Jacob Lowe

Can you choose what you dream about?

People have been trying to steer their dreams for thousands of years. The research on dream incubation suggests it actually works — just not the way you'd expect.

Published on May 5th · 6 min read

Your first dream of the night and your last one are nothing alike

Early-night dreams replay your day. Late-night dreams get weird. Research explains why, and what it means for anyone keeping a dream journal.

Published on May 4th · 5 min read

Why your dreams are more emotional than your actual day

Dreams aren't randomly intense. Research shows your brain strips away stress chemicals during REM sleep so it can safely reprocess the feelings you didn't finish dealing with while awake.

Published on May 3rd · 6 min read

Why last week keeps showing up in your dreams

Your dreams aren't random. Research shows they pull from your waking life on a predictable schedule, and the emotions matter more than the events.

Published on May 1st · 6 min read

I took melatonin for a week and my dream journal filled up

I tried melatonin for jet lag and ended up with the densest dream journal entries I've ever written. Here's what the research says about why.

Published on Apr 30th · 6 min read

My dream journal solved a problem I'd been stuck on

I found a research connection in a dream that I'd missed awake. Then I went looking for the science of why dreams do this.

Published on Apr 29th · 5 min read

My stress dreams aren't nightmares, and that's what confused me

I spent a month tracking the dreams I had during my most stressful weeks. They weren't scary. They were just relentlessly ordinary.

Published on Apr 28th · 4 min read

I tracked whether running changed my dreams

I started tagging my dream journal entries with whether I'd run that day. The difference was bigger than I expected.

Published on Apr 27th · 5 min read

I tested three ways to record my dreams

I spent a month switching between handwriting, typing on my phone, and voice memos to see which method actually captured the most dream detail.

Published on Apr 25th · 6 min read

I journaled my dreams every day for a month, then switched to three times a week

I felt guilty every time I skipped a morning. So I ran a test on myself to find out if daily journaling actually matters more than a few times a week.

Published on Apr 24th · 6 min read

I timed how fast my dreams disappeared

I set alarms at 1, 5, and 10 minutes after waking to see how much of my dreams I could still reach. The dropoff was worse than I expected.

Published on Apr 23rd · 6 min read

What I actually write in my dream journal (and what I used to skip)

I spent months logging my dreams like plot summaries. Then I started paying attention to what made entries useful weeks later.

Published on Apr 22nd · 5 min read

My dream signs were in my journal the whole time

I've been keeping a dream journal for years. When I finally went looking for dream signs, I found them on almost every page.

Published on Apr 21st · 5 min read

The nights I dream the most are the nights I sleep the best

A new study from Italy found that vivid, immersive dreams actually make sleep feel deeper. I've been noticing this in my own journal for a while.

Published on Apr 20th · 5 min read

Best dream journal apps in 2026

I've tried a lot of dream journal apps. Here's what I actually kept on my phone and what I deleted.

Published on Apr 19th · 6 min read

Why your dreams deserve privacy: the case for on-device AI

I study sleep for a living. When I looked into what happens to dream data in most apps, I started paying a lot more attention to where mine goes.

Published on Apr 17th · 6 min read

How to keep a dream journal: the complete guide (2026)

I've been keeping a dream journal for years. Here's everything I've learned about what to write, when to write it, and why consistency matters more than perfection.

Published on Apr 16th · 8 min read

I started rereading my dream journal and the patterns were already there

I went back through two months of dream entries expecting randomness. Instead I found the same people, places, and feelings showing up over and over.

Published on Apr 16th · 6 min read

Why Sandman looks like this

Thick borders, hard shadows, a face that doesn't apologize. Here's why I picked neo-brutalism for Sandman, and what the research says about it.

Published on Apr 16th · 5 min read

Giving my dreams titles changed how I remember them

A two-word habit I almost skipped turned out to be the most useful thing in my dream journal.

Published on Apr 15th · 5 min read

The patterns I didn't see until I re-read my journal

I spread fourteen months of dream entries across my kitchen table and went looking for patterns. Here's what I actually found, and what the research says about why this works.

Published on Apr 15th · 5 min read

I switched my dream journal to present tense and it weirdly worked

A small change in how I wrote down my dreams ended up making them easier to remember. I went looking for why.

Published on Apr 14th · 5 min read

Why the same dream keeps coming back

I tracked a recurring dream for three months and went looking for what science actually knows about why our brains do this.

Published on Apr 13th · 4 min read

I tried MILD for a month and actually had a lucid dream

Most lucid dreaming techniques have no real evidence behind them. MILD does. Here's what I found trying it on myself.

Published on Apr 8th · 6 min read

Do dream symbols have universal meanings?

I went looking for what a snake or a falling tooth actually means in a dream. The answer was less satisfying and more interesting than I expected.

Published on Apr 1st · 4 min read

Can writing down nightmares actually help?

I looked into the science of nightmare treatment and found a technique that works in as little as one session.

Published on Mar 25th · 5 min read

Why you forget your dreams (and what actually helps)

I went looking for tips on remembering dreams and found out the brain is actively working against you.

Published on Mar 18th · 5 min read