Dreams

[rtexanssane]

Here is a thought.
If it is true that dreams are your brains way doing a sorting process by separating that which is destined for long term memory from that which needs to be discarded: Does this mean that people who dont remember their dreams are spending all their time with thoughts that need to be discarded?

[Kitsune]

Originally Posted by rtexanssane

Does this mean that people who dont remember their dreams are spending all their time with thoughts that need to be discarded?

I don't remember many of my dreams, lately, and I've read it has mostly to do with the phase of your sleep cycle that you wake up in. I notice that if I wake up without an alarm, I tend to remember at least one of the dreams from the night, but during my normal work week I usually wake up completely blank.

Keeping a dream notebook next to the bed helps. I try to write down the really strange or interesting ones.

[wolf]

Originally Posted by rtexanssane

Here is a thought.
If it is true that dreams are your brains way doing a sorting process by separating that which is destined for long term memory from that which needs to be discarded: Does this mean that people who dont remember their dreams are spending all their time with thoughts that need to be discarded?

If your assumption is correct, it explains a lot about how my brain works.

I rarely dream.

My head is a random collection of ill-sorted information.

Last week we need the phone number of an emergency room that we call maybe once every two months. Three people were scrabbling through directories to find it and I rattled it off.

I can't remember my own cell phone number without checking my business cards.

Tonight, there was a piece of paper with a social security number and date of birth on it. No name. My coworker read off the DOB and I said "Straight-John, give that to Homo-John, that's Mr. Overdose."

The names of my coworkers and patient have been changed to protect the guilty, however, we really do call them Straight and Homo to distinguish them when they are working on the same shift. This is at the Homo's request. The Straight puts up with it.

Guess it depends. I take an anti-depressant that either causes me to dream infrequently or else not remember my dreams. I muddle around and forget EVERYTHING just about. Maybe, also, my brain has given up on dreaming because the hard wiring is gone to put down long term memories. Its funny how I can remember some things pretty good, although I could never pull of Wolf's feats with numbers, and other things I just draw a blank on.

Faces and numbers, new streets or topography - anything to do with shapes continue to be my nemesis. I can find my way around a back country road that I was down thirty years ago, but don't ask me to go out east of town where they've been building like mad. I'll drive in circles for hours, completely lost. Words and conversations, I'm much better at, but I can't remember who I talked with.