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Comment by akanet | Hacker News Reader

I actually have similar symptoms on a smaller scale - I never remember my dreams, and I generally can't tell you if an event happened in the last month or the last year.

I get plenty of sleep, though, so I'm just going to chalk that up to having a bad memory.

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Obstructive sleep apnea can cause lack of REM sleep and, as a result, no dreaming. Symptoms may be such that you have a long sleep period but are prevented from deep sleep by micro-arousals. Being overweight (as Mr. Arrington mentions in a linked piece) can cause or worsen apnea.

> I never remember my dreams

It was my understanding (and maybe this is incorrect) that someone only remembers their dreams if they wake up during them. Therefore, not remembering them could just be a sign you've had a good, uninterrupted night's sleep. Anecdotally, this seems to be the case for me–I remember my dreams if I'm woken up e.g. by a car alarm but never if I wake up normally.

I too thought this was the case. I very rarely remember what I dreamt last night, it may happen once in five months if I'm lucky. But I always thought that was perfectly normal.

I've always been told that you have to practice remembering dreams in order to get better at it. And the often-cited way of practicing that is by keeping a dream-diary that you're suppose to write in whenever you wake up.

Likewise, I've never heard of the whole "you only remember a dream if you wake up during it". Sometimes I go through a few dreams, wake up naturally, and remember some of the previous ones (and not the last one).

>Likewise, I've never heard of the whole "you only remember a dream if you wake up during it".

I can't speak to its validity, but there are studies like this:

http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00419

> Studies in cognitive psychology showed ... nocturnal awakenings ... are significantly related to dream recall frequency

Though there are clearly many other factors too!

(link via: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-08/clues-how-reme... "People who are better at remembering their dreams wake up more often during the night")

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