Fell into it

Hi all,
So I kinda fell into all this. Last week I had a lucid dream. It was awesome. It was triggered because I read an article on cracked.com about lucid dreaming earlier that day after stumbling onto it. During the dream I realized that my wife was behaving very oddly, and then I became lucid. It was (as I said before) awesome. I don't remember everything because I didn't write it down. I know that I flew, at least twice. I was absolutely amazed at the detail of the dream. I woke up at one point because I felt cold and tried to make it warmer in my dream and couldn't, so then I thought it was because I was actually cold in my bed, and then I woke up. But then I went back to sleep immediately and became lucid again (wbtb I guess). Anyway, it was such a great experience that I have been reading up on all this here at dreamviews.

I've learned a couple things:
1) I'm very lucky to have had such a long lucid dream without "trying"
2) I need to keep a dream journal before I can really try to have another.

This is where it has been tough. Since my LD, I have had terrible dream recall. I've kept a pad of paper next to my bed and repeat to myself as I'm falling asleep that I will remember all the details of my dreams, but I've only remembered one dream since then. When I wake up, I don't move and try to remember the dreams I've had but many nights I don't remember any thing.

Any tips on how to increase my dream recall?

I have found going to bed at 10ish works for me. It seem for me going to bed around 12 is too late and I remember nothing. Try eating very little before you go to bed and definataly no alcohol, they always kill my recall. Same with weed or anything that's goin to make you sleep heavily. Whatever helps you sleep lighter is my theory, but I am just a newbie. ( also seems watching movies shortly before bed seem to intermingle with my dreams)

Recall doesn't improve overnight. It takes a few weeks of practice before you start noticing major improvements. After that it's slow but steady work, so don't give up. Good luck!

Thanks for the post Delphikis! I was off and on during the first week of trying to remember my dreams. Then I read on this site actually that stress can prevent you from remembering your dreams. So I've been going to bed earlier, and trying to destress and stay relaxed and that's helped me remember them in the morning. Also keeping a dream journal, persevering, and repeating to yourself while you fall asleep are good tools too.

I have noticed this week, and this past weekend that I suddenly wake up at around 5am (going to bed at 10pm the night before) and I realize that I just had a dream. Kind of like a mental alarm clock, I've been waking from my dreams and writing them down. It's interesting to say the least.

It is probably because you're paying attention to remembering your dreams. We all wake up during the night after each cycle, but most people don't remember doing so. Everytime you wake up, lie still with your eyes closed and don't move. Let the dream memory trigger by fooling your brain that you're about to go to sleep again. If nothing happens, try to think of small flashes of memory or fragments. Then you might wanna add different scenarios to that.

So I think I may have figured out why my dream recall isn't so great. I've had at least one glass of wine each night for most nights since my ld. Tomorrow I won't have any and see if if helps. Thanks all for the tips.

At Delphikis - Yeah I believe I read recently that alcohol can impair your ability to go into REM sleep, or at least makes your REM sleep not as good as it normally should be. And since REM sleep is when dreams occur, that could be a problem!

So last night...even after a glass of wine...I had the best dream recall I've had so far. I wokeup about 3 hours before I needed to. No dream recall so I tried to WILD. Didn't work so I decided to go back to sleep. Took about an hour to get back to sleep but when I woke up I traced backward through my dream and wrote over a page. Very long dream. Hopefully this trend will continue. I will keep at it and thanks for the help.