Help With Dream Recall

[AirHead]

Hi, I'm new to this, just happened to stumble upon the website a few nights ago and decided it'd be fun to try. But, it seems that my dream recall is horrible, I'm waking up totally blank sometimes. Basically, this is how it went. Thursday night, I found this site. I decided that I'd start by trying to keep a dream journal and pay more attention to my own dreams upon waking. That night I was able to recall 4 distinct dreams just fine, the last one I happened to become lucid in (awesome moment, it just hit me that I'd been lying in my bed minutes ago and somehow I was now in a hallway; realized I was dreaming). It was a bit strange, in that dream everyone ignored me like I wasn't there (the 5 or so people I came across). I didn't do much exciting in it, but I walked around a little before waking up So yeah, that night was fine, and gave me incentive to keep it up. And yet, for the past two nights I haven't been able to remember a single dream. I've been setting an alarm to go off halfway through the night, aiming to record then, but my mind is totally blank then and later when I wake up at a normal time. I'm just looking for some direction, some tips that might help me actually remember my dreams when I wake up. Thanks. MORNING EDIT: And last night, same thing. When I woke up I could only faintly recall the following: "What are you doing here?" "I'm here to mock you." No visuals or context attached all. Could have something to do with the fact that I only got 3.5 hours of sleep last night though :/

[IndigoGhost]

Try sleeping 1 hour erlier and waking 1 hour erlier, also try to do some light stretching before you go to dream and make sure you are looking forward to dreaming as looking forward to something makes your brain help you out Also welcome and have a good time

[KingYoshi]

Welcome to Dreamviews! I would suggest delaying your alarm for a bit longer than halfway. If you are sleeping eight hours, set that alarm for 6 hours into sleep (5, 5 1/2 would work as well). As soon as the alarm goes off (before you move to turn off the alarm), recap the dreams in your mind. Movement immediately after waking up can cause you to lose a dream (its crazy how easy dream details can be forgotten). Also, don't turn your alarm up real loud. If you are startled awake (or wake up too suddenly) there is a high risk for forgetting your dream. I like to have my alarm volume set to where it takes 30 seconds or so to actually wake me up. Generally, I'll hear the alarm within my dream as faint background noise and it gradually gets louder and wakes me up. Keep a pen and paper beside your bed and write down your dream (either in detail or fairly detailed notes) right after you turn off the alarm. Everyone is different, some people begin their REM sleep a couple hours in. I can set my alarm for 2 hours into sleep and generally recall a dream. Other don't hit their REM until 4 or even 5 hours in (if they were to set their alarm earlier than 4 hours, they won't remember anything). You can play around with the alarm times and figure out when you generally are hitting your REM periods (dreaming). Recall is just effort and practice. If you put in the effort and continue to practice, your recall will absolutely improve. Don't get frustrated if you fail to remember dreams every night. Recall tends to hit dry spells just like lucidity. Even experienced dreamers have lapses in recall every now and then. Good luck to you!