Here’s what it means when you have a bad dream that keeps coming back

Many of us have unpleasant and disturbing dreams which won’t go away – such as the classic, ‘Doing an exam … and then your trousers fall down’.

Researchers from Cardiff University asked volunteers to record their dreams, to find out how closely related dreams are to our daily problems.

In two linked studies, 200 volunteers reflected on their most common recurring dream and 110 volunteers recorded their dreams in ‘dream diaries’.

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The researchers found that recurring, negative dreams were strongly linked to negative emotions in people’s daily lives.

Previous research has suggested that people who feel frustrated may have dreams in which they are falling – and people who are under pressure can have dreams where they feel unprepared.

Lead author Dr Netta Weinstein told Mail Online, ‘We found that people whose recurring dreams were felt to have more negative emotions in them also felt more incompetent, isolated, or pressured by others in their daily life.

‘So they might have been feeling lonely, like they have been failing at things they cared about, or pressured by deadlines.’

‘From what this study indicates, findings ways to resolve some of the difficulties in relationships and perhaps in terms of academic or professional challenges might help,’