The Most Common Nightmares
Do you remember your dreams? What about nightmares? A recent sleep survey ranked the most common nightmares respondents said they have. Have you experienced any of these? Also… what’s the craziest dream you can remember? Mine involves vampires and I wet the bed. I’ll share that story in a minute, first, the rankings:
The Most Common Nightmares
1. Falling. 65% have had a nightmare about falling from a significant height.
2. Being chased, 63%
3. Dying, 55%
4. Feeling lost, 54%
5. Feeling trapped, 52%
6. Being attacked, 50%
7. Missing an important event, 44%
8. Waking up late, 43%
What Are Your Most Common Nightmares?
I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve had nightmares about all eight at one time or another. When I started working mornings, I was plagued with nightmares that I’d oversleep. As a result, I woke up a good ten times a night. It was BRUTAL.
![Doni and Sylvia from Sylvania. one of the characters at Hush used in an article about the most common nightmares people have](https://wcsx.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2022/09/IMG-9310.jpg?w=778)
It’s been a while, but I also had my share of nightmares about having dead-air. lol… Digital systems have made a huge difference in the amount of dead-air, but I still get nervous. At one point on my career, my nickname was “Dead Air Doni.” It did not exactly give me confidence, but it did give me nightmares. I’d also have nightmares about not being able to speak.
How Long Do You Remember Nightmares?
When I was in my early 20s, I started a diet that encouraged you to drink a lot of water. I took this very seriously. After a day’s worth of strong hydration, I went to sleep and had a nightmare that vampires were invading our house. In the middle of utter chaos, I decided I had to use the bathroom. I went to the lower level of my parents’ home, used the half-bath and continued trying to hide my friends and myself from the vampires. As I’m hiding behind a chair, I realize that my pants are wet. I wake up to realize I had just wet the bed… stone sober. Good times in real life.
My dad woke up as I was changing the sheets (thank God it was a waterbed) and I had to explain how his adult daughter had just wet the bed. I’m surprised that nightmare experience did not spawn new nightmares about peeing myself. I cut off my water intake earlier from that point on.
That happened more than a minute ago, but my oldest nightmare? I’d say I was 6 years old. I had a dream about some crazy scary carwash that had no ending… it was stuck on loop and there was no getting off. I have no idea why decades later, I still have vivid memories of this nightmare, but here we are. Was that one of my most common nightmares, thank God, NO… it was not.
The Ultimate Nightmare Movie
The Nightmare on Elm Street series! I had second thoughts on wanting that waterbed after I watched it. Did you know there’s a new Nightmare on Elm Street movie coming out in 2025 with Jenna Ortega? Robert Englund returns as Freddie… which is key, in my opinion.