Hey Everyone

[MarcusoftheNight]

First off: Hey, everyone! I don't really have much to say yet, but wanted to introduce myself. My name's Zach, 19-year old from Colorado. I'd heard the concept of lucid dreaming years ago, but didn't really think about it until a week or so ago, and have never experienced it. Unfortunately, my dream recall is pretty bad...but I think it's getting a lot better - I actually remembered two dreams this week, which has normally been a pretty big stretch for me, but the remembering only occured when I had a trigger during the day (one was about learning, in my dreams, how to meditate, and looking at my book reminded me of it.) I have two real questions for you guys. The first is that this semester I've been kind of back-and-forth during the weekends to my home, and then weekdays I'm in my dorm...I know that abnormal sleep patterns obviously don't help dream recall, but do you think frequent, different setting changes also have a pretty big impact on dream recall? Or should it not be that big of a deal? My second question is what do you guys do in order to remember your dreams in the morning? What are the methods you guys use, and does a loud alarm interfere with you remembering your dreams? Also, how much sleep is reccomended to remember your dreams better? (I have 8:00 AM classes every morning...so I usually wake up to my loud cell phone alarm.) Thanks guys!

[Serith]

I don't know the answer to your first question, but to answer your second question, the primary method used here to increase dream recall is through a dream journal. Just keep a notebook beside your bed, and when you wake up, quickly write down every dream you remember, in as much detail as possible. This helps lock the dream into memory, and soon leads to much better dream recall. As for the matter of loud alarm clocks, I do find that they make remembering dreams harder, but their impact on dream recall can be overcome. If you turn it off quickly, and then focus on remembering dreams, you'll probably remember at least a few dreams, especially if you keep a dream journal.

[Gwendolyn]

Hey, Zach. Welcome to the forum! I am so happy that you have decided to join us. My recall was greatly impacted by moving to my college. Now, it is pretty much normal. The alarm clock thing sucks. Do you have a less intense alarm that you can wake up to? That usually helps at least a bit.

[MarcusoftheNight]

I could probably try another alarm type again. How long did it take for you to get back into better dream recall, after moving to college?