Why don't I remember my dreams?

Dreams are sleepy pictures. They fade because you wake and move. Your eyes see your room. Your dream slips away.

When you sleep, your brain makes dream stories. When you wake up, it starts paying attention to your room, sounds, and what to do next. That can make the dream fade fast, like chalk washing off a sidewalk. If you wake during a dream and tell it right away, you may remember more.

Dreams are often hard to remember because the sleeping brain does not save them like daytime memories. The clearest dreams happen during REM sleep, a time when your eyes move under your eyelids and your brain is busy making scenes. If you wake later, or start thinking about the day, the dream can fade quickly. Fun fact: most people dream several times every night, even if they remember none of them.