The 6 most common dreams - and what they REALLY mean

Daily Mail​

23-04-2025

There's nothing quite like getting into bed and drifting off to sleep.
But while some people sink into a dreamless slumber, others experience vivid, realistic visions during the night.
Whether its soaring through the sky or something scarier like being chased, there are a multitude of scenarios we experience while snoozing.
But are some dreams more common than others?
Sleep tech brand Simba has 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 reveals a nation caught between anxiety and escapism, with stress-fuelled nightmares gripping some sleepers while others dream of soaring into adventure.
Here, they reveal the nation's most frequent nighttime visions.
And it shows that our daily emotions are spilling over into our sleeping subconscious.
Analysis revealed a quarter of adults found themselves trapped in anxiety-driven dreams, whether being chased, lost or running late.
Meanwhile 23 per cent of those surveyed escaped into more uplifting dreamscapes filled with romance, adventure and the sensation of success.
Women were notably more likely to experience stress-heavy dreams while men were more prone to surreal or fantastical dream worlds.
The two most common dreams were those involving reuniting with someone from the past, or those involving intimacy or romance.
Both were experienced by 13 per cent of people surveyed.
The third most common dream – or, rather, nightmare – involved being chased, lost or trapped, reported by 11 per cent of people.
A further 6 per cent of people said they dreamed about falling or being unable to move – while the same percentage said they dreamed about flying or floating.
Lisa Artis, Deputy CEO of Simba's charity partner The Sleep Charity, said: 'Dreams are the brain's way of processing emotions, memories, and stress.
'The fact that so many people are dreaming about being late, being chased, or feeling trapped suggests that high levels of daily anxiety and stress are carrying over into sleep.'
The team found the external world plays a role in shaping our dreamscapes – with nearly half dreaming of a familiar place such as home or school, 18 per cent dreaming of a public space like an airport and 11 per cent dreaming of a natural setting such as a forest.
Meanwhile 7 per cent dreamed of a surreal or fantasy world, for example a floating island or space station.
Personal relationships proved to be the strongest influence on dreams, with more than a third finding their visions rooted in real-world connections.
The study also uncovered a phenomenon dubbed 'Dream Surge' – with Saturday night seeing the highest volume of recalled dreams.
More people remembered their dreams on Sunday morning than on any other day of the week.
Experts suggest this could be due to longer weekend lie-ins which allow for deeper, extended sleep cycles which increase dream intensity and recall.
The well-documented 'Sunday scaries' – anxiety about the week ahead – may also contribute to a rise in emotionally-charged dreams.
Steve Reid, CEO of Simba, said: 'Dreams are a reflection of our deepest subconscious.
'Ultimately, being more aware about what fuels our dreams helps us understand ourselves and how we can better protect our sleep quality.'
Finally, the study revealed that not everyone remembers what happens in their sleep.
While 13 per cent of Brits recall a dream almost every night, a third rarely remembered them at all.
CAN YOU LEARN WHILE YOU NAP?
It is the perfect learning shortcut, to play a language tape or revision recording at night while you are asleep.
But those desperately hoping the information will go in as they snooze may be disappointed.
Scientists have previously found that the brain does take in what it hears during REM sleep – the time spent mostly dreaming, usually in the morning before we wake up.
Leaving a tape running overnight is probably counter-productive as information gained in deep sleep can be completely lost.
French researchers found that sound played during certain parts of deep sleep may make information harder to learn when you wake up than if you had never heard it before.
That is thought to be because the brain is busy erasing memories at this time, and the new knowledge is dumped along with them.
In a study published by experts from PSL Research University in Paris in August 2017, researchers tested sleep learning by playing 20 participants white noise, which contained patterns of sound.
The sounds heard during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep were remembered by these people when they woke up.
They found it easier to identify the white noise which had repeated sounds in it because they had heard it while asleep.
But the noise played while people were in deep sleep, which makes up almost a third of our slumbers, was forgotten.