Can't dream

[Gracchus]

I thought maybe a "scientist" here would address his question as to whether it was a medical condition or what.

Well, of course, I am NOT a scientist, but I have read some of the psychology literature about dreams. Dreams are associated with memory. Incidents of our waking hours are processed by the sleeping mind, either to commit them to memory or forget them. This is done by associating the incidents with previous experience if the incidents are deemed worthy of memory. Shapes are associated with similar shapes, for instance. Hence, the symbolism that Freud noted in dreams. Poetry legend and myth also transcend the prima facie literal meaning of words and symbols, and the associations awake emotions based on past experiences.

As has been mentioned, we usually don't remember dreams, unless they are about the mnemonic associations of troubling incidents. To remember a dream is trying to remember the act of remembering without knowing that you were remembering.

I guess I was wrong.

Wrong?!?! YOU?

Sometimes I overrate you guys.

Sometimes, I thionk perhaps, you overate your ability to rate others. I know that I used to overrate you. I got over it.

 

[Mystman]

My guess? You're never waking up during REM sleep, the stage of sleep when you're dreaming. Try setting your alarm, ideally on a different time every day (I strongly suspect your sleep rhythm can adapt to your normal alarm time - I tend to wake naturally 5-10 minutes before my alarm goes off..).

If you still don't remember any dreams after that, my best idea would be to stick a bunch of electrodes on your head to monitor your sleep pattern, and then have someone wake you when you're in REM sleep. Of course, the local hospital probably isn't going to help you with that unless they suspect your sleeping behaviour is a cause of concern.

That said.. it's quite common to only remember vague shards of dreams, and to even forget those shards minutes after waking up, unless they were particularly troubling/interesting/etc.