10 Common Nightmares & Their Hidden Meanings

10. Infestation – Nightmare Hidden Meanings

Having an infestation at home can totally feel like a nightmare, right? So, dreaming about a bunch of creepy crawlers or fuzzy little critters might be tied to a real fear or something more symbolic.

If it’s the symbolic kind, an infestation could mean you’re worried about germs or dirt, or maybe it’s just your brain linking those feelings to mice, roaches, or rats, according to Schredl. Since these dreams can play out in all sorts of ways, there are plenty of interpretations.

It might also show that you’re feeling a bit insecure or unsafe in your own space, Schredl adds.

9. Evil presence – 10 common nightmares

Next up, we’ve got that creepy vibe of thinking there’s a ghost, demon, or alien lurking around. This could mean you actually see something spooky or just have a hunch that something’s off.

These kinds of sleep hallucinations often hit people dealing with sleep paralysis, as noted by the Cleveland Clinic. This weird sleep disorder happens when the parts of your brain that keep you still during sleep and the ones that keep you dreaming get their wires crossed.

In this state, folks often say they see a ghoul hovering over them while they’re trying to move. Talk about a serious lack of beauty sleep!

These horror-movie characters are probably your brain’s way of using familiar cultural symbols to show your fears, as Baland Jalal, a neuroscientist at Harvard, explained to the Guardian.

Imagine this: you grew up hearing your grandma say that spirits and demons roam your village at night. You wake up during REM sleep, spot a shadow, and panic, which leads to more hallucinations that your mind spins into that cultural story, making you think a demon is coming for you.

8. Catastrophe

Fires, floods, nuclear fallout—you name it, disasters are a common theme in dreams, ranking eighth in the survey with about 4.5% of dream reports.

These dreams might signal some general anxiety about the future, as your brain mulls over something you’re worried might happen, according to Stanford’s Corelli. It really depends on whether you see the changes coming your way as good or bad.

Or, if you’ve been through a natural disaster, it could just be your mind working through that experience as a way of processing your trauma, say researchers from the University of Buffalo.

7. Feeling worried – Nightmare Hidden Meanings

Ever had that nagging feeling that you’ve forgotten something super important, but you just can’t put your finger on it?

A lot of people dream about that feeling, with worry and apprehension coming in as the seventh most common nightmare.

In Schredl’s study, folks reported feeling like something was off, but they couldn’t quite figure out what it was, which just made them more uneasy.

Seems like the fear of the unknown is something we all share, even in our dreams.

6. Disagreements

Interpersonal conflicts take the sixth spot on the list. In these dreams, you might find yourself in a non-physical fight or witnessing one.

These dreams could reflect some social anxiety you have about a personal relationship, according to Psychology Today. You might be dreading a conversation you need to have or working through a conflict that’s already happened.

5. Sickness and death

Health worries and death come in right in the middle of the survey, showing up in 11.6% of reports.

In these nightmares, people often see themselves or a loved one getting sick, dealing with a disease, or even dying.

These dreams can be pretty complex and might mean different things depending on what you’re going through.

They could symbolize a general fear of illness and death or feeling out of control regarding your health, as Insider previously reported.

It might also be a way for you to process grief, according to a 2020 study.

4. Being chased

In these dreams, you might be running from a person, an evil presence, or something you can’t even see.

Schredl explains that the basic patterns of a chase dream can help you figure out what it means. In a nightmare like this, you’re scared as you run from something that feels like it’s getting closer.

Feeling fear and running away from it is like psychology 101. This is what they call avoidance behavior, Schredl says. So, generally, dreams about being chased usually mean you’re anxious about something you might be trying to avoid.

3. Accidents

This broad category of dreams includes stuff like falling, car crashes, drowning, and more. Schredl found this theme in 15% of reports.

But when you break it down by gender, guys reported way more falling dreams than gals.

These dreams might be more straightforward than you think, representing fears of heights, driving, or the ocean. But they could also symbolize feeling out of control, fearing death, or feeling helpless, Schredl told Insider.

He compared our brains to movie directors.

“If you’re a film director trying to show the feeling of being completely helpless, a falling dream might be the perfect way to do it. Because in a falling dream, all you know is that you’re going to fall and probably die,” he said.

So, these accident dreams can be our brain’s way of dramatically expressing how we feel about our own mortality, capabilities, or health.

2. Physical aggression

Taking the whole disagreement thing a step further, we land at the second most common dream: physical aggression.

In these dreams, you might get attacked, join a fight, or see others going at it.

This type of nightmare could reflect social anxiety, a real fear of violence, or worries about being vulnerable to criticism from others, as Insider previously reported.

1. Failure

And finally, coming in at number one is the broad category of failure and helplessness, which Schredl found in 18% of reports.

This covers everything from not hitting a goal, being late, getting lost, not being able to speak, losing or forgetting something, or just making a mistake.

This includes that classic dream of failing a test, which made up 3% of all nightmares reported in the study.

Since this is such a broad category, there are tons of different interpretations. Exam dreams might mean you’re feeling insecure about your performance at work or home, or maybe you’re just recalling a troubling event, Schredl said.

Looking at the pattern of all these dreams gives us some insight. For example, in a nightmare about an exam, it goes something like this:

“Someone else is watching, how do you perform? Do you know what you need to know? And of course, this is a typical situation for, I think, every person who is working,” Schredl said.

So, if you’re dreaming about these scenarios, you might just be feeling a bit insecure about your abilities or how others perceive your performance.