It’s fair to wonder what that was all about when you wake up from a dream where you were unprepared for a test—and you haven’t been in school for years. But while the details of what runs through your mind at night is uniquely yours, there are some common dreams and dream themes that tend to surface for many people.
Doctors say there’s often a reason why you have these dreams, but decoding them isn’t a perfect science. “It’s complicated,” says Timothy Sullivan, M.D., interim chair of psychiatry at Northwell’s Northern Westchester Hospital. “Although there’s a lot of research and theories, we still don’t even precisely know why we dream.”
Many philosophers, neurologists, and psychologists think that dreams are designed to help us work out problems and to reflect on our emotions, Dr. Sullivan says. “But that doesn’t explain entirely why dreaming occurs, or why we dream what we dream,” he adds.
Meet the experts: Beth Malow, M.D., a neurologist and chief of the Division of Sleep Disorders at Vanderbilt Health; Christopher Winter, M.D., a neurologist and sleep medicine physician with Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and host of the Sleep Unplugged podcast; Aarti Grover, M.D., medical director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Tufts Medical Center; Timothy Sullivan, M.D., interim chair of psychiatry at Northwell’s Northern Westchester Hospital.
If you just had a dream and it’s sticking with you, it’s fair to want to know what was behind that. Here’s what doctors think.
What causes dreams?
Dreams seem to be linked to memory processing. “Dreams occur when we are processing memories, with a good analogy being cleaning out the memories from the day that we no longer need to keep or transferring them to long-term storage,” says Beth Malow, M.D., a neurologist and chief of the Division of Sleep Disorders at Vanderbilt Health. “That’s why so many times we dream about something related to an experience we have had.”
Dreams are considered a healthy and normal part of sleep, according to Aarti Grover, M.D., medical director of the Center for Sleep Medicine at Tufts Medical Center. “The dreams may be subjective interpretation, but many people experience recurring themes that reflect universal human concerns,” she says.
People dream when they enter REM sleep, which is a stage of sleep that occupies about 25% of the time you spend sleeping, according to Christopher Winter, M.D., a neurologist and sleep medicine physician with Charlottesville Neurology and Sleep Medicine and host of the Sleep Unplugged podcast. “It is mainly concentrated in the second half of our night and it is important for memory and emotional processing,” he says.
The science behind the most common dreams
Again, everyone dreams differently, but there are some common themes that tend to surface. Here’s what’s likely behind them.
Your teeth fell out.
There could be a few things behind this, including health concerns (not necessarily related to your teeth) or a general feeling of a lack of control, Dr. Winter says. Increased stress in your life lately, including from big life changes, may raise the odds of this, according to Dr. Grover.
You’re being chased.
Whether you’re being chased by another person, an animal, or some unknown creature, Dr. Winter says this can signal anxiety or insecurity. It may also be a reflection of a looming deadline you’re dealing with, he says. Overall, Dr. Grover says this could simply be a reflection of “survival skills as a way of threat avoidance.”
You’re falling.
This is usually related to hypnic jerks, aka sleep starts, that can happen when you first fall asleep, Dr. Winter. “It’s typically thought to be related to loss of control,” Dr. Grover says. Feeling stressed or being behind on your work can raise the risk of this, too, Dr. Winter says.
You’re naked in public.
This can be associated with a range of things, including a lack of confidence, imposter syndrome, or body image issues, according to Dr. Winter. But Dr. Grover says that “vulnerability in the setting of new changes that require you to show your skills” raises the odds of this. (Think: starting a new job or joining a new social circle.)
You’re unprepared for a test.
It’s confusing to wake up feeling stressed from a dream where you took a test you weren’t prepared for when you haven’t been in school for a while. But Dr. Winter says this is a result of “classic performance anxiety and perfectionism.” It could even bleed over from feeling unprepared for an upcoming work presentation or similar assignment.
You can fly.
This can be linked to positive or negative real-world experiences. Flying can mean you’re feeling “liberation typically related to something you may have felt stuck to in real life,” Dr. Grover says. But it can also signal a need to escape from something you’re struggling with, per Dr. Winter.
There’s cheating in your relationship.
Cheating in a dream—whether you did it or a partner did—can signal a lack of connection or feeling neglected in your current relationship, Dr. Grover says. It can also highlight your own insecurity and a fear of being left or abandoned, according to Dr. Winter.
You’re drowning.
The reason for this can be similar to falling, i.e. you feel like something in your life is out of control, Dr. Winter says. But Dr. Grover says it can also be a signal that you’re dealing with a highly emotional or overwhelming situation in your life.
You interact with loved ones who have died.
This can be part of the grieving process, according to Dr. Grover. “These emotions may appear at night as they may have remained unresolved,” she says. You may also have a dream about a late loved one as part of processing their death or because you feel abandoned, Dr. Winter says.
You’re having sex.
There could be a few things behind this one. You may have unmet desires, whether they’re sexual or non-sexual, Dr. Grover says. But it’s also common for people to become aroused during sleep, according to Dr. Winter. “These feelings often spill over into sex,” he says.
Ultimately, experts stress that everyone dreams. The exact meaning behind each one just varies—and that’s what makes them so fascinating.
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