Have you ever been chased down a dark alley
that doesn’t seem to end?
And when you do reach the end of that alley, you find yourself standing in the middle of
your middle school classroom only to find out that you are in your underwear and everyone
is pointing and laughing at you?
Or maybe you thought that you lost all your teeth while eating a marshmallow the size
of a pillow.
Dreams can be quite disturbing and nightmares take the cake for waking us up in the middle
of the night, wondering if what we saw really did happen.
Whether it is events that happened throughout our day that are being recalled by or our
subconscious mind letting loose and expressing our deep seated fears, desires, or imaginings,
we all dream when we sleep.
We have about 5 dream episodes when we sleep and each episode ranges from 15 to 40 minutes.
For this list, we explore the dark episodes of the most common nightmares we have and
the explanations attached to it.
Are you tucked in tight?
Is your night light on and are your covers pulled over your head?
Here we go!
Number Ten: FALLING Whether it’s from a skyscraper, a cliff,
or a mysterious place that we could not see, falling in our dreams is one of those that
feel a little too real.
It is the most common dream that everyone has and, perhaps, everyone has woken up with
a start to.
Falling in dreams can signify two things: if you are falling and are afraid, it is a
sign of anxiety and insecurity about a situation.
The fact that you are not in control of it is your subconscious mind’s way of saying
that you have a fear of change or losing control.
If, on the other hand you are enjoying the feeling of a freefall, then it only signifies
that you have a positive attitude towards change and are more than open to it.
Number Nine: Being Chased
Sigmund Freud suggested that having a dream about being chased is a sign that we are running
away from specific fears, mostly sexual.
However, experts in the modern age suggest that having dreamed of being chased by something
or someone is a representation of our insecurities.
The monster, person or thing that is relentlessly chasing us down is our deep-seated fears about
ourselves that we have not come to accept or come to terms with.
Since dreams are seen as metaphors, a literal giant monster may mean something else but
affects us on a massive scale or has a huge effect in our daily lives and that is why
we choose to run away from it in our dreams.
But as long as you don’t physically get up and dash off in your sleep, it’s nothing
to be really scared of.
Number Eight: TOOTH LOSS Nothing can probably be more frightening than
losing a tooth or several teeth.
After all, once you lose them, they don’t really grow back.
Similar to Falling, losing teeth in your dreams signify helplessness and lack of control of
things or situations.
Aging is one of the many things we have no real control over and can be vividly imagined
by our subconscious by letting us lose one or two pearly whites in our dreams.
Another interpretation of teeth loss is insecurity about how we look and the anxiety that comes
from being judged through our appearance.
Besides, a smile means a lot when we interact with people and the fear of having a toothless
grin is all too real to many of us.
In some cultures and beliefs, losing a tooth in a dream could signify the death of someone
close.
Number Seven: BEING LOST When it comes to anxieties and our fears,
dreams can make everything feel real in our sleep.
Dreaming about being lost or looking for something that is lost is common among people who repeatedly
suffer anxiety.
The feeling of unfamiliarity of a place or situation is magnified in dreams as it knocks
on the fears of not fitting in or the anxiety of not knowing what unfamiliar situations
in real life will bring.
What’s more is that there is a sense of confusion and frustration that elevates the
anxiety even more because of the lack of control.
Being lost is certainly one of the most terrifying nightmares to have because it leaves us in
a spot where we have no choice but to accept the situation we are in – in dreams, at
least.
Number Six: BEING TRAPPED Whether it’s in a box, a small room, or
an place where all the walls are closing in on you, being trapped in dreams closely echoes
real life situations of actually being trapped in something like a bad career choice or a
relationship.
The feeling of being trapped also amplifies the anxiety of helplessness and not being
able to be in control of the situation.
In most dreams, we tend to try and claw our way out or scream for help.
It feels all too real because it links itself to real-life frustrations as well, frustrations
of not being able to change things to our favour or not being able to find that way
out that we are so desperately looking for.
Number Five: BEING LEFT BEHIND This nightmare roots itself in real world
fears of abandonment.
The fear of losing a partner, a loved one, or a friend has different effects on different
individuals and it eats us all up from the inside.
By nature, humans are social creatures and we crave the company of other people one way
or another.
Whether in large groups or an intimate setting, we will always find ourselves in places or
situations with another person or two that is close to us.
But dreaming of being left behind or being left alone preys heavily on the anxiety of
not being able to fit in or, literally, being left behind by someone we love.
In terms of relationships, this is caused by a partner’s – or both partners’ – insecurity.
Number Four: INJURIES When people begin to dream about scenarios
where they are injured or have been badly wounded, it is their subconscious’ way of
communicating to them a feeling of weakness in their lives or in a situation they are
in.
Broken bones, open wounds, or whatever else kind of injury is a mental manifestation of
vulnerability.
Perhaps you are in the midst of a breakup or are starting a completely new career.
There are multiple factors why this dream occurs and experts suggest looking for that
source of vulnerability and working on improving the situation to a much more positive light.
Number Three: SEEING THE DEAD This is perhaps one of the most chilling nightmares
anyone of us could ever have.
Like scenes from a horror movie, being haunted in our dreams by the deceased can kick our
senses into hyper drive and jolt us wide awake.
However, there is not proven supernatural link to having dreams like this.
There are multiple reasons why we may dream of the deceased.
One of them could stem from a personal life event where there has been a death of a loved
one.
Dreaming of them is the emotions way of coping with the loss.
Emotional anxieties also contribute to these nightmares such as the fear of the unknown.
Incidentally, people who are suffering from a terminal illness or life threatening health
issues have been reported to have night terrors of seeing the dead,
Number Two: FAILING A TEST It is not uncommon for students to have nightmares
of failing a big exam.
Their fears are rooted in reality and in their waking lives.
They have nightmares of it maybe because of the academic pressure or perhaps that scholarship
they are aiming for.
Whatever the reason, failing a test in dreams is a nightmare for us all.
The stress of being unprepared for an exam is a nightmare we all share, whether we are
students or happily working a job.
Experts agree that dreaming of failure, in general, represents our insecurity or fear
of being unprepared for the challenges of everyday life.
Number One: DEATH The most common dream many of us get is about
death and dying.
While the reason for which is swirling with philosophical interpretations, dreaming of
death is not necessarily a foreshadowing of dark events or an evil omen.
In different beliefs, death is a sign of beginnings: the end of a cycle in order to begin a new
one.
Some believe that dreams about graves or grave sites are representations of a part of us
that have dies in order to give room for our newer selves.
However, in cases where people get older, dreaming of death is closely related to the
acceptance of their mortality and time on earth; a more literal interpretation to the
conclusion of life.
___ Do you agree with our list?
What do YOU often dream of when you are fast asleep?
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