Dream Age and Memory - Variable Study for February and March

[pj]

It has been a while since we focused on variables possibly influencing lucidity and recall.  For the next month or so, we would like to pay attention to two aspects of our dreams; how good our memory of "real life" is during lucidity, and what age we seem to be in all our dreams.

To test our memory, the goal is to try to remember some specific details of our waking world, such as our mailing address.  Rate your ability to recall such details on a scale of 0 to 10, with 10 being perfect recall and 0 being no recall at all.  To track our "dream age," simply try to recall what age you seem to be in those dreams you recall - and particularly when you manage to get lucid.

A theory being discussed is the possibility that our "dream age" influences our chances of getting lucid, particularly if the age we are in our dreams pre-dates our knowledge and practice of lucidity.  The goal of tracking "dream age" is to see whether there is a real correlation to lucidity rates.

Keep track of these variables in your dream journal.  The study will run through March.

Please discuss and report results in this thread.

[pj]

I had an interesting lucid last night/this morning that involved both of these factors, though not so much consciously.  I was in my early 20's in the dream, but then noticed a building that was just demolished a couple weeks back, which let me know it was a dream.  I seemed to remain in my early 20's even after the revelation though.

http://mortalmist.com/forum/index.php/topic,5.msg47744.html#msg47744

[Sunshine]

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[pj]

There are two sides to this equation, but we've only found a way to reliably access only the waking half.  Awareness is indeed taken for granted most of the time when we're awake, but what we're trying to do is have even a moment's awareness when we're asleep.

The veil does seem to work both ways - awake and remembering our sleep and asleep remembering our awake.  It makes sense that working on breaching the veil from one side would help to make it more easily traversed from the other as well.

I wonder if spending lucid time working on our "awake recall" would be time well spent?

[Sunshine]

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[pj]

I already failed once - though I did remember my goal for the night!

[Alex Lou]

The veil does seem to work both ways - awake and remembering our sleep and asleep remembering our awake.  It makes sense that working on breaching the veil from one side would help to make it more easily traversed from the other as well.

As far as I can tell, the veil is only one way for me.  Well at least waking life info is available when I try to retrieve it in lucid dreams.  And I know it's just an anecdote, but the one time I was asked for my address in a non-lucid I was able to recite it.

Here's where I'll be keeping track of the age thing and the memory attempts:
http://mortalmist.com/forum/index.php/topic,1180.msg47898.html#msg47898

I made the memory thing my priority while dreaming this morning and had my first success.  It'll be interesting to see if I have any problems.


I sure hope people try this one.

[Alex Lou]

Results:
In all of my lucid dreams I was myself and at my normal age!  Non-lucids were mostly at my current age too, but there were some exceptions.

As for the memory test:  I only remembered to do it in 4 dreams.  Each time that I attempted to recall my address I was successful, for a total of 3 times.  The other time I remembered the test, I started doing multiplication instead.   Only attempting the test 4 times was definitely the result of lack of willpower on my part . . . I kinda lost interest after my initial successes.   

Age in Dream and Lucidity
Non-lucid dreams at my current age (25):  47
Lucid dreams at my current age (25):  15
At current age (25), but unsure of the lucid status:  2
Non-lucids in 30s: 2
Non-lucids, middle-aged: 1
Non-lucids, 26:  1
Non-lucids, immortal:  1
Non-lucids, younger than I am now:  1

Memory Challenge Attempts
2/4:  10/10
2/6:  10/10
2/20:  Failure to remember the task correctly
3/3:  10/10

[pj]

I'm glad somebody followed through with this!  I'm going to continue keeping track.

My lucidity level this year so far has been lousy, with recall up and down.  The memory portion of this exercise has been a pretty near total failure for me.

But the dream age is interesting.  I don't have the numbers totalled, but the vast majority of my dreams have me either in my teens or twenties.  There are very few recalled dreams where I am my present age - nearing 50.

I'll try to run a total of them soon.