For years, dreams of my teeth cracking, loosening or falling out plagued my sleep. Some of my loved ones have repeatedly dreamed of flying, rolling away in a self-operating car or running late for school or work. These aren鈥檛 typical nightmares, which usually happen once. They鈥檙e some of the most common recurring dreams, which tend to lean negative and can take some work to overcome.
鈥淩ecurring dreams are likelier to be about very profound life experiences or just very character logic issues that are kind of guaranteed to recur in waking life because they鈥檙e part of you rather than a one-time event,鈥 said dream researcher Deirdre Barrett, a lecturer of psychology in the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.
Since our dreams typically don鈥檛 repeat themselves, all it takes is dreaming the same dream twice or more for it to be considered recurring, Barrett said. They鈥檙e more common in childhood, Barrett said, but can last into adulthood. And recurring dreams don鈥檛 always happen in close proximity to each other 鈥 they can pop up multiple times per month or years apart, Barrett said.
Recurring dreams might be the same every time, or they might just recycle the same types of scenarios or worries, experts said.
鈥淚t is difficult to assess the prevalence of recurrent dreams because it is not something that happens on a regular basis for most people,鈥 said clinical psychologist Dr. Nirit Soffer-Dudek, a senior lecturer in the department of psychology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, via email. 鈥淎nd when people are asked about past dreams in their life, they may be influenced by memory distortions, interest in dreams (or lack thereof), or other factors.鈥
Regardless, anything that comes up repeatedly is worth investigating, said sleep medicine specialist Dr. Alex Dimitriu, founder of Silicon Psych, a psychiatry and sleep medicine practice in Menlo Park, California.
鈥淧eople have this kind of touch-and-go approach with things that are uncomfortable or fear-inducing, and I think dreams are, in some way, the same way,鈥 Dimitriu said. 鈥淎s a psychiatrist, I鈥檓 inclined to say that there is some message that might be trying to be conveyed to you. And the answer, then, might be to figure out what that is. And I think when you do, you might be able to put the thing to rest.鈥
Here鈥檚 how to figure out what鈥檚 triggering your recurring dreams.
For some recurring dreams, the message is straightforward 鈥 if you repeatedly dream about running late for school or work, you鈥檙e probably just often nervous about being unprepared for those things. But others, despite their commonness, might not have a universal meaning, requiring you do some soul-searching.
鈥淚n interpretation, we really don鈥檛 believe there are universal symbols, but that (it鈥檚) what an individual鈥檚 own sort of personal symbol system is and their associations to something are,鈥 Barrett said.
In addition to unpreparedness, other common themes of recurring dreams include social embarrassment, feelings of inadequacy compared with others, and danger in the form of car crashes or natural disasters, Barrett and Dimitriu said.
Some people have dreams revolving around test anxiety even if they haven鈥檛 been in school for years, Barrett said. It can reflect a general fear of failure or a sense of being judged by authority figures. Dreams of tooth loss or damage might have to do with loss of something else in your life, feelings of hopelessness or defencelessness, or health concerns.
When faced with a recurring dream, ask yourself what the message could be, Dimitriu said. What is your relationship to the things or people in the dream? What are your fears and belief systems about those things? What are the top five things in your life that might be triggering it or related to it? What are you really worried about?
鈥淚 definitely think it鈥檚 fine to do informal dream interpretation, either on your own or with a close, trusted person who may just sort of see things to question in it that you don鈥檛,鈥 Barrett said.
People with post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety are more likely to have recurring dreams, especially ones with anxious natures, Dimitriu said. A PTSD dream stems from a trauma so severe it keeps returning as a nightmare.
鈥淭he brain is trying to resolve something and lay it to rest,鈥 he added. But 鈥渋n people with PTSD, their dreams are so vivid that they wake them up from sleep. And that becomes the problem because the dream never gets processed. 鈥 And that鈥檚 why it recurs 鈥 it鈥檚 unfinished work.鈥
Sometimes recurring dreams can point to biological sources, too. 鈥淧eople with sleep apnea will report dreams of, like, drowning, suffocating, giant waves, gasping for air, being underwater or being choked,鈥 Dimitriu said, when they鈥檙e actually experiencing breathing interruptions because of their condition.
There can be environmental triggers as well, such as a car alarm down the street or a dripping faucet, he added, which can set off dreams with imagery of those things.
Once you have a better sense of what your worries are, writing about them before bed can be helpful to alleviate negative recurring dreams and stress in general.
鈥淔or my patients and myself, journaling is such a powerful tool,鈥 Dimitriu said. Meditating could also help.
When you know what fear is behind your dream, Dimitriu recommended processing it via used in cognitive behavioral therapy: What is your automatic thought? What鈥檚 your automatic feeling? Lastly, what鈥檚 the more reality-based alternative thought?
, also known as imagery rehearsal therapy, can be effective for both recurring dreams and nightmares. This approach involves writing down in detail the narrative elements of the dream, then rewriting it so it ends positively. Right before falling asleep, you鈥檇 set the intention to re-dream by saying aloud, 鈥淚f or when I have the beginnings of the same bad dream, I will be able to instead have this much better dream with a positive outcome.鈥
If your recurring dreams are making you stressed or unhappy, causing other symptoms or starting to impair your ability to function on a regular basis, it鈥檚 time to seek professional help, experts said.
Recurring dreams could also stem from poor sleep hygiene, Soffer-Dudek said.
鈥淎 lot of awkward things happen in the night when people are sleep deprived, drink caffeine too late, drink alcohol too late, worked too late or slept four hours last night because they stayed up too late,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he fundamental core and foundation of healthy dream life starts with healthy sleep.鈥
Dimitriu also recommended limiting distractions that interfere with your time to reflect and process, such as spending unnecessary time on your phone or always filling the silence.
When your mind is always occupied, 鈥渨hat happens is all that processing has to happen somewhere,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o now there鈥檚 more pressure for that to happen in your dream life.鈥
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