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Dream Recall
So, here's my problem.
A couple years back, I used to be extremely good with my dream recall. I could remember up to 6 dreams per night (some of which felt like they were an hour or longer) vividly, and still recall the dream hours or even days later. Then, when I graduated from high school, I got so busy with college and work (life) that my dream recall is now poor. I can remember 1 PART of a dream per night. And no matter how much I tell myself that I will remember before I go to bed, I still cannot seem to remember. However, last night, I remembered three (PARTS) of different dreams, all of which were extremely vivid, though I cannot remember the entirety of each dream. My question is what other ways besides telling myself before I go to bed that I will remember my dreams, is there to improve my recall?
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Write down your dreams every morning, spend a few minutes right when you wake up trying to remember where you just were and what you were going through (do this before moving if possible), sometimes it can help to work backwards through a dream (if you remember a fragment, try to remember what happened before that, then before that). I personally wake up a lot during the night naturally and I take each of those tiny awakenings to try to remember what I was just dreaming about, some people write them down throughout the night, that's amazing for recall but a lot of work.
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If you want to remember multiple dreams a night you need to wake up multiple times. Most researchers believe that you can't remember dreams unless you wake up right after the REM period is over. Dreams happen in REM. There's two ways that I know to do this:
- Use the mantra "I want to wake up after every dream and remember my dream. I know I can do this." Or some similar variation. Repeat the mantra close to bedtime. Once you are in bed do meditation or some other preferred relaxation method then start repeating the mantra. If you don't fall asleep while thinking about it and you just want to go to sleep, go ahead. I usually have good results even if I decide to stop doing the mantra before falling asleep. Also I usually just wake up after the longer dreams which are nice (2-3 dreams a night).
- Set alarms. People usually say set an alarm after 4.5 hours of sleep, then after every 90 minutes.
Once you wake up, either naturally or by alarm, you have to train yourself to immediately question what you were just dreaming about. If it is the first thing you think of you will remember. If not, lay still and keep thinking. Once you remember, keep thinking back further and further to see how much of the dream you can remember. Try not to move much.
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Multiple wakings is definitely a great way to kick start recall, and it gives you multiple chances per night to practice recall.
I think the key though to great recall is cultivating a "pay attention" mindset throughout all states, waking and dreaming.