Are You Being Chased While Your Teeth Fall Out?
What’s better than a soft pillow after a long day? Your weary head hits the cotton, and you drift off into peaceful slumber—that is, right until your brain betrays you. Everyday anxieties refuse to be ignored, and they’ll find a way into your subconscious one way or another. With that, let’s dive into the most common nightmares and what they’re trying to tell you.
1. Being Late
No one likes being late, but it’s particularly upsetting during a nightmare. Those anxious feelings come rushing in, leaving you to race through town or frantically message your friends that you’re on the way. But no matter how hard you try, you only get further from your destination, and then wake up in a panic.
2. Getting Lost
The only thing worse than racing through the city is being lost in one. Studies show that being lost accounts for nearly 16% of participants’ nightmares; other feelings of helplessness, such as an inability to speak, also kept people up at night.
3. Being Chased
Chase scenes play out in a lot of people’s minds. The reality is that it’s one of the common dreams in general, though it makes up at least 14% of surveyed nightmares. The scariest thing about this dream is that it’s not always shadows or monsters—sometimes, we’re chased by those closest to us.
4. Teeth Falling Out
You brush, you floss, you visit your dentist twice a year. Still, your brain can’t resist this classic nightmare. Some people toss and turn at the thought of their teeth rotting away, while others succumb to them falling out altogether.
5. Tornadoes
When you’re not trapped in their path, tornadoes are one of nature’s most devastating beauties. However, when they’re on the horizon, they’re nothing more than a chaotic cyclone ripping apart everything in its path. Some unlucky sleepers may find themselves trapped right in the destruction.
6. Some Kind of Failure
Failure looks different for everyone, but that’s exactly why so many people dream about it. Whether it’s flunking an exam or forgetting something important, studies show that failure haunts at least 18% of dreamers.
7. Physical Aggression
Have you ever dreamt of a fist fight? Maybe you outran a criminal or relived a traumatic event. As terrifying as those nightmares are, you’re not alone. Research shows that nearly 50% of studied participants experienced some kind of physical aggression in their worst dreams.
8. Being Bare in Public
They say when you’re nervous in front of people that you should picture them in the buff. Sure, that’s one strategy—if you don’t mind stepping into their biggest fears! Many unhappy sleepers dream of lost clothing, often leaving them stranded in public or in important meetings.
9. Falling
The good news is that our brains always wake us up before we hit the ground. The bad news is that we’re going to wake up in a cold sweat. Plenty of disturbed dreams feature falling, and you may feel it in different ways. Some people trip on the sidewalk, others fall from planes, and some nosedive off cliffs.
10. Infidelity
Your relationship could be honky dory, but that doesn’t mean your brain thinks so. Happy couples everywhere often dream about their worst fear: an adulterous partner. It happens so often, in fact, that it accounts for roughly 21% of nightmares.
Okay, everyone—take a deep breath! We’re out of the weeds and back in the sun. With all those scares out of the way, it’s time we explored a few reasons behind them.
1. Overwhelming Expectations
Nightmares are no fun, but they are good windows into our psyches. When we dream about being late, that usually signals a loss of control in our real lives. You might feel unprepared, like you missed an opportunity, or totally overwhelmed with expectations.
2. Loss of Direction
Getting lost often translates to feelings of uncertainty. Aimless wandering indicates that you’re confused about a situation or unsure about what’s next. It could also be a sign that you’re struggling for something just out of reach.
3. Unresolved Anxiety
Think of getting chased like your worst fears haunting you—the longer you leave them unresolved, the harder they’ll circle back around. Whatever you’re avoiding found its way into your nightmares, and it can be anything from jealousy or anger to people you need to confront.
4. Your Sense of Appearance
Well, rotten teeth are one way to think about our appearance! Teeth fall out of our mouths when we worry about others’ perception of us. Deep-rooted insecurities and issues with self-confidence also come into play. Lost teeth can also symbolize a loss of control.
5. Feeling Out of Control
What do tornadoes remind you of? Dangerous wind speeds? Homes ripped apart? A threatening sky looming overhead? It’s hard to feel in control when Mother Nature comes knocking, and tornadoes symbolize that powerlessness. Tornadoes also indicate anxieties bubbling to the surface, crashing through your life.
6. Underlying Fears of Inadequacy
Wait a minute—you graduated years ago. Why did you just fail that exam? Unfortunately, those feelings of anxiety manifest during adulthood, too. Underlying fears of inadequacy and even imposter syndrome can lead to nightmares about failure.
7. Intense Fears of Certain Situations
Nightmares are more commonly reported among people with mental illness. Though physical aggression is typical in nightmares, past trauma, depressive disorders, and insomnia can trigger violent dreams. PTSD is also a classic culprit for physical violence in nightmares.
8. Vulnerability
We all feel a little…exposed without clothes. But in our nightmares, those feelings only get worse, and they're good indicators of vulnerability. Maybe you just shared something personal with your partner. Maybe you don’t feel like you fit in at work. It might even be that you’re hiding the truth from someone. However vulnerability looks, don’t be surprised to find yourself bare on the street.
9. A Struggle for Balance
Whether falling off a cliff or falling from a helicopter, that helplessness only signals a struggle for balance in your everyday life. You may feel completely overwhelmed or like you’ve lost control of a situation. When we lose our grip on important matters, those fears manifest in our nightmares.
10. Relationship Insecurities
Everyone struggles with internal insecurities, no matter how well their relationship is going. Those pesky fears gnaw at the brain and seep into our dreams, leading to nightmares about infidelity. If they happen more often than not, it could be a sign you need to address some deep-seated fears.
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