The Brain Activity when you Sleep
Have you ever dreamt of something so wonderful but as soon as you woke up, the dream completely disappeared from your mind? Certainly you would want to remember some of the stories you lived in your dreams but for some reason, you simply can't. So why do we keep forgetting these good (or bad) dreams? Although we haven't found one 100% correct answer to this, there have been many ideas as to why this happens.
When you go to sleep, you go through the four stages of the sleeping cycle: N1, N2, N3, and REM. The first three stages are when you are in non-REM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep, meaning the time when your body and brain started going to sleep, yet you're still not starting the dream process. The last stage is when you're in REM sleep, meaning that your brain levels start increasing to levels similar to as if you were awake and the rest of your body stays asleep except your eyes and breathing muscles. This is usually where you enter "~dreamland~".
During the non-REM sleeping stages, the levels of two chemicals in the brain that are important for memory, acetylcholine and noradrenaline, drop a lot. But, as we enter, the last stage, the REM stage, according to studies, acetylcholine levels in the brain start increasing as the noradrenaline still stays at a low level.
The increased levels of acetylcholine during the REM stage could account for the fact that we still experience "real life" things (as if we were awake) in our dreams, while the low adrenaline levels are the reason why we can't remember these vivid experiences after we wake up.
However, it might also just have been that your dream wasn't memorable or worth remembering at all. How our brain works is that it remember things that it wants to remember, while often forgetting the "unimportant" things. For example, do you remember what you ate for dinner a year ago? Probably not, because it wasn't that important nor interesting. The dreams you forget are probably dreams that were uninteresting and boring so your brain decides not to save it in your head. This said, you might actually have a better chance remembering your more crazy dreams!
But I know.... sometimes you REALLY want to remember your dreams. Well, one thing you can do is after waking up, immediately write your dream down somewhere. This can help you recall you dreams since it is still fresh in your mind. Writing them down forces us to focus and think deeply of the details of the dream. Maybe with this, you'll finally remember the vivid experiences you once had in your dreams!
Picture Source: howsleepworks.com
