Today we’re going to explain how to have MUCH more vivid dreams.
Dreams that feel real. Like you can TOUCH them, and like you’re ACTUALLY living the adventure you’re having in the dream.
Imagine what it would be like to have the abilities to fly?
What if you could make your crush fall in love with you or maybe cure world hunger?
Also, how would you feel if you suddenly became that badass hero who defeated the villain, saved the world, and got the girl?
Hollywood clichés aside, you do have the ability to influence your dreams in whichever way you want.
What Is Vivid Dreaming?
Vivid dreaming is a type of dreaming that happens when you’re asleep. The way it works is that your brain gets mixed up with the environment around you and turns those images into dreams. It can be as simple as seeing something on TV and then dreaming about it or as complex as imagining that you’re doing something but really not doing anything at all.
Vivid dreams are when you can see, hear, taste or feel things in your dreams that you normally wouldn’t experience in waking life.
How To Have More Vivid Dreams
A person can have more vivid dreams by going to bed earlier, eating a healthy diet, and staying away from stimulants like caffeine. A person can also try wearing loose clothing to bed. Before you get the wrong idea, vivid dream is no new age jargon, even though it just recently gained popularity.
Dreaming vividly is about training your mind to remember your dreams.
It’s that simple! Now that you have an idea of what vivid dreaming is, let us look at some easy ways to have more vivid dreams:
1: Keep a dream journal
One of the ways you can get vivid dreams is by simply keeping a journal. What is the relationship between a journal and dreaming you ask? Well, let us explain.
Dreams are personal and need a ton of research in order to identify any available patterns and recurring dream symbols. So, when you write down your dreams in a journal, you are actually training your mind to recall your dreams better.
It also helps you to detect when you are dreaming immediately.
And what’s more, your dream journal serves as a permanent reminder of any dreams you might have had in the past.
Now how do you go about it?
It is quite easy. Simply keep a journal and pen close to your bed. And immediately you wake up, write down every single piece of detail you can recollect about your dream.
But if you are too drowsy to do this when you wake up, save it for a later time after you have gathered your thoughts. However, we recommend that you do it as soon as you wake up. Because the longer you stay without writing in your journal, the more likely you are to forget everything about your dream. And we don’t want that, do we?
2: Increase your melatonin level
Raising the level of your melatonin is another sure-fire way to having vivid dreams at night.
Melatonin is secreted by the pineal gland which is located in the brain.
And its function is not only limited to giving you vivid dreams, melatonin also promotes healthy sleep. So if you are experiencing sleeping difficulties, that is good news right there.
This hardworking chemical is also responsible for your body’s sleeping and waking cycle. It does this by feeding the different parts of your body information about your surroundings.
And this is why it is easy for you to stay awake during the day and also to fall asleep during the night. But that is still not all of the benefits. Melatonin also affects your dreams positively, keeping nightmares at bay. So, if you want to take advantage of these gains, you just have to do the following:
- Sleep in total darkness: Ensure that all light sources are completely eliminated before you go to bed. And when we say light source that includes your phones and other gadgets.
- Take melatonin supplements: You can get these supplements at the nearest pharmacy. Take them half an hour before bedtime. Try looking at our lucid supplements list!
- Have a fixed sleeping schedule: We know this particular one is not easy but hey, all good things don’t come cheap.
- Try all you can to ensure that you sleep and wake up at the same time every day.
- Eat foods rich in melatonin: If you are not a pill popper, you can eat your melatonin. Just stock your meals with melatonin-rich foods like mustard, flax seeds, cherries, almonds, and sunflower seeds.
3: Listen to music while you sleep
Proponents of vivid dreaming often claim to have the best dreams while they are listening to MUSIC.
But before you rush out to go try this method, please note that not all music is viable for this option. If you are a heavy metal fan, it would be a good idea to save your favorite album for when you wake up.
The last thing you need is for your brain to stay awake all night trying to keep up with a guitar solo. Now that we have cleared that up, let’s proceed. You should only choose mellow or ambient music. This type of music will not distract the part of your brain that is responsible for dreams.
If you are confused about where to start from, you could try Robert Rich’s six hour Somnium and build your playlist from there.
4: Set your alarm to wake you up during REM
When you dream, you are at the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) stage of sleep. And once you wake up during REM, you can easily remember your dreams.
Of course, we are not going to ask you to figure out your REM stage!
That difficult assignment will defeat the whole purpose of this article.
Fortunately, our sleep cycles are mostly similar. And that is the information you will use to predict the point you will enter REM. The REM stage mostly begins at 4, 6 or 7 hours after you go to sleep.
So set your alarm to go off at those periods. If you hate alarms like some of us, train yourself to wake up without an alarm. I did create a custom lucid dreaming app with alarm JUST for this purpose by the way.
Or better still, if you will be sleeping around a friend or partner that will be awake during those hours, ask them to wake you up.
After all, what are loved ones for?
What Are Vivid Dreams A Sign Of?
Vivid dreams are often a sign of stress. If you are having them, it means that something is bothering you and causing your body to produce chemicals that help us stay asleep at night. The brain is getting overstimulated and needs to be calmed down.
A vivid dream is when you are dreaming and everything feels real.
If you have these, it could be a sign of stress or anxiety! You might want to talk to someone about your feelings- like your parent, teacher, counselor, or friend!
Have more vivid dreams easily!
So there you have it! The easy steps you can take if you want to start enjoying vivid dreams. We know that this is not the total guide to vivid dreaming, but it is still a good place to start from.
Believe us when we say that it might be overwhelming to actively recall your dreams at first. But we assure you that once you put into practice the easy methods we have outlined here and you make it a habit, you will soon become a part of that elite club of vivid dreamers.
If you want to experience incredibly vivid, colorful dreams you should check out Claridream.
We have a review of Claridream or you could just go straight to their website (you should get a discount there as well through that link). It’s a super powerful dream supplement that makes dreams 10X more vivid and colorful, but be careful, it works so well that it’s suggested you only use it once a week!
