Do You Always DREAM?

Question

Its Strange, sometimes I just sleep and see nothing till I wake up. And another strange thing is... when I dream and wake up, I sometimes find it hard to remember my dream!

Does it happen to you as well or is it just me?

And if you could tell me why that happens, that'll be nice!

Answer 1

During an average length period of sleep, everybody dreams four or five times. Dream recall is poor, so unless you wake up whilst the dream is continuing, or at the end of it, you will not remember having dreamt. Tests on people who claim not to dream have proven that everyone dreams, even them. Thus when they were woken up at the end of a dream, they reported having dreamt and gave the details of the dream. You can tell when someone is dreaming because their eyes move rapidly underneath the eyelids - this is called Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. The fact that people's eyes move when dreaming was only discovered in the 1950s. Dreaming is essential, but it is not known why. Dream deprivation tests on volunteers (where they are allowed to sleep, but woken up as soon as they start REM sleep) showed that the subjects began to hallucinate during waking hours. I experienced this during a time in my life when I experienced intense anxiety, and I only ever got a series of many short bouts of sleep (just a few minutes each time). At work things kept appearing - including a large teddy bear on my office desk! It is possible to train yourself to wake up at the end of a dream, and then you can (if you so wish) write down the details of the dream as quickly as possible, whilst it is still fresh in your mind. It may be that you detect a pattern in your dream content - but you didn't ask about dream interpretation (which I personally am sceptical about, anyway). I just think that experiences of the day, especially worries or other matters that bother you, get replayed in the night's dreams.

Hope this is helpful.

Answer 2

I don't know why it happens but I'm the same way. On some nights when I sleep all the way through, you'd think I'd only recall what I was JUST dreaming about. But sometimes later in the day something will trigger a memory and I'll remember a scene from a dream I had. Some nights I'll have a lot of dreams but on others I don't remember anything.

Answer 3

Most of the vividly recalled dreams occur during REM (Rapid eye movement) sleep. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is the stage of sleep characterized by rapid movements of the eyes. During this stage, the activity of the brain's neurons is quite similar to that during waking hours; for this reason, the phenomenon is often called paradoxical sleep. Most of the vividly recalled dreams occur during REM sleep. It is the lightest form of sleep, and people awakened during REM usually feel alert and refreshed. REM sleep is so physiologically different from the other phases of sleep that the others are collectively referred to as non-REM sleep.

During a night of sleep, a person usually has about four or five periods of REM sleep, which are quite short at the beginning of the night and longer at the end. It is common to wake for a short time at the end of a REM phase. The total time of REM sleep per night is about 90-120 minutes for an adult. However, the relative amount of REM sleep varies considerably with age. A newborn baby spends more than 80% of total sleep time in REM mode, while people over 70 years old spend less than 10%. The average is 20%.

Answer 4

Dreams are one of the great mysteries of life. Science is still baffled at this subject and we can only come up with theories. Apparently, according to 'scientific research', we all dream. But many of us don't remember our dreams, so perhaps our subconsious chooses which dreams are important - which dreams it will remember. This happens to everyone. My personal opinion of dreams is that they reflect our subconsious state of mind. Those who have vivid dreams, similar in content day by day, who can remember them in detail, have something their subconsious is trying to deal with. Others who dont remember their dreams probably have insignificant problems/concerns that their subconsious chooses not to remember because deep down, it isn't important. Then there are others who believe that dreams are a pathway to another existance, our other side..... Who's to say whether our dreams are real, and what we experience now isn't a dream anyway?

Answer 5

We realize we are dreaming if we wake up during the dream,by an outside source,noise or alarm.
In order to remember the dream we have to repeat it in our mind ,as we wake up ,BEFORE we do anything else ,so it will
be inscribed in our "hard disc".Otherwise we loose the data.We tend to rethink -and remember - the most impressive dreams automatically.

Answer 6

I had once heard that everyone dreams all the time BUT that most people cannot remember their dreams because it involves the inner most recesses of your brain. You are essentially subconsciously dreaming without knowing it. The deeper the sleep you are in the harder it is to remember your dream.

Answer 7

I am wondering the same ..so I will watch your replys..I dont ever remember a dream unless it's a spiritual one in refrence to something that's gonna happen.. i have this ability to feel and dream about things with people who are close to me.

Answer 8

I thought that it was all down to REM state. If you sleep lightly you remain in REM state and dreams can be easilly remembered. Where as if you fall into a deeper sleep dreams are harder to recall. Its why if you have a kip in the afternoon you are more likely to have vivid dreams than at night.

Answer 9

I always dream i find it hard to remember some though i love to dream every night i go into someone elses daily life its great.

Answer 10

I only remember my dreams when I haven't been sleeping very well. Apparantly you only remember them if you wake up during them.