The Dynamics of Dreaming

Nightmares: 10 Common Scary Dreams and What They Really Mean

Interpret your bad dreams and use them to your advantage

Ever been startled awake by your teeth falling out? Or maybe the adrenaline rush of being hunted down by a Siberian tiger or a grizzly bear?

As it turns out, many of the most frequently reported dream themes are nightmares. So if you’ve ever woken up with a heart-stopping jolt, you’re not alone.

Interestingly enough, haunted houses are NOT at the top of the list. You’d think they would be, given how often haunted creepy places play a role in the settings of scary movies — but nope — haunted houses don’t even rank among the top 10.

Here’s what does:

1)Falling
There are certain dream themes that are considered to be universal and falling is one of them. According to a survey of 2,000 Americans done by Amerisleep earlier this year, the most frequent nightmares reported are falling dreams (coming in at 64.7%).

One of the classic metaphors being played out in falling dreams is the sense of not being able to control something that’s happening — a rather common circumstance for most people in waking life. Carl Jung, in Man and His Symbols…