Ten ways to improve your memory of dreams

I have been documenting my dreams at dreamfeedr.com for a couple weeks now and I wanted to share some tips that may help you remember your dreams better. I have no idea if these suggestions will actually work, but if you are serious about trying to keep a dream journal, it can’t hurt. So here are ten ways to improve your dream memory:

1. Sleep in a dark and quiet place. This seems obvious, but even the smallest noise or light could disturb your sleep. Even if you don’t fully wake up you may be pulled out of a dream.

2. Sleep alone. This could be hard to do if you share a bed with someone, but trying to dream with a person next to you is harder than if you can sleep alone.

3. Don’t drink anything but water before you go to sleep. Caffeine, sugar, and alcohol could potentially affect how you sleep and perhaps it could interfere with your dreams.

4. Before you go to sleep make a conscious effort to think about dreaming.

5. When you awake, try to think about any dreams you had. The sooner you can capture your dreams when you are awake the better chance you will have of recalling them later.

6. During the day you may have “flashes” or deja vu that reminds you of a dream. Pause and focus on that thought and see how much you can recall of the dream.

7. Keep a notepad and paper by your bed and write dreams down when you wake up. This one doesn’t work for me, but that’s what experts tell you to do.

8. Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. If you want to create a habit of remembering your dreams, it might help to create a habit of sleeping the same way every night.

9. Turn on a fan or some other appliance that creates white noise while you sleep. This noise covers up the small noises that might wake you up. Even in a quiet house, there are noises that can be softened by white noise. Floor creeks, pet sounds, heaters and air conditioners, street sounds, and even the smallest sounds can bring you out of a dream.

10. Practice. It seems funny to try to learn how to dream, but practice will actually help. The more you practice remembering dreams the better you will get at it.

Like I said, I am not an expert on dreams or dreaming, and these are just some thoughts I have had recently. If you have some suggestions for improving your dream memory please add a comment to this post.