• Question: How is it that when you dream you cant remember all of them?? and is it true that you have several in one night??

    Asked by xxbethxx to Fiona, Jane, Joanna, Michelle, William on 18 Jun 2010 in Categories: . This question was also asked by kizzag.
    • Photo: Michelle Murphy

      Michelle Murphy answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      It is thought that we dream for about 2 hours per 8 hours sleep and that the earlier in the night you dream the less likely you are to remember them. The purpose and content of dreams is not really understood yet. Good question.

    • Photo: Joanna Brooks

      Joanna Brooks answered on 17 Jun 2010:

      Hiya! Thanks for your question. Yes you can have many dreams in one night – the normal range is between 5 and 20 – but you usually only remember about two or three or them or maybe none at all. The reason for this is because your memory system only stores memories that you make when you are fully awake and alert. It is possible to store some memories when you are asleep but they will be kind of ‘blurry’.

    • Photo: Fiona Randall

      Fiona Randall answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Hi Beth, I don’t know why that is. I sometimes wake up remembering scary dreams and then hope I forget them!

    • Photo: Jane Henry

      Jane Henry answered on 18 Jun 2010:

      Your consciousness is partly closed down when you sleep so you do not normally remember dreams unless you wake up in the middle or them or you train yourself to remember them. Certain spiritual practitioners and lucid dreamers have developed the ability to stay conscious during dreaming but this is a rare ability. Yes we have several periods of REM sleep when we dream each night. More generally memory is somewhat state specific, so it is easier to remember things if you are in a similar state of mind to when you first noticed these things.

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