Greetings, dreamers, and thank you to those who wrote such kind comments!

Autumn is in the air, with the leaves beginning their bright wave across the trees. Today, I am sipping some coconut creme tea as I write. Millions of people are dreaming at the moment, and hundreds of thousands will remember a dream when they awaken. Will you remember your next dream?

SITUATIONS AFFECTING DREAM RECALL. Some situations increase or decrease dreaming. Of course, you have to sleep to dream! Fevers often produce more vivid dreams, as do some medications; check with your physician if you are concerned about that.  Depressants like alcohol suppress REM sleep (the stage of sleep in which we most often dream), so when we stop using them, we have a REM rebound, and more vivid and scary dreams.   Apart from all that, what kinds of people remember their dreams?

CHARACTERISTICS OF DREAM REMEMBERERS. At Berkeley, when I was working on my PhD, I launched a large study to help figure out what kinds of people do and don’t remember their dreams. Up until then, psychologists thought that maybe people who were unstable, introspective, or anxious were those who remembered their dreams most often.  That idea got into popular awareness through films and articles, and people began expressing wariness about their dream life. They wondered if they had strange dreams, did that make them strange people? Maybe even mentally ill? If so, wouldn’t it be better not to remember dreams at all, and instead, just sweep those strange things under the bed and get on with the day?

In order to find out what kinds of people remember their dreams, I measured dreamers’ introspectiveness, introversion, gender, anxiety, creativity, emotional stability, intuitiveness and other things and compared all that with how frequently the dreamers in my study recalled their dreams.

Here is what I found. Because other researchers have since found the same results, we can be pretty confident that people who remember their dreams once per week (the average!) or more have a positive attitude toward their dreams, and, to a lesser extent, are creative, and were fantasy prone as children. It turns out that wanting to remember your dreams as a result of feeling good about dreaming is the most important personality factor in whether or not you will remember your dreams, and people who remember them are no more or less crazy than anyone else!

TIPS FOR REMEMBERING DREAMS. Want to remember more dreams? Since you’re reading this, you probably have a positive attitude toward your dreams, which means you remember more of them. Beyond that, the most effective method is to (drum roll…) set your alarm clock for a random time during the night. When it goes off, voila! Another, much kinder way to recall dreams is to place a dream journal and favorite writing implement beside your bed before you fall asleep, date it with tomorrow morning’s date, and say to yourself (or your sleeping partner) “I will remember my dreams tomorrow morning!” Three nights of this tends to work for almost everyone.

Some people hate to wake up enough to write their dream down. If that’s you, you could try speaking into your smartphone or another hand-held recorder, or get a light pen so you don’t have to turn on the light to write.

You could also remind yourself during the day of your intention to remember. In the elevator, every time you pass a mirror, whenever you find yourself feeling calm, you could say, “Tonight, I’m going to remember my dreams!” Making a commitment to share your dreams with your partner, friend, pet, or housemate creates motivation. Sticky notes placed in surprising locations also help.

Congratulations! You’re about to remember more dreams!  Next time… a tidal wave dream interpreted…

Since my last post, I’ve given another dream workshop at the enchanted Rancho La Puerta spa in Tecate, Mexico.   A week at The Ranch is renowned for rejuvenating all aspects of yourself; it was just named world’s best destination spa by the readers of Travel and Leisure magazine. Something magical happens each time I go there. This time, I was particularly struck by the barn owl resting for days in a palm tree just over the bridge to our casita.  We’d look up every time we crossed, and there she would be, a lovely blue, tan, and white, peacefully resting, and sometimes tilting her head at us. In a dream, she might represent wisdom at the threshold…

During the workshop, two questions people always want answered are “How do I sleep better?” and “How do I remember more dreams?” Here are my answers, in two parts and posts.

HURTING SLEEP. Many pesky substances interfere with sleep: caffeine (for 7 hours!), various prescription and over-the-counter medications (any ingredient with “phrine” at the end, particularly), antidepressants and other psych meds, alcohol (the biggest offender because it prevents REM sleep, hence the vivid, rebound nightmares many who abuse alcohol experience once they stop).  Watching TV or using your computer or exercising during the two hours before bed stimulates your brain and makes it hard to fall asleep.  Depression and anxiety both interfere with sleep. Hormonal changes women in midlife experience can make falling or staying asleep challenging, too. Taking sleeping pills regularly is risky, and actually interferes with the four stages of sleep we typically experience several times a night (and most people do not dream when taking them).

HELPING SLEEP. There are some substances that actually help with sleep.  Potatoes (a baked potato eaten an hour before bed is a natural sleeping pill), turkey, and warm milk all contain amino acids which prepare us to fall asleep.  There are lots of teas which help, too:  the Yogi brand makes Bedtime tea and Cold Season tea, both of which contain valerian and skullcap.  Some people react strongly to them, so start with half a cup first. Celestial’s Sleepytime tea is a classic, and it is much milder than the above. Warm epsom salt baths are very relaxing and sedating, due to the magnesium in them which is absorbed by the skin (magnesium supplements and calcium supplements have a similar effect; check with your doctor before taking those).  Baths which are too hot are likely to wake you up, though, so aim for comforting, but not hot tub, temperature.

Some actions that help invite sleep include cutting out all of the substances and situations which are likely to stimulate you from your nighttime ritual.  “What nighttime ritual?” you ask.  Ah. Imagine some small actions you can take before bed each night to calm you, that you could make into something you do every night:  light a special candle as darkness falls, pray or meditate or do your own equivalent (journal writing, dancing, singing, writing poetry, drawing…), have a special cup of non-caffeinated tea or warm milk, and reflect upon the day.  Of course, we can all come up with things that annoyed, irritated, upset, and disappointed us. Advertising encourages us to do so (and then to buy the things they say will make it “better”).  Bah! Avoid that tide, and instead, consider what you were grateful for that day. Maybe record it in your journal so you can refer to it later, when things aren’t so clear.

For more sleep help, please click on “My Dream Books” to your right, then scroll down, and on the left side of the page, you’ll see a Sleep Tips link!  Next up… how to remember more dreams!