There's been a lot of talk about different substances and how they affect dreaming. Of course, scientists don't really give a fuck about dreaming itself, they just want to hoard knowledge about the brain. So there isn't any real professional research on how certain substances affect the vividness or content of dreams. Fortunately, this sort of experiment isn't difficult, anyone can try it.

Following this article, I'm going to try a combination of 250mg pyridoxine supplement (AKA pure vitamin B6), a food that contains trytophan (in this case, cheddar cheese ) and 10mg sublingual melatonin. Together, B6 and trytophan will create serotonin, which can, at an increased level, make dreams more vivid. The melatonin sets off the sleep cycle, and causes you to wake up more quickly after the last REM cycle. This will make me sleep more soundly and improve my chances of remembering the dreams I have.

The Results:

I took 250mg of B6 and ate 3 slices of cheese 1 hour before going to sleep, and 10mg of melatonin about 10/15 minutes before going to sleep. I don't remember much except:

• Dreaming about what I did yesterday


• Being on a muddy riverbank with lots of dead trees, waiting for someone


• Sleeping on a couch with a girl

That's about it. I can't really say whether or not the B6 and trytophan made the dreams more vivid. I think my dream recall has been a bit lazy lately so I need to work on that a little more and then perhaps try the experiment again.