on and I don't look at what I'm writing. When I wake up later to type them up in full detail on the computer, I use the notes as a reference. It's the laziest method out there. Learn it.
Yes, I do the same thing as I sleep with my wife. I can not use a tape and should not turn on the light, so I scribble in the dark. Boy, my handwriting is so bad half asleep in the dark, but it works great.Quote:
Originally Posted by Evolventity
Yeah, I'm also a person who writes key words without so much as looking. Because memory works by association, I can always go back later and fill in the blanks. It's even faster than recording your voice too.
I don't know if I'm alone on this or not, but my dream recall soars sky high on days I can sleep in. Whenever I sleep in it is not unusual for me to remember at least two or three dreams. But on work days when I have to wake up at 5:30am I usually don't remember anything at all.
I've trained my body to wake up at a specific time no matter how late I go to bed. That, or the sunshine wakes me up.