Last night I was trapped on a cruise ship circling Antarctica with a bunch of old university friends telling me about their cryptocurrency investments. I was seconds away from purchasing the latest meme-coin when I woke up in a sweat. Phew—it was just a dream, and one I quickly want to forget. Because, unlike most of the UK, I have no desire to learn what my dreams mean.
As far back as the Epic of Gilgameshpeople have written about the power of dreams, while thousands of years later, dream interpretation became a cornerstone of Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis work. To this day, every night, billions of us go to sleep and dream, only to wake up and wonder what the hell all that nonsense meant in the morning – with many heading to Google for the answers.
A new study from MattressOnline has now uncovered the most common dreams experienced across the UK. It looked at common dreams and relevant search terms to rank them by annual search volumes. And with 378,360 average annual searches, dreams of teeth falling out appear to be by far the most popular – with over five times more searches for explanations than any other dream – but what does it mean?
MattressOnline says: “Losing teeth in a dream could be a visual manifestation of a personal loss we are experiencing in real life, whether that be losing an opportunity, a relationship, or a loved one. Another theory points towards a more physical cause rather than a mental or emotional one; the physical sensation of grinding your teeth or clenching your jaw at night could possibly lead to dreaming about your teeth falling out.”
Coming far behind in second place, there are 67,080 related searches per year about snake dreams. This could relate to transformation and rebirth (if you see the animal shed its skin) or represent a threat or toxic presence in your life (if experiencing snake attacks in your dreams). But honestly, dream interpretation is a mindfield that offers thousands of meanings.
Dreams of pregnancy are the third most common in the UK. If you’re pregnant in real life, it’s quite common to sneak into your dreams. But for those of you not expecting it could signify anything from a desire for new beginnings to carrying additional stresses about changes in your life. It’s followed by dreams of dying (fear of endings or life transitions) and drowning (feeling overwhelmed).
If you’d like to know more about your dreams, we recommend consulting a Dream Dictionary for further insight – just don’t explain mine to me, please.
The UK’s most common dreams:
- Teeth falling out (378,360 annual searches)
- Snakes (67,080)
- Pregnancy (54,960)
- Dying (40,560)
- Drowning (38,640)
- Being chased (31,560)
- Plane crash (30,000)
- Hair falling out (29,640)
- Flying (25,080)
- Falling (22,920)
- Zombies (13,080)
- Car crash (10,560)
- Birds (7,320)
- Old friend (6,360)
- Winning the lottery (6,120)
