I’ve been trying to keep a dream journal. I find that dreams often contain great ideas for plays and stories. However, I keep failing since when my alarm rings I remember my dream at the time, but then I lie in bed thinking about it and how I will write it down… Since it’s early and I’m sleepy (and rather lazy) I often drift off to sleep again and then forget it.
This clock would solve the problem by waking me up with a voice that says “Don’t forget your dreams… Don’t forget your dreams…” The only way to shut off the clock is by typing on the keyboard at least a few words. I think that would be enough to get me going.
This could be baked as a computer program, possibly… or as a stand-alone unit with USB connection for downloading a few weeks worth of dreams.-- futurebird, Apr 10 2003 Lucid Dreaming http://library.thin.../english/index1.htmis the real trick: then you get to direct your own dream and *anything* is possible. [DrCurry, Oct 06 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] More on dreams http://www.oup-usa....sbn/0192803042.html [DrCurry, Oct 06 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] (?) Try one of these. http://www.halfbake...Midnight_20Mutterer [egbert, Oct 06 2004] "An Experiment With Time" http://www.amazon.c...002-5971275-4682436Suggests that both past and future are reflected in dreams... [pluterday, Oct 06 2004, last modified Oct 17 2004] Or you could do what everyone else does, and keep a notepad by your bed. And that has the advantage that you can roll over and go back to sleep after writing the dream down.
Customizable computer alerts are Widely Baked. Simplest way would be to record yourself (or suitable other) speaking those words, then schedule your PC to play the sound file at your usual wake-up time.
(We are programmed to forget our dreams, so you do need to write them down or tell someone in order to be able to remember them.)-- DrCurry, Apr 10 2003 Leave your PC, with voice recognition enabled, on by your bed. You can mumble your ideas to the PC. If you talk in your sleep, that too will be captured. If you snort or choke in your sleep, that will be interpreted as words and also be captured. In the end: loads of material.-- bungston, Apr 10 2003 Just make sure you don't let the computer read out anything from the HB!-- DrCurry, Apr 10 2003 //programmed to forget our dreams// where did you read that?-- po, Apr 10 2003 Common (and easily tested) knowledge - see link: "And because the memory center is inactive, we don't remember the dream at all, unless we wake up while it is in progress." If you remembered your dreams if would be quite problematic, since you would be unable to later distinguish memories between real and dreamed events.-- DrCurry, Apr 10 2003 Programming myself to wake up and write down my dreams worked well until my subconscious rebelled and I merely dreamed that I had woken and was writing them down... As for DrCurry's assertion that we are programmed to forget, I do not believe that. I forget my thoughts as easily as I forget my dreams. There is no programming as such to forget, but there is no particular programming to remember either, unless you make a special effort...-- pluterday, Apr 11 2003 //programmed to forget, I do not believe that// me neither, although I will read the links later on. there is just too much dream folklore, mythology, superstition, general interest in, blah blah blah for it to be something that we are programmed to forget.
btw Curry, I dreamed about you last night :) why were you riding a green pig in all black leather gear I wonder.-- po, Apr 11 2003 What does leather gear for a pig look like?-- bristolz, Apr 11 2003 If you fall asleep while 'baking, just remember "never fear, thumbwax is here" - in fact, those should be the first words uttered upon awakening, before each meal, and before turning in for a good night's sleep, let alone during all events attended by a minimum of 2 people, whether those events are private, public, separate church and state...-- thumbwax, Apr 11 2003 "If you remembered your dreams if would be quite problematic, since you would be unable to later distinguish memories between real and dreamed events." -- DrCurry
Yes, it does. I occasionally remember dreams without (as far as I am aware) having woken in the dream. Surreal dreams are no problem to filter, but dreams that feel real can be a real pain. At school, on more than one occasion, I dream-invented homework.
A couple of years back. I dreamed of a friend's death. Since, even in the context of the dream, it had happened a few months back, it took me a good ten minutes to pick apart the details of the dream and realise that they were still alive.
Back to the idea, I like the concept of the keyboard cancelling the alarm. I'd be worried that my dreamlog would be filled with phrases like: "Will this infernal racket never... oh it has," but like the concept. Note to self. Must restart dreamlog.-- st3f, Apr 11 2003 Good to see you back, [FB}-- FloridaManatee, Apr 11 2003 All(?) you need is a willing sleep watcher who should sit by your bed waiting for you to enter REM sleep - which is when we are dreaming. Then they shoogle you awake and your dreams should be very fresh and clear in your mind.
I remember studying this experiment during my brief Psychology studies, and some of the 'output' received from the subjects was fascinating.-- ChewTheBeef, Apr 11 2003 REM = rapid eye movement. they appear twitchy as though they are watching something.-- po, Apr 11 2003 That wouldn't work (certainly not on me anyway). Should someone wake me up when I am happily asleep I am far less likely to remember my dream as punch them in the face.-- Jinbish, Apr 11 2003 wake you up gently by nibbling your ears?-- po, Apr 11 2003 Good point - Lovely lady will be greeted with a smile and a cuddle...Ken Dodd on the other hand will get punched all the way to next week.-- Jinbish, Apr 11 2003 DrCurry, I have not yet read the links but I have been pondering your "programmed to forget" statement, and I can't say that I agree with it. I have remembered dreams quite vividly, usually the next day but sometimes days later, when something that occurs when awake jogs my memory with it's similarity to what I was dreaming. I don't know if this happens to everyone but I don't see how these dreams could be remembered unless they are actual memories.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Apr 11 2003 This would be helpful to prove you had a prediction while dreaming.In '75, I had a dream. Shortly thereafter (@ 2 weeks), it came true. And... Action!I was sitting in my Pop's easy chair after school, reading the news. *kerplunk* - his boots hit the floor after he removed them at the back door. Now, this was pretty much routine, except the boots usually went *plunk*. That was the trigger - for me to interrupt the future-is-now, so as to have some evidence that I'd actually dreamed what was to happen next. Rather than let him tell me - I held out my hand, said "Can I see the silver dollar?"'Uh, yeah - how'd - you - know?'"Did Bob G____ give this to you to give to me?"'Yeah - how'd you know that?'"I dreamed it."'Ah, you must have seen him give it to me.'"He gave it to you today to give to me - while you two were sketching ideas on napkins at the Diner."So on and so forth - Pop still doesn't believe in paranormal stuff, but he can't deny what he saw that day.-- thumbwax, Apr 11 2003 2 fries: remember you are dreaming throughout the night (well, during REM sleep or whatever): if you remember these dreams with anything like the clarity of daytime events, then you are quite unique. If we wake during a dream, most of us seem to be able to remember it for a short while, but that is one dream out of a nightful, and even then, we tend to forget it quickly unless we take steps to fix it in our memories. Such as futurebird's device.-- DrCurry, Apr 11 2003 take your point DrC, but don't forget that a lot of what you do during the daytime is totally automatic, unobserved, instantly forgotten. you just could not remember all *that* information either or your head would explode.
I had a neat dream last night which if I can write with intelligence, may get put forward as an idea this weekend.-- po, Apr 12 2003 [DrCurry]: I seem to recall that dream sleep (which is a subset of REM sleep) only lasts for about 10-15 minutes at most on any given night. Our sleep is certainly not full of them.
(I either dreamed this - or I'll find some kind of useful link)-- Jinbish, Apr 12 2003 [Jinbish] 20 minutes is the average REM period, of which there will be several per night...so you do spend quite a bit of time in that other world. [thumbwax] Never fear, linky is here. Or up there, actually.-- pluterday, Apr 12 2003 <aside>Re [pluterday]'s link; I have a first edition of that book.</aside>-- angel, Apr 12 2003 //Pop still doesn't believe in paranormal stuff, but he can't deny what he saw that day.// [thumbwax], are you sure that the conversation wasn't actually a dream in which you remembered about a dream two weeks previous to the conversation about the silver dollar you dreamt about a fortnight ago? Kinda of a recursive dream, thriller movie style.
I can remember dreams that happened years ago, my favourite dreams. I even had a recurring dream for a while involving a huge hedge maze at the entrance to my local park. Started off scary but after having the same dream maybe 4-5 times I eventually let it run it's course (never woke up frightened) and found out that I wasn't being chased after all and that now i could just climb over or through the hedges and then fly away... Never had the dream again after that.
I agree with po... //a lot of what you do during the daytime is totally automatic, unobserved, instantly forgotten. you just could not remember all *that* information either or your head would explode.// Although my head must be pretty near capacity because I frequently have no recollection of something I have done / was doing just moments before. I reckon the manual override on my automatic pilot must be busted or something. Maybe it's been left in the 'More Magic' position.-- Salmon Of Doubt, Feb 24 2006 random, halfbakery