You wake up, and the entire dream unfolds in your memory like a movie scene. But you also have that friend who swears they can’t recall a single dream. You, on the other hand, can describe last night’s dream in vivid detail. Well, that’s not ‘nothing’. For decades, neuroscientists have tried to understand dream recall, related brain differences, sleep chemistry, and trainable habits.Now let’s get some things clear: everyone dreams. In fact, we cycle through multiple dreams per night, regardless of whether we remember them. The real question is why some brains lock down these night visions into memory, while others let them evaporate the instant consciousness kicks in.

Why do we dream

Before we jump into why some recall their dreams and others don’t, let’s unpack why we dream. Dreams happen during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep. This can occur multiple times a night. At this stage, there are fast eye movements, quicker breathing, and temporary muscle paralysis. Our brainwaves are almost as active during REM cycles as they are when we’re awake, according to multiple sleep studies. REM sleep usually begins about 90 minutes after you fall asleep. It can last for up to an hour towards the end of sleep.While experts cannot pinpoint exactly why we dream or where these dreams come from, a prevailing theory suggests dreaming helps you consolidate and analyse memories (like skills and habits). Think of them as ‘rehearsal’ for different situations that we face when awake.“Whether they remember or not, all people do dream in their sleep. It is an essential function for the human brain, and is also present in most species,” Dr Alex Dimitriu, double board-certified in psychiatry and sleep medicine and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry & Sleep Medicine, told Healthline.

Why can some people vividly remember dreams while others can’t

Your friend is not lying when they say they can’t recall a thing. Not everyone can remember what their dream was during the night. Some people can only remember the dream in the initial moments after waking; after that, it simply slips away. A 2025 study conducted by researchers at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca examined ‘dream recall’, the ability to remember dreams upon awakening. They observed individual traits and sleep patterns that shape dream recall. The study was published in Communications Psychology.During the COVID pandemic, there was a sudden surge in morning dream recall worldwide. The researchers tracked 200 participants aged 18 to 70, from 2020 to 2024, after the pandemic to understand what actually predicts dream recall. Their sleep and cognitive data were tracked, along with voice records and self-reports of dream recall. They were also subjected to psychological tests and questionnaires to measure various factors, such as anxiety levels, interest in dreams, proneness to mind-wandering (the tendency to frequently shift attention away from the task at hand towards unrelated thoughts or internal reflections), as well as memory and selective attention.According to the researchers, dream recall is the probability of waking up in the morning with impressions and memories from a dream experience. This varies between individuals and is influenced by multiple factors.The researchers found that people with a positive attitude towards dreams and a tendency for mind-wandering were significantly more likely to recall their dreams.Another factor that influences dream recall is sleep pattern. People who experience longer periods of light sleep are more likely to recall their dreams. Younger participants were more likely to recall their dreams. Older individuals, on the other hand, had what researchers call ‘white dreams’, which is the sensation of having dreamt without recalling any details. Age-related changes influence memory processes during sleep. There were also seasonal changes, with many reporting lower dream recall during winter compared to spring. This suggests that even environmental or circadian factors affect dream recall.“Our findings suggest that dream recall is not just a matter of chance but a reflection of how personal attitudes, cognitive traits, and sleep dynamics interact. These insights not only deepen our understanding of the mechanisms behind dreaming but also have implications for exploring dreams’ role in mental health and in the study of human consciousness,” lead author Giulio Bernardi, professor of general psychology at the IMT School, said.“Data collected within this project will serve as a reference for future comparisons with clinical populations. This will allow us to move forward research on the pathological alterations of dreaming and their potential prognostic and diagnostic value,” Valentina Elce, researcher at the IMT School and first author of the study, added.Forgetting your dreams is not really a flaw. It depends on various factors that are not entirely within your control.