The Science of Recurring Dreams Is More Interesting Than We Could Have Imagined

Having the same dream over and over is a common occurrence; approximately two-thirds of the population reports having recurring nightmares. Typical repeating events in these dreams include being hunted, finding yourself naked in a public place or in the middle of a natural disaster, losing your teeth, or forgetting to attend to class for a whole semester.

But where does the phenomenon originate? According to dream science, repeated nightmares may represent unsolved difficulties in the dreamer’s life.

Recurring dreams frequently occur at stressful times or over lengthy periods of time, perhaps several years or even a lifetime. These dreams not only contain the same themes, but they might also have the same storyline night after night.

Although the content of recurring dreams is unique to each individual, there are common motifs among individuals, countries, and time periods. Among the most common scenarios are being chased, falling, being unprepared for an exam, coming late, or attempting to perform something repeatedly.

The majority of recurring dreams involve negative feelings such as fear, despair, wrath, and guilt. More than half of recurring dreams include the dreamer being in danger. However, certain repeating themes can be uplifting, even ecstatic, such as dreams in which we discover new rooms in our house, sensual dreams, or dreams in which we fly.

Recurring dreams that begin in infancy can sometimes last until adulthood. These dreams may vanish for a few years, reemerge in the presence of a fresh cause of stress, and then vanish once the problem is resolved.

Unresolved issues

Why does our brain keep replaying the same dreams? Dreams, according to research, help us regulate our emotions and adjust to stressful experiences. Incorporating emotional content into dreams may assist the dreamer in processing a sad or challenging occurrence.

In the case of recurring dreams, repeating material could signify an ineffective attempt to integrate these traumatic experiences. According to several ideas, recurring dreams are tied to unresolved challenges or conflicts in the dreamer’s life.

Recurrent dreams have also been linked to lower levels of psychological well-being and the existence of anxiety and depression symptoms. These dreams frequently occur during stressful times and stop when the person has addressed their personal dispute, indicating better well-being.

Recurrent dreams frequently figuratively mirror the dreamers’ emotional worries. Dreaming about a tsunami, for example, is typical after trauma or abuse. This is an example of a metaphor that can express feelings of helplessness, panic, or terror in everyday life.

Similarly, being inadequately dressed in one’s dream, being naked, or being unable to find a bathroom can all reflect shame or modesty scenarios.

These themes might be regarded of as scripts or ready-to-dream scenarios that allow us to process our contradictory emotions. The same script can be employed in multiple circumstances where we feel similar emotions.

This is why, when confronted with a difficult scenario or a new challenge, some people may dream that they are arriving unprepared for a math exam, even years after they have set foot in a classroom. Despite the fact that the circumstances are different, a comparable feeling of tension or a drive to excel can re-trigger the same dream scenario.

A series of repetitions

The concept of a continuum of repetition in dreams is proposed by William Domhoff, an American researcher and psychologist. Traumatic nightmares, on the other hand, precisely repeat a lived trauma – one of the core symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Then there are recurring dreams, in which the same dream content is recreated in part or whole. Recurring dreams, unlike traumatic nightmares, rarely directly reproduce an incident or conflict but rather mirror it figuratively through a dominant emotion.

The reoccurring topics in dreams are further along the continuum. These nightmares frequently replay a similar circumstance, such as being late, being chased, or being lost, but the specific substance of the dream varies from time to time, such as being late for a train rather than an exam.

Finally, at the other end of the spectrum, we find repeating dream elements, such as characters, actions, or objects, in the dreams of a single person. At various levels, all of these dreams would represent an attempt to reconcile particular emotional difficulties.

Moving from an intensive to a lower level on the repetition continuum is frequently a sign that a person’s psychological condition is improving. Progressive and beneficial modifications in the content of traumatic nightmares, for example, are frequently found in people who have experienced trauma as they gradually overcome their issues.

Physiological occurrences

Why are the motifs so consistent from person to person? One possible reason is that some of these scripts have been retained in humans because they provide an evolutionary advantage. The dream of being chased, for example, gives a space for a person to practice perceiving and avoiding predators in their sleep by recreating a frightening circumstance.

Some recurring themes may be explained in part by physiological events that occur while sleeping. A 2018 study conducted by an Israeli research team discovered that dreaming of losing one’s teeth was not associated with anxiety symptoms, but rather with teeth clenching during sleep or dental discomfort upon waking.

Our brain is not fully disconnected from the outer world when we sleep. It continues to perceive exterior stimuli like sounds and smells, as well as internal bodily feelings. That means that other motifs, such as being unable to find a toilet or being naked in public, could be triggered by the need to urinate in the middle of the night or by wearing sloppy pyjamas in bed.

Some physical processes unique to REM sleep, the stage of sleep during which we dream the most, may also be at work. Our muscles are paralyzed during REM sleep, which may cause dreams of heavy legs or being paralyzed in bed.

Similarly, other researchers believe that dreams of falling or flying are triggered by our vestibular system, which aids in balance and can reawaken spontaneously during REM sleep. These sensations, of course, are insufficient to explain the recurrence of these dreams in certain people, as well as their rapid arrival during times of stress, but they most likely play a key role in the development of our most common dreams.

Ending the cycle

People who suffer reoccurring nightmares have grown trapped in a particular method of responding to and expecting the dream scenario. Therapies have been created to try to resolve this recurrence and break the nightmare cycle.

One strategy is to imagine the nightmare while awake and then rewrite it, that is, to change one component of the narrative, such as the ending of the dream, to something more pleasant. Lucid dreaming could potentially be an option.

We become aware that we are dreaming in lucid dreams and can sometimes influence the content of the dream. Being lucid in a recurring dream may allow us to think or react differently to the dream, changing its repeated nature.

However, not all recurring dreams are negative in and of themselves. They can even be beneficial in terms of informing us about our personal conflicts. Paying attention to the recurring aspects of dreams could help us better comprehend and address our deepest wishes and tribulations.