does smoking affect your dreams?

Many people who smoke marijuana report having no dreams, yet after they quit, the same people report extremely vivid and intense dreams. Most vivid dreams take place during REM sleep, so the logical scientific question is “Does marijuana (THC) affect REM sleep?” A study conducted in 1975 compared the sleep patterns of experienced marijuana users with non-smokers. The results showed reduced eye movement activity and less REM sleep in the THC condition. They also reported a REM rebound effect, which is more REM activity upon withdrawal from THC. Scientific evidence exists that correlates marijuana use with a loss of REM sleep and dreams, so the next time you smoke marijuana and don’t remember your dreams you will know why.

10 More Amazing Facts About Dreams - Listverse

marijuana and dreams is number 8 on the countdown.

honestly, i've been smoking for over 10 years and either now, or always, i have never noticed any disturbance in my dreams. i have nights with few memorable dreams and nights where i seem to experience full lifetimes in my sleep.

anyone notice less dreams, no dreams or even more vivid dreams when you go to sleep high?

I have noticed that I remember almost no dreams when I get high during the day and then have the described, "REM rebounds." I would not be surprised if this effect was partly due to reduced REM time due to a neurochemical effect (either cannaboids inhibiting REM, or the following acute withdrawal doing so), however I believe that the dramatic reduction is also due to the degradation of short term memory and long term memory encoding either due to the aforementioned neurochemical effect and perhaps the general "stoner" attitude. Sometimes I do remember my dreams in the early morn after a long day of gettin' lifted, however with my memory slightly affected, I am not able to solidify those haunting ephemeral memories of when the soul is at low tide. Congratulations to anyone who understands what I just said b/c I certainly don't (see previous post for explanation + apology). peace

I believe it does! When I got high all the time i'd be so high i'd pass out in a long day of work! When I woke up all I'd recall is how I fell asleep. Also when I quit for a good 3 months I started dreaming again, proper dreams like dreaming in space or wonderland and woke up more at night at times.

For how much I love cannabis for the benefits it provides us! I will always use it when I want my deep sleep and other medical issues.

Keep toking and enjoy

Hope this helps!

Edited by ppyro, 17 January 2010 - 10:54 AM.

Absolutely; before I started smoking, I could wake up and tell someone an entire dream with extreme detail, but now, I'll completely forget what I can barely remember within a half hour of waking up.

It takes about 72 hours of no smoking for me to completely sober up and be able to vividly remember my dreams. Not that it makes it any less difficult, but it's something to look forward to when trying to get through a tolerance break!

WRITE DOWN YOUR DREAMS!

For some reason it worked the other way around with me. Once I turned like 8, I couldn't remember any of my dreams. Over a decade later and smoking regularly I started remembering my dreams, and they were definitely out there.

Last night I dreamt I got baked...I woke up and thought I actually did, and got nervous because I have to take a DT soon.

I usually have vivid dreams when I take a psychoactive (not just weed) first time, then it goes back to roughly normal (maybe a bit worse recall), then the day after I stop they're unusually vivid once again and go back to normal the days after...

I can say that after I started smoking I could not remember my dreams as well as when I was sober and not smoking. I honestly can not remember when the last dream I had was and what it was about.
I think I'm gonna experiment with this, out anyway. haha:)

Any regular pot smokers on here - Dreamviews lucid dreaming forums

This is a link to a lucid dreaming website that I've used. It's quite a big thread with a lot of different opinions. The general concensus is that smoking weed makes remembering dreams harder.

And weed definitely screws with recall, no question about it, don't think anyone's arguing that. Buuut I have had probably just as many lucid dreams with weed as without it, for example I had 3 lucids in a night just the other night after lots of smoking. I just...barely recall anything. I'll just remember fragments of dreams where I realise I'm dreaming, and a few after details, but just lose pretty much everything else. It sucks but you gotta love that weed.

Most people find it difficult, but a few don't...

Well I guess I'll be the caviot here

I smoke pot on a daily basis, I'm one of those productive stoners....

My recall is excellent!!! My dreams are vivid, crazy and epic. For LDing I usually only WILD and I've done so after toking for WBTB and then crawling back into bed and having amazing lucids. I've had 8 since I"ve joined a couple months ago and I haven't cut back on the reef one bit

I haven't tried strict dream recall after smoking, but I just on normal remembering, I tend to remember fragmented parts, and find it difficult to do any more than that.

I'll conduct my own experiment for you if you so wish

EDIT: it is my personal opinion that you'll be fine if you don't smoke right before bed.
EDIT: theres a guy there who had like 4,300 posts, been there for 3 years and here's what he said

I've been smoking for as long as I've been remembering my dreams, and my recall is great. I often have too many dreams to record.

But I recently quit for financial reasons, and my recall hasn't improved in the least.

Edited by Man Plus Eyes, 17 January 2010 - 04:23 PM.

It depends, usually when I wake up I can remember I had a really strange lucid dream, and maybe some stuff that happened in it, but then I usually forget it. Yes, I think the influence of marijuana gives me more lucid dreams because if not every time I smoked I remember when waking up that I did dream, and it was a very odd dream.

I usually have either no dreams half the time and the other half I have very vivid dreams. It mostly depends on how much I smoke, because if I over do it and just about pass out I wont remember shit lol. If I smoke not very much though my dreams are great and its like I am awake and stoned, it is pretty crazy!

I don't believe marijuana affects the REM phase of sleeping. I believe marijuana makes you liable to forget much more of your dreams.

Whenever i go to sleep high i usually end up having strange dreams. not like psychedelic dreams or anything, just odd. like things that i would never dream about normally and never actaully happen...happen in my high dreams

When I get really stoned and sleep, I never get dreams.

Ever since I started smoking every day I hardly dream anymore. I'm not just forgetting them, I used to have more dreams. Now when I wake up in the morning it feels like I just closed my eyes to go to sleep lol

i can attest to going to sleep super baked and have a real intense realistic dream, then i wake up and i am allowed only to remember and recall bits and fragments, misplaced and moved around for about an hour or two, then i completely forget. though there have been times when i could wake up out of a stoney sleep and describe the entire dream to a friend.

i really think it just depends on your mood, train of thought and sleeping habits.

i had to stop smoking 4 a wile cuz im in drug treatment and i never had dreams when i smoked. but since i stopped using iv bin having dreams about doing coke heroin acid shrooms ecstacy and iv never even seen any of those drugs

^^ yeh liek that guy.
yes it affects my dreams, in that i never have any (that i can remember having) . which kinda sucks cuz i can go a year without having more than 3 dreams

Since I started smoking more often I haven't had a dream. Not that I can't remember any of them, I just did not dram at all. I went for a week T-break and mid-way through that week I started dreaming again. I guess it all depends on the person and how they rect to the drug too.

i am experiencing exactly what number 8 on that list said. I smoke weed often at night and go to sleep and have no dreams and feel very tired almost every morning it could be cause i go to sleep late but that article mentioned the loss of REM sleep. During REM sleep your body grows, recovers, and dreams. Just a thought for you guys.

i honestly think it does. like last night i smoked, not only did i have a dream that i remembered (usually dont have that very often, even when i want to) i also got alot less sleep then im used to but still felt great when i woke up. not tired at all.