I need more and weirder dreams. The most recent dream i can remember was spending an hour prodicing an English project just before it was due. In vivid, mundane, boring as hell detail. So here’s my question (IMHO instead of GQ since its more along the lines of a poll): Does anyone know of any ways to make my dreams more plentiful and weird?
Er, maybe. I noticed a few years ago that I seemed to have more vivid dreams when my feet were significantly warmer than the rest of my body. For example, if I put an extra blanket over my feet on cold nights, or if the cat draps herself over them for the evening.
However, I don’t know anyone else who has experienced this difference.
Get pregnant.
There is a coconut wine made in the Philippines called lambanog - gives me very strange dreams indeed. Alternatively, you might try experimenting with food just before hitting the sack - a snack of gorgonzola and pickles might have an interesting effect.
I’ve also found that if I have the radio on during a mid-Sunday afternoon nap, I drift in and out of a dream state, with the voice on the radio forming part of the dream.
I don’t want to recommend any illicit substances but…
Unfortunately, that last bit isn’t possible (though if the dream’s weird enough…)
Might as well try the feet thingy tonight, though.
Set your alarm clock for about an hour to 90 minutes before you need to wake up. After it rings, set your alarm clock to your normal wake-up time, and go back to sleep. I’ve found that, not only do I get mundo bizarro dreams during the 50-80 minute demi-sleep that results, I’m also much more likely to remember what I dreamed about.
[sub](And someday, I’m going to pitch one of those dreams as a script to David Cronenburg. I’m thinking maybe the one in which I was a jewelry-store owner in the future and I kept getting robbed so I hired a robot to protect the store but the robot kept killing other people and then the cops started investigating me and then I started having an affair with the lady detective leading the case and then my robot killed the detective’s husband and then…)[/sub]
Sugar has always worked for me…especially “Nilla” wafers. Moderately exotic ice cream flavors will do in a pinch.
Also, leaving the TV on while trying to get some sleep between snooze button cycles has sometimes caused elements of the broadcast to incorporate themselves in my dreams…Creating some interesting phenomenon as large movie monsters menacing me by quoting the “Hollywood minute.”
Ranchoth
You should brush up on your lucid dreaming skills.
You’re already having dreams, you’re just not remembering them. Keep a notebook by your bed and when you wake up write down anything that you remember. Go to bed thinking to yourself, “I’m going to remember my dreams tonight” also helps.
As time progresses you’ll find that you remember more dreams than usual.
Oh, I do. Well, only illicit if you’re underage. Go to bed drunk. I always have the most vivid and compelling dreams when I stumble into bed before the buzz wears off.
Jpeg Jones, cool site, thanks for the link.
I second the “fall asleep in front of the TV” suggestion. A couple of nights ago I fell asleep during an “Air Force One” documentary on the History Channel. I then dreamt that I was on Air Force One when George Bush Sr. was president, but also the whole cast of Friends was there too. Hilarity ensued…
Falling asleep with the History Channel on gives me the weirdest dreams. Weird, but cool. One night I’m personally battling Hitler, the next I’m keeping the piece in the wild west. Great stuff.
Take at least 1000 mg B12 (vitamin) and 50 mg Zinc about an hour before bed.
Be sure that the B12 is not a time-release formula – you need all that B12 in your system at once.
This was recommended to me by a friend of mine. It works for him (i.e., it gives him very vivid and bizarre dreams), but didn’t work for me because of that old time-release issue.
Two words: Valerian root.
In case you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s an herbal supplement to help one sleep. The last time I used it, I dreamed I was in something like Jurassic Park (which I’ve never actually watched). The wife and I were visiting some people who owned a large house with beautiful expansive gardens, and these dinosaurs just showed up. We had to find a solution to this problem, which I think was eventually to just go inside and lock the doors.
The time before that, I dreamed that one of my cats talked. He said, “Hello”, in his little meowing kitty voice. This is anthropomorphism gone extreme, yet this particular cat is one who always meows at you when you enter the room, probably because he thinks you have treats for him. This dream was actually one of those twilight-sleep hybrids between daydreaming and real dreaming.
Consume a Welsh Rabbit before retiring.
http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/fiction/rarebit.html