What Are the Most Common Nightmares
Just what are the most frequent subjects for nightmares ?
The Top Ten Most Common Nightmares
Most people have experienced nightmares, some continually so. Thankfully your host has never really been plagued by bad dreams - weird ones yes, but not nightmares.
That said, I’ve had my fair share of living nightmares whilst wide awake !
Anyway, here are the results of an extensive poll making up the top ten subjects of scarey dreams
The percentage figure is set against the actual number polled
32% - Being Chased
7% - Drowning
7% - Being Trapped
6% - Partner Leaving Them
6% - Being Injured
5% - Teeth Falling Out
3% - Being Naked in Public
2% - Misssing a Plane or Train etc
2% - Contacted By the Dead
1% - Natural Disasters
So nearly a third of everyone asked had bad dreams about being chased, fairlt straight forward presumably but what’s with Teeth Falling Out and Being Naked in Public ?
Sleep Tight !
Rod
the dinosaur said,
August 23, 2007 @ 9:53 pm
I can only remember one nightmare I’ve had as an adult, I woke up shouting and soaked in sweat having experienced the terror of being in the midst of a major disaster, it turned out to be an accurate premonition of an event that occured about a month later with a large loss of life! Weird or what?
Rod said,
August 24, 2007 @ 9:26 am
Dino,
you do hear of these things but normally from more ‘eccentric’ people !
Logic would dictate that it is pure coincidence of course.
But only one dream then the event …
Spooky
ROBERTO MURCIA said,
February 3, 2009 @ 8:56 am
I USED TO WAKE UP SCARED FEELING LIKE THERE WAS A PRESENCE ON TOP OF ME HOLDING ME DOWN SO I COULDNT MOVE, COULDNT SCREAM AND SOMETIMES COULDNT BREATH. I WANT TO NO KNOW WHAT IT IS. CAUSE MY DAUGHTER WOKE ME UP DESCRIBING THE SAME THING AND I FEEL LIKE ITS A BAD SPIRIT OUT TO GET ME AND NOW MY FAMILY.
Louise said,
March 21, 2009 @ 3:47 pm
Don’t worry Roberto, this is a very common experience. It’s a form of sleep paralysis - your body is prevented from acting out your dreams by a form of paralysis when you sleep, and sometimes you wake up and this mechanism has forgotten to turn itself off. So no need to worry about bad spirits! If you experience it again, the best thing to do is lie still and be calm. The feeling will pass and you will wake up properly.
Rod said,
March 21, 2009 @ 7:05 pm
Lousie,
thanks for taking the time to leave this very helpful and informative comment - greatly appreciated.
Welcome to the site and I hope you’ll return to comment again
All the best
Rod
Ian said,
September 18, 2009 @ 1:34 am
Doing some basic research for a fantasy book involving dreams. Interesting to see that being chased is almost 5 times more common than any other nightmare.
Ross said,
October 1, 2009 @ 10:37 pm
Yeah I had the teeth falling out a few times now, freaks me out a bit.
Otherwise my most common scenario is me trying to protect my house / family from violent burglers…
or in a more fictional dream zombies lol.
I am quite suprised to see that ‘Falling’ isnt in the top 10
I used to have falling and drowning dreams a hell of alot when I was a kid.
Rod said,
October 2, 2009 @ 9:01 am
Hi Ross,
thanks fo rthe comment and welcome to the site.
I too know of the ‘falling sensation’ dream - I’ve had it a lot.
I heard something about it going back to the dawn of time when we used to sleep in trees and we’d react immediately to that falling feeling . . .
Cheers
Rod
Chesney said,
April 27, 2010 @ 6:43 am
When I was a kid I had this nightmare regularly. It was 4 powerballs that struggled to get through sharp metal objects and it made my mind jumbled. I would try to reach for the door of my room and it just kept getting further away and I would then go back to this powerball thing. The powerballs were pink, blue, yellow and green. After that I would wake up (sometimes on my landing knelt down crying and sometimes in my bed crying). Anyone else had this nightmare? Someone at my school said that he had this nightmare but I didn’t believe him.
Toshimoko29 said,
May 28, 2010 @ 6:48 pm
After having a dream of my teeth falling out about 7 years ago, I looked in a dream book at the store I worked at. It said those dreams indicated a feeling of getting older, becoming less attractive, that sort of thing. 7 years ago, I was 25 and I certainly didn’t feel old but I could tell that I had done a lot of growing up, coming out of a big “party” phase and becoming more responsible. I felt older. So it made sense to me, and I’m not surprised to see it on this list.
Matt said,
July 9, 2010 @ 1:32 pm
I had a dream where the background was black and giant boulders were smashing against tiny needles making me feel like i was gonna be smashed or making me feel ant sized literaly
Teal said,
July 9, 2010 @ 10:05 pm
I frequently have dreams about sharks attacking me and, and bears. The bears do not always attack me but always have a very close eye on me. I live in a place where there are not bears or sharks, so I’m not sure what the deal is!
JOZEE said,
July 10, 2010 @ 8:10 am
WHEN I WAS YOUNG I HAD A NIGHTMARE THAT I WAS AT THE MALL, AND I HAD TO PEE REALLY BADLY, SO I RAN INTO THE MALL BATHROOM, AND ALL THE STALLS WERE BLACK, THE FLOOR, CEILING, TOILETS, WALLS, EVERYTHING WAS BLACK. EVEN THE INSIDE OF THE TOILETS. AND I WAS SO FREAKED OUT TO PEE IN THERE CUZ IT WAS KIND OF EERIE, BUT I DID ANYWAY, AND WHEN I WOKE UP, I HAD PEED MY BED. LOL.
maria said,
July 18, 2010 @ 2:53 pm
It seems like I have had this dream all of my life. Its starts with me encountering a white dog/wolf. Sometimes it talks to me or sometimes its just present whenever I look around. Its like its guarding me. Could this be an angel or the hounds of hell Im still not sure. Occasionally he will attach other people or animals that try to hurt me. For example one dream he ripped apart 3 black bears. What does this fream mean. I have been having it since about 5 years old. When I encounter the big bad wolf one day in person. Or maybe I already have?
molly moo said,
August 1, 2010 @ 1:28 pm
When i was about 6 i had this dream of somone tattoing my mum my the tattoo turns you to a ragdoll thingy in the dream i defeated the person but 2 years later i had this terrifying dream of the person saying i will get you…i will get you -i woke with mark where i had grabed my self in the night in fright hope you can tell me what the cheese it means
Jelly said,
March 26, 2011 @ 12:10 am
I have nightmares of objects being flung around the room. Even hearing angry voices that I couldn’t make out in my head as well. It’s quite hard to describe. I was standing in the middle of a room and just daily objects were being thrown violently around me, occasionly I heard the voices of just ordinary men or women. I want to know what this dream could mean, I’ve been suffering from dreams like this for over two weeks now! I’ve never used to have trouble sleeping before. Now I wake up shivering feeling some sort of presence in the room, I’ve been telling my parents about this and they think it’s due to my stress in GCSE’s as I’m in year 11 now. I’m not sure, does anyone know or have experienced this nightmare before?
Krcpfed said,
May 16, 2011 @ 7:52 am
I constantly have the dream where my teeth become very loose and break or even start to crumble. I’ve done a little research on it and have found that it could be caused by a lack of confidence with my looks.