For someone who usually has vivid dreams and more than one a night at times what does it mean (if anything) to go without them or not recall them?

It's more likely that you are not remembering them.  Have you been more tired than usual lately?  That is usually when I have trouble remembering.  


Also, some medications, especially those that cause drowsiness (including sleep meds, naturally) seem to inhibit the ability to recall dreams.  


Remind yourself before you go to sleep that you want to remember your dreams on waking so that you can learn from them.  This usually helps me  

Yes I have been more tired, though I have not taken anything for it. I'm just so used to remembering them that I really noticed I haven't been lately.

Thanks very much for the input.

Hi pook-

There could be a few reasons you aren't remembering your dreams, it isn't that uncommon and happens to everyone once in a while. But I know how you feel, considering I usually remember most of my dreams (I'm a vivid dreamer) when I wake up it happened to me a couple of months ago where I wasn't remembering any of them for a couple of weeks and I thought it was a little weird for me. But I was waking up and feeling rested and knew that I was dreaming I just didn't remember them for a short spell.

At any rate, you go through different phases of sleep, 5 cycles; 1-2 are light cycles where your heart, body temperature, etc slow down, 2-3 deep sleep and 5 cycle is REM where we dream. As an adult you usually get approximately 90 minutes of REM per night and that is when most people dream. If you aren't hitting REM, it is believed that you won't dream. A few  things are possible, 1. you simply aren't remembering them for no important reason 2. Did something traumatic happen recently? Sometimes something that devastates us it can effect our dreams where in our waking state we do not recall them. 3. you mention you are waking up tired in which case this could mean you are not getting a good night's rest.  

My question to you are you waking frequently during the course of the night or encountering disturbed sleep patterns? If so it more than than likely you are never reaching a REM state. Are you waking up because you are sleeping in a noisy environment which is disrupting a normal sleep pattern and never fully reaching cycle 3-4? Perhaps  you are making a few trips to the gentleman's room during the course of the night in which case would be disruptive to your sleep patterns. Is alcohol playing a part which would disrupt the cycles, since you are not taking any medication. In other words there  are many possibilities that could prevent you from reaching cycles 3-4 which would leave you feeling tired because the body and mind are not rested in which case one would never reach cycle 5 REM for dreams. For instance, if you are a snorer this would be disruptive to your sleep since most people who snore either wake themselves up because of the snoring or because someone else is waking them up because it is disturbing their sleep. Some snorers (not all snorers) stop breathing during sleep, which is called 'sleep apnea,' but the body knows to breath, wakes up and then the person goes back to sleep to repeat the cycle of snoring, stop breathing, wake up. However, the blood and body are not receiving enough oxygen which the organs need to function properly. If this is the case, you should see a doctor as organ damage is imminent if this is frequent, particularly the heart.

If you can rule out that you are not being disrupted during sleep then I would say it is a matter of memory and as Nimisha suggested, you remind yourself right before bed to remember your dreams and train yourself when you wake up to recall them.

Angelique

Thank you for your post it was very informative.

I don't drink and I've been in a fairly quiet environment, lulled by a fan. I've been a bit sick currently so perhaps I am not sleeping as well as I think. You are probably right, I'm not getting to the dream stage or not there long enough to remember. I really appreciate both of you and your feedback. Maybe it is a sign that something is going on internally, the body really does like to warn you in its own way doesn't it?