Why do some people remember their dreams and others don't? Scientists from Italy have studied this question. As part of the study, they analyzed data collected from over 200 people aged between 18 and 70, who recorded their dreams every day for 15 days. During this time, their sleep and cognitive behavior were monitored using body-worn devices and psychometric tests, German public broadcaster ARD reports.
Interest in dreams is a decisive factor
One of the main conclusions of the study is that interest in dreams is a key factor in whether we remember what we dreamt, ARD reports.
German sleep researcher Hans-Günter Wees confirms that we are more likely to remember what we dreamt if we are interested in our own dreams.
In principle, women are more interested in their dreams than men - and are generally better at remembering their dreams than men. Previous studies have clearly shown this gender effect.
As for age, the Italian scientists' study found no differences here. But the seasons seem to have some influence on dream recall: participants were less able to remember their dreams in winter than in spring or autumn.
German researcher Wees explains that the ability to remember dreams can be trained: "If you imagine it as a muscle, the more you train this "dream memory muscle", the better you will be able to remember".
According to Wees, if we immediately start thinking about what we dreamed during the night, we will gradually train this "dream memory muscle" more and more. After three, four or five weeks, we will remember many more dreams than before, the expert assures. However, this does not mean that we can improve or train other memory indicators in this way, Wees specifies, quoted by ARD.
Dream recall can also be used for psychotherapeutic purposes, since dreams are related to our experiences. "In the psychotherapy process, it can certainly be an advantage if someone remembers their dreams", assures the German dream expert.
Since they often have something to do with what was experienced the previous day, dreams can be attributed a purifying and stabilizing function of emotions. At the same time, however, it is possible that stressful dreams, such as nightmares, have a negative impact on our emotions the next day.
Even with so-called "white dreams", in which we cannot remember their content, emotional traces may remain. This can have a positive or negative effect on our emotional state, especially in the first few hours after waking up, explains the ARD.
It is interesting to note that older people are more likely to have "white dreams". However, the authors of the study found no connection between "white dreams" and visual or verbal memory. This shows that remembering dreams does not depend on our general memory abilities.
To remember your dream, we should not be distracted
Researchers have found that people are more likely to forget their dreams if their thoughts quickly take a different direction after waking up. This is because the information in the brain can interfere with each other. So if we immediately think about things that have nothing to do with our dream after waking up, this overlap will make it much harder for us to remember our dreams.
Researcher Hans-Günter Wees emphasizes that this is a well-known phenomenon in memory research: if we learn something and immediately afterwards we take up other things, we are more likely to forget what we learned. However, if we are not distracted by other things, we are better able to remember what we learned. This is why it is no coincidence that it is said that studying immediately before going to bed helps us remember what we learned better.
Author: Irina Klyagina (ARD)