Don't move when you first wake up
Moving your body or exposing yourself to bright light the moment you wake causes REM-stage memories to fade rapidly. Keep your eyes closed for a few minutes and gently ask yourself: "What was I just experiencing?"
Use voice memos
Writing by hand takes time, and you can forget the next scene while you're still writing the first. Dreave's voice recording feature lets you capture details quickly, even when you're barely awake.
Start with emotions, not scenes
Even if you can't recall specific places or events, feelings tend to linger — "I was scared," "It felt joyful," "Something was strange." Using emotion as a starting point often pulls the visuals back in a chain.
Fragments count
Even a single line — "I saw a blue ocean," "I was talking to someone" — is valuable. The act of recording daily teaches your brain that dreams are worth remembering.
Build a pre-sleep routine
Flipping through past dream journal entries before bed primes your mind for dreaming. Try making it a habit to recall last night's dream every time you turn on Dreave's Night Mode.
Combine with Reality Check
When you build the habit of asking "Is this a dream?" during the day, you're more likely to ask the same question inside a dream. The dream journal and reality check are two wheels of the same lucid dreaming bicycle.
Watch your Recall Score grow
Dreave quantifies your "dream recall level" from your entries. Watching that number climb over time is one of the most powerful motivators to keep going.