Sleep is supposed to a be a restorative time that allows our bodies and minds to recharge from day-to-day happenings. But having a nightmare changes all of that. Dreams involving scary, stressful, or triggering scenarios can leave us gasping for air upon waking up \u2014 which is obviously upsetting. But dreams are simply a manifestation of our subconscious minds, so understanding the meaning of the most common nightmares is important.<\/p>\n
Read more:\u00a0What Do Dreams About Cats Mean? Here’s What Experts Say<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n In most cases,\u00a0common nightmare meanings<\/a>\u00a0relate to fears that we experience in our waking lives, both symbolically and directly. While some night frights are simply the result of watching too many horror movies before bed, many can actually be used as a subconscious compass that\u2019ll point us toward areas of our lives that need some attention or healing. Discovering the\u00a0meaning of your nightmares<\/a>\u00a0can help to illuminate your repressed or unchecked fears \u2014 and once you\u00a0figure out the meaning of a bad dream<\/a>\u00a0and address the underlying issue, you\u2019re less likely to experience it again.<\/p>\n \u201cNightmares are actually the\u00a0most important dreams<\/a>\u00a0of all, as they\u2019re caused by our most difficult and uncomfortable real-life issues,\u201d\u00a0Lauri Quinn Loewenberg<\/a>, professional dream analyst and author of\u00a0Dream On It<\/a><\/em>, tells Bustle. \u201cThey\u2019re shining a light on something your subconscious wants you to correct \u2014 so instead of fearing nightmares, look at them as a brutally honest best friend who may be telling you something you don’t want to hear, but is [ultimately] for your benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n Next time you wake up from a creepy dream, channel the stress into a subconscious study by writing down the details and doing some DIY\u00a0dream interpretation work<\/a>. Read on to find out the\u00a0most common nightmare meanings<\/a>\u00a0and what they\u2019re trying to tell you about your waking life.<\/p>\n Feeling Like You\u2019re Falling<\/p>\n Almost all of us have been abruptly woken from sleep with the visceral (and heart-pounding) sensation that we\u2019re falling into a bottomless void.\u00a0Dreams about falling<\/a>\u00a0often correspond with situations in which we feel unsupported or like we\u2019re floundering. \u201cThis indicates that something in real life is bringing you down \u2014 perhaps plans fell through, someone disappointed you, or a relationship ended,\u201d Loewenberg says. \u201cWhatever the case, it’s a cry from your subconscious to find a way to turn these free-falling emotions around.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Not Being Able To Speak<\/p>\n Being\u00a0unable to speak in a dream<\/a>\u00a0or scream for help is often a nightmarish metaphor for feeling helpless or silenced about something in your waking life. \u201cYou are either not being heard in real life or you simply aren’t speaking up,\u201d Loewenberg says. \u201cWhere in your life does it feel like you have no say in the matter? Your subconscious wants you to find your voice, speak your truth, and be heard.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Having Your Teeth Fall Out<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve ever had a\u00a0nightmare about your teeth falling out<\/a>, getting knocked loose, or being missing, it could indicate that you\u2019re feeling vulnerable about sharing a little too much information about something private. \u201cDreams that involve any part of the mouth (teeth being the most common) are usually connected to communication issues,\u201d Loewenberg says. \u201cTeeth are meant to remain fixed in our mouth, so when they fall out in a dream, it is often a side effect of loose speech in real life \u2014 meaning we may have allowed something out of our mouth that should have stayed put!\u201d If you\u2019re feeling insecure about any recent conversations, do your best to clear the air.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Being Chased<\/p>\n If there\u2019s something important that you\u2019re scared to deal with or a pressing issue that you\u2019re repressing, it might manifest as a\u00a0nightmare about being chased<\/a>. \u201cRunning from something or someone in a dream is directly connected to avoidance in real life,\u201d Loewenberg says. \u201cWhat difficult issue are you running from? Is there something from your past you are trying to get away from? The way to make this dream stop is to face the issue.\u201d Mustering up the courage to face the situation will likely cause the bad dreams to let up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Dying Or Dealing With Death<\/p>\n Having a nightmare about your own death or the death of a loved one can be unsettling, but\u00a0dreaming about dying<\/a>\u00a0usually just means you\u2019re undergoing some sort of personal transformation. \u201cTo the dreaming mind, death is the end of life as you now know it, so it means something in your life is changing or coming to an end,\u201d Loewenberg says. \u201cThese dreams allow us to recognize the changes so that we can let go of what is no longer needed and embrace what is to come.\u201d Change, like death, is inevitable \u2014 and these nightmares can help us to better accept that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Being Naked In Public<\/p>\n Realizing you\u2019ve left the house without any pants on would be panic-inducing in more ways than one \u2014 and if this happens in a dream, it likely means you\u2019re feeling self-conscious or over-exposed about something in your waking life. \u201cAny sort of real-life situation that causes you to feel judged and scrutinized seems to be the main reason people\u00a0dream of being naked in public<\/a>,\u201d Loewenberg says. \u201cPay close attention to the other people in your naked dream \u2014 you may find that no one else seems to notice or care, which is a reminder that you are giving way too much thought and energy to how others perceive you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Seeing A Dead Person<\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s a\u00a0nightmare about a ghost<\/a>, a dead body, or a loved one who has passed on in real life, having a\u00a0Sixth Sense<\/em>-esque \u201cI see dead people\u201d moment in a dream is super creepy \u2014 and it can mean different things, depending on the context. \u201cA corpse in a dream would symbolize something in your life that is now over and done with, that you can now bury and move on from,\u201d Loewenberg says. \u201cIf you\u00a0dream of a person you know who has died<\/a>, then it could either be part of your grief process or that person could represent some quality that you identify with.\u201d You\u2019ll have to analyze your own dream symbols to figure out what your subconscious is telling you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sleep is supposed to a be a restorative time that allows our bodies and minds to recharge from day-to-day happenings. But having a nightmare changes all of that. Dreams involving scary, stressful, or triggering scenarios can leave us gasping for air upon waking up \u2014 which is obviously upsetting. But dreams are simply a manifestation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n