Why Does It Happen That You Forget Some Dreams?

It often happens that we humans forget some dreams while remembering others, and it happens shortly after waking up. The emotions you felt and the loose visualization also quickly disappear. Why is this happening? Why does your brain not allow you to remember your dream universe?

Humans spend a large part of their lives sleeping, immersed in a daring dream universe, and we still forget some dreams. But why is this happening? Regardless of the incredibly intense and almost lively experiences, they disappear as soon as you wake up. Every image, fragment and memory disappears like smoke in the air.

What is most striking is that you, for a brief moment, have the feeling that if you tried a little more, you could recreate this memory. The bad news is that it is useless to do this because the only thing that remains is the emotional trace of the dream itself or, where relevant, the nightmare.

William Shakespeare said; “Humans are such a substance on which dreams are created.” It is true. There is an undeniable truth behind this poetic image.

Dreaming is a daring mix of mental processes that include your memories and experiences, and, alternately, a few strokes of creativity. A mixture of surrealism and fantasy. This is because human beings also have these fabulous resources.

Everyone would love to be able to remember any dream. And the reason for this lies in the classic belief around that one would get to know oneself a little better by hauling in every image, word, feeling and event that arose in the dream.

Two reasons why we forget some dreams

Some people have the peculiar advantage of remembering many of their dreams, and they rarely hesitate to share them with others. They usually try to assess their symbolism and come up with meaningful interpretations. However, there are others who rarely remember anything from their dream universe. These people often claim that they are not dreaming.

However, you should know that everyone dreams. It not only enables you to promote the deep and restful sleep that is so essential to your health.

The brain also needs this process to establish learning, eliminate data that is no longer useful to you, and perform metabolic tasks so that you have an appropriate balance. That is, it needs to make some kind of “pruning”.

As some experts point out,  those who turn 90 will spend about 30 years sleeping. It is 22 years where you are stuck in deep sleep, and 7 years where you dream. However, they will hardly remember anything from the 7 years. But why spend time on something with such unproductive content?

The hippocampus is not paying attention to your dreams

When you fall asleep, some of your regions of the brain remain active. Studies show that there are incredibly active areas. One of those that takes a long time to reduce your activity to rest is the hippocampus. This area is related to your memory and it is responsible for performing crucial tasks while you sleep.

What it basically does is pass relevant information stored in your short-term memory to the area of ​​your long-term memory. The hippocampus is, so to speak, “focused” on very specific tasks. These tasks keep you from paying attention to your dream world.

In fact, the hippocampus does not consider your dream world to be important. Its job, at that moment, is to ground learning and memories.

In short, what happens in your dreams does not interest the hippocampus very much. That is at least what several studies have revealed, such as that conducted by Thomas Andrillon, a neuroscientist at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia.

As observed by an MRI, the hippocampus sends information to the cortex, but the latter does not send anything back. 

There are times when you may remember something. A picture, an emotion or even a short scene. That probability increases if you wake up right after the dream. In these situations, scientists have demonstrated that the memory of the dream lasts only a minute or two. But soon you will forget it again.

Low levels of acetylcholine and norepinephrine

There is another reason why people forget some dreams. That theory (and complementary to the previous one) focuses on two very specific neurotransmitters: acetylcholine and norepinephrine. You should know that the levels of these two substances are dramatically reduced in your brain when you fall asleep.

This phenomenon is transferred to a lower ability to store memories. However, there is still more. Studies show that when you enter the REM phase and cross the entrance to the dreams, to immerse yourself in their kingdom, the level of acetylcholine suddenly rises. It does not happen for the level of adrenaline. 

Therefore, you would need to have high levels of both neurotransmitters to remember what is happening in the dream-like tissue. Just one of them is not enough.

Why do you forget some dreams and remember others?

You already know that there are two reasons why you forget some of your dreams. The hippocampus and the neurotransmitters, acetylcholine and norepinephrine, make it difficult to create memories while you sleep.

However, experts in the field, such as sleep researcher Ernest Hartmann, professor of psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine, point out that there is another cause that promotes this forgetfulness.

This is because dreams are not transcendent to your brain. They have no use function for the brain to function properly. In fact, when you remember them, it is only for a very striking reason. That is, they must have an emotional component. The more intense they are, and the more consistent their story is, the more likely you will be to remember them.

In conclusion, dreams remain a mystery that still attracts people. Both Freud and Carl Jung consider them to be inevitable in order to get to know people better. However, the brain itself sorts out information and you keep forgetting your dreams. Ironically, your brain is not as interested in them as you are.