The subject of supplements that induce/enhance dreaming is actually how I found this forum. I was searching for more information as I began to use them for dreaming, and got lucky and found this place. Many of the nootropics (galantamine, huperzine, choline, dopamine-increasers, etc.) can be used to manipulate your neurotransmitter levels. Learning about these and how to use them has improved my dreaming immensely. And it's cool that a lot of them are good for you anyway. It's like a dream come true, lol.
5-HTP can aide lucid dreaming to a great extent.
5-HTP (by way of serotonin) is one of the supplements, like melatonin, that works by decreasing REM in the beginning of the night which leads to REM-rebound later. M
Let me say that my problem is forgetting my dreams. A majority of my dreams are forgotten completely. I mean, they are usually forgotten by the time I eventually wake up. Sometimes I'll have a vague recollection. Most of my dreams are pretty abstract. Of the few times that I can recall what happened I can usually recall the plot and sometimes more for a duration of 5 or 10 minutes after I wake up. Only a few times in my life has the memory of my dream lasted throughout an entire day. This could be a general memory issue.
It's not a general memory issue. That's how it is for everybody. Recall is one of the hardest parts and it takes a lot of work and commitment to get the most out of it. As Kostas mentioned, dreams are not stored like other memories, not even short-term ones; and you have to consciously recall them and think about them to get them into long-term memory. However, just a few clues or reminders can sometimes bring a whole dream back to you, it's amazing what a couple words scribbled down while your practically still asleep can do for recall. Then when you write them down, and you read back thru your journal, the dreams come back to you just like a real memory.
The abstract dreams are a lot tougher, that's true, because they are so difficult to describe. However, even if you can't really describe it to other people, you can give yourself enough clues so that you can bring it back as images or whatever later. You can be lucid even in abstract dreams--those can be really cool. You can even be lucid in the complete absence of any sensation--"the void" is well-known to lucid dreamers. There are opportunities even in that situation--if you call out and start asking questions, you can have conversations with people you didn't even know lived in your head, sometimes several at once. (A lot of things about dreaming make you sound completely insane, I know, but you get used to it.
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One thing I don't get though is how other people can control themselves in their dream. Like it was said above about pinching yourself or counting your fingers to know your dreams. Well, while I'm asleep, I know that I'm dreaming. But I still seemingly cannot control how my dream unfolds or what I do inside my dream.
One word: practice. It gets better.
I'm open to other suggestions though.... supplements (for lucid dreaming or memory), techniques, etc.
The best resource I know for enhancing dreams with supplements is "Advanced Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Supplements" by Thomas Yuschak. Basically, things that raise acetylcholine and dopamine help. There are a lot of details about when to take each supplement according to the duration of action, etc. and unfortunately there are huge tolerance issues which limit their use. There is a ton of info on the subject of course, re dosages, timing, etc. but here is a very short summary of ones that can help:
B6 - causes vivid dreams, which in a person who already knows about lucidity can induce a lucid dream. I have to take quite a bit; like 200 to 300 mg to have any effect. This is safe if you only do it every once in a while.
Serotonin (5-HTP) and melatonin - Help you to fall asleep and enhance deep sleep early in the night, so later on you have REM rebound.
Choline - increases acetylcholine, which plays a very big part in dreaming. The best is alpha-GPC. It boosts the effects of galantamine.
Galantamine and Huperzine - acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. They are absorbed and eliminated quickly, so it best to take in the AM, after sleeping several hours, when the longest REM cycles are.
Propranolol - I can't remember the mechanism of action; increases the duration of dreams.
Vasopressin - also forgot how this works, and I haven't tried it, but reports are good.
Amino acids (glutamine and aspartic acid) - neurotransmitter precursors.
Many dopamine increasers - like selegeline before bed, and PEA or something like that later on.
Nicotine - a well-known dream enhancer; patches work great.
Calea Z - called "dream herb"; it works, but I don't know why.
Ginseng - moderately effective.
Theanine - an amino acid found in green tea; it is very relaxing and can help counteract the stimulating effect that choline has, which can be very annoying when you are trying to get back to sleep at 3:00 in the morning.
Piracetam - actually this is reported to have adverse effects on dreaming, but supposedly counter-acts the tolerance issues. I'm not sure it really works for that, but that's why I first started taking it.
Edited by Moonbeam, 24 November 2008 - 12:46 PM.
