I have a problem. I haven't been having any dreams lately, and I don't know why.

I thought if I did more things in a day--played more video games, saw more movies, ran around the block--it would help, but it hasn't. I sleep, its all black for a bit, and then I wake up.

Worst part is this means my creativity seems to be out the window too. I think they're related.

Advice?

My way of seeing it is your brains lack of things to think about while it sits idle; as a result, it starts making things up to pass the time.

Thus, dreams appear.

You are doing too many things during the day. It is giving your brain things to think about, so it has no need to dream.

2105557
I haven't had a dream in years.

Sithis I'm tired.

2105557
I haven't had reliable dreams since early on in High School to be honest. The only thing you have to work on is actively using your imagination to create instead of letting it passively work for you. If you need any tips or help, just message me and I'll help where and how I can if you'd like

Maybe you dream while you sleep, but you just forget them when you wake up. Even when I'm sure I've dreamed, I can't exactly remember what happened in it. Strangely, I've been able to remember dreams I've had when I was a little kid.

And for some strange reason, I can never forget a good nightmare.

2105557

*clop clop clop*

Ok ok, just kidding.

But like that hansome fellow above me said;

Dreams occur when your brain is "bored"
But if you did things ( of which you really did ) that makes your brain not-bored. It wouldn't ( mostly ) need to make up dreams.

A fun fact; Your brain is actually MORE active during sleep, than when you are awake.

Honestly I love dreams! But Sadly, due to my massive imagination and over thinking. I usually end up fast asleep immediately without any of those occurring. But if I did dream, it would be something REALLY long and very big.

I have remembered over 50 dreams, each of them being a few minutes long. Heck, they felt so real, that I'v had quite a few emotional dreams that really struck fear/sadness into me. To the point of tears.. Lots of tears.

I also had even future-dreams ( there is a word for that, but I forgotten it. ) several times actually. Of which I remembered each one with explicit detail. Up to this day, ( some of my dreams I can remember as far back as 4-5 years.

Fun fact; if you're actually hellbent on remembering something, you WILL remember it. And it will stick to your brain like super glue.

2105576

Strangely, I've been able to remember dreams I've had when I was a little kid.

You're not the only one. I had some of the most twisted, bizarre and downright confusing dreams as a kid and they have stuck with me since.

2105586

I once dreamed I kicked a yellow plastic taxi, only for its drivers -- which were these scary-ass proto-Slendermen -- to come out and start yelling at me. (And I had this dream long before there even WAS a Slenderman.)

2105595

I've had a dream where I was being chased by a demonic monster.

It started up with me walking to school. The "scene" then instantly cut to me going back FROM school. The really freaky shit happened on the bridge over the highway.

I sped up the stairs as if I was on no-clip. But I then stopped at the end of the stairs.

I look back down to see a RAGING bull about to charge at me ( don't tell me how it just how I felt ) from the bottom of the stairs..

My view slowly looked to the right, and then oh! I saw a tall highly flammable profane tank. In the dream, I then had the sudden idea to blow up the bull blocking my way.

So I then took the tank and kicked it off the bottom of the stairs. My view then backed up ( presumably for cover ) an explosion occurred a few moments later ( with added blurry effect! Cool rite?! ) I looked back down the stairs then the bull was gone.

As I continued my random destination, halfway down the stairs I saw my school guard.... Who was holding a sub machine gun. ( Seems silly no? ) he was firing at the monster.. It looked like a mix of Alice/ the spitter from left 4 dead.

Again the guard failed to stop the monster, but I no clipped past the two while the spitter was distracted.

I went onto the massive highway. There were CARS everywhere neatly rowed together. But they weren't moving, so I had to squeeze through the gap.

But I looked behind me, the monster seems to be chasing me. I for some reason were very slow. As I tried to move, it felt like I was moving through water. But the monster dashed through the gaps very fast.

Each time I looked back, the monster kept getting closer and closer, as my vision started to turn grey. Then as I looked back one last time, my movement now seizing. It was in front of my face. My heart heated like a drum. I felt intense heat—no deathly fear as it's black eyes stared into my mine....

Then I woke up.. Sweaty, crying for my mother.

2105557
You always dream.
Short of neurological problems, I suppose.

However, unless you happen to wake up during a dream, and focus on it pretty quickly, you don't remember it. That interruption is important. If you move out of the dream cycle before you wake up, it's gone. If you tend to sleep soundly, or wake naturally, then you aren't going to recall your dreams. By the time you've reached your natural waking point, the dreaming portion of your sleep is done with. It's also possible that the pattern of your sleep, which you might have fallen into, is just wrong for waking up during that time. If you woke up a half hour earlier, or later, for example, you might have more luck at catching one of the dream cycles.

Also, I've had the sad observation that I remember my dreams less and less as I get older. I used to remember my dreams in all their glorious, vivid detail. With their sprawling storylines and awesome adventure. But it's far more rare now. Perhaps just because it seems like I think about it less. It's more 'Bleh, I don't want to go to work' in the morning, versus laying around and contemplating what I just woke up from.

2105557 First of all maybe you sleep too strong (however you say this). Also you can't see dreams when you snoar. + If you are too tired you may not see dreams because you sleep to tight. I don't have dreams every day...but I do have some occasionaly.

Best Wishes, Zelos.

Ok, Apologize my gentlemen friends.

Happy late Halloween! And no that was NOT made up.

I am preparing my anus for the massive dislikes!

2105615

Oh, come the fuck on, now you're just making shit up!

Nah, just messin' with ya.

2105626

Ok maybe I should've at least described it better, maybe using the dictionary next time?

2105557

It's all in your focus and confidence.

There is no falsifiable relation between your dreams and your creativity.

Don't let a lack of dreams fool you into thinking you can't write. It's all in your head.

I look at how popular certain fics are, and I wonder if I'm just wasting my energy with what I write.

I doubt myself, and my mind seizes up.

If that doesn't help put things into perspective, think on this:

Dreams happen when your brain is at it's least active. You probably have been having lots of dreams, you just don't remember any of them.

Creativity is tied to your frame of mind, not your dreams.

Focus on what you can control.

You can't control your dreams. Don't even try.

2105635

For some cosmic reason, your comment sound's much better than mine.

Dictionary; Maybe use me next time!

Shut the fuck up asshole! And how do you even have a tongue?!

Dictionary; Why do you think your crotch feel wet sometimes?

BY CELESTIA'S HOLY TITS, get the hell away from me.

2105618

The dreams I used to have invariably disturbed me.

I don't regret losing them.

2105595
I once dreamed I was in a pitch-black room, which suddenly lit up in time for me to see a crow fly straight into my face. At which point, I woke up to my face slamming into the pillow.

Protip: if you want to remember your dreams more easily even when waking up normally, train yourself by writing them down for a time. I did that during 2 months, a year ago, and nowadays I remember them without even focusing. For example, 2 nights ago I had an amazing dream where I was a templar chasing a necromancer.It was fun.

2105696

Lucky bastard.

2105618
I had a dream where I was trying to stop a evil villain who was destroying the world. Right as the villain was revealed, mom woke me up, so I screamed incoherent;y at her for about five minutes before reality kicked in.

2105719
Not lucky, dedicated. Anyone can train themselves. All you have to do is to keepa note pad near your bed, and write on it everything you remember, every time you have a dream. That's all.
2105768
>five minutes
Are you dense or something?

2105768
Alas, my most extreme reaction, which only happened once, was to fling myself up with a shout and toss a pillow across the room.

Evil, winged things had been gathering just outside my door, in the darkness, in my dream.

Ugh. I always had horrifying dreams when I overnighted at that house.

2105783
No. But I was really tired, so I essentially freaked out in slow motion.

2105783

What! That much??!

Do you know how much work that takes?

I'd have to find a note....then, after I drug myself to sleep. I'd have to REMEMBER the dream, which would need to flex my MIND MUSCLES. After I remember that dream, I'd have to move the muscles in mah fingers! Do you know how much calories I can burn from moving ONE finger?! I would die from starvation!!

Sarcasm aside, this comment is pretty much a big insult on how lazy I am.

2105557 If I'm not mistaken, dreaming occurs when the brain sorts through all the input it has gotten during the day and decides if it's worth saving or not.
I suppose that it's random, sometimes you dream, sometimes you don't.

Keeping a dream journal is good advice. Also, research sleep cycles.

Another thing that seems effective, is to not move much when you wake up. The explanation I've heard for this one is that the part of your brain that normally controlls movement is in charge of remembering your dreams when you're asleep; so if you get up and swing into action, all those memories will be lost. So, relax, lay in bed a bit, maybe roll over, but concentrate on remembering your dreams.

I kept a dream journal for a while, and consistently remembered three or four dreams a night. If you want more detailed info, look up a site dedicated to lucid dreaming; one of the key steps in that is to remember your dreams.

2105557

Saw more movies or saw more saw movies?

2105696

While I was an assassin killing Templars

2105857

I kept a dream journal for a while, and consistently remembered three or four dreams a night.

3 or 4? Wow, that's a lot. I only have 1 per night, when I dream. Are they really short or rather long? Because although my dreams don't come in great numbers, they're quite lengthy. Sometimes I had to write an entire page to describe what was happening, without even detailing things. I still remember, to this day, for example, a dream in a Half-Life-like universe that would have lasted around 20 minutes if it was a video.

2105860
In the dream I had, I was a templar just like in the Gamecube game called Knights of the Temple Infernal Crusade. Nothing like those in Assassin's Creed. I played that game like, 8 years ago, and suddenly my brain makes me dream about me as a templar chasing a guy who's passing for a merchant in an arabian-looking town. The merchant actually is a necromancer, of course. In my dream, I even found a hidden moving wall in his shop.
Dreams are weird. I like them.

2105557
Same thing happened to me. I haven't had a dream in years unless I go through a traumatic event, like the last one I posted on my blog. Try having a traumatic event! You'll have dreams/nightmares for sure!

2105557
You always dream when you sleep. It's just that you won't remember it sometimes... Luminary explained it basically. Essentially, if you don't dream, you're dead

2105868 You are probablly having more dreams, but simply don't remember them.

When you sleep, your brain moves between several different brain-wave states. From very light sleep, to very deep sleep. You usually don't dream during the very deep sleep. This cycle can happen three or four times in a 8-hour night, so most people have three or four different 'sets' of dreams, mixed with three or four sets of non-dreaming sleep. Because most people don't make much of an effort to remember their dreams, they'll only remember the most recent one, and usually only if they wake up out of it.

One of the things that works against you here is that brains store memories differently when the chemical states are different. For example, when you're drunk, you will more easily remember other times you're drunk. Since the chemicals in your brain are different when you're asleep and awake, this contributes to the 'fading' that dreams do.

One of the ways I remembered more than one dream was waking up in the middle of the night, getting a glass of water, and taking a small note. I was studying lucid dreaming at the time, but I didn't have the discipline to actually acheive any regular success.

Another thing that can help is 'sleep hygiene'; going to bed and getting up at regular times, not drinking caffeine right before bed if you know it can affect you, and doing other common sense things to make sure that your night is peaceful and restful.

A lot of this ties in with brain chemistry, too. Your alertness is partially regulated by the brain chemicals seratonin and melatonin, both of which are affected by light levels and circadian rythyms and other stuff, but the one that especially gets to me is my computer screen. Since it's the brightest thing in a dark room, if I don't switch to the dark theme to read my bedtime ponyfics, the light will keep me up, and disrupt my sleep cycles.

TL;DR...You're probablly dreaming three or four times a night, but can't remember. There are tricks that can help you remember your dreams and sleep better if you're willing to put in some time and effort.

EDIT: Just realized, I never answered your question. It varied. I usually have shorter 'segments', with obvious transitions, but sometimes I had long ones. I never wrote pages in my journal though, just hit the highlights, but sometimes they'd make a decent short story if I wrote them all out. Like the one where I had super-powers, and needed to infiltrate a building...that one was really cool, and would probablly match yours for length. Most were shorter, though.

2105557 Dreams are nothing more than the brain's way of processing and filtering garbage. The more active and chaotic your brain is, the more likely you are to frequently dream, as your brain is more cluttered.

2105557

As has been mentioned, you dream multiple times every single night, it's just that you don't remember it. Your long-to-intermediate-term memory is shut down while you're asleep, which is why you don't actually remember all hours you spend sleeping. For the same reason, dreams tend to fade almost instantly. It's perfectly natural, and probably something that becomes more noticable at a certain age. I myself used to have totally insane dreams when I was younger, but nowadays I only remember them vaguely on rare occasions.

I doubt it has any relation to your creativity, anyway. Dreams can occasionally give you interesting ideas, but other than that they are different processes. Your ability to create mostly relies on the range of real and fictional experiences you can access through your actual memory.

2106031
Oh, well. It's because I didn't do all that "waking up in the middle of the night" thing.
I won't bother with that, my sleep is too irregular to do that and I need to sleep for the whole night if I don't want to feel like I'm a zombie during the day. 1 dream is enough.

2105783
Using a notepad would be useful if I actually woke up remembering them. Strangely, sometimes I get brief glimpses of a single scene as I go about my day.

My longest, and most remarkable Lucid dream I've had was when me and a bunch of other people ran to a mansion. I went up some stairs, and passed a "nerd" room at the top. My feet got caught in a rope trap, and my friend left me behind. When I got it off, I was alone, and there were 3 or 4 doors in front of me. I chose the left door, and was greeted by green/red plaid. I ended up in some sort of Mario 64 water level, and then treated to a 2d view as I got chased by a snowball through the watery sewers. I ended up in my kitchen, where I realized I was in a dream. I tried casting fireball, but failed. Pissed, I tried waking up by biting my finger. I bit off my finger, leaving a pink stump. I banged my head on the wall instead, and it only hurt.

Finally, my alarm went off.

That was the last time I had such a major dream.

The closest one, most recently, was when I went mudbloarding down a mountain for a family trip for some reason.

2105557 Well, the most scientifically popular explanation for why we dream is to deal with psychological stresses in your life. You do dream, every night. Most nights you will dream about 4-5 times. However, the parts of your brain dedicated to encoding memories (the hippocampus) tends to be a little out of it when you sleep, so you you don't retain any memories of the dreams you have had while sleeping. Hence, the illusion of having had no dreams at all. You remember having dreams when you wake up from them, and as your brain comes into the waking state you start recording experiences, so holding the story and ideas from the dream in your head for as long as possible will allow you to know what you were dreaming about.
If you think you aren't having any dreams, I recommend setting your alarm and waking up half an hour earlier or later. That way you will be able to wake up directly from dream sleep (also known as Rapid Eye Movement or REM sleep) and record the experience of having dreamed.
Happy dreaming!

2105562 FALSE. Dream sleep is a way to process psychological stresses of the day, so more activities would likely result in more vivid dreaming. Dreaming occurs every single night and most dreams are not remembered because the memory parts of the brain aren't recording your experiences when you sleep. You only remember having dreams when you wake up from them and retain them in your head as memories are recorded. Science!

2106895 Woah, man. That is intense!

2108812

My way of seeing it

I never stated this was a fact. Stop trying to bring logic and science into my life. I need randomness and make-believe.

2108825 Science is crazy, man! Stranger than fiction!

2108856
But science is correct. I need false beliefs. I want to make up my own reasons for things happening.

2108867 Science IS about making up false beliefs. But it's mainly about proving them

2108923
My reasons do not pertain to scientific fact.

Dreams come from the REM phase of sleep, which is normally the fifth stage of sleep. In this stage of sleep, your eyes begin darting back and forth rapidly. This is caused by blood being flushed through your brain. Your dreams are basically the by-product of a brain purification system required for functioning in the day.

Yes, I just killed any poetic thoughts on dreaming.

2105562 Well, if that were true, then suddenly Yume Nikki makes a lot more sense.

Personally I've never seen any consistent logic for dreams. I've had days where I did a lot and was stressed alot, but my mind was blank when I slept (I tend to wake up pissed off when this happens, so... any psychologists wanna take a crack at it?), while other times nothing really happened and then my mind was flooded with dreams.

2112453
lol, that's just my own silly interpretation. The truth is, you're always dreaming; you just forget the vast majority of them.