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I think it's that most people don't take time to reflect. I recently became very anxious that I was "dreaming less". Then I remembered that this couldn't be t

by bgroat 6y ago

I think it's that most people don't take time to reflect. I recently became very anxious that I was "dreaming less". Then I remembered that this couldn't be true because my cognition wasn't impaired. This indicates I'm still hitting REM So what gives? The answer, I'm not showering in the morning to go to an office. No shower, no dedicated dream remembering time. Hence the perception of "fewer dreams"

Viliam1234 6y ago
Also, dreams are quickly forgotten, even if you make an effort to recall them. Once I was writing a dream diary. I had a dream, and I was like "this reminds me of another dream I had a few weeks ago". I opened the diary, and saw that the "few weeks ago" was actually yesterday. So, if the dream from yesterday feels like a few weeks ago, and the dreams before yesterday are either forgotten or feel like an ancient past, it is quite easy to believe that you usually don't dream, even if you actually dream every night.
- vinceguidry 6y ago
  I'm fairly certain this is due to the same reason it's easier for a chess player to recall 'real' chess positions rather than if you just placed pieces randomly. Causality makes it possible for us to "compress" memories into a small enough representation. Dreams usually don't follow the same kinds of rules. I'm remembering a particularly vivid dream I had perhaps a month or two ago. I remember the settings it took place in, some of the characters, some of the story elements, though to call it a "story" is a bit of a stretch, just a rambling sequence of unconnected events. I often dream consciously, So I can remember actually wanting to pay attention to how cause and effect worked, but when I woke up, I couldn't recall how stuff managed to happen. Without that thread running through everything, dream recall would seem to go very against how the brain normally works. Not that techniques can't help anyway.

by bgroat 6y ago

Viliam1234 6y ago

Also, dreams are quickly forgotten, even if you make an effort to recall them. Once I was writing a dream diary. I had a dream, and I was like "this reminds me of another dream I had a few weeks ago". I opened the diary, and saw that the "few weeks ago" was actually yesterday. So, if the dream from yesterday feels like a few weeks ago, and the dreams before yesterday are either forgotten or feel like an ancient past, it is quite easy to believe that you usually don't dream, even if you actually dream every night.

vinceguidry 6y ago
I'm fairly certain this is due to the same reason it's easier for a chess player to recall 'real' chess positions rather than if you just placed pieces randomly. Causality makes it possible for us to "compress" memories into a small enough representation. Dreams usually don't follow the same kinds of rules. I'm remembering a particularly vivid dream I had perhaps a month or two ago. I remember the settings it took place in, some of the characters, some of the story elements, though to call it a "story" is a bit of a stretch, just a rambling sequence of unconnected events. I often dream consciously, So I can remember actually wanting to pay attention to how cause and effect worked, but when I woke up, I couldn't recall how stuff managed to happen. Without that thread running through everything, dream recall would seem to go very against how the brain normally works. Not that techniques can't help anyway.