"Our brains do some interesting things while we sleep, and we are designed to often forget the content of our dreams," says Dr. Alex Dimitriu, certified in psychiatry. So what happens in our heads as we sleep? According to Dimitriu: Memories are sorted and stored, we free up new space for learning, we solve the problem and we connect familiar facts and our whole brain receives a clearing of energy.
So if you are worried about a future presentation, you will surely dream of giving it, right? Not exactly, says Dimitriu! Stress can manifest itself in many ways and our dreams may not always match exactly what concerns us. On the contrary, we usually dream of a frustrating problem or situation that may or may not be exactly what is happening in our waking life. Here are the five common anxiety dreams unleashed by experts that you may have once seen in your life!
"Dreaming of falling is one of the most common dreams of anxiety," says Dr. Arooj Najmussaqib, clinical psychologist. Whether you are falling from a building, from the sky, into the dark, or into an unknown place, this dream suggests you have negative feelings or fear of something bad happening. This dream can also mean that you are nervous about a specific situation in real life, such as ending a relationship, an office presentation, exams, or evaluation. According to Najmussaqib, all this stems from a sense of lack of control over a situation.
If you've seen in a dream like where you lose something or have been stolen, especially if it's a car then it may be a sign of lack of motivation. In this case, psychologist explains especially when it comes to the car this is essential as it can represent your direction and the loss of the car can be very stressful.
Whether you dream of hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, fires or any other natural disaster, Najmussaqib says that this anxiety dream usually means that you are overwhelmed with something in your waking life. Unfortunately, these dreams do not always provide additional data, so you need to understand what exactly makes you feel overwhelmed in order to address this problem. According to Najmussaqib, some options include starting a new job, losing your job, dying, divorce or fearing a future decision you have to make.
Seeing yourself naked and especially in public is another common nightmare. This means that you are being exposed to some capacity. It can also mean that you feel ashamed of something, or feel like you can't hide anything about yourself, even your ugliest features. This dream can depict shame and fear.
The weird part in some dreams like these is the fact that you don't see who is following you, you just feel the sensation of following. These dreams usually mean that you are fleeing something in your life, such as a person, a decision or a location. "Either way, until you stop running into smart life, you probably won't stop running in your dreams," she says.
