Is it normal to sleep without dreaming

How to remember your dreams Should I worry? How dreams work and why you may not have them. Does not dreaming affect sleep quality? Tips for remembering your dreams.

Is a lack of dreams a symptom of an underlying condition? Read this next. Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, Ph. How Long Do Dreams Last? Medically reviewed by Raj Dasgupta, MD. Why Do We Dream? Medically reviewed by Debra Sullivan, Ph. Medically reviewed by Alana Biggers, M. Yes, Blind People Dream, Too.

Medically reviewed by Elaine K. Luo, M. Still, there's a really important distinction between not dreaming at all and simply not being able to remember your dreams. Hearing this sent a pang of relief racing through me — I realized I must be having enough REM sleep, and not remembering my dreams doesn't really matter. I consistently sleep seven or eight hours a night, and my sleep is mostly undisturbed despite the never-ending flux of car horns and sirens in my neighborhood.

On top of that, the time I fall asleep usually midnight and the time I wake up seven or eight in the morning is pretty consistent, too. Like I mentioned earlier, my internal clock has a strong grip on my body. After telling Pelayo this, he assures me that I'm probably having dreams frequently, I'm just not waking up at a time that allows me to remember said dreams.

Dement is one of the researchers who made early connections between dreaming and REM sleep, and his studies find that people typically don't remember a dream unless they wake up while it's occurring. Point being: If like me, you consider yourself to be a good sleeper and still rarely experience dreams, you're probably just sleeping through them. Otherwise, the issue isn't whether or not you're dreaming — it's whether or not you're sleeping well enough in the first place.

In their case, a lack of dreaming is more of a consequence of overall poor sleep. And if you're not dreaming because you're not getting quality REM sleep, that's where other health issues come into play. Additionally, studies have connected poor quality of sleep to a higher risk of heart disease , obesity , and even Alzheimer's Disease.

With that in mind, people having difficulty sleeping over a long period of time should consult with a doctor. Pelayo has a simple way to determine if you're just sleeping through your dreams: wake up earlier. Buying a sleep tracker can help you determine if and when you're having REM sleep, he says — once you've figured out what times you're likely to be in REM, all you have to do is set an alarm during that time.

And because most dreaming happens in the final hours of sleep, you might not need to wake up much earlier than normal to catch a dream before it ends. When I think about the few dreams that I do remember, this makes all the sense in the world. When patients stop the meds, and the vices, they're rewarded with a scary rebound.

But the persistence of REM begs the question: Why is it so insistent? When rats are robbed of REM for four weeks they die although the cause of death remains unknown. Amazingly, even though we spend about 27 years dreaming over the course of an average life, scientists still can't agree on why it's important.

Some theories suggest that REM helps regulate body temperature and neurotransmitter levels. And there is also evidence that dreaming helps us assimilate memories. Fetuses and babies spend 75 percent of their sleeping time in REM. Then again, platypuses experience more REM than any other animal and researchers wonder why, because, as Minnesota's Mahowald puts it, "Platypuses are stupid.

What do they have to consolidate? But, given that rats run through dream mazes that precisely match their lab mazes, others feel that there must be some purpose or meaningful information in dreams.

John Antrobus, a retired professor of psychology and sleep research at the City College of New York says that dream content is tied to our anxieties. But he never found the extreme vividness in REM rebound that others assume is there, based on a higher level of brain activity which likely means more action-packed dreams. For that we have to ask what is the purpose of thought. So if you wake up not remembering your dreams, that doesn't necessarily mean your quality of sleep wasn't noteworthy.

So to recap: If you're in the "why don't I have dreams? But never fear, there are some science-backed strategies to help you better remember your dreams—and everything they're trying to tell you.

The best way to remember your dreams when you wake up is to get into the practice of writing them down as soon as you open your eyes. Tal recommends keeping a dream journal by your bed and writing a detailed description while the dream is fresh. If you're not a journaler or are always rushed in the morning, Tomko suggests telling someone like your partner about your dream when you wake up or even recording yourself a quick voice note on your phone.

So if your sleep quality sucks, you're less likely to experience dreams. Dimitriu says. According to Dr. Dimitriu, there are many factors that can contribute to poor quality sleep, including:.

It's one thing to know you should improve your sleep quality; another thing entirely to do so. Here are some expert-backed suggestions to try that actually work.