Certain personality traits determine who gets to remember their dreams.
Key points
- Dream recall is as variable as people are; it fluctuates greatly and is influenced by numerous factors.j
- You are more likely to recall dreams when you wake up from long sleep nights with more time in REM sleep.
- Think about the specifics of the dream experience as soon as you wake up.
So, why do some people remember their dreams?
Dreams are subjective conscious experiences generated by the brain during sleep. That’s it. That’s all we know with certainty about dreams. They occur without our control or self-reflection (I’m ignoring lucid dreamers).
They often defy the laws of physics: at one moment we can be talking to someone in Cincinnati and then in the next instant we are flying through the sky without the aid of an airplane over Toledo and it doesn’t bother us at all.
Read More Here: What Is REM Sleep? Why Is It Important For You
Dreams are composed of previously acquired memories. There is some continuity with the waking experience. If you are a Catholic Democrat during the day, you do not become a Muslim or Republican during your dreams.
Scientists have confirmed that we dream in some form almost all night long, not just during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. [For more on the nature of sleep, go here.] Scientists believe that dreaming plays a role in the consolidation of memories, yet we remember almost none of our dreams. Why is that?
Dream recall is as variable as people are; it fluctuates greatly and is influenced by numerous factors. For example, studies during the recent COVID-19 pandemic discovered that more people than usual reported better dream recall when awakening in the morning.
Other studies have reported that younger people, females in particular, and people with a positive attitude towards dreaming (some people fear their dreams), frequent daydreaming, and fantasy, more frequently reported having better dream recall.
We know little about the nature of dreams because conducting dream studies is fraught with difficulties. Scientists must assume that dream reports provided by subjects upon awakening are a reliable reflection of the dream content.
The problem is that our memory of what we dreamed is altered by the sleeping experience and how much sleeping occurred after the dream occurred. Furthermore, some subjects wake up with the distinct feeling of having had a dream but are unable to recall any aspects of the dream.
Finally, dream content upon awakening is often fleeting; it was just there and then it’s gone and cannot be recalled.
A recent study investigated the factors that determine morning dream recall in a prospective exploratory study of 217 healthy adults 18 to 70 years old (116 females). These subjects recorded their last dream experience upon awakening each morning at home for 15 days. Physiological information was also recorded via a portable EEG device. At the end of the period, the participants underwent a neuropsychological assessment.
What determines whether you remember your dreams?
Three factors influence your probability of waking up in the morning and remembering any dream. Your attitude towards dreaming, proneness to mind wandering, and specific characteristics of your sleep patterns. Whether you recall the actual dream content or simply an awareness that you had a dream is also influenced by your vulnerability to interference.
The association between mind wandering and dream recall may indicate an increased tendency to spontaneously generate dream-like experiences irrespective of whatever is going on around you. Further, daydreamers may pay greater attention to their dreams because they occur during the daytime when attentional and memory abilities are better.
The results also suggest that individuals are more likely to recall dreams when they wake up from long sleep nights with only a small proportion of the night spent in deep sleep and more time in REM sleep. This makes sense given that deep sleep stages are associated with significantly less brain activity overall.
When the brain is experiencing lots of strong slow-wave EEG activity, such as during deep sleep, it is not able to generate the complex neural activity that underlies dreaming. It’s important to note that neural activity patterns, as well as the principle neurotransmitter involved, associated with REM, are very similar to those associated with being awake.
Dreams were recalled more frequently during spring and autumn than the winter; this might be due to the potential role of circadian rhythms and nocturnal body temperature. Dreams were recalled less frequently if there was a higher vulnerability to interference after waking, such as having a conversation, thinking about the day’s coming events, or dealing with an alarm clock.
Read More Here: Lucid Dreaming As A Gateway To Spiritual Awakening
In conclusion, if you wish to remember a dream, mentally welcome it before sleeping and try to think about the specifics of the dream experience as soon as you wake up.
References
Valentina Elce V, et al., (2025) The individual determinants of morning dream recall. Communications Psychology, 3 :25. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00191-z
Written by Gary L. Wenk, Ph.D.
Originally appeared on Psychology Today
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