Sleep Patterns and Dreaming

[Baron Samedi]

I find my unusual natural sleep pattern optimal for dreaming. I go to sleep around 9, wake up around 1, and go back to sleep around 2 or 3, wake up around 6, and take a short nap in the morning, and another in the afternoon. This is how I sleep when I don't have to go to work or school. I also just realized I have best recall when I sleep in this pattern. Do you alter your sleep patterns for dreaming? Sometimes I set my alarm, which I am going to do tonight, to interrupt my sleep, so I can remember more dreams. Do you remember more dreams after a lot of sleep? I find my dream recall goes down if I oversleep or undersleep. But, when I feel well-rested is when I have the best dreams.

[JesterKK]

I have more dreams to remember if I oversleep (sleep more than 10 hrs), however the early ones are fairly unclear. But oversleeping increases my chances of lucidity. My dream recall is next to nothing if I undersleep, which would be like sleeping under 6 hours. So I'd agree, it's got an optimal amount which is just being well rested. I think I might have to start using a slightly different sleeping schedule because my current one is doing me no good.

[reere]

I always set my alarm to wake me after 5 hours of sleep. I can remember few dreams usually at this time. Then I go back to sleep. I stay in bed for as long as I can(and as long as I can sleep) but I wake up after every dream so my dream recall is excellent. I am a night worker...If I wake up for too long, the sun is waking me too much. And I can't fall asleep... So I wait till late afternoon to go back to sleep.(nap)