Welcome, dream enthusiast (or soon-to-be convert).
If you are likewise incredulous upon hearing anyone say that “hearing about dreams is boring,” well, you’ve come to the right place. I would talk with you ladybirds about dreams for hours. (Until I sense you losing interest, that is. Holding you hostage in conversation is never my objective.)
Did I feel any hint of shame when This American Life released an episode with dreams on the list of seven things not to talk about? You bet your petunia I didn’t. I’m too far gone, having been dream-obsessed for decades. The way I treasure my stack of old dream journals, you’d think it was an urn.
In high school, when I went out to coffee with my brother’s girlfriend, we talked about dream symbolism until we lost track of time. In college, the dream-themed movie Inception inspired me to write a philosophy paper that I presented at a conference where I egregiously exceeded my time limit. And yet: no regrets.
Besides, The Inside Look Substack is all about bridging the gap between our inner world and outer life, so there’s no way around a dream-focused post. There’s no turning back now. Let the dream games begin.
Why Harness Dreams?
If I were a professor and this post were a classroom, I’d anticipate writers being the first to launch their hand high into answering this question.
Dreamland can be a writer’s bootcamp, after all, teaching us how to make sense of our blooming memory. Dreams are the OG essayist: I love seeing how my sleeping brain threads together oddball material from the previous day—whether a new factoid I learned or an encounter that fried my feelings. Good luck getting through one of my essays or memoir-manuscript chapters without bumping into one of my dream references. If you’re a fellow believer in the mantra to “revise toward strangeness,” then dreams are a handy way to lean into that bizarre side of meaning-making.
But let’s say you’re not a writer. You’re just a fellow human being who (if you’re getting enough Zzz’s) will be asleep for a third of your life. Why not maximize that significant slice of existence for more experiences and memories? Especially if limited PTO or finances are putting a damper on your travel aspirations, in which case dreams can be a more accessible option for adventure—from the comfort of your home. Some of my most fantastical and whimsical moments aren’t even from waking life.
Vivid VS. Lucid
Let me admit something controversial (at least in the dream enthusiast community): I prefer vivid dreaming to lucid dreaming. Sometimes they coincide, but not necessarily.
By vivid, I mean a dream that’s especially colorful, narrative-driven, and immersive, especially for exploring beautiful landscapes or architecture. Vivid dreams are often convincing and memorable because they feel like real life, which makes it easier to sink into its reality until the alarm shakes us loose.
Lucid dreams have their perks, don’t get me wrong. I’ve gone for a nice bird’s-eye fly here and there as soon as I’m aware of the limitless possibilities. But they suck some of the magic out of my slumbering, mumbling brain, and my lucid self becomes too preoccupied with whether and when I’ll wake up.
What is Sleep Architecture?
To understand how to harness our dreamscape, lucid or not, we must first understand the layout of the knocked-out land.
“Sleep Architecture” is the breakdown of sleep’s cycles and stages, with REM sleep becoming progressively intensive and lengthened in the latter third of your sleeping hours. The most vivid dreams occur during REM, a phase crucial for memory formation and learning. Increasing the quality of REM sleep, then, is one of the most important things a writer (and other obsessive creatives) can do.
Setting the Stage
Getting good sleep is an important first step to getting good dreams.
With that in mind, I am an unabashed-rule-stickler-of-a-grandma when it comes to my wind-down routine:
Turn down the (right) lights. If I stay in bright lighting right until bedtime, I don’t sleep as well. In the evenings, I dim my digital screens and switch off many lightbulbs (the exception being red light, which relaxes me into sleepiness.)
Stop eating 3+ hours before bed. Digestion interferes with sleep big-time.
Stop drinking water 2 hours before bed. So that I don’t have to stumble half-conscious through the house to relieve my bladder.
No alcohol/caffeine. I rarely drink these days for many reasons, one of which being that alcohol interferes with REM sleep, which explains why I slept so terribly after the dinkiest can of cider. The latest I tend to drink tea is maybe after lunch, but caffeine any later than that will be circling in my system for too long.
Ideally, in bed by 9pm. Sleeping during the window of 10:00pm-2:00am is crucial for healthy circadian rhythms, stress hormones, and more. In order to wake up at 4:00am to write but also get 7 hours of shut-eye, I need to clock-in to my sleeping shift absurdly early.
Magnesium. Just one spray on my belly is plenty, and one bottle is lasting me years.
The goal is to fall asleep sooner and deeper to maximize those REM hours.
Habits
Over the years, I’ve consulted an embarrassingly high number of books, podcasts, and articles on this subject, willing to test most dream-enhancing methods whilst not bothering with others. (The study about video gamers experiencing more lucid dreams did not, in fact, convince me to become a gamer.)
Half the battle of harnessing dreams is training ourselves to remember them, and some of those methods are simple enough:
Wake back to sleep. It’s easier to remember dreams if you wake up right before or within the REM cycle, usually later in the night. For me, that means setting an additional alarm 1-2 hours before my normal alarm, then going back to sleep in between. That said, disrupting REM can decrease overall sleep quality, so I tend to save this method for the weekends.
Wake to write. As soon as you wake up, try sitting up, pausing, and trying to remember the last moment you dreamed about, then work backwards through the narrative as far as you can, jotting everything down. Sometimes I wake with a general feeling or sense of something—there was an animal, or I was talking to someone—and can then trace it to specifics if I think hard enough.
But I’ve discovered some less-conventional methods, like keeping a cheap grounding mat beneath my legs, which makes my dreams noticeably more vivid. (Don’t worry, I won’t mention my mat in every post.) The scientific explanation for this is unclear to me, but I’ve seen enough reviews and Reddit threads from other readers to know I’m not alone, as many users have reported this strange side effect.
Supplements
Disclaimer: any information I share is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice. What works for me may not work for you, and there may be a contraindication with your pre-existing conditions or medications, so please consult with a medical professional or healthcare provider.
True story: my partner and I once took a dreamleaf supplement on the same night to compare notes, starting with the blue pill before bed and the red pill before REM. He doesn’t often remember having dreamed, but that morning he awoke in amazement, telling me all about his dream adventures.
In recent years, I’ve preferred to take individual dream supplements instead of blends, helping to identify which components work best for me.
Personal favorites:
PASSION FLOWER. One of the most gentle sleep aids, she’s the sweet auntie of my dream repertoire. Zero side effects for me personally, and the resulting dreams tend to trend positive.
MUGWORT. This makes my dreams pop. And, as a bonus: because it’s anti-inflammatory, I find my breakouts calm down and cramps fade. A true go-to.
B6. I’ve noticed dream narratives are easier to follow and remember with this one, but I have to be strategic. You’re not supposed to take B6 for extended periods of time, so I alternate days or weeks. I also take a lower dose than I used to—in the tens of milligrams instead of hundreds—after discovering the health risks associated with too much supplemental B6 (which might have been contributing to my bouts of muscle twitching and light sensitivity, whoops).
Cautionary tales:
GALANTAMINE. This, right here, is the most potent dreaming aid I’ve ever ingested, but I use it sparingly. Why? Intended as an aid for Alzheimer’s patients, it increases brain activity so much that it can comprise restful sleep. Dream enthusiasts caution to only take it a few hours before you’re scheduled to wake up. This stuff induced my only-ever case of sleep paralysis, which was low-key scary.
Alternatively, I find that HUPERZINE-A and 5-HTP can be somewhat gentler alternatives to Galantamine, at least in my experience. But they are still strong. Be careful out there.
VALERIAN. My sister mentioned this giving her nightmares, and I didn’t feel well when using it either—primarily a stomach ache, which is not an uncommon side effect. Better options exist.
KAVA KAVA. Did it induce refreshingly bizarre dreams? Yes. But did it take me too long to realize it was the culprit behind abdominal pain? Also yes. After reading about the severe risk of liver damage, I threw my bottle away. Highly do not recommend.
An Unexamined Sleep is Not Worth Sleeping?
On second thought, disregard the Socratic reference.
Whether you remember & harness your dreams or not, sleep is one of the most crucial components to wellbeing—so much so, that I feel compelled to issue a word of warning . . .
Disclaimer: if I’ve had a particularly depressing day, or watched an unsettling movie, or am too shaken by a disturbing news headline—in short, anything that could likewise predispose me to nightmares—I will avoid the methods and supplements outlined above, sometimes for weeks or months. It’s not worth it.
If you are going through a phase of life in which vivid dreams could be more harmful than helpful, please take care of yourself! This pursuit is not for everyone and not for every night. Even dream adventures require careful planning and caretaking.
Fellow dreamer, it’s your turn.
What did I miss, ladybirds? What quirky thing has improved your dreamscape? How are you currently (or hoping to be) using your dreams to enrich your life?
Continued conversation is welcome in the comments below. If you found this post helpful, interesting, or inspiring, please consider sharing or subscribing: