What if you can't break your sleep cycle to record dreams?

[Casket]

Hi all, I'm an avid bodybuilder and as such I get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. As such, however, I simply can't break my sleeping cycle to record my dreams as it is too important in regards to repairing my body. Is it possible to lucid dream and/or obtain good dream recall simply by recording your dreams in the morning? Cheers

[Caradon]

Hi Casket. Welcome to Dream views. Yes it's very possible. I work in the morning so I don't even have time then. I usually record them later at night. What you should do is keep a note book by your bed with a flashlight. And anytime you wake up during the night with dreams on your mind. just write a few key words down. That's usually enough to trigger the memory of any forgotten dreams. Most times it's enough so I don't forget them at all. Then you can record them in better detail when ever you have the time later in the day. or in the morning, if you have time then.

[Casket]

Thanks for your reply! When you say 'anytime you wake up during the night', do you mean intentionally wake up or if you should just so happen to wake up. I have no problem doing that, I wake up during my sleep from time to time - if I need to go to the toilet, if some ravid cat is being annoying or if I just wake up for no reason. But I simply cannot set my alarm to intentionally wake up every night to record dreams. Also, is there a certain type of format I can follow when making a journal? A structured approach would suit me very well For example, I guess I could have the following things: Who is with me? What colour is the sky? What environment am I in? Anything out of the ordinary? What happened? Just wondering if people had come up with formats for recording their dreams. I have a laptop so its easy for me to create some sort of standardised template for this. Cheers!

[Atrox]

I think he meant when you just wake up by yourself. Indeed, it's not necessary to wake you early to record your dreams, just do as Caradon told you. You can also try to use tricks like the "glass of water". Just ready a glass of water in the evening, drink half of it before going to sleep while telling yourself that you will remember your dreams. After you wake up, drink the other half. It's absolutely no guarantee for good dream recall, but it helped me really well two or three times Also, I find that if I can't recall a single piece of my dreams, it's still possible that you can recall them later on, a single association by your brain can be enough to have the whole dream resurface (I've only recently stroked my cat in the morning and that was enough for my brain to recall a complete dream about squirrels).

[Caradon]

Yeah, I just meant when ever you happen to wake up. I'm one of those who wake up often so I can do that. Sounds like you do too, so that would probably work out for you. True, sometimes the smallest things can trigger the memory of an entire forgotten dream. strange how that happens. It happens to me often too. Yeah as far as format goes, you can do that how ever you want to. It would be a good way to help keep track of common dreamsigns.