How to remember dreams

                Have a good night’s sleep

If you're serious about remembering dreams, it's important to sleep well at night. While people dream during the first 4-6 hours of sleep, most of those dreams are associated with memory and repair. As sleep progresses, periods of REM (rapid eye movement) become longer, leading to more interesting dreams.

Get a dream journal 

After dreaming in the REM stage, it's not uncommon to wake up and then fall back to sleep. Most people forget dreams during these short arousal periods and move on to another sleep cycle. If you wake up from a dream, do not open your eyes or move. Looking around the room or moving may distract you from the dream. Remember the dream as fully as you can. Then open your eyes and write down as much as you can remember before going back to sleep. If you're too tired to write down details, try to record important points and then flesh out the description after you wake up in the morning.

Be sure to keep a pen and paper on the night stand rather than in another room. If you have to leave the room to record dreams, chances are good you'll forget the dream or else lose motivation to record it as soon as you wake up.

If writing isn't your thing, record your dream using a tape recorder or your phone. Make sure to go back and listen to the recording, to see if it jogs your memory, allowing you to recall more detail.

   

           Remind yourself to remember

For some people, the only tip needed to recall dreams is to tell yourself you can remember dreams and then remind yourself to do so. An easy way to do this is to write, "I can remember my dreams" on a sticky note, place it somewhere you'll see it before you go to sleep, and read the note aloud. Even if you've never remembered a dream before, believe that you can do it. 

 

                         Get  an anchor 

Writing  or some people, it's easier to remember dreams before opening their eyes. For others, I t helps to set a dream anchor. What's a dream anchor? It's an object you see right when you wake up that you choose to associate with your morning goal of remembering dreams. Rather than staring off into space, trying to remember a dream, look at the dream anchor. You don't have to focus on it—looking past or through it is fine. Possible objects could include a lamp, a candle, a glass, or a small object on the night stand.

Look Through a Window

 

It will take less effort to recollect dreams if you develop the power of observation. Look out a window and pretend it's a dream that you're observing. Describe the scene, including the colors and sounds. What season is it? Can you identify the plants that you see? What is the weather like? If there are people in your view, what are they doing? Do you see any wildlife? What emotions do you feel? You can write down your observations, record your voice, or draw a picture to capture the practice "dream". Over time, as you repeat this exercise, you'll gain an awareness of details you may have missed and it will become easier to describe the scene. Training yourself to observe the waking world will translate into improved skill describing dreams.

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