|
Chapter 3
Dream Frequency
By the Light of the Moon Compare your dreaming life with
the survey dreamers
Science has shown that we all dream, even
though many people claim they never dream at all. When people are wired up to dream
monitoring equipment which measures brain wave patterns and eye movements, intense bursts
of dreaming are observed throughout the night. (See Chapter 23, Physiology: The Body and
the Physical Causes of Dreaming.) The question is not so much ‘Do you dream?’ as
‘Do you recall your dreams, and, if so, how much do you remember?’
Dream frequency (author’s
terminology) is about quantity not quality. How many dreams do you
recall?
Refer back to your answers in section F of the
questionnaire and compare your dream frequency with Ms Survey Dreamer. (See Chapter 2,
Meet the Survey Dreamers by Day, for details of the conglomerate Ms Survey Dreamer.)
Ms Survey Dreamer mostly remembers dreaming on
three nights* per week (17.5%), and notices a further two nights of knowing she has
dreamed but being unable to recall any details (25.6%). When she does remember her dreams
she can recall two a night* (36.3%), and generally remembers one of these when she wakes
during the night (51.9%). She recalls about the same amount now as she has done in the
past (60%).
* These figures show the most common answers to
these questions. Averaged over the range of the survey the average number of nights of
recall was 4.1, while the average number of dreams recalled per night was 2.1. Multiplying
the two, this gives an average recall of 8.6 dreams per week.
Top of the list for dream frequency recall were
six dream survey dreamers who each generally remember at least 28 dreams per week,
compared to the average 8.6. The Profile of a High Frequency Dreamer (below) gives a
snapshot picture of these high recall dreamers. How do you compare?
Profile of a High Frequency Dreamer 
(Meet the top six for dream frequency recall)
This illustration summarises the similarities
between the six survey respondents who recall their dreams every night of the week and who
report a minimum of four dreams per night. Each of the following points is true for at
least five of the six people.
THEY:
Exercise, but not frequently
Don’t drink alcohol
Are stressed from time to time
Read or research areas of personal interest
Are not engaged in formal study
Have seven hours sleep a night
Have dreamed of being out of the body
Do take guidance from their dreams
Don’t have recurring nightmares
Wake up naturally
Lie in bed before getting up
Recall dreams seven nights per week
Recall four dreams per night
Have frequent deja vu
Talk to close friends about their dreams
When Are We Most Likely to Recall More Dreams?
The survey dreamers remember more dreams during
times of change and transition (15%), either during ‘negative’ periods (49.5%)
such as stress (29.7%) and uncertainty, or when challenged by more ‘positive’
changes (35.5%) such as adventure and excitement. Times of self-reflection, spiritual
awareness or an interest in dreams also rated highly.
Influence of Diet and Lifestyle
Diet and Supplements
Survey dreamers who eat meat at least every other
day, particularly white meat, tend to remember more dreams than the average. Minerals and
vitamin B also increased dream frequency, as did vitamins generally, but not to such a
noticeable extent. Coffee may keep you awake, but it was tea that was linked with
night-time wakings and more remembered dreams according to this research.
Stress and Meditative Exercise
The highly stressed groups recalled more dreams
than those who described themselves as low stress people.
Tai Chi and Reiki seem to have more effect on
dream frequency than meditation and yoga. Both open the body and mind to universal healing
energies, whereas meditation and yoga, while also healing, are perhaps more focussed
exercises.
Physical Exercise
Although five out of six of the top dream
frequency profile dreamers exercise regularly, physical exercise did not affect dream
frequency across the general survey.
Alcohol and Cigarettes
No effect of either of these drugs was noted. It
is common experience that the occasional excess of alcohol leads to restless, broken sleep
and often, if the recovery sleep is long enough, some exciting vivid ‘rebound’
dreams towards the end of the morning. This survey looked at the long-term effects,
though, so binges were not noted. Only 2.5% of the survey dreamers admitted to drinking
more than 21 alcoholic drinks per week, too small a percentage to draw any conclusions.
Television Viewing
Non-television watchers remembered more dreams
than the average television viewer.
Age
People aged 21-30 recalled more dreams than any
other age group, while the under 15s remembered the least. In looking at individual dream
accounts I expected to see reflections of the predictable age-related traumas and life
events: adolescence, mid-life crisis, the search for meaning and so on, but instead I
noticed that dream themes crossed all age groups.
Problem Solving
The survey indicated that people who focus
specifically on their problems through meditation, or who pray for guidance, tend to
recall fewer dreams than those who take a less focussed attitude by relaxing and letting
go of their worries. It seems that problems inefficiently dealt with do find their way
into our dreams for consideration. This idea can be turned around, as described in Chapter
18, Sleep On It – Solving Problems, by releasing yourself from daytime stress and
concern and handing your problems over to your wiser, sleeping self to find solutions.
Freed from daytime worries, waking life becomes easier to handle. The trick, of course, is
in being able to interpret the resultant dreams to understand the solutions – this
art will be revealed to you in Part Two.
It was interesting that people on the survey who
generally coped with their problems by ‘solving them’ (indicating a rational
course of action), also recalled more dreams than the average, as opposed to the focussed
meditation or prayer groups. This perhaps questions the efficiency of rational problem
solving compared with accessing more intuitive sources through dreams, prayer or
meditation. Did our ‘solve it’ group dream better solutions, presenting as
increased dream recall? It is tempting to suggest that knowledge of interpretation might
have given the ‘solve it’ people better solutions.
Sleeping and Waking Patterns
The dream survey showed that those who slept
longer hours did recall more dreams than the average, but then so did many of the short
hour sleepers.
According to this research, people who wake four
times a night remember more dreams than those who wake only two or three times.
People who get up as soon as they wake up recall
few dreams compared to those who start their day at a more leisurely pace. This survey
showed the best formula is to lie in bed for a while and focus on the parts of your dreams
that you do remember. Those who set an alarm clock, rather than waking up naturally
also had better recall but only if they stayed in bed to ponder their dreams for a while.
The chances are high that an alarm will catch you in the middle of a dream. This may not
give you a satisfactory dream conclusion, but it does at least give you a beginning until
you become more adept at recall.
|
