by Tobias Foster,
Contributing Writer, In5D.com
Why Don’t You Remember Your Dreams?
Do you often find yourself waking up and feeling that you had a long night? This might be due to the fact that you have dreamed a lot. But, what have you dreamed of? You might often wake up frustrated because you cannot remember what you have dreamed of. So, you are probably asking yourself why can’t you remember your dreams? Where are all those dreams stored? Is this a sign from your subconscious?
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Learning about dreams, sleep and memories has become a little obsession for me. For the last few months, I have studied sleep patterns, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, dream patterns, and vivid dreaming. I became more aware of the complexity of the domain, but I have also learned a lot of new things. I have finally understood why I do not remember my night dreams.
But Firstly, What Is a Dream?
A dream is made of a sequence of thoughts, images, and sensations. They all create a dream, the activity that happens in our minds during our night sleep. The dream is the result of specific regions of the brain that are active during the night. In fact, all brain regions are active during dreaming.
When Are You Dreaming?
It is important to note that you do not dream all the time you are asleep, but only a small fraction. There are four sleep stages and two main categories: non-REM and REM sleep. So, non-REM sleep has three phases and REM sleep only one. Dreams occur only during REM sleep, but you have to go through all three phases of non-REM sleep to reach the REM sleep phase.
You go from phase one, when it is easy to be woken up, to phase two where you in the light sleep phase. During the second phase, your body is preparing for deep sleep by slowing your heart rate and dropping your body temperature. Stage three is about deep sleep. If someone wakes you up during this phase, you will feel a little bit disoriented.
So, dreams occur only during REM sleep, after 90 minutes you have fallen asleep. Babies spend about 50% of their sleep in the REM stage, while adults only 20%. And blind people dream too, only their dreams include more auditory and kinesthetic elements than visual ones.
Why Don’t You Remember Your Night Dreams?
Is your subconscious trying to hide something from you? Well, it depends. Not being able to remember what you have dreamed of last night can have many causes.
REM Sleep Is Not Occurring One cause for not remembering your night dreams can be the fact that REM sleep is not occurring at all. Dreams only happen during the REM stage, so if you do not manage to go into the REM sleep phase, you are actually not dreaming at all. Alcohol is one of the substances that suppress REM sleep. Suppressing REM sleep is also a side effect of medications like antidepressants and substances like cocaine and amphetamine.
Another cause could be the fact that you do not wake up from REM sleep, but you go to one or two stages before opening your eyes.
Sleep Disorders
The most common sleep disorder is sleep apnea. Millions of of Americans have it and prevents them from having a good night’s sleep. People who have sleep apnea stop breathing during the night.
They can stop breathing a lot of times during the night, meaning that their body and brain do not have access to oxygen anymore. This means that your brain is not functioning appropriately. So, it is unable to enter the REM stage sleep and dream.
Is Your Subconscious Trying to Hide Something from You?
But firstly, what does the subconscious represents? The notion was firstly proposed by the father of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud. Freud thought that our personality has three main parts that interact with each other and each has its purpose. The conscious part is responsible for all our experiences that we are aware of.
The subconscious part is responsible for all those automatic responses that we are aware of only if we think about them. Like riding a bike, for example. The unconscious mind stores all our memories that become inaccessible to us.
Freud wrote the famous book The Interpretation of Dreams where he suggested that our repressed feelings and emotions find their way in our dreams. Freud said that the most frequent dream themes come from our deepest desires or fears. So, according to Sigmund Freud, dreams try telling us something we are not consciously aware of.
What Can You Do to Remember Your Dreams?
The most frequent and widely-used method for improving dream recall is keeping a dream journal. Right after you wake up, note all the details you remember. You can even draw them. We all know that dream memories rapidly vanish after we wake up, so try doing this as fast as you can.
Sometimes, dream memories can be triggered during the day. Note them down. For sure those deep emotions and sensations can easily be triggered.
So, The Conclusion Is…
That not remembering your dreams can have multiple causes. You might take some medication that prevents you from entering the REM stage sleep. Or you might have a sleep disorder. Either way, it is important to keep in mind that you only dream during REM stage sleep. But going through the three phases of NREM sleep before is mandatory.
Your dreams can be about your strongest desires or fears, so Freud might think that your subconscious is trying to hide something from you. To improve your dream recall, you can begin noting all the details you remember right after you have woken up. All brain regions are involved in the process of dreaming, so you might find interesting ideas in your dreams.
Author Bio: Tobias Foster is a journalist and editor with more than 5 years’ work experience and big ambitions. In his spare time, he is a contributor to custom essay writing service. Philosophy, marketing, psychology, and business are his passion, and he has a wealth of knowledge in that field. He is a master of his craft and loves sharing his knowledge.
In5D Addendum
Gregg Prescott, M.S.
In5D.com
Some of us have rare sleep anomalies where we instantly go into the dream state and stay there all night. I found out about mine when I was having sleep apnea issues and made an appointment to have a sleep study performed to find out why.
The bottom line is that I dream all night. I never leave the dream state.
So, it IS possible to have sleep apnea and still enter the dream state.
While that may sound wonderful, your most beneficial and healthful stage of sleep is AFTER the dream stage.
Lastly, if you do remember your dreams, be sure to check out my article, “Top 40 Dream Symbols, Interpretations, And Their Metaphysical Meanings.” As the Great Awakening continues to move forward, many dream interpretations are taking on new meanings!
Sending you all infinite LOVE and Light!
Gregg
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