Do you dream? How often?

Potatisen@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 91 points –

I saw another thread talking about dreams, I've had less than a handful of dreams throughout my life.

Do you dream? Every night?

67

Every night.

You almost certainly do too, but the part of our brain that commits things to long term memory is inactive when sleeping. When people recall their dreams, it's at best just the ones that occurred right before waking up. Maybe you're a heavy sleeper and tend to sleep through that window.

Also why people tend to not dream if using substances that have memory loss side-effects—weed is common. And same reason people get "black out" drunk or drunkenly repeat themselves. The brain just isn't noting anything down, but it is happening.

If only they made weed strong enough to block out the nightmares..

I dream every night and can recall most dreams months sometimes years later. There just some dreams that never fade from memory.

From how I understand it, you dream every night as your body enters REM sleep, but you often don't remember dreams. You can try and train yourself to better recall your dreams and in doing so you may find that you "dream more often".

I'd say I have weeks where I remember my dreams, sometimes multiple, every night, and other times where I'll go a week or more without recalling any. It varies on a lot of things. In particular, I'll find if I stop smoking weed for about 4 or more days, I'll start remembering dreams vividly and frequently, but that'll lessen over 2 weeks.

The bigger issue IMO would be that not everyone has quality sleep, so they might not have a long uninterrupted time in REM to properly dream.

Personally even when I'm in the right state to experience dreams (the type that I do remember) they usually aren't very vivid, for the above reason or possibly something else. I also have aphantasia so it may be related (or other brain/life stuff). Once I did have a colorful-yet-still(ish) dream related to then-recent photography.

@Hegar

Yeah, everyone dreams multiple times every night. I'm sure these days most people mean 'don't remember dreams' when they say 'don't dream', but when I grew up so many people honestly thought they did not dream and wouldn't believe me when I tried to explain how that's biologically impossible.

I dream in a fashion that I "experience" the dream and remember it later, but only around the changing of the seasons. For instance, in Central America where I live, were transitioning into the rainy season soon. I've been dreaming so vividly for the pas two weeks, and only started feeling rested two nights ago.

In a week or so, that will taper back to rarely remembering ant dreams, and not surface again until October or November when our dry season starts again. (Disclaimer: we haven't had a rainy season with rain the past two Yeats, but we still call it the rainy season)

When I lived in New England, it was the same, but four times a year, and most pronounced in the fall-to-winter and spring-to-summer transitions.

That's not to say I never dream outside of those times, but rarely remember, and not consecutively. Last night I had one dream from 3am to 7am. I woke up once and used the bathroom and easily returned to the same dream, albeit subdued.

I dream most nights, though the dreams themselves very rarely make it into my long term memory and are forgotten within minutes of waking up.

I usually have three or four dreams a night. I often wake up thinking I should write them down as plots for short stories. I've sketched out a handful of the really far out ones (like when Colin Farrell popped out of a statue in front of a frat house to warn me that Bill Gates was chasing me).

As far as I know, everyone dreams every night...it's part of the sleeping process...but you usually forget it ASAP so it seems like you didn't dream.

As for dreams I remember...less often as I get older, I find. Although I do get a few vivid dreams when using magnesium supplements, but I also acclimate to those quickly. And if I'm woken prematurely, sometimes a dream sticks around a bit more than it otherwise would.

Every night.

I've heard hella people say you don't have dreams if you smoke weed, but it's never stopped me. 🤷🏻‍♂️

I've smoked like 50g per month for the past few years and reduced by quite a lot now, and I only started to dream again once I did that. I feel like the thing about having no dreams is only really true if you smoke excessive amounts. How much do you smoke?

Multiple times a night. Typically I know I'm dreaming and can choose to wake up or alter the dream if I like, but I have some "uncontrolled" dreams as well.

I have a dream landscape? It's like all the places I've ever been have blended together to create a new world. And in a dream I know I can get from the fancy section (where there's the wierd Victorian house that is like a coop I used to live in, and sometimes there's a special room I can access by crawling up a specific wall) to the bar/shopping district by walking/going south, while by going west I can get to the beach that's an amalgam of several Texas and Mexican beaches along with a strong dose of Egypt. There's an epic resort there I often end up at, sometimes as a guest, other times worrying the whole time how I'm going to pay for it. There's also a subway system that leads to a New York/Paris/other massive cities I've been to with bad ass museums. I think that's to the northeast...

Anyone else have this? Love to hear about it.

I have something similar I think, but yours sounds way cooler! Over the years I have essentially recreated a whole section of Denver Colorado in my dreams. My brain keeps adding things over time and many of the new stuff sticks; dream Denver now has a whole ocean north of downtown, and a boat ferry that goes to an island out there.

Crazy stuff.

That is super cool, though! An ocean right outside Denver?? With an island?? And a ferry?? That would be amazing. Think this is very similar. Are you from Denver / spent a lot of time there?

Yeah I lived there for three years during a stressful period of my life. It's a lot of fun to dream about though, as I look forward to what's going to be added next!

I dream every night. I even dream frequently while taking naps, sometimes as short as 15-20 minutes.

Many dreams I forget shortly upon waking. As in, I can't remember what it was about by the time I get out of bed. But, I do actually remember the dream for a few seconds, so I know it happened. The majority of my dreams I can recall for the rest of the morning or even day. If something noteworthy happened, I can remember the dream for days, weeks, or years. I really depends on how impactful/meaningful the dream was.

I have not used sleep journals or anything of that nature to help me remember dreams. I have always been like this. I also have had sleep paralysis and sporadic insomnia for about as long as I can remember - not severe or frequent enough to need treatment.

Almost every night now.

I used to never dream but I would go to bed with the TV on. I wanted to switch to falling asleep to music. At some point I realized I would have nightmares whenever I slept without either. It was like my brain couldn't handle the lack of external stimuli.

But I wanted to dream more, so I started going to bed without it more and more often. Eventually those nightmares turned to dreams as I pushed through it. It was fantastical. Almost like hearing music for the first time after being deaf. It was a whole new world and I can't get enough.

I dream every night and it is always some kind of a crazy bizarre acid trip that may morph into a nightmare on occasion if I had a bad day or something is weighing on my mind. I've had this all my life and sometimes when I don't dream (which is extremely rare for me) it feels weird waking up.

But that's the regular stuff, the insane stuff is that I have dreams that reoccur and evolve for decades, and it's like getting a new season of a show that you watched two years ago, but with new characters and plot lines.

Nope, not anymore. As a kid yes I remember, but for maybe 10-15 years now, nope, super rare. Or I guess I dream but have no clue and don't remember.

When I wake up I notice that I was dreaming once or twice per week. It's always weird dreams. Weird as in:

  • aliens spitting on trees
  • tomato fighting in the library, killing and burying the old librarian, to resurrect a god
  • using a rolled newspaper as a magic wand, triggered by the word "photon"
  • a vulture digging gold nuggets from my liver, a la Prometheus
  • a pig praying (stupid dream bilingual pun)
  • my cats preparing popcorn (I don't even like popcorn)

Haha, I LOVE the weirdness of dreams. Clicked this thread just because I knew some people might share a few.

I can't. I lost the ability around age 7-8 and have never had problem sleeping sense. I do have a small 1-2 nightmares every 7-8 months though. They did a sleep and psyc study on me and found that I just sleep heavy and my brain relaxes and i go i to deep sleep for most of the duration instead of processing information. It is also the reason I can fall asleep on "impulse" and also why studying before sleep works well for me since my information retains where it left off. It is my one super power if I was to say I had one.

That's fascinating! I can remember snippets from hundreds, if not thousands of my dreams, but it takes me at least 60-90 minutes to fall asleep each night.

My SO is the same way, and jokingly she hates me that I can just close my eyes and be instantly gone as she used to get upset that "I don't dream about her" since she dreams a lot and remembers lots too. But I don't dream about anything she knows that now but took a while for her to realize that.

It doesn't seem fair! I think I'd rather have the extra sleep than the dream memories; the sleep seems more valuable.

Oh I agree, I drew the golden rest ticket. And it is OP. Feels like it makes life happier and easier in general tbh since I employ the tactics of "sleep on it" pretty much anytime and helps me process info and take time as well as cool off mentally if needed. In famous words of Bueller, "If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up." Good luck though, keep working on it and you may be able to train yourself.

I used to, usually several different dreams a night - sometimes flowing seamlesly from one to other.

I probably still dream just as much, but remember fuck all. I get up knowing I dreamed something but that's it. Incredibly frustrating.

Do you use an alarm clock? The best way to remember your dreams is to be startled out of them and immediately thinking about them. If you wake up without an alarm clock and then start thinking about what you have to do later in the day it's gonna be harder to remember them

I almost never remember my dreams, probably only a few times a year. If I do, about half the time they're nightmares.

I dream all the time, and always have. There are often common themes, eg., searching for my wife, yet she's never actually appeared in my dreams (that I recall.)

My departed parents often appear (moreso my dad, recently), and 2 days ago, a recently-departed SIL appeared, though 'visually', it wasn't her.

I'm not sure of whether there's a significance to any of this. It is what it is.

Yes, every night AFAIK, but I sleep very deeply and seldom remember them beyond a matter of seconds. If I've had caffeine late, I do tend to remember them more.

I wouldn't say I don't dream, but for reasons relating to birth, I dream in any substantial way very, very infrequently, and if I do, it's momentum for something else. I only ever remember dreaming in three topics: school, browsing, and talking to people I miss, with an infrequency of once a few times of year each. What few dreams one could say I have I care so little about that I often do everything I can to make sure I won't dream. I just don't want to be teased by having happy dreams that then say "psyche" and remind me of the state of being I'm in.

I dream frequently. Usually very vivid. Rarely it's nightmarish. I wish I remembered them better. I don't really feel the need to write down what I recall when I first wake up.

I think the most amazing invention in human history would be some type of EEG head gear that could literally record the dreams like a DVR. That would be wild!

I really haven't had dreams in years. I used to dream regularly in high school, and would regularly experience dream deja vu irl.

I thought maybe it was due to my appreciation of cannabis, but I only had one dream during my last T break and it was early in the time period. No other dreams over the course of multiple weeks, so idk.

I dream multiple dreams every night. They go from nightmare, to straight up crazy. Some are vivid enough to feel real, and some are so fucking crazy that I know I am dreaming. But I have never gone without having one.

Even at 5 years old I a recurring dream that was a tv series staring me. To this day I can recall those dreams vividly as if they happen last night.

I dream pretty much every night, and sometimes wish I wouldn't remember them since they're often much better than reality lol.

I also generally don't dream, or at least exceedingly rarely do I dream.

I know other people who dream will have like full on stories. A handful of times a year maybe when I can actually recall something its usually blurry flashes or a vague sense of a scenario and that's all I can recall.

When I was a child I used to dream every single night, and then one day it just stopped. My current lack of ability to dream kind of bothers me because I feel like it will be kind of cool to slip into a fantasy world every night. On the bright side it's probably been decades since I've had a nightmare so at least there's that.

A lot of other are saying in this thread if you don't dream it's due to THC consumption, but I don't take any form of THC so that's not really the issue for me.

Every night. Lucid only once or twice a year though . Dreaming is part of normal sleep cycle but if you wake naturally you don't wake up in the middle of a dream. I often wake some when my husband first gets up and will notice I am dreaming then.

I love sleeping and dreaming. A majority of the dreams feel like my brain defragmenting or something, just a mix of thoughts and memories from the day getting mixed into stories, but some are so wonderful.

I dream. Sometimes during the day, sometimes during the night.

I remember none of them.

I dream a lot, but how vivid they are and how much I remember them varies. Sometimes they're very visual, weird or interesting, but often they're vague and hard to recall. I find that if I'm not getting enough sleep I don't dream as much, but then if I'm on holiday and catching up on sleep I dream pretty hard.

Rarely. I find I dream more when I have anxiety (and they are typically unpleasant dreams, though not always), and I try to reduce anxiety in my life by being proactive and prepared for things.

I don’t remember my dreams most nights. I also have a terrible memory so it doesn’t surprise me. I go to sleep blissfully and wake up realizing time has past but not remembering anything I dreamt. Sounds awful but I don’t typically like the dreams I do have (usually brought on by me being too hot while asleep).

I dream all the time it's just that I'm so rational and apathetic that even when I have nightmares I don't feel like waking up.

I've found that I dream a lot, I just forget quickly, which can feel like not dreaming. For a while I kept a very light dream journal, just writing down whatever small thing I remember, even if it's just a feeling or something super vague. Don't worry if you don't remember anything initially — just being in the mindset was enough to boost my recall. Key is to do it right after waking up, while you're almost still half asleep. Write on paper with a pen, not your phone — it's too distracting.

During that period I remembered multiple dreams each night in full, and the memories were incredibly vivid, sometimes almost lucid. It was honestly crazy — some of those dreams had elaborate storylines, often super interesting scenery, and sometimes even almost video game-like "mechanics". I can only recommend keeping a dream journal... you learn a lot about yourself.

I dream every night. My dreams are vivid and weird as hell. Idk if it's the result of one of my medications or my epilepsy or what, but my dreams have always been strange. Most of them have some reoccurring elements such as:

Being trapped in an enclosed aquarium of cold, dark water with a hungry orca

Being chased by the Amish while my little sister (who does not know how to drive) drives the car through the woods. She crashes into a tree every time.

Being in the passenger or back seat of my car while it's moving and scrambling to get back to the driver's seat.

Being back in high school, but knowing that I'm not supposed to be there.

Getting a horse (something I've desperately wanted for years. Had them growing up and loved it)

Work

I dream often, usually I am able to remember them if I want to but never really bother unless it sticks out as a great story. It tends to happen when I'm about to wake up and while I'm in that mid sleep twilight zone. (Think of trying to back to sleep after an alarm, that kinda sleep)

I would also like to mention that my sleep in incredibly messed up. I have a sleep condition that causes me to wake multiple times an hour so my rest is awful and I'm eternally exhausted.

I smoke weed before bed so I don’t dream but when I don’t they are frequent and intense.

Not currently due to factors that are changing at the end of the week. I’ve been wondering how I’ll respond to remembering dreams again.

I pretty much only dream when I can go back to bed after waking up. Not the most common occurance, but it happens

Every night. Sometimes pleasant dreams, more often horrible nightmares. And I can't get my dreams out of my head, I still can recall dreams I had as a kid or a dream I had last week. Today my dreams were tedious, laborious, I woke up feeling really tired and relieved that I don't have to experience this shit anymore, glad for it to be over.