Bad Dreams: Common Nightmares & Their Meanings

We all experience bad dreams and nightmares, whether it’s being chased, losing our teeth, or finding ourselves naked in public. Like dream meanings, we often wonder about the significance of these unsettling dreams.

Experts suggest that nightmares reflect patterns of human behaviour and are linked to our personal experiences. They provide insight into our minds and emotions. Although interpreting bad dreams isn’t an exact science, understanding common themes can shed light on why we experience these frightening scenarios.

Each night, we typically have about five dream episodes, lasting between 15 and 40 minutes, which means we spend around two hours dreaming. With 8 billion people on Earth, that adds up to roughly 35 billion dreams each day. While many dreams are abstract or forgotten, common themes do emerge. So, what are they trying to tell us?

The most common nightmares

Nightmares are a universal experience that often reflects our deepest fears and anxieties. While they can vary widely from person to person, several common scenarios and sightings are present in many people’s dreams:

Being late
Getting lost
Being unable to speak
Failing or feeling helpless in a scenario
Forgetting something significant
Losing a job, money, or house
Experiencing physical aggression
Accidents
Being chased
Health-related concerns or death
Interpersonal conflicts
General worries and anxieties
Disasters
An evil presence
Insects or vermin

Exploring common nightmares and their meanings

Here’s a brief summary of the most common nightmare themes and meanings:

Nightmare themes: Common themes include failure, helplessness, accidents and experiencing physical aggression, with women experiencing more nightmares around aggression and men experiencing helplessness more often.
Common meanings: Many of the most common dreams revolve around feelings and emotions, from not feeling able to express yourself to being worried about falling behind or lacking confidence.

Let’s dig in a little deeper…

1. Teeth falling out

Dreams about your teeth falling out can reflect your anxieties about your appearance and how others perceive you. Such dreams may stem from a fear of rejection, embarrassment or feeling unattractive. As teeth are used to bite, tear, and chew, dreams about losing your teeth can stem from a sense of powerlessness, which means you may be experiencing self-confidence issues.

2. Being chased nightmares

Being chased in a dream suggests you are running away from something, causing you fear or anxiety in waking life.

It indicates that you tend to run away or avoid a particular issue. The chaser can also represent an aspect of yourself; for example, feelings of anger, jealousy, or fear can manifest as the threatening figure.

3. Unable to find a toilet

Having trouble finding a toilet means you may find it difficult to express your needs in a particular situation. It can represent feelings of your personal needs not being met by always putting others first. You may feel that you lack time for personal issues and need more privacy, self-care or self-expression.

4. Naked in public

Dreaming of being naked in a dream symbolises being unable to find yourself, being uncertain, or being wrongly accused. Being naked in a public setting indicates feelings of vulnerability and a fear of not fitting in with the crowd.

If you are not the naked person in your dream but see a nude person and are disturbed by it, it means you are worried about exposing that person.

5. Unprepared for an exam

Exam nightmares can be so real that we wake up convinced we failed an important test. They are often related to our stress during our education – even years later. They can mean you’re putting yourself under much pressure to do well or feel like you’re falling behind.

Whether this is true or not, it’s a sign to implement a relaxing evening routine for better sleep.

6. Flying nightmares

A tough time flying in your dreams suggests that someone (or something) is stopping you from moving to the next step in life.

Being afraid to fly proposes that you might be having trouble keeping up with the high goals you set for yourself. If you are alone and struggling to fly, it implies you lack confidence in yourself.

7. Falling

Closely linked to flying nightmares, if you fall in your dream and are overcome by fear, it signifies insecurity and anxiety about a situation. Conversely, enjoying falling suggests that you are not afraid of changes.

8. Out of control vehicle nightmares

Dreams of cars and other modes of transport can represent a time of change in your life and reflect if you feel in control of your direction. Therefore, nightmares about out-of-control cars or car crashes usually indicate that you have anxieties about where you are heading or that someone else is making important choices for you.

9. Being trapped or lost

Another common nightmare is dreaming you are lost or trapped somewhere, whether in a forest, a city you don’t know, an elevator, or maybe even the bad dream itself! As a common worry we have all experienced, it is no wonder that it also rears up in dreams. These nightmares may reflect feelings about your life – maybe you’re looking for guidance or want change, but it’s causing stress and anxiety.

10. Being late nightmares

Dreaming that you are late is always a stressful experience. It can mean you feel like you’re behind or time is running out—especially for significant life changes. Dreaming that you are late is also a widespread nightmare before a big event, so try to alleviate some anxiety before heading to bed. For tips on sleeping before your event, dive into how to sleep when you’re excited.

Are bad dreams linked to mental health conditions?

Nightmares don’t always indicate a mental health condition. However, research shows that 70% of individuals with conditions such as bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders, and major depressive disorder experience chronic nightmares, highlighting the strong link between mental distress and bad dreams.

Numerous other factors can also contribute to nightmares. Medications, alcohol withdrawal, and even eating before bed can influence the scary episodes we have during sleep. Sometimes, it might just be that horror film you watched lingering in your memory.

Can common nightmares be warnings?

When we have a bad dream, we may think it is a warning. While we know that nightmares often reflect our unconscious thoughts and emotional state, particularly during stressful times, there isn’t much evidence to suggest that nightmares are warning signs.

Although prophetic dreams are a common belief – for millennia, humans have believed in the future-telling abilities of dreams – there isn’t much evidence to back this up. Often, our dreams can give us deja vu or a sense that we’ve experienced something before because we use them to process our daily lives.

Your unconscious mind may have figured something out before your conscious mind, or you may have had a dream about an event in anticipation of it happening and then forgotten. Either way, it will give you an eerie sensation, but it doesn’t mean you’re psychic.

Tips for reducing bad dreams and improving sleep

Nightmares might be the reason you wake up feeling distressed. One of the best ways to combat bad dreams is to go to bed feeling relaxed and ready for rest. If we tuck in for sleep while our minds are still racing, ruminating over stresses, worries, and problems, it will likely come up in our dreams.

For help to find the ideal bedtime, check out our Sleep Calculator.

It’s essential to establish a calming bedtime routine, for example:

Avoid social media and “doom scrolling” before bed (preferably at least an hour before!)
Do mindful activities such as meditation, yoga, or progressive body relaxation.
Complete your wind-down routine: shut off all the lights, do your skincare, brush your teeth, take a cooling shower, and put on comfy PJs.
Clear your mind of unhelpful thoughts and try positive affirmations.

You can find more snooze-worthy advice with our top tips for better sleep, where you’ll learn how to drift off peacefully.