Can't Remember Your Dreams? We Asked Experts Why & What You Can Do

Dreams are as fascinating as they are mysterious, especially if you're someone who struggles to remember them. It turns out, there are lots of factors that influence both the quality of your REM sleep—the sleep stage in which dreams happen—and your ability to remember those dreams once you wake up.

Here, sleep experts unpack the factors that affect dream recall and share tips on how to remember more of your dreams going forward.

There are a few theories about what the function of dreaming actually is, but the generally accepted theory is that dreams play an important role in memory consolidation.

According to research, the sleeping brain reactivates or "replays" new learning and memories1 while we dream, as a way to reorganize the new data and integrate it into our long-term memory. So, what does that mean for people who can't remember their dreams? Well, first you need to identify why you're not remembering them.

If you struggle to remember your dreams, any of the following reasons (or even a combination of reasons) could be contributing to your difficulty with dream recall:

This question might get different answers depending on who you ask, but the short answer (and clinically speaking) is no.

"It is a myth that remembering dreams is a sign of good or bad night's sleep," sleep researcher and co-author of Sleep for Success! Rebecca Robbins, Ph.D., tells mbg. Additionally, Jean-Louis adds, "Most people experience the REM cycles several times nightly. Thus, the issue is a failure to remember dreams rather than a suggestion of being unhealthy."

Jean-Louis notes that while some individuals are better able to remember their dreams, "with practice, the art of dream recall can be mastered." Here's how.

Jean-Louis adds it's also a good idea to "set the alarm clock around the time one usually wakes up, as one is likely to wake after an REM cycle," to ensure you wake up right after a dream. (Here's a more in-depth guide to deciding when to wake up.)

Sometimes the power of suggestion is all we need when it comes to dream recall. Jean-Louis notes it can help to remind yourself that not only are dreams important, but they can "provide important insights about personal or professional matters," he says. Make it your goal before bed to tune into your dreamworld.

To that end, lucid dreaming makes dreams easier to remember, according to Jean-Louis and Waggoner. And while it's a whole other skill to master lucid dreaming, simply becoming aware you're dreaming will help you bridge the dream back into reality. Waggoner suggests prompting yourself by saying before bed, "Tonight in my dreams, I'll be more critically aware, and when I see something strange, I'll realize I'm dreaming."

According to Naiman, Jean-Louis, and even Harvard research, when it comes to dream recall, how we wake up might actually be the most important factor for remembering our dreams. "Linger in your morning grogginess and purposefully stay in that half-awake, half-asleep state for longer," Naiman recommends. "Most people jump into their day when they wake up, immediately pushing the dreamy mind away. To remember dreams, we simply have to linger."

Once you've woken up and bits of your dream do start coming back to you, Robbins, Naiman, Jean-Louis, and holistic psychiatrist Ellen Vora, M.D., all agree that writing down what you can remember will go a long way. "If you find yourself waking up from a dream and you have a faint sense of the content," Vora says, "jot down notes before you do anything else."

"Our ability to recall dreams can be improved by simply drawing more attention to dreams," Robbins adds. "Another strategy is starting a habit of talking to a loved one in the morning immediately after you wake up about your dreams."

And lastly, Jean-Louis notes you'll want to be patient and consistent if you're just starting to work at dream recall, "as it takes some practice before mastering the art of remembering one's dreams."

We spend nearly a third of our lives asleep, and a good portion of that time dreaming—it's no wonder we're ever curious about what dreams mean and how to remember them more. So try taking some of these steps; with any luck, your bedside dream journal will be filling up in no time.