Thread: Waking Up In The Middle Of The Night To Record Dreams?

Of course you can, but I wouldn't wake up in the middle of the night only for that. Sure, you can do it when you wake up naturally or right before you do a WILD or something. Just don't distrupt the rest of your sleep!

Well that all depends on your dream recall. Would they be more clear to you if you jot down notes when you awake in the night to finish in the morning? As for me, waking up after dreams just doesnt happen. I find that auto suggestion works quite well for me such as stating: "I will remember all my dreams when i wake up" of course you can fit it to your standards

It is always better to record dreams in the night when you naturally wake up vs. trying to remember dreams in the morning. If you simply want to remember one or two dreams a night then by all means just write when you wake up. If you want to develop a really good dream recall then write down a dream every time you wake up. It depends on how devoted you are.

Hope I helped a little

It makes a huge difference for me. I think the best is to wake up naturally from dreams, but it can be hard to actually wake up enough to write them down. At the very least try to wake up enough to relive the dream, to somehow try to solidify it in your memory before going back to sleep.

Next best is setting some soft alarms to wake you every couple of hours, and then waiting until morning.

It does depend on your level of recall, though. If you do wait until morning, make sure to write them all down the moment you wake up. Then extra details can come back throughout the day.

Sorry, What I meant was using an alarm to wake up in the middle of the night. Is THAT adviseable, or should you only wake up and write your dreams when you wake of naturally after a dream

When first starting out a lot of people choose to use an alarm during the night to help them get that extra ammount of recall. If you find you have a hard time getting back to sleep after an alarm, but still want to have the best recall possible, I would recommend using autosuggestion to help you become aware of your night time awakenings.

Hope this answered your question!

Yeah I have a lot of trouble falling asleep if an alarm goes off in the middle of the night. But if you try setting your cell phone to vibrate mode, and leaving it near your pillow, it should wake you up just enough but not enough to keep you up for hours

I have myself conditioned to wake up after every dream cycle. It is a huge help in remembering my dreams. Sometimes the dreams I have in the middle of the night are the most vivid, bizarre, and powerful.

I use autosuggestion, and tell myself, "I will wake up after every dream and write it down!" I find that I do not lose any sleep, I have multiple chances to use something like MILD, and I feel more rested because I got to experience the full night.

On the rare nights where I slack off and black out through the whole night, I wake up wanting more sleep. I wake up feeling like I just went to bed a few minutes ago.

At first I was kind of bummed about the idea, thought I would be loosing sleep. It took some willpower to make myself roll over and write, and I wasn't happy about the idea of interrupting my night. In retrospect though--I think I had been waking up after each dream cycle all along, at least partially, but since I wasn't doing anything noteworthy (just going back to sleep) I had no reason to remember it in the morning. I would just discount it as a moment before I fell asleep, when in fact it was a few hours after I initially fell asleep.

Getting up to take notes is the best thing you can do to improve recall. And don't just write down a few words, take detailed notes including all the main elements and events.

Originally Posted by The Cusp

Getting up to take notes is the best thing you can do to improve recall. And don't just write down a few words, take detailed notes including all the main elements and events.

In my notes I always include any little details I KNOW I will forget. My dream early in the night I have to write more about, because I am more likely to completly forget them without good detailed notes.

Exactly. The longer you go without writing them down, the harder it will be to remember them. You don't have to write down the entire dream when you wake up, though, just enough so you'll remember it.

i have never woken up just to record a dream and even though i wait 'til the morning my dream recall is still going up a lot.i have always done this though so i am used to memorizing them 'til morn.do what you want.

Pictures Pictures Pictures!
Dream Journal doodles are the best. It puts you right back into the scene so you can recognize where you were standing, what was around you, which way you were looking, etc.

I still catch myself being lazy, and trying to fool myself into not writing down a dream. I've learned not to trust my judgement at 4:00am. I may wake up and think, "That dream wasn't worth writing down. I won't want to remember that, later." Don't believe it! Write the dream down anyways. I've caught myself trying to do this even with lucid dreams. "What a boring lucid, I don't need to write that down..."

Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

I still catch myself being lazy, and trying to fool myself into not writing down a dream. I've learned not to trust my judgement at 4:00am. I may wake up and think, "That dream wasn't worth writing down. I won't want to remember that, later." Don't believe it! Write the dream down anyways. I've caught myself trying to do this even with lucid dreams. "What a boring lucid, I don't need to write that down..."

Me too! I have the WORST ability to asses the worth of a dream in the middle of the night!

What REALLY frustrates me is when my next dream is about writing down my last one! Gah! Then I loose the one I really wanted and am stuck with a lame dream about me scribbling something!

Originally Posted by seeker28

What REALLY frustrates me is when my next dream is about writing down my last one! Gah! Then I loose the one I really wanted and am stuck with a lame dream about me scribbling something!

That's the worst. Especially when I really believe that I wrote it in my DJ. I will wake up surprised to see a blank page.

Have you ever tried recording the dream on purpose while it is happening to help you remember? I wouldn't recommend it, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Walking around the dream world, taking notes like I was in class.

Hey guys, thanks for all of the help. Finally after 4 nights of trying, last night I used the autosuggestion and woke at 4:30 AM just after a dream. If you have any intrest in reading the dream, look at my dream journal (the link is in my signature). It was a very strange feeling...I just seemed to open my eyes, haha. I hope that from now on this will get easier, because I've done it once. I plan to wake up at least once every night. I will record my dreams, and I can start trying techniques to hopefully have my first LD!

Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

Have you ever tried recording the dream on purpose while it is happening to help you remember? I wouldn't recommend it, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Walking around the dream world, taking notes like I was in class.

That's an awesome idea! I'm going to try that.

A nice side effect that I have (the rest of you can weigh in and say weither you have this or not as well) from waking after each dream is that I often know in the dream that it is about to end. This makes me lucid (even if only for a few seconds). It also gives me a chance to try to keep myself asleep, which I sometimes can do. Unfortunatly I don't yet understand HOW I keep myself asleep well enough to even try to explain it.

I can do something similar towards the end of a dream. When I feel myself waking up, I can reenter the dream lucid. The problem I've always had with dream reentry, is that the following dream is short. It is like I'm cheating and getting another couple minutes of dreams. I've never launched into a full length satisfying lucid from doing it.

Another problem is, if it doesn't work, I will just black out and forget the whole dream because I didn't take the time to record it.

Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

The problem I've always had with dream reentry, is that the following dream is short. It is like I'm cheating and getting another couple minutes of dreams. I've never launched into a full length satisfying lucid from doing it.

That happens to me a lot too, especially it is almost time for me to get up (like an hour or less until wake-up time). It seems that earlier in the night I have better luck with prolonging dreams.

Maybe I should try it again early in the night. I've always tried it on lazy mornings.

Did you read Twoshadows's task of the month? She was taking photos in the dream to help her remember. What a great idea!

Originally Posted by Robot_Butler

Did you read Twoshadows's task of the month? She was taking photos in the dream to help her remember. What a great idea!

No, I haven't read it. I'll have to go do that.

It is actually very easy to do. Just keep a small pocket notebook and a pen beside you, and when you wake up, flip on a lamp, and write down the dream. As stated above, it is INCREDIBLE helpful to go toward recall.

Also, I like to think of it this way, with a TV analogy:
The book and pen are blank tapes, and after you dream, you put all the information from the dream into the "blank tape", so that you know have a "dream show" to remember. Then, whenever you want to go have a WILD that night, you can decide to yourself: "Hey, that dream is really great, 'I am going to have <dream title here> tonight' (autosuggestion works wonders)"
And the more you dream, the more your "library" of "dream shows" grows.

After that, comes my theory, which I will try to get when I am more experienced:
Then, later, when you are more experienced, you can even combine elements of each dream. "I really like the hypersonic jet ski on this dream, it would be really cool to have during this dream when the dolphins are jumping"