Now, I am sure there are many ways to do this, including the one for which I am the laziest: waking oneself up during the night to jot down whatever was the latest dream. I also don't get good rest when I'm waking up all of the time. Maybe it's different for those who practice that method; I just wouldn't know.
Lately, I started taking a supplement called 'vinpocetine' which is an alkaloid-extract from the periwinkle plant. It's also not available except by prescription in the EU, so if you live over there, you'll have to talk to your doctor about getting it.
Here in the US, it's an over-the-counter supplement. It's not FDA-approved, but that's the case for many supplements. It isn't dangerous to take, so don't let that "not FDA-approved" part scare you. That's just something that's common for many supplements people take for granted.
What vinpocetine does for dreams is improve recall rather well. At the same time, I have noticed an increase in weird dreams, but not nightmares. Bizarre but not disturbing, and often funny.
I'm taking 20mg, but I started off at 5mg and worked up to this level. A little research showed that 20mg is kind of the lower end for people using it for this purpose. If you do a search of your own, add the word "nootropic" to your terms. That helps keep your search on topics related to the brain and mind.
The only "side-effect" I've noticed are of a positive nature, such as not needing caffeine or naps, and feeling generally more energized at least in mind.
Now, if anyone has any other supplement-techniques for improving dream-quality or recall, I'd love to know. This is the first 'nootropic' supplement I've ever tried and I think I'll be using it for a long time, if for nothing more than to improve memory (for which it was originally intended).
Improving Dream Recall
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