Way OT: People who never dream in sleep

If you think you have sleep apnea, you might want to get that checked out. Even if only mild, it's something to keep an eye on. 

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

I took Dream Pysch at Michigan with Professor Wolowitz back in the mid-90s - very cool class.  I do remember that we learned that everyone dreams but some people remember their dreams better than others.

One tip I remember him giving us was to keep a notebook next to the bed (this was the pre-mobile device era) and to try and write any dream memories as soon as you wake up.  He told us that you often lose memories of dreams only seconds after waking up. 

When you start writing the memories, you are training your mind to better remember the dreams.  I have gotten to the point where some of dreams become "lucid" where I actually know that I am dreaming within the dream.  

I almost never dreamed for years.  I can remember dreaming when younger but nothing in 10 years plus.  I developed afib two years ago and determined I had sleep apnea.  As others have said, don't ignore sleep apnea.  I received a CPAP machine and of course wasn't a fan when I first got it.  But I listened to others who told me to stick with it and how much their CPAP changed their life. Now I am one of those people that tell you how much better I feel with my CPAP.  It is not cumbersome and I sleep like a baby!  And dream! OMG I have vivid dreams almost every night.  It is rare that I have a night where I don't dream.  

Sleep apnea has many dangerous health concerns but it also prevents you from ever hitting the REM levels needed for you to dream.  Get that checked out.  You will be glad you did.

I think this is true. I often have my most vivid and weird dreams when I'm sick and cannot sleep well

Maybe you're dreaming of 42-27? 

Maybe that’s my problem also 😂 

There is medical literature that suggests that THC interferes with dreams, not sleep.  There are different theories for why this is, but the one I find most interesting is that the mild psychedelic effects of MJ addresses the same the psychologic function of dreams (rebooting aspects of the brain).  Anecdotally I can draw (vape) around dinner time, and that does not interfere with my dreams, but use closer in time to bed does.  Hence, I'm not a late night toker.  

My wife has the same, but prefers not to dream because too many of hers are unpleasant, so she draws to help her sleep and not dream.

Same here. Every once in a while I'll have a great dream. I've had one where I was playing hockey with the Detroit Red Wings in their Stanley Cup days. I got an assist on a goal by Steve Yzerman, and Brendan Shanahan congratulated me for digging the puck out of the corner and making the play. (It makes no sense because I've never played hockey in my life, but damn, what a great dream!)

But usually they're some form of fear. Not the monster-in-your-closet fear, but the smaller kind: fear of being embarrassed (showing up to school in your underwear) or fear of failing (the one where you have to take the final exam for the class you've never attended.) The stressful and worrisome kind of dream are my norm.

I asked a psychologist friend about my dreams. He said it was proof that I was even more screwed up than he thought I was.

It's always nice to get confirmation from a professional.

I'm the same way, most of the time I don't remember dreams which is fine by me. When I do remember them they range from nonsensical to disturbing. In the words of the late, great DMX - "What you call a nightmare is what I have as dreams"

When I traveled a lot for business, I frequently had a dream of not being able to get to my airport gate on time.  Something always caused a delay.

I also had the dreaded dream of every college student.  You forgot to go to a class all semester and realize it on the day of the final exam.

So, my dreams tend to be driven by stressors. When things are calm, I don’t seem to dream as much or at least from what I remember.

I can live without vivid dreams.  

Actually we know that REM sleep is crucial. Your body will try to get REM sleep if it really needs it. I don't know about weed, it may suppress REM, but that doesn't mean it eliminates it. Alcohol is a REM suppressant. Delirium tremens and hallucinations and the fabled pink elephant all come from this. If you're literally shitfaced all the time and can't REM sleep it will essentially try dreaming in waking consciousness which is how delirium tremens develops. On another note, insomniacs are often alcoholics because it helps them pass out. I learned most of this from a really good book, The Dream Drugstore.

Another thing the book said and matches my experience is that the older you get the harder it is to remember dreams. I barely remember any dreams anymore. Nightmares were never a big problem for me but I can't remember the last time I had one.

I tried getting into lucid dreaming before but I found it a pain to write a dream diary when I want to sleep more or just woke up lol. I never did lucid dream but I had some insanely vivid dreams. And when I was making notes I could often trace my dream back quite far. So I'd wake up and remember the last bit. Write it down. Then remember how it got to that, and so on tracing my way back. It was pretty cool. Lots of other things to do to help lucid dream, like setting reminders to check with yourself if you're dreaming or even simply setting a timer to wake yourself roughly when it's time for REM and repeating to yourself you're going to lucid dream and then back to bed. I'm sure you can find stuff online, LaBerge was the expert I knew of.

Not every adult needs 7 hrs.

Many function just fine with less.

I'm the exact opposite, would have dreamless sleep in my youth and now that I'm much older I dream nightly and vividly.  I also wake up a lot more often during the night.  Getting old sucks.