Your dreams decoded: Scientists reveal what your nighttime visions say about you – and why night terrors might actually be GOOD for you

By XANTHA LEATHAM, EXECUTIVE SCIENCE EDITOR

Published: | Updated:

It’s never nice waking up and remembering a scary dream – but having night terrors might actually be a good thing, experts say.

Researchers have found that feeling fear during your nighttime visions could indicate you’re better at handling your emotions.

For the study the team, from the University of Kansas, analysed dream reports from more than 500 people.

They used artificial intelligence to sort emotions reported in the dreams, measuring levels of fear as well as joy.

‘The idea I’ve been most interested in was whether emotions in our dreams have any impact on our emotions in the day,’ Garrett Baber, a doctoral student in clinical psychiatry at the University of Kansas, said.

‘We’re in a safe environment in our dreams. We cannot technically be harmed.

‘If all goes wrong in a dream, we wake up.

‘As long as sleep is not really disrupted, if it’s not rising to the level of a nightmare, fear in our dreams might actually help us better deal with our emotions in the day.’

Having a scary dream - for example when you are running away from something - might actually be good for you
Experts said dreams where you feel fear can help you better deal with your emotions

Having a scary dream – for example when you are running away from something – might actually be good for you. Experts said dreams where you feel fear can help you better deal with your emotions

Mr Baber explained one prevalent idea is that fear in dreams could help people deal with fear in their waking life – much like exposure therapy.

He said if this theory held, more fear in dreams should predict a better mood the next day.

‘But we found two different results,’ he said. ‘On the day–to–day level, more fear in dreams was associated with worse mood in the morning.

‘However, people who reported using more adaptive emotion regulation strategies — such as acceptance rather than suppression — showed higher levels of fear in their dreams on average.’

This means there is a slight discrepancy in the findings, he explained.

‘In the short term, more fear in dreams is associated with worse mood,’ he said. ‘But at the individual level, people who are better at handling their emotions tend to have more fear in their dreams.’

However, he stressed that experiencing fear in a dream is not the same as having a nightmare, which is defined as a dream that is so distressing it wakes the person up.

Having chronic nightmares is likely to be linked to negative mental and physical health challenges.

The most common nightmares included being chased, lost or trapped, falling or being unable to move

The most common nightmares included being chased, lost or trapped, falling or being unable to move

Being able to regulate your emotions is important as it is a cornerstone of mental health, physical wellbeing and social success.

The 13 most common dreams in the UK

  1. Falling – 53%
  2. Unable to run – 42%
  3. Partner cheating – 22%
  4. Someone dying – 21%
  5. Teeth falling out – 21% 
  6. Snogging a celebrity – 20%
  7. Exam you haven't revised for – 19%
  8. Flying – 18%
  9. Friends/family being mean – 16%
  10. Being late – 15%
  11. Finding money – 14%
  12. Unable to find the toilet – 12%
  13. Naked in public – 12% 

It involves flexibly managing emotional responses based on the situation – using strategies like cognitive reappraisal (reinterpreting a situation positively), acceptance, and problem–solving rather than suppressing or avoiding feelings.

The findings, published in the journal Sleep, also revealed people who experienced joy alongside fear in their dreams were less likely to report a negative mood in the morning.

This suggests that emotional complexity in dreams may have a protective effect, the team said.

While some dreams are blissful and others are terrifying, the question of why exactly we dream has perplexed scientists for centuries.

But dream analysts commonly believe scenarios in our dreams can reflect our mind's secret fears and desires.

Experts have linked dreaming of falling to feelings of helplessness and fears of failure, while dreams that involve teeth falling out could indicate a concern with communication.

Dreaming of being naked in a public place may reflect being conscious of your body, while being chased could relate to being anxious in real life.

Sleep tech brand Simba previously conducted the first–ever Dream Census, capturing and analysing the dreams of 2,000 adults in the UK over the course of one week.

Their research revealed a nation caught between anxiety and escapism, with stress–fuelled nightmares gripping some sleepers while others dream of soaring into adventure.

A quarter of adults found themselves trapped in anxiety–driven dreams, whether being chased, lost or running late, they revealed.

Meanwhile 23 per cent of those surveyed escaped into more uplifting dreamscapes filled with romance, adventure and the sensation of success.

How to interpret your dreams – good or bad

Though these interpretations might give you an idea of what's behind your nightmares, the meaning of dreams will vary according to your own personal associations and experiences.

Here, Sarah Bick, a clinical and cognitive hypnotherapist working with the subconscious mind at Inna Therapies, details how to interpret your own unique dreams, bad or good:

  1. Write down the dream in detail as soon as you wake.
  2. Make free associations to what each of the dream elements mean to you. Don't research it, rather ask yourself what comes to mind first when you think of, say, a rabbit. Fast, white, magician, magic? Or perhaps underground, family, babies, running away?
  3. Connect the dream to what is happening in your own life. What resonates as being true for you?
  4. Interpret the dream, combining what you've written into a coherent message, until it gives you an 'aha' moment. Dreams rarely go over material that is resolved, rather that which is yet to be solved.