How to Stop Having That Awful Recurring Dream

In my recurring nightmare, I have done something awful, truly heinous. What that dreadful thing is is unclear, but what is certain is that I’m about to be caught for it—so I’m running. And running, and running, and running and always just about to be caught. Now this has the standard nightmare emotional content of terror, but the dream throws in some shame, too, just for an extra f-you from my subconscious. I always wake up shaky and distraught. Good times.

Outstream Video

It turns out that I’m not alone—a lot of people have ongoing sleep disturbances. “The majority of adults will report having at least one recurring dream during their lifetime, and five to six percent of the adult population will report an ongoing problem with nightmares,” says Antonio Zadra, a professor at the University of Montreal and a researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine. These dreams and nightmares even fall into certain categories: the “examination dream” for example, in which you haven’t adequately prepared for a test; or a health-related nightmare, in which you or someone you love is about to die; or the kind of nightmare I’m having, a classic “chase-and-pursuit” scenario.

And whether our recurring dream of choice is terrifying or merely irritating, a lot of us want to nip these nocturnal disturbances in the bud. Hence this Ask Metafilter question I found when searching for how to nix my own nighttime adventures: Possible to Nuke The Most Annoying Dream?