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The 55 typical dreams, ranked

How many people have each of the dreams almost everyone has, from a large, widely cited survey of typical dreams, with what each one may mean. Tap a dream for its readings.

From a survey of 1,181 first-year university students in three Canadian cities. Nielsen et al., 2003. How we write these

#DreamAllWomenMen
1Being chased81.5%83.1%77.7%
2Sexual dreams76.5%73.0%85.0%
3Falling73.8%74.0%73.0%
4School, teachers or studying67.1%71.3%56.9%
5Missing a train or plane59.5%61.5%54.5%
6Being on the verge of falling57.7%59.5%53.4%
7Trying again and again to do something53.5%53.1%54.5%
8Someone dying54.1%58.6%43.1%
9Flying48.3%44.4%58.1%
10Sensing a presence in the room48.3%49.9%44.3%
11Taking an exam unprepared45.0%48.1%37.2%
12Being attacked42.4%43.5%39.9%
13Being frozen with fright40.7%44.2%32.3%
14Someone who died appearing alive38.4%39.0%36.7%
15Being a child again36.7%38.2%33.1%
16Being killed34.5%34.0%35.8%
17Spider33.8%37.1%25.5%
18Swimming or underwater34.3%36.4%29.0%
19Being naked in public32.6%30.6%37.5%
20Being inappropriately dressed32.5%33.2%30.8%
21Discovering a new room at home32.3%33.0%30.8%
22Car out of control32.0%33.1%29.3%
23Eating delicious food30.7%31.4%28.7%
24Paralysis or unable to move27.2%28.0%25.2%
25Finding money25.7%22.3%34.0%
26Fire27.3%29.3%22.6%
27Having magical powers24.9%19.0%39.3%
28Having superior knowledge24.4%19.5%36.4%
29Being smothered or unable to breathe24.2%25.5%21.1%
30Killing someone24.3%19.5%36.1%
31Seeing yourself dead23.8%24.3%22.6%
32Being locked up24.0%24.5%22.9%
33Seeing a face very close to you23.5%23.8%22.6%
34Snake22.1%24.4%16.4%
35Being tied up or unable to move21.4%22.3%19.4%
36Tornadoes or strong winds17.7%17.9%17.3%
37Not finding a toilet19.2%21.4%13.8%
38Teeth falling out18.8%19.6%16.7%
39People out of their mind20.0%19.9%20.2%
40Being at a movie16.9%15.1%21.4%
41Creatures part animal, part human16.8%14.5%22.3%
42Wild, violent beasts15.9%14.4%19.6%
43Seeing yourself in a mirror15.9%16.0%15.8%
44Seeing an angel12.4%12.7%11.7%
45Travelling to another planet12.3%9.9%18.2%
46Floods or tidal waves12.4%12.1%12.9%
47Seeing a plane crash12.8%11.5%15.8%
48Being the opposite sex11.9%12.9%9.4%
49Encountering God11.2%10.4%13.2%
50Earthquakes10.8%10.0%12.6%
51Seeing aliens9.5%6.7%16.4%
52Being an animal8.0%6.8%11.1%
53Seeing a UFO7.7%6.0%12.0%
54Someone having an abortion5.1%6.4%1.8%
55Being an object3.5%2.9%5.0%

Other dreams people ask about

Common dreams the survey did not measure, with the same three readings.

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Sources

  1. Nielsen, T. A., Zadra, A. L., Simard, V., Saucier, S., Stenstrom, P., Smith, C., & Kuiken, D. (2003). The typical dreams of Canadian university students. Dreaming, 13(4), 211–235. doi:10.1023/B:DREM.0000003144.40929.0b