[Crook32]

Why is it that nightmares stick with you and you can recall all the details but good dreams disappear in like a minute?

I had a nightmare last night and I still can’t get it out of my mind. I know part is my ptsd but it is really annoying and makes anxiety and depression worse.

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[Yaowen]

Sorry you had that bad nightmare. I get some really bad ones sometimes. It could be the PTSD.

I don't know why we remember the nightmares more than the good dreams.

I have a hypothesis but it is probably wrong. I suspect that the human brain is wired to remember bad things because they can sometimes pose risks to survival.

Maybe when human beings were living in caves thousands of years ago, it was important to remember which things were poisonous to eat, the sound of a snake slithering, the difference between the calls of a monkey and those of a panther and stuff like that.

We needed to remember not to stick our hands into a fire. Since we remember bad things in the day perhaps we also remember bad things that happened in the night. I'm probably wrong about that though.

Actually I don't know why. Just sorry that happened to you!

[Nammu]

We remember nightmares cause we have strong emotional reactions to them. Chemicals get released and we perceive danger even though there really isn’t any danger.

[Soupe du jour]

I think in the case of my nighttime dreams, Nammu is right. I don't often remember my dreams, but occasionally I do. I had quite an odd dream last night that I remember. I was having an affair with Jeff Bezos, then he ended up having an affair on me. I don't find the man at all appealing, so that adds to the oddity of it all. I do remember thinking throughout the dream that I need to shave my legs. Truth is that I am far overdo. It's one I put off longer than any other.

[Fuzzybear]

I also think its about the strong emotional reactions associated with nightmares (I can relate....)

[sanityThruLight]

It's the opposite for me. Nightmares I forget rather quickly, but good, or more accurately stated, interesting dreams stick with me for a long time. I can lucid dream at times and maybe this is why I remember those dreams for so long.

In terms of remembering nightmares, I think that the idea of self preservation is a good one. Also, I think that nightmares are more impactful because they touch us deeper than a nice dream of sitting in a field of flowers with bunnies running around. Also, nightmares usually revolve around things in the real world and the fear of this actually happening impact us more.