• Question: why do we not remember our dreams?

    Asked by dylanho to Amy, Drew, Julia, Kimberley, Sara on 21 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Julia Griffen

      Julia Griffen answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Not entirely sure why… maybe it’s our level of consiousness and awareness when we’re asleep.. I know scientists know we are dreaming as they can look at our brain waves which are pretty obvious when we dream.. and when wooken up and asked participents cannot remeber what they’ve dreamt.. not entirely consise… its my best shot..

    • Photo: Amy MacQueen

      Amy MacQueen answered on 20 Jun 2011:

      Sometimes you can remember your dreams – particularly if the dream is exceptionally frightening or disturbing. Unfortunately its usually the good dreams that you forget! We apparently dream a lot every night – I know I don’t remember them all but often I remember what seems like a fair bit. Sometimes I seem to go back to a place in a dream where I have been before in another dream – but that doesn’t exist in real life. You know that you have been there before – which is weird! Does anyone else have this? maybe i’m being incepted!!! 🙂

    • Photo: Sara Imari Walker

      Sara Imari Walker answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      Hello dylanho! This is a fascinating question and I believe it has a lot to do with the depths of our unconscious mind that we just don’t entirely understand yet! The textbook definition of dreaming is that it is a succession of images, ideas, emotions and sensations occurring involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The key here is involuntarily. It is not something we do consciously – it is in our subconscious (i.e. our unconscious mind) that we dream. Our conscious is not always directly aware of what is going on in our subconscious mind. For example your brain controls your breathing without you always being aware you are doing it. It is for this reason that dreams, which occur subconsciously are not often remembered when we wake up. Sometimes we do remember though – that is typically because we wake up in an active state in the dream and our conscious mind registers the activity, recording it so we can recall it later.

    • Photo: Kimberley Bryon

      Kimberley Bryon answered on 21 Jun 2011:

      I actually nearly always remember my dreams. If you think about them and write them down when you wake up you can remember most parts. I have very odd dreams so perhaps that is why I remember them – dreams are fascinating don’t you think?

Comments