Most of us know someone who has noteworthy dreams regularly, and they typically can’t keep them to themselves.
You hear about the strange celebrities that appear, the bizarre betrayals they encounter, and the wild conversations they engage in, yet many of us can only recall hazy snatches from our sleep stories, if that.
Some individuals may be envious of others’ capacity to recall their dreams, but it turns out that only a small fraction of us can.
In 2021, CBS News polled 1,010 persons in the United States, and just one in ten stated they always recall their dreams.
But why can some individuals remember them better than others?
According to Giulio Bernardi, a professor in general psychology at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, there are both individual characteristics and external factors that can influence our ability to remember dreams. “Our findings suggest that dream recall is not just a matter of chance but a reflection of how personal attitudes, cognitive traits, and sleep dynamics interact.”
More than 200 people took tests and answered questions about their interest in dreams and how easily distracted they are.
Participants wore a device that measured sleep duration, quality, and disruptions while sleeping, and for 15 days, they documented and described any dreams that occurred.
After reviewing the data, the scientists identified five characteristics that appear to be associated with the capacity to recall dreams.
Characteristics include a positive outlook on dreams, a tendency to daydream, longer periods of light sleep, living in warmer temperatures, and being younger.
Regarding the latter two characteristics, the scientists said that people have reported having reduced dream recall during the winter months.
Studies have shown that older people are more likely to think they’ve dreamed but lack the memories to prove it. We refer to these as ‘white dreams’.
Bernardi, the research’s primary author, stated, “These insights not only deepen our understanding of the mechanisms behind dreaming but also have implications for exploring dreams’ role in mental health and the study of human consciousness.”
Finally, the authors stated that their data did not support earlier research indicating that females recall more dreams than males.