Something that I have been acutely noticing is that I have had extremely vivid dreams every time that I have slept or napped. The dreams have been vivid to a degree that might be described as bordering on hullucination. I suspect that the dreams have been present on account of the adequacy of the sleep that I have been receiving. I am inclined, however, to attribute the vividness to the potency and desication of the sun and heat. It is, perhaps, as if I had ventured into the desert to undertake a vision quest of sorts.
I am enjoying this dreaming to an extent that strongly suggests the adoption of a decent sleep regimen.
My understanding, from having taken a psych class with a professor known for his sleep research, is that during “power naps” your brain more quickly reaches the wavelength state required for REM and dreaming. Also, we almost always remember our dreams only when we’re woken up during them. So I suspect that more recently you’ve been consistently waking up during dreaming. I find that my dreams become more nightmarish if my physical environment is becoming hostile during my sleep — like I have too many blankets on and I’m overheating. It’s as though my body needs to deal with its physical state, so it influences my dreams to be overly realistic or frightening to the degree that I wake up, and readjust my blankets or fix other environmental factors affecting my sleep quality. Perhaps the heat in your bedroom (the natural heat of summer, if you live without air conditioning) is responsible for your waking up more and remembering your dreams more vividly?
This post was made while I was in Cancun; I suspect the context had an awful lot to do with things.