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For years I was haunted by dreams of cracked, loose and falling teeth. My loved ones have recurring dreams of flying, driving self-driving cars, and being late for school or work. These are not typical nightmares and usually he occurs once. These are some of the most common recurring dreams, tend to be negative, and may require some work to overcome.
Dream researcher Deirdre Barrett said, “Recurring dreams are likely to be about a very profound life experience, or simply a very logical question of character. , they are guaranteed to be repeated in your waking life because they are not a one-off event but a part of you.” Lecturer in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.
Our dreams don’t usually repeat, Barrett said, so just having the same dream more than once is considered a repeat of the same dream. According to Barrett, they are common in childhood but can persist into adulthood. It can appear many times, one month or even years apart, he says, Barrett.
Recurring dreams may be the same each time, or they may just be repeating the same type of scenario or worry, experts said.
Dr. Nirit Soffer-Dudek, a clinical psychologist and senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at Ben-Gurion University, said: Negev, Israel, by email. “When asked about past dreams, distorted memory, interest in (or lack of) dreams, or other factors may be at play.”
Either way, anything that comes up repeatedly is worth investigating, says Alex, sleep medicine expert and founder of Silicon Psych, a psychiatric and sleep medicine clinic in Menlo Park, California. Dr. Dimitriu said.
“People have this kind of touch-and-go approach to anything that is uncomfortable or fear-inducing, and I think dreams are similar in a way,” said Dimitriou. “As a psychiatrist, I would like to say that there is a message I am trying to convey to you. I think it might be possible.”
Here’s how to identify what’s triggering your recurring dreams.
If you repeatedly dream that you are late for school or work, perhaps you are nervous about not being ready for them. But even though they are common, some don’t have a universal meaning, and you’ll have to look inside yourself to find out more.
“In interpretation, I don’t really believe there is a universal symbol, but it is a personal symbol system of a kind that is unique to each person, an association to something,” Barrett said.
Besides lack of preparation, Barrett and Dimitriu note that other common themes of recurring dreams include social embarrassment, feelings of inferiority compared to others, and danger in the form of car accidents or natural disasters. It will be
According to Barrett, some people have test anxiety dreams even if they haven’t been to school in years. This may reflect a general fear of failure or a feeling of being judged by authority figures. Dreams of tooth loss or damage may relate to some other loss in your life, feelings of hopelessness or defenselessness, or health concerns.
When faced with a recurring dream, ask yourself what the message is, Dimitriou said. What is your relationship with the objects and people in your dreams? What are your fears and belief systems about them? What are the top five things in your life that might be causing or related to it? What are you really worried about?
“I think it’s definitely fine to do an informal dream interpretation, either by yourself or with someone you know and trust.
People with post-traumatic stress disorder or anxiety are more likely to have recurring dreams that are particularly anxious in nature.
“The brain is trying to settle something and rest,” he added. But “People with PTSD wake up from sleep because their dreams are so vivid. That’s a problem because dreams aren’t processed … and why it recurs — it’s unfinished business.”
Recurring dreams can also indicate biological causes. “People with sleep apnea report dreams of drowning, suffocating, huge waves, gasping for breath, being underwater, suffocating,” said Dimitriu. rice field.
There could also be environmental triggers, like a car alarm going off on the street or dripping from a faucet, and those images can trigger dreams, he added.
Once you have a better idea of what your worries are, writing about them before bed can help reduce commonly recurring negative dreams and stress.
“For my patients and me, journaling is a very powerful tool,” Dimitriou said. Meditation can also help.
When I learned the horror behind my dreams, Dimitriu suggested I handle it in the following way. 3 column method Used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: What Are Your Automatic Thoughts? What Are Your Automatic Emotions? Finally, what is another, more realistic way of thinking?
dream rehearsal therapyAlso known as image rehearsal therapy, it is effective for both recurring dreams and nightmares. With this approach, you write down the elements of your dream story in detail and then rewrite it so that it ends positively. Just before going to sleep, say, “If I had the same bad dream beginning, I could have this much better dream with positive consequences instead.”
If recurring dreams are causing stress and unhappiness, causing other symptoms, or starting to impair your ability to function regularly, it’s time to seek professional help, experts say. .
According to Soffer-Dudek, recurring dreams can also result from poor sleep hygiene.
“A lot of awkward things happen when you stay up late, drink too much caffeine, drink too much alcohol, work too late, or sleep four hours last night because you stayed up late,” he said. rice field. “The basic core and foundation of a healthy dream life begins with healthy sleep.”
Dimitriu also recommended limiting distractions that interfere with your time to reflect and process, such as spending unnecessary time on the phone or constantly filling silence.
When your mind is always occupied, “the only thing that happens is that processing has to happen somewhere,” he said. There is increasing pressure that
