Usually we forget dreams very quickly: five minutes after waking up, we remember only half of what we saw, and ten minutes later, only 10%.
Why don’t we remember our dreams? This is also strange because dreams can be much more vivid and intense than everyday life. If some of the events that take place in a dream happened to us in reality — for example, a fall from a roof or a romantic relationship with a movie star — this story would definitely remain in our memory.
There are several theories that help to understand why dreams are so quickly erased from memory.
On the one hand, forgetting is a process that is necessary from the point of view of evolution: for a caveman, the dream that he was running away from a lion, he jumped off a cliff, would not end well.
We are used to the fact that the past is organized chronologically, linearly. Dreams are chaotic, full of associations and illogical turns.
Another evolutionary theory, developed by DNA discoverer Francis Crick, says that the main function of dreams is to forget unnecessary memories that accumulate in the brain over time.
We forget dreams also because it is unusual for us to remember what happened in a dream.
We are used to the fact that our past is organized chronologically, linearly: first one thing happened, then another, a third … Dreams are chaotic, full of associations and random, illogical turns.
In addition, everyday life, the need to get up on an alarm clock and immediately rush to do business does not contribute to memorization — the first thing we think about (if we think at all) after waking up: “Where to start, what should I do today?” Because of this, dreams dissipate like smoke.
What to do to remember a dream?
Before going to bed, set two alarms: one to finally wake up, the other (musical) to focus on what you saw in a dream. The second should ring a little earlier than the first.
1. Before going to bed, put a pen and a sheet of paper on the bedside table near the bed. Or use the notebook app on your smartphone to write down everything you remember until you start to forget.
2. When the “musical” alarm rings and you reach for paper and pencil, try to move as little as possible.
3. Remember the feeling of sleep, its mood, write down what comes to mind. Do it in a free form, do not give events a sequence.
4. Keep a notebook nearby throughout the day: perhaps the dream will continue to «flirt» with us. Flirting sleep is a term coined by Arthur Mindell: Shards of sleep can appear throughout the day or even several days, teasing us and our brains.
5. When you learn to replay your dreams, it will be much easier for you to remember them.