Blog #5: Research round 3

My research question for semester 2 was ” Why are dreams so hard to remember?” 

To answer my big question, I came up with 3 mini questions that would help further my research. For research round 3, my big question was “What can we do to remember dreams?” 

I have heard many people talk about how they wish they remembered their dream from the night before or that they would hope it would hope to witness it again as a dream and sometimes even in real life. I always found it interesting and so to sum up my semester 2 project, I chose to research about how we can remember our dreams better.

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The best ways to remember dreams include the following: 

1. Maintaining a dream journal: This might seem like a self explanatory task but maintaining a dream journal is one of the best ways to remember out dreams for the future. The first 15 minutes after waking up are the best times to write down your dreams as they are the closest to your REM. If you wake up and directly move to different activities “leaving the dream state may leave you distracted with elements in the room”. This could cause you to mess up your writing and forget your dreams. (1)
2. Avoiding alcohol or drugs right before bed: Many use sleeping pills as a way to get better sleep or wake up feeling fresher. In the moment you might feel as though the pill or the drinking is making you feel better but for remembering your dreams, it is not beneficial.  These substances often cause us to suffer from sleep conditions like insomnia which “has been linked to bad sleep quality”. Instead, try drinking lots of water before sleeping which leads me to my next point. (2)
3. Drinking 2-3 glasses before bed: The logic behind drinking water before sleeping is not what you would normally expect. Drinking 2-3 glasses of water before sleeping is beneficial for remembering your dreams as it helps to make you want to use the bathroom at night. Wanting to wake up to use the bathroom at night will help you remember all the tiny dreams you had and would help you jot down points in your dream journal, This is not as helpful as it does affect your sleep patterns; however, once in a while, turning to these options when you really want to wake up knowing what you dreamt about isn’t a bad idea. (3)
4. Having a balanced sleep schedule: As per the sleepfoundation.org resources, “studies have also linked dreams to effective thinking, memory, and emotional processing” which helps us believe that sleeping earlier and having a steady pattern could result in us remembering our dreams better. Being able to sleep better at night, as mentioned in point 2, helps us wake up remembering our dreams because while sleeping, we spent more time in the REM phase. Deep sleep results in humans dreaming for longer periods of time resulting in remembering dreams. (4)
5. “I want to remember my dreams”: Many dont believe that saying things out loud helps our brain process the information better and leads to us wanting to do that task more and more. Before going to sleep, repeating to yourselves “I want to remember my dream” can lead to your brain understanding how important it is to make this happen, putting it at the top of its priority list. Saying this before going to bed isnt you manifesting but rather chanting, to help you remember your dreams better. (5)

When I started this project, I was hoping to find some ways to remember my dreams and ended up finding multiple. Personally, the dream journal and finding a balanced sleep schedule did work the best for me. I realized that on the weekdays, when I wake up and sleep at the same time everyday, I do tend to remember my dreams better which I found very fascinating. Starting a dream journal, I say is the best ways to remember dreams as you always have them on paper and it helps your learn to express your feelings on a daily basis.

CITATIONS:

1. Mission: Sleep – moona. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://en.getmoona.com/blogs/mission-sleep
2. How to remember your dreams – 5 helpful tips for dreams. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/a37040271/how-to-remember-dreams/
3. How do dreams affect sleep quality? | sleep foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2022, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/dreams/how-do-dreams-affect-sleep
4. Dream Catcher: 10 tips to help you remember your dreams. (n.d.). Retrieved June 1, 2022, from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/22/remember-your-dreams-tips-help/5811267001/
5. 6 steps to help you remember your dreams – psychology Today. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2022, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/sleep-newzzz/201907/6-steps-help-you-remember-your-dreams
6. 4 ways to remember dreams – wikihow. (n.d.). Retrieved June 3, 2022, from https://www.wikihow.com/Remember-Dreams

I hope you enjoyed helping me find the answer to the big question,” Why are dreams so hard to remember?”. I look forward to seeing you again soon! Thank you 🙂