Curious, I've been doing pretty much the opposite, deliberately forgetting my dreams. Most dreams I remembered weren't pleasant, and forgetting them created a sort of 'blacked-out' period of genuine recreation. Like, I usually constantly think about things to optimize/study/do, and being very aware of what was happening in my sleep seemed to carry over that pattern into my sleep, if that makes sense (if not, then just think that waking up with a nightmare very present on your mind feels less rested than waking up not remembering your dreams). Now I have this place where my mind is actually free, at the small prize of me not consciously knowing what it does with that freedom. Also, getting too involved with dreams seemed related to drugged-like states to me, similar to what user jamal-kumar reported.

This article now makes me wonder whether I might be losing out on some benefits of dream recall. Curious to see what else researchers find about it.