Your Age, Sleep Patterns, And Even The Season Influence How Well You Remember Your Dreams
Some people, such as myself, often have vivid dreams and wake up in the morning with the ability to recall whole storylines. However, there are others who struggle to remember even one detail from their dreams.
A new study is exploring the factors that influence “dream recall,” the ability to remember dreams upon awakening.
It seeks to determine what individual sleep patterns and traits shape this phenomenon. Scientists still don’t really know why some people have a harder time remembering their dreams than others.
In the past, some studies have found that women, young people, or people with a tendency to dream are better at recalling dreams, but these findings were not confirmed.
The new research was conducted between 2020 and 2024. The study involved more than 200 participants from the ages of 18 to 70. They recorded their dreams every day for 15 days and wore devices to collect their sleep and cognitive data.
Each participant was given a voice recorder so they could document the experiences they had while sleeping every morning right after waking up.
They had to report whether they remembered dreaming or not, if they had the impression of dreaming but didn’t remember anything about the experience, and the contents of their dreams if they were able to remember them.
The participants wore an actigraph, which is a sleep-monitoring wristwatch that detects sleep efficiency, duration, and disturbances.
They were also subjected to psychological tests and questionnaires at the start and end of the dream recording period.
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The tests measured their anxiety levels, interest in dreams, how prone they were to mind-wandering, memory, and selective attention.
Overall, dream recall varied significantly between individuals and was influenced by multiple factors. People with a positive attitude toward dreams and a proneness to mind-wandering were more likely to remember their dreams.
In addition, sleep patterns played a major role. Individuals who experienced light sleep for longer periods of time had a greater likelihood of waking up with a memory of their dreams.
Younger people demonstrated higher rates of dream recall, while older participants often got the sensation that they had dreamed but couldn’t recall any details.
This phenomenon is called “white dreams.” The results of the study indicate that aging affects memory processes during sleep.
Furthermore, seasonal patterns were detected, with participants exhibiting lower dream recall in winter compared to spring. Environmental or circadian factors may also influence dream recall.
“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,” said Giulio Bernardi, the lead author of the study and a professor of general psychology at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca.
“These insights not only deepen our understanding of the mechanisms behind dreaming but also have implications for exploring dreams’ role in mental health and in the study of human consciousness.”
The study was published in the journal Communications Psychology.
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