It’s like watching a rerun in your sleep: you find yourself unprepared for a test, lose control of your vehicle, or are pursued by a shadowy figure. Recurring dreams tend to repeat themselves.
“These dreams share similar content, emotions, or story structures,” explains Antonio Zadra, a psychology professor and senior researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine at the University of Montreal. Typical themes involve falling, losing teeth, feeling paralyzed, experiencing a natural disaster, or being cheated. However, Zadra, co-author of When Brains Dream: Exploring the Science and Mystery of Sleep, notes that “many recurring dreams are unique, and some individuals have multiple recurring dreams.”
Here’s what you should know about why these dreams persist.
How common are recurring dreams?
Experts indicate that most adults experience recurring dreams at some point. Women are more prone to them for several reasons. “Generally, women recall their dreams more frequently than men and are also more likely to have disturbing dreams,” says Michael R. Nadorff, a psychology professor at Mississippi State University and past president of the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine.
The strange makeup of recurring dreams
Research suggests that recurring dreams are often negative, involving feelings of helplessness, failure, or being chased. However, they can sometimes be positive, such as discovering a new room in your house or excelling at an activity like skiing.
Sometimes, these recurring dream themes may seem random. Other times, they could be linked to past experiences or current worries. Studies show that people who feel ineffective and disconnected are more likely to have negative recurring dreams.
Deirdre Barrett, a dream researcher at Harvard Medical School and author of The Committee of Sleep and Pandemic Dreams, says these dreams “often coincide with heightened stress or significant life changes, suggesting they indicate underlying anxiety.” She adds, “A specific type of recurring dream affects trauma survivors, especially those with post-traumatic stress disorder, who have nightmares related to their traumatic experiences.”
How recurring dreams make people feel
Recurring dreams can affect people differently based on their emotional tone and whether they’re remembered. Michael Schredl, head of research at the sleep laboratory at the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, notes that “the impact of these dreams greatly depends on how often they occur.” He suggests that a recurring dream once or several times a year might be puzzling but not disturbing. However, “if the frequency is weekly or more, it could lead to clinically significant distress.”
The content of the dream also plays a role. A neutral or strange dream might leave you perplexed, while positive dreams, like mastering a dance move, can make you feel inspired or hopeful.
Upsetting recurring dreams can result in a next-day emotional hangover. Barrett explains, “Recurring negative dreams can cause significant emotional distress, leading to feelings of fear, anxiety, or helplessness upon waking. This emotional residue can linger and affect mood and focus.”
Frequent distressing dreams can even cause you to fear going to sleep, disrupting your ability to fall asleep and affecting your sleep quality.
How to make sense of recurring dreams
To understand a recurring dream, consider the elements within it—like a tsunami, teeth, or a tiger—and what they symbolize to you, advises Barrett. For example, with teeth, “dreamers might say, ‘You’d starve without them,’ ‘You can bite with them,’ or ‘I’d look terrible without them,'” she explains. “Each of these suggests a different underlying concern.”
Reflect on recurring events and emotions in your daily life and how they connect to the dream. Feeling overwhelmed at work might relate to a dream about being unprepared for a test or losing control of a car.
Zadra says, “Recognizing events and emotions from the day before or the day of the dream can help people understand why these dreams return at certain times.”
With positive dreams, like revisiting a beautiful place, consider how they might relate to your life. Perhaps you’re recognizing an underappreciated skill or discovering a new interest. Experts say these dreams are welcome and can be motivating.
It’s the negative dreams that people seek to manage. Fortunately, a technique called imagery rehearsal therapy (IRT) can help, whether done alone or with a therapist. IRT involves selecting an upsetting dream, visualizing it while awake, changing the narrative or outcome, and then mentally rehearsing the new dream during the day.
Zadra suggests, “Change it in a way that feels right. You can alter everything, a small detail, or just the ending. This empowers people during the day and allows some control over their dreams.”
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