A dreams expert has revealed what the most likely reasons are behind the 10 most common nightmares.

It comes as mattress company OTTY has found online searches in the UK for nightmares and their meanings have increased by 146 per cent in the past seven years.

The firm has teamed up with dreams expert Lauri Loewenberg, author of Dream on it, and psychic Inbaal, who specialises in astrology, palm and tarot reading, to delve into the likely reasons for these bad dreams.

Lauri says we experience nightmares when the subconscious wants to help “correct an upsetting or difficult issue”.

Experts claim bad dreams are actually of value to people as they help us focus on things that are wrong or make us unhappy.

Below are the 10 most commonly searched nightmares online in recent years, and what they are likely to mean, according to Lauri.

Snakes

Monthly searches: 9,200

Specific symbols in our dreams need to be applied when trying to figure out the deeper meaning behind a dream, but there are what we call ‘archetypal’ meanings that can typically apply to most of us.

Snakes most often represent a toxic person in our life.

Someone who is exhibiting low down behaviour that could either be harming us or has the potential to harm us in some way.

Teeth falling out

Monthly searches: 5,500

Dreams that involve a doomed trip to the dentist are most often linked to communication issues. Losing teeth during a nightmare is most often connected to allowing something out of your mouth the previous day that you shouldn't have said, like a secret or someone’s personal business.

Another common element of this dream is said to be how you’re going to look with missing teeth.

This tends to be tied to the conscious concern about how others perceive you after what you have allowed out of your mouth.

Being chased

Monthly searches: 1,500

This dream is caused by avoidance and most commonly experienced by those who run away from issues instead of tackling them head-on.

This dream is letting you know that the longer you run from the issue, the longer it will continue to cause you problems.

Falling

Monthly searches: 1,100

This dream tends to happen when we are feeling let down by someone or something in real life.

When plans fall through, when something you had high hopes for doesn't work out, or whenever something brings down your general mood, the subconscious result could be a dream where you’re falling from a great height and heading into the unknown.

This is also said to be a common dream for people that suffer from mental health issues.

Dying

Monthly searches: 1,000

You can dream of death when something in your life is coming to an end or significantly changing, like when a relationship ends, when you change careers, or when you first find out you’re pregnant.

These are life-changing moments that the subconscious will equate with death... the end of the old you.

If you dream of someone else dying, then there is likely some sort of change happening with that person or a shift in your relationship with that person.

Drowning

Monthly searches: 600

A drowning nightmare occurs in those feeling in over their heads with something, such as responsibilities, debt or emotions.

Like the falling dream, there is the downward pull at play here, although there is a bit more control involved with a drowning dream.

Bugs

Monthly searches: 400

When something or someone is annoying or "bugging" us, we may find that bugs start to infest our dreams.

The more bugs in your dream or the larger the bug, the bigger the problem is in waking life. Bugs have become a more prominent symbol in many people's dreams since the pandemic started.

Being cheated on

Monthly searches: 300

These dreams can indicate levels of distrust within you that need to be addressed – particularly in those who have had a partner cheat on them.

However, if infidelity has never been an issue for you and this dream seems to be coming out of nowhere, then it is likely alerting you to something in your current relationship that feels like a third wheel – such as your partner may be working too much, spending too much time doing other things, or a new baby is taking up all the time and attention.

Killing someone

Monthly searches: 300

If you are murdering someone in your dream, you are probably actively working to change or end something negative in your real life.

If you’ve recently quit smoking, initiated a break-up or divorce, or if you’ve changed eating habits and have begun to lose weight then you are likely to dream of murder.

Being lost

Monthly searches: 250

This dream is often caused by indecision or uncertainty in real life, and the idea of not knowing "which direction" to take to reach a goal.

We tend to say, "I'm lost" when we can't figure out directions or when trying to keep up with a confusing conversation.

Our dreams have a neat way of bringing figures of speech and metaphors to life.