Some people wake up and can describe an entire dream as though they have just watched a film. Others open their eyes and remember absolutely nothing. This difference can be so dramatic that people sometimes wonder whether those who rarely remember dreams are actually dreaming at all.
Research suggests that the answer is probably yes. Studies indicate that people can have dream experiences during different stages of sleep, but remembering a dream requires more than simply having the experience. The brain has to retain some trace of it and then successfully retrieve that information after waking.
One of the biggest problems is that dream memories can disappear extremely quickly. A 2025 study involving 217 healthy adults found that people could wake with the feeling that they had dreamed but lose the actual content rapidly when attention was diverted by outside events or thoughts about the day ahead.
This may explain a familiar experience. You wake up knowing that you were dreaming, but before you can think about what happened, your alarm goes off, someone speaks to you or your mind immediately starts planning the morning. Suddenly the dream seems to vanish.…Keep reading the full & the viral video now.
