Curious, I've been doing pretty much the opposite, deliberately forgetting my dreams. Most dreams I remembered weren't pleasant, and forgetting them created a sort of 'blacked-out' period of genuine recreation. Like, I usually constantly think about things to optimize/study/do, and being very aware of what was happening in my sleep seemed to carry over that pattern into my sleep, if that makes sense (if not, then just think that waking up with a nightmare very present on your mind feels less rested than waking up not remembering your dreams). Now I have this place where my mind is actually free, at the small prize of me not consciously knowing what it does with that freedom. Also, getting too involved with dreams seemed related to drugged-like states to me, similar to what user jamal-kumar reported.
This article now makes me wonder whether I might be losing out on some benefits of dream recall. Curious to see what else researchers find about it.
I see it like this: You spend a third of your life asleep. By not "utilizing" your dreams, you effectively waste that time.
dream recall is very easy to learn and even easier if you actively write down your dreams. From there on, it's not much further to start looking into lucid dreams, where you can take control, even over nightmares.
Facing my nightmares in my teens (even without being lucid) was very liberating.
Sure, but are those hours really wasted if they make you feel refreshed? Sleeping is very important in terms of long-term memory organization, health etc. I always felt that those life hacks of trying to learn new skills or solving difficult problems in your sleep were pretty short-sighted optimization attempts, since those hours are not "lost", but indeed very productive, only in ways we don't directly notice. I might reconsider if there is overwhelming evidence of the benefits of recalling dreams, until then I am very happy about what I've achieved in terms of getting restful sleep. In terms of lucid dreaming or facing distressing memories, I prefer doing those things in more controlled meditation or therapeutic hypnosis settings (for which we do have evidence that it works).
yes, I resonate with this! It's exhausting to have this much mental stimulation at night. If I'm woken up at any point I can recall the dream I was just in and they're often really stressful dreams. I've been working with my nervous system and I'm wondering if there's some dysregulation going on that's contributing to my stressful night's sleep (like I'm cycling from fight/flight right into freeze all night long). I also tend to have more stressful dreams in the morning near that time when cortisol is released to help our bodies rise with the sun. Been wondering about that as well.
This article now makes me wonder whether I might be losing out on some benefits of dream recall. Curious to see what else researchers find about it.