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The fact that we have dreams is crazy. That we remember them is crazier. (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 2 months ago by baggachipz@sh.itjust.works to c/showerthoughts@lemmy.world
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Like, I get that dreams are probably a way for the brain to sort and store its recent experiences, but why/how do we even remember those dreams? I can’t think of what purpose that could serve, other than to make me question my sanity.

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[-] MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

We usually don't.

As for why we do... The brain is a chunk of biology. You probably can't just hit "shift+delete" on stuff.

Our brains do few things with perfect accuracy.

Scans have shown that dreams basically use the same parts of the brain as doing whatever is happening in the dream for real.

Waking up, especially abruptly, isn't gonna "clear" your RAM so to speak. You're gonna have access to the "state" your brain was in during sleep. And even then you have to make an effort for that stuff to end up in long-term memory, as the vast majority of the time dreams just kinda slip out of your mind without being retained.

[-] DrBob@lemmy.ca 1 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

We don't usually remember them. We have dream fragments but don't usually remember entire dreams. And you probably only remember one when you will have 5-7 full dreams a night. You can train yourself to remember if you dream journal ( I did this for a while in my teens) and gave it up.

Number one they weren't all that interesting in aggregate. Just bizarre and disturbing (most dream content has a negative emotional quality to it). Second you can get really good at remembering them, and it was taking an hour every morning just to write them all down.

this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
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