| Better Dreaming and Dream Recall: Helpful Suggestions on Awakening |
| By Darien Simon, M.S. |
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The first few moments after waking are crucial to recalling your dreams fully. After waking, but before getting out of bed, spend a few moments remembering what you were dreaming. It may take some time, practice, and persistence, especially if you use a loud alarm clock or are routinely awakened by some other noisy disturbance that tends to shock you our of sleep rather than gently nudge you awake. If you currently use a loud alarm, try to change the means you use to wake up. "Progressive wake" alarms help prod you gently out of sleep. If some other source of noise usually awakens you, try to minimize it if at all possible.
Avoid situations where you have to get out of bed immediately if you can, and spend those first moments of wakefulness writing down whatever you remember from your dreams. Be fluid, avoid trying to force recall. Start with the first impression you have of what you were doing, feeling, or thinking just before waking up. As you recall things, write them down in note fashion. With practice, you will likely find that noting one thing down leads you to recall another piece of that dream, or even a previous dream, so be brief and fluid in the process. Record the essence of the dream in whatever fashion seems appropriate, without worrying about spelling or grammar. Broken phrases describing the people, location(s), actions, feeling and any other details, or sketched images of things you saw, are frequently sufficient to trigger your memory of the dream later to fill in the details. If any part of the dreams you recall has special significance or symbolism that you recognize immediately, record that as well. Like any habit, regularly recalling your dreams takes practice and consistent effort. But what you can learn about yourself from your dreams is well worth the effort. If, after a reasonable period of time, you find you still don't recall your dreams, you may be waking at the wrong point of your sleep cycle (in non-REM sleep instead of REM sleep). If possible, adjust your bedtime and/or rising time and see if that makes a difference. Or, if you just can't wait, try Dream Boost, specially formulated to enhance sleep and dreaming, as well as dream recall. |
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