Falling dreams are the most frequent among all the common dreams we experience in our lifetime. Researchers say the average human will experience falling in a dream up to five times in their lives.
These vivid nightmares often revolve the dream Falling, Slipping, Jumping or Being Pushed from high above ground. Researchers tend to believe falling in dreams may be a result from a natural disorder called Parasomnias, whereas dream analyst feel it is to do with not being grounded.
Reasons For Falling Dreams
A phenomenon called Hypnagogia is a common yet natural experience that occurs during the transition state between wakefulness and sleep. Similar to the state experienced from sleep paralysis, falling in dreams is considered a “hypnagogic state” known to make the dreamer feel like they are actually falling.
According to the American Academy of Sleep say there are many reasons why one experiences these disturbances. One theory suggests falling dreams are connected to what is taking place in our waking life. Whenever we dream of falling we have lost control in some aspect in our life that needs to be identified. Possibly a metaphor for a need to be grounded or lost touch with reality.
- afraid of losing your job
- connecting to relationships
- not having control in a situation
- lack of confidence
- embarrassed that you wouldn’t make the cut
- your not in control of your destiny
- hitting rock bottom
- insecurity
- need proper grounding
- spiritual grounding
Falling In Dreams & Waking Up
Hypnagogic jerks are involuntary muscle spasm that occurs right before you go to sleep or just walking up. Researchers say that these consistent, yet strong unexpected contractions happen up to 70 percent of sleepers. However not all falling sensations will force you out of sleep, most go unnoticed sleeping right through them.
Also known as hypnic jerks or sleep starts which are accompanied by hallucinations; sensations of falling, bright lights and exploding head syndrome. Some scientist believe certain factors, such as stress, anxiety, fatigue, caffeine and sleep deprivation, may increase the frequency or severity of hypnic jerks.
Another scientific take on this is when the brain sends electrical signals to muscles to test for this paralysis, but it has not yet kicked in. However this mystery still remains inconclusive.
Another popular theory takes a more evolutionary approach to falling dreams, suggesting that the jerks are an ancient primate reflex to the relaxation of muscles just before sleep — the brain essentially misinterprets the relaxation as a warning connecting to the primate falling off of the tree. This causes the brain to react quickly by sending signals to the muscles.
How To Stop Falling Sensations
- avoid caffeine
- do not oversleep
- reduce stress
- mediation
- avoid stimulants
- check medications for symptoms
Falling Dreams
#1. Losing Balance In Dream Meaning?
Dreams of losing balance are metaphoric in nature reminding you of your own lack of balance in life. Currently you may be unstable as you need proper grounding – a need to explore areas where you may be vulnerable or slipping that will cause a disturbance. The location and the people around you might give you a hint of what to look out for.
#2. Pushed In Dream?
A common dream is we are pushed by either an unknown person or someone you may currently know. These dreams are symbolic showing you that a person might be responsible for this lack of control or possibly yourself.
If you are unable to see the face of the person that pushed you might be connected to the shadow side of your personality. This is your neglected side or the unknown part that pushes you to your own troubles.
If you were pushing yourself to please other for example, this dream might be appropriate. If it was someone you may know they could be the person responsible or a reflection of someone who carries these similar traits.
This dream would imply you might be pushed to your limits. You could be a push over suggesting being to agreeable. Someone might catch you off guard.
#3. Lost Grip In Dream?
Trying to hold on for your dear life in your dream is a common occurrence. These dreams suggest a need for grounding in your life. You might feel a lack of control and it is unconsciously affecting your path.
You might want to explore different areas in your life where you feel you are just hanging on; or if you feel someone has the upper hand on you. You might need some more support in your life as you may experience a lack of control.
#4. Holding or Slipping In Dream
Holding on for dear life in your dream suggests that you are trying your best to fix a situation you may have no control over. This can either be with a relationship, friends or even your family. It could also be connected to your emotions as you are trying to hold on before you crash.
Slipping and plummeting to your death is a quite a scary experience. Slipping to your death suggests that you will eventually “slip up” in a particular situation that will cause emotional distress. Where you able to regain your grip? Did you fall to the ground? Where was your location? How did you feel when you slipped?
Trying to hold on for dear life at the edge or balancing on a cliff implies possible danger. Could it imply you live on the edge, or maybe you make risky decisions; hence being on the edge. It’s quite possible you need some grounding physically and spiritually.
#6. Falling From A Building Dream
Buildings appear in our dream as things that have been previously built, metaphorically speaking relating to a new idea or project. It may also relate to your belief system, relationships, ideas, projects that has been “built” by you in the past. Falling from a building in your dream represents a loss of control or abandonment.
#7. Somebody Falling In Dreams
You might see the person who is falling as a metaphor for losing them in a particular way. You may feel the person is out of your control, or some other force has affected them. You might be witnessing distress from other people around you in your life.
Finding out who was with you, your emotional state and location are all clues to better decode the dream. If you feel helpless then it might imply you are not in control in helping others in danger.
#8. Falling Down A Staircase Dream
Stairs are symbolic in the sense as they show us advancement or progress in our lives. In this case falling down the stairs suggest you may experience a setback or delay in this area. If it was in your house could represent your mind/psyche in some personal development.
#9. Falling in water
Dreams about falling in water bring our attention to our emotional state of mind. There could be a loss of control or unwillingly plunging into a part of yourself that makes you apprehensive.
#10. Landing at the bottom
This could suggest an ending of some sort of your life. Something where you might need to get to the bottom of things. Do you feel that you might hit rock bottom in life? Could this relate to your job or relationship?
Remembering how you fell on the ground can suggest what needs to be fixed in your life. If you fell on your back implies that you need more support in your life. If you fell on your hands means that you need more of a hand with people that are close to you.
If you fell in water means that you are emotionally breaking down and need to address your problem asap.
Spiritual Meaning Falling From Dreams
If you had the ability to land on your feet after the fall reflects overcoming a obstacle in your life. Falling then gliding yourself to safety shows you will find another way out of the difficult situation. Find out how to stop falling in your dream (r).
Quotes
“People who fall the hardest, bounce back the highest.” – Nishan Panwar.
“Just because we fell one time doesn’t mean we can’t get up and let our light shine.”
“When real people fall down in life, they get right back up and keep walking.
Falling dreams should never be overlooked especially if they are recurring. This dream could be unconsciously hinting at our insecurities and our beliefs in life . Though all falling dreams are not always bad symbols, but indications for us to open to change that is taking place.
Sometimes we need to hit rock bottom before we start a new stage. Dreams of this nature alert us to becoming more cognizant of our actions and behaviors in our life.
Famous dream analyst Carl Jung stated that falling is a warning as being too high in life, trying to impress others. This would be referring to the comparison to one’s neighbor as a benchmark for social class, or the accumulation of material goods. To fall in the dream would be perceived as demonstrating socio-economic or cultural inferiority.
It started with me in heaven and I was standing on a cloud and I was looking at the earth from high up. It also seemed like I was all alone, but I’m completely sure I was in heaven. Then, I decided to jump. I remember falling in the backyard of my own house. It didn’t hurt because I fell on a pile of my brother’s stuffed animals. I know there was more to it, but I can’t remember the rest.
I was sitting on edge of something, which reminded me of the topmost deck of a Japanese Naval ship. I remember thinking how weird this is. I contemplated jumping off the edge, and thought that I would not, when I suddenly go over the side. I am thinking that this will be over with no pain when, halfway down, my fall is broken by something jutting out of the “ship” and I hit the ground. I wake up and I feel no physical pain. This is disturbing.
I often have this dream where I’m sliding across the ice. I don’t know if I was playing or was pushed but there is someone else in the dream I cannot identify. I slide onto part of the ice and I know it isn’t safe and I’m scared. I go through the ice into cold clear water and there bubbles and I can see the hole I fell through but I’m heavy and can’t make it to the hole. The current is pushing me and I cannot see it any longer.
When I was a lil. girl, I had a recurring dream of me (as a grown male; I was a lil girl) throwing myself out of a hotel room window. In my dream I could practically feel my face hiting the concrete, but of course, I’m jolted out of the dream while I am literally inches away from hitting the ground. I concluded that I might have been that man in my past life and if so then I am sure paying for whatever made me jump in this lifetime…
I have a recurring dream I’m falling down the stairs in my house from upstairs to downstairs but i never stop falling i just keep falling and then theres this voice or face screaming at me and yelling and maybe laughing but its not scary just like loud and i feel the sensation of falling during this dream idk why or what it means or if the yelling changes the meaning but the anxiety and stuff def relates to me.
I dreamed that an explosion took out the building I was in and we slipped out the building falling for a long time and a woman stranger who’s face I can vividly remember held my hand as we fell and I recorded it while I was falling to show my family my last moments and then landed flat on my back and got up and then nobody believed me it had happened until I showed them the video and nobody cared I don’t know what this means.
I had a dream where I quite literally watched somebody jump from a really really tall building and break through one of those metal stair cases you see on apartments and when they landed on their feet they just flopped to the ground, presumably dead. Happened a second time but without the metal stair case. Honestly I’m confused but I only remember dreams that have had meaning.
I had a dream the world was ending and pieces of the ground were breaking and underneath them pieces were nothing but it looked like the sky.When I realized the world was ending I’d run to each of my loved ones but could never get to them in time.By the time I get to them they’d just fall. I Watched Some loved ones fall and I couldn’t stop it. My last loved one was my Super close cousin and I only made it on time to him before we both said I love you held each other tight and then… Read more »
In my dreams I sometimes fall from my school because I slipped, sometimes I’m getting pushed but most of the times I just throw myself of the building because I already have the feeling thet I’m not going to survive anyway. Also a lot of times when I’m almost asleep I have this feeling that I’m falling and it’s terrifying.
Perhaps you are worried about your grades if you are still in school. If that is the case, then you may be putting a lot of pressure on yourself and it is causing you anxiety. You might be feeling out of control. Bullying may also trigger it since you were pushed off your school. The person pushing you might have represented someone who has been bullying you. If you are being bullied, you could try telling an adult about it and how it makes you feel. Feeling like you are falling just before you go to sleep could also be… Read more »
Dreamed about cars and large pieces of cars falling from the sky; first just a couple of cars, then gradually more sighted…had to take cover…but think I was on a large ship (on a cruise?)…and woke up thinking I still had to “take cover” or prevent being hit.
I dreamed that my son was sitting a chair and I fainted on the left side of the chair he was sitting in.
Sometimes in dreams I fall and wake up right before I hit the ground. One dream I particularly remember started with me falling from the sky. In the first seconds of the dream I was in the outer part of the exosphere, so I saw most of the stars despite it still being daytime in the area. The only thing I could see is the sky, I tried to turn my head to see the surface but I wasn’t able to. After a minute I started to hear people from the ground, but like I said I couldn’t see if… Read more »
I don’t typically have falling dreams but dreamed that I was driving a car (my first car I had as a late teen early 20’s) I drove right off a cliff and I didn’t crash down, the car floated ever so gently to the bottom of a large but peaceful ravine. I was scared going over the cliff but felt safe as I floated down. I don’t typically recall dreams this specifically.
I had a dream last night myself and an old friend were driving and we were on bridge over water in a lot of traffic and the bridge cut off and I didn’t stop we just fell off the bridge into the water. Now I wasn’t fighting to not drown but I can hear myself wondering when someone was coming to save us, and someone did. Next I see myself wondering how much I was going to be charged for the rental care and where I was going to get the money to pay for the water damage vehicle. Then… Read more »
I had a dream last night that me and my siblings were being kidnapped. They had us asleep then I woke up to seeing ym brother on ice and my sister just falling. I then dropped next to my sister. I was somehow still alive and so were my sibling and then they started to get up so we could go to the police station. We arrived and saw the police officers and they came to us. We told them the situation and they took us in. They looked up our parents then we saw our parents. Then we started… Read more »
Last night I had a long, vivid dream that I still remember, and in one of the parts I’m hanging on to the edge of a broken bridge trying not to slip while yelling at my friend to pull me up. She doesn’t and I fall, but catch myself on a slightly lower, more stable part of the bridge. Finally she pulls me up and we keep walking.
I’m no expert but I get the feeling there is something wrong in your life.something that you’re not dealing with and someone else will, but your friend knows it’s something you have to do on your own. She will be there for you after you do.
I had a dream last night… The ground I’m standing on is unstable, I’m on a precipice with a wall at my back, watching the ground crumble and fall away ahead of me, helplessly waiting for it to crumble from beneath my feet. I’m looking around desperate to find a way out of my perilous situation and I attempt to climb up the wall behind me, but the wall is smooth and there is nothing I can do. On the other side of the chasm, I see Stephanie… I start to call for help, but then I realize that every… Read more »
I am not a big expert at dream interpretation, but I say there might be issues in your relationship with her that you need to resolve. Perhaps you feel like you are losing more and more control in your relationship. You will have to try to solve the problem or problems as best you can and hopefully things will get better.
I had a dream last night that I slipped down a very steep hill and landed on a downed tree and struggled to climb my way up til someone gave me their hand and helped me up but I would have fell in a river if I didn’t get up.
I dreamt i was with a group of people and we were all trying to escape from something we were in this building and took out this vent plate which lead from the sky to a waterfall one girl wanted me to jump first but i denied her straight away and then she jumped and landed and then it was my turn i looked and became scared i asked this one person if they would jump with me bc i was scared then we jumped and i felt like i was dead when i touched the water then this song… Read more »
I just had a dream that I was in my teenage years living with my parents in their apartment situated in a block of flats of ten stocks. This was in a very distant country from Europe very very far from where I live now as an old man. For whatever reason we had guest came to visit us but I was very busy to find my new shine shoes. But all my shoes were dirty of mud or were in a bad condition. Finally I found a pair but for my mom took the to clean then. I was… Read more »