Having Dreams About Falling? Here’s What That Might Mean

Dreams can happen at any time during the night. In fact, most people dream every single night but may not remember their dreams, especially if they wake up in the middle of a dream or right after dreaming. As you fall asleep, you will cycle through each of the following four stages of sleep between four to six times in a given night:

• Stage 1: Non-REM (rapid eye movement) – Transition from being awake to drifting off to a light sleep
• Stage 2: Non-REM – Breathing and heart rate slow and you drift into a deeper sleep
• Stage 3 Non-REM – The final stage of non-REM sleep that recharges your body; 20-40 minutes per cycle
• Stage 4 REM Sleep – Vivid dream stage marked by increased brain activity, heart rate pick-up and eye movement

"Every dream we see has a symbolic meaning that aligns with our current events of the waking life, and falling dreams are no exception," psychiatrist Dr. Nereida Gonzalez-Berrios told Glamour Magazine UK. "Dreams about falling are common and reflect feelings of insufficiency, weakness, and insecurity."

Falling dreams are quite common, and experts believe they often show up when we're feeling helpless about a situation. They can also occur when we're going through a significant transition in life.

Feelings of inadequacy or inferiority can manifest through dreams about falling. Often, when we're feeling anxious, insecure, overwhelmed, or not in control, these types of dreams tend to appear.

Natasha Nicholes, who lost two of her siblings before the age of 40, has experienced vivid and disturbing dreams. "I actually just had a dream where my brother fell through some opening in the floor and I had to go down with my busted arm to save him, because he couldn't die before me and leave me here alone," the Chicago-based mom of four told Mom.com.

"Falling dreams may highlight your loss of control over certain situations. It also denotes missing something in life, further causing emotional distress and suffering. Your dream means that you are in a state of terror and anxiety," Gonzalez-Berrios explained.

Have you ever experienced a dream where a sound taking place in your room became part of the storyline of your dream? Many of us have seen the TikTok skits where the dreamer is dancing along to their cell phone alarm</a>; that is called an incorporation dream, where outside stimuli make their way into the content of your dream.

This is the same phenomenon that could cause a falling dream. Involuntary muscle movements called hypnic jerks often occur when the body is in between being awake and the first stage of sleep, or the hypnagogic state.

In this state, the brain may perceive the body as falling and, for safety, kicks you back into consciousness. If you happen to be dreaming at this stage of sleep, your mind could potentially incorporate that movement into your dream content.

Steve Jacques is the head of anatomy at Leicester Medical School. "My hypothesis is that it is related to the shutting down of the sensory system as we go through the stages of sleep. While awake, we are normally aware of the effect of gravity," Jacques told News Scientist. "If the brain doesn’t receive information on the direction gravity is acting, it may conclude that there must be no force pushing back against the body from the floor (or our bed). This is consistent with weightlessness or free fall."

How to have restful sleep
If disturbing dreams are keeping you from getting a good night's rest, there are some things you can do to create a more relaxing environment and potentially alleviate stressful dreams. Here are a few steps to take that might stop bad dreams in their tracks:

• Create a relaxing bedtime routine that includes quiet, calming activities
• Eliminate caffeine several hours before going to bed
• Journal about your disturbing dreams, perhaps rewrite them with a positive spin
• Tell someone about your dream to get it out of your subconscious