Why do we have dreams but forget some of them when we wake up?

just to add to jeelo56, not all dreaming occursin REM sleep, as sometimes you can move around while you are dreaming and during REM sleep you’re pretty much paralysed except that your eyes move.

Haha, that happens to me a lot too! Well, I guess it happens to everybody. Sometimes I DO remember the dream but like 10 minutes after, I forget it xD. But there are some epic dreams, usually about something that’s important to me, such as my love x3, that I remember really good. Sorry, but I don’t know the answer for that, but I REALLY want to know too. :o Hope for an answer soon.

dreams are very poorly understood in neuroscience, but Ill tell you what I know.

When we sleep the brain’s activity will change during different phases in a rhythmic pattern (this diurnal rhythm is controlled by the thalamus). Now there are 5 different types of brain activity when we are sleeping, there is REM sleep and 4 types of NREM sleep (I would suggest you read about these on wikipedia). It is understood that dreaming occurs during REM sleep. It is also thought that memory consolidation occurs during REM and NREM 1 + 2. The answer to your question is that it most probably depends WHEN you wake up, if you wake from sleep during a REM phase of the sleep cycle you will likely remember a lot of what you were dreaming about.

I just want to add that memory consolidation is very powerful when there are associated emotions involved. The amygdala is an important limbic organ in the brain. So if you feel strong emotions during a dream the memory consolidation is stronger you will remember it better.

the memory sectipon of your brain is shut off during sleep. it can randomly turn on and then youll remember. typically you only remember the ones right before you wake up.

lol. sry don’t know either. but I have the same problem, I will wake up with this vague impression that I had a dream, but what it was about is just out of reach. I really haven’t clearly remember my dreams regularly in years. Very rarely I will remember just a fragment of a dream.