How To Remember Your Dreams 

According to Freudian scientific theory, every dream has a meaning behind it. Freud firmly believed that a “scientific procedure for interpreting them [dreams] is possible”, and so do many, many others. So, whether you believe our dreams hold vital messages that you’d like to retain, or if you’d just like to be able to recall your bizarre dreams to laugh about with your friends, TEMPUR® is going to teach you how to remember your dreams.

What Are Dreams

Some say dreams are messages from loved ones who have passed away – used to guide us down the correct paths in our lives. Others argue that dreams are in fact a projection of our own subconscious mind, playing out in our sleep. What dreams mean are and what they mean is still widely up for debate – but what scientists have been able to agree on is the biological location and triggers of our dreams.

The cerebral cortex (the part of our brain that is responsible for higher-order thought processes) is believed to be where our dreams are created. It is here, during REM (rapid eye movement), where a combination of acetylcholine, melatonin and oxytocin is released in high amounts – causing us to fall asleep and eventually experience dreams.

How To Remember Your Dreams

Everyone has dreams – whether you are able to remember them or not; some people just have an easier time of recalling dreams than others. Our most useful tips on how to remember your dreams are:

Write down your dreams as soon as you wake up

The best way to remember most things (and especially our dreams) is to write them down while the story is still fresh in our minds. To make this a simple task, keep a notepad and pen next to your bed, to minimise the need for unnecessary movement during the night, which would prolong you falling back to sleep and having more dreams.

Draw what you see

When there are no words in the English language capable of accurately describing what you saw in last night’s weird and wonderful dream – draw it instead. Sometimes what we see in our dreams can’t be translated into actual words, but we still don’t want to lose the messages and meanings that could be embedded in the details of the dream. So drawing what you see is a good way of maintaining a clear image of your dream, without losing a single thing in translation from pictures into words.

Actually Reach REM

To remember your dreams, they need to have happened in the first place! However, just because you may be asleep, that doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed a sweet dream, as it’s mostly during REM (the deepest part of our sleep cycle) where our dreams are created.

One thing that you may be doing which could be inhibiting your ability to remember your dream is consuming caffeine or alcohol right before bed. Although alcohol can make you tired, it surprisingly prevents us from reaching REM (rapid eye movement) which is the stage during our sleep when dreams mostly occur.

Some other things that could be stopping you from reaching the deepest and dreamiest part of your sleep are period pains, an overconsumption of modern technology and not having a mattress conducive to reaching REM – all of which TEMPUR® is able to help you with today - so you can sleep better tonight.