Everybody dreams, but some people remember more of their dreams than others. Here are some things that I did not know about dreams before I started my research. Prior to starting my research, I thought that each dream only lasted one minute, which is apparently not true. Each dream lasts between five and twenty minutes.
Rarely do I remember my dreams. Sometimes I am able to recall what I dreamt about the night before, but more often than not I do not. I have always wondered why this was.
One common idea, while it does not explain why some people do or do not remember their dreams, is that people who DO remember their dreams respond more quickly when their name is called while awake.
This is based on a study of 36 people who were listening to background music and, every now and again, hearing their first name being said. The study called half of the participants high recallers, who were people that did remember their dreams. The other half were low recallers.
High recallers showed a more sustained dip in the alpha brain wave when they heard their name in comparison to the low recallers. Studies have shown that when people hear a noise and open their eyes, more brain regions become active, which reduces the alpha wave.
High recallers showed a delayed decrease, which is a possible sign that their brains are more widely activated when they hear their names. Research also showed that high recallers woke up more frequently throughout the night. On average, they were awake for about 30 minutes during the night, compared to 14 minutes for the low recallers. Results suggest that high recallers might wake up more easily because their brains are more reactive to outside stimuli.
However, according to Everyday Health, people who wake up in the middle of a dream might remember their dreams more vividly just because it is fresher in their mind after waking up. People are also more likely to remember their dreams when they are anxious or depressed, possibly because when someone is worried they are more likely to wake up in the middle of the night. Certain medications could also affect whether or not you remember your dreams.
It is true that I always cannot remember about what did I dream about last night, but if I had an nightmare, I can remember it for a long time, and even the next day after the dream, I will have the same series of nightmare. I am not sure if this kind of phenomenon is related to the fear or what, so I do some research about this problem. Here is an article that nightmare is only a dream and it somewhat explain the uniqueness of nightmare.
Kid you not I have asked myself this question every day, especially since coming to Penn State because I’m pretty positive that ever since I have moved in I have not dreamed, or at least can’t recall them. I do understand the thing about high recallers will wake up easier upon hearing their name or hearing anything because they’re more reactive to outside stimuli. The second my alarm goes off in the morning I hear it, right on the first ring. Other people I know can sleep well through the fourth or fifth ring or till the alarm practically turns off and they’ve missed it. I don’t agree with the idea that high recallers wake up more frequently during the night, or at least I don’t. I’ve never had a problem with insomnia before or not being able to sleep through the night, but maybe that’s just me. Is it possible to be both a high recaller and a low recaller in certain instances? Because there are nights when I’ve had the most intense dream of my life that it effects me the next day.
This blog post is very relatable. I too, rarely remember my dreams later on. To help me do so, I started writing them down immediately after waking up. When I read this blog post, it led me to wondering whether going to sleep with the intention of remembering your dreams help you do so. According to my research, it does. If you go to sleep telling yourself that you will remember your dream, you will have a greater chance of doing so.