Nurses among the most likely to suffer bad dreams

Last updated at 12:14 16 August 2006


Nurses, accountants and IT workers are the most likely to suffer from bad dreams, according to a new survey.

A study, carried out for hotel company Travelodge, found that being chased and teeth falling out were the most common bad dreams, with more than half of those who suffered blaming stress and more than a quarter blaming scary films.

Falling, being trapped and being injured were common themes for nightmares.

According to the survey where people lived was also likely to affect their likelihood to experience bad dreams. It found that Southampton residents suffered the most nightmares followed by residents of Birmingham, Leeds and Liverpool.

Travelodge's director of sleep, Wayne Munnelly, said: "Dreams are very personal and depend on the individual. There is no concrete explanation behind why we have them, although content is often the result of your subconscious playing out the events of the day or things on your mind.

"Dreams about being chased tend to be a reaction to stress in life, the attacker in the dream often represents emotions like fear and anxiety. The second most common dream according to our research concerns teeth falling out. This is said to reflect anxiety about what others think of you."

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