9 Types of Dreams You Have And What They Actually Mean

9 Types of Dreams You Have And What They Actually Mean

Dreams are one of the most fascinating and mysterious parts of the human experience. Whether you’re having Inception-level adventures, or dreaming about drinking Pellegrino water (which actually happened to me once and led to the creation of the word “pretentiousmare”) dreams say a lot about what’s currently happening in your life and what’s going on in your head. These 9 types of dreams below should give you a better sense of what might currently be happening in your subconscious.

1. Dreams About Your Teeth

A dream like this may involve your teeth falling out, breaking apart, coming out from a slight tap, or crumbling into pieces after eating a particularly challenging mouthful of Jujubes. (No? Just me on that last one?) However it happens, this is an incredibly common and disturbing dream for many people. Many of you are probably clutching your mouth or skipping over this section as we speak.

Experts say this dream could have both positive or negative meanings. It can result from the fact that you are growing as a person and/or demonstrate your desire to take better care of yourself, or it can come from anxiety about insecurities, growing older, or huge life changes. Either way, teeth dreams are said to happen during a time of intense transition. But perhaps what is most disturbing about this dream is that there is an actual website called teethfallingoutdream.org. So, at the very least, you are not alone.

2. The Naked Dream

This can happen in a variety of ways – you’re giving a presentation at work and suddenly look down and realize you’re naked. You’re at a special family event and suddenly look down and realize you’re naked. You’re on the cover of Paper Magazine with the title of “Break The Internet” and suddenly look down and realize you’re naked. Basically, the dream consists of you doing something important and then realizing, hoy shit, I’m naked. Most experts say that this represents deep feelings of vulnerability and shamefulness within you. You’re worried about being exposed, noticed, or ridiculed by others.

Often, these dreams happen when you have gone through a significant change in your life – a big move, a new job, a graduation, etc. You might feel like you’re trying to be something you’re not, and you often feel out of place during these times. Overall, the general consensus is that these dreams often occur during times of severe self-doubt and low self-esteem.

3. The Falling Dream

According to Dream Dictionary, the falling dream happens the most frequently out of all the dreams we experience throughout our lifetime. It’s believed to be a sign that something in your life is spiraling out of control, whether that’s your job, your finances, your marriage or relationship, etc. Falling dreams happen frequently when you’re stressed about losing something in your life, and they are very common in people who suffer from depression. It’s usually a sign that it’s time for you to tackle the issue at hand.

4. The Dream Where You Can’t Run

In this dream, it feels like no matter how hard you try, you can’t run. You’re either running in slow motion, or it feels like you’re trying to run through an invisible barrier and failing. This dream is said to occur when you’re suffering from low self-esteem or a lack of self-confidence, or when you’re going through a current situation in which you feel powerless. If you’re looking for a simpler answer, this dream could also just be happening because of REM paralysis, which occurs in the dream state.

The most useful piece of advice I found, which you probably had never thought of, was: “Try to believe in yourself more.” There, that should fix everything.

5. The Dream Where You’re Back At School And Failing Your Exams

It doesn’t matter if you’re on break in the summer, or you graduated last year, or you graduated 10 years ago. Plenty of people still have the dream/nightmare of being back in college and worrying that they’re going to fail out of school. Either you show up one day to class only to learn that you forgot to go for the past 2 months, or you arrive one day to learn that you have a final exam, or it’s 10 o’clock at night and you remember you have a paper due at 9 AM.

Usually, these types of dreams relate to your job. When you were in college, school was your main occupation, so dreams about failing out of school can usually be traced back to your fear that something bad is going to happen at work. Only, your dreams are probably easier because you’re not stuck next to that one coworker who chews apples really loudly.

6. The Dream Where You’re Being Chased By Someone Or Something

Pretty self-explanatory. Something in your life is stressing you out. You’re avoiding confrontation with someone or something. When you stop and face it, you’ll probably stop having this dream. And then you can go back to lovely dreams in which your teeth fall out or you’re naked at the family Christmas party.

7. Flying Dreams

Most flying dreams are pleasant, happy, and exhilarating. Flying dreams are often categorized as lucid dreams, which means that you’re aware of the fact that you’re dreaming. Usually, when people have lucid dreams, they start controlling the plot and the situations within their dreams, and often because of this, many people try to do things they can’t do in real life, like flying or cartwheeling or correctly pronouncing the word “anemone.” You probably don’t have to look into this one too much. It just means that you finally know how to answer the question “what super power would you choose?” when you play boring ice breaker activities during office retreats.

8. The Dream Where You Think You Woke Up But You Didn’t

This is most commonly referred to as a “false awakening.” It happens when you think you’ve woken up and you’ve started going about your daily routine: brushing your teeth, checking your phone, getting dressed for work, making a cup of coffee, etc. These dreams usually happen when you’re extremely worried about the upcoming day and you’re doing everything you can to avoid it. They often occur when you’re nearly awake but not quite, so the best way to figure out if you’re really awake is to pay attention to the thoughts in your head: if you have any doubts about this reality, it’s probably a dream. If you can’t recite your cell phone number, it’s probably a dream, etc.

9. The Having-To-Pee Dream

Let’s avoid any Freudian hypotheses relating to sexuality and just go ahead and say that you probably just really, really have to pee. Hurry up and wake up, or else you’re going to have some laundry to do. Thought Catalog Logo Mark

I’m a staff writer for Thought Catalog. I like comedy and improv. I live in Chicago. My Uber rating is just okay.

Keep up with Kim on Instagram and Twitter