to get dreams

[Syke]

best way i can say is to just not have your alarm clock set and wake up naturally... now that ive got the year off and im not doing anything but sleeping pretty much i find im remembering my dreams alot more.

but i guess eating foods that cause indigestion does keep you slightly concious and therefore making it easier to remember stuff.. so thatd work too.

-Syke
P.S. its not a matter of having dreams.. its just a matter of remembering them. we dream every time we sleep.

[shaman]

As Syke mentioned, we dream the whole night, the problem is just to find a way to remember the dreams. Actually there is a 90 minutes cycle of sleep that repeats istself (every 90 min) through the night. It starts with a very light sleep (close to the hypnagonic state) followed by a deeper sleep. You might be dreaming all the time, but the dreams that are usually remembered and that are the most vivid are the ones that happen during the REM phase. The REM phase is when you start to sleep extremely deeply, so much that it is difficult to wake you up. At that moment you start to dream (long dreams) and your eyes start to move rapidly (from there the name REM = Rapid Eye Movements). After the REM you come back to the very light sleep to start another cycle of 90 min. The chance are when you wake up in the night or in the morning all by yourslef that you wake up during the light sleep, after the dream period.

There are many ways to remember your dreams and you might want to try all of them combined together. As you sleep more during the night, you have more easy to remember your dreams. So the best is to be able to sleep 8h. If you sleep not enough, you might never be able to remember any normal dreams (except for nightmares and premonitions). THen as Syke said, do not use an alarm clock to wake up. Once you stop sleeping, do not get up, do not move in your bed. WHen you realise you finish sleeping, just stay there in your bed, without moving and try to remember the "feeling" of the dream, whatever you can from it. Another good practice is autosuggestion. Before you go to sleep, repeat to yourself that you want to remember your dreams, that your dreams are important to you. You have to actually convince your unconscious that dreams are indeed important to you and that you want to remember them. Have a little notebook to write down your dreams everyday. Keep it next to your bed, with a flashlight or with a night light, and a pen. Before you go to sleep, write the date and write in it that you want to remember your dreams and that your dreams are important to you. Keep it next to you and go to sleep. If you wake up in the middle of the night or in the morning and are able to remember anything, then write it immediately down. It takes about 2 weeks for that method to start working properly. If you are sleeping with someone, it might be more difficult of course.

Good luck.

[LightLizard]

the way to remember dreams is first, to be intent upon remembering them. place a notebook and pen beside your bed and tell yourself that you will remember your dreams and write them down.(tell yourself this as you are drifting off to sleep.) then, upon awakening in the morning, get into the habit of just laying there for a while. do not go through the list of things you have to do later in the day. just lay there and 'free-float' before you come to full consciousness.
another really effective measure is to purchase five to seven grams of mugwort (from an herbalist shop) and place it in a small, cloth bag. (you can sew it together simply) and place it under your pillow at night. it's called a 'dream pillow,' and it really works. the mugwort is breathed in while sleeping and stimulates the production of seratonin in the brain, making dream recall easier.
love
LL[]

[NatureWizard]

what is the best way you used to have dreams.
the best method I used is when i go the bed is to eat a big lump of cheese and the most important bit is to have your head facing north when you go to sleep.