# What is the Most Common Bad Dream on the Dope?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-bad-dream-on-the-dope/390585>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [February 2, 2007, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-bad-dream-on-the-dope/390585 "2007-02-02T18:56:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 109

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**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\
**Post date:** [February 8, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-most-common-bad-dream-on-the-dope/390585/109 "2007-02-08T20:13:45Z")

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I decided to do an informal tally of the dreams mentioned so far. My groupings are somewhat arbitrary, and may not reflect whether a dream is a once-off or a recurring nightmare. If a dream had elements of more than one major category, I tallied it in both.

It looks like “Unprepared for exam” is the leader, by a fair margin. That doesn’t seem unexpected, especially on this board. I am a bit surprised at the flood [sorry] of unusable toilet dreams…

30–Unprepared for exam  
23–Teeth loose/falling out  
20–Naked/inappropriately dressed  
12–Trying to run and can’t move fast enough  
10–Unprepared for performance (play/recital/speech/court)  
10–Running/hiding from killers/monsters  
9–Unusable toilets  
8–Can’t dial phone  
7–Back to school  
7–Late/can’t get somewhere  
6–Runaway vehicle  
6–Job gone awry (overwhelmed, screwed up, boss yelling)  
5–Fighting, but can’t affect enemy (weak/blocked)  
5–Elevators  
5–Can’t see (blind/can’t open eyes/can’t see to fight or read)  
4–Can’t find/open locker/class/dorm  
4–Trying to scream/yell and can’t  
4–Multiple awakenings  
4–Living in a strange/bizarrely changed place  
4–Weird stuff in the sky (swirls, extra moons, etc)  
4–Choking/mouthful of gum  
4–Disfigured or self-mutilated (Balloon hands?)  
3–Misjudged/missing/abandoned and ignored/no one cares  
3–Inappropriate sex partner  
3–Trying to find/rescue someone  
3–Falling  
3–Zombies  
2–People replaced by monsters  
2–Sleep paralysis dream (can’t move, something in the room)  
2–Pregnant/unwanted baby  
2–Crossing an unsafe/collapsing bridge  
2–Noise won’t stop  
2–Big wave  
1–Tornadoes  
1–Giant spiders  
1–SO cheating on you  
1–Ghosts  
1–Claustrophobic (roof lowering)  
1–Problems snowballing/comedy of errors  
1–Bears  
1–Lost skill (can’t throw a frisbee properly)  
1–Scary aircraft  
1–Plane falling on you  
1–Can’t perform crucial task (Possibly similar to the phone dream)  
1–Oblivion/loss of self  
1–Contact lens problems (can’t put in or remove)  
1– **Ethilrist** ’s wife jumping out of the closet and yelling, “Gotcha ya!” 😉

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