Falling Dream Interpretation

Dreams of falling can also represent a sense of inferiority or a sense of failure in your personal or professional life. This fear could be a fear of failing in school, failing at your job, losing your social status, or failing in a relationship. People experiencing these situations are often troubled by dreams in which they are falling. These dreams of falling can represent a perceived failure to measure up to expectations or a fear of losing your status, losing an important person in your life, or just a generalized fear or failure.

The strict Freudian interpretation of a dream of falling was that such a dream indicated that the dreamer was contemplating giving into a sexual desire or sexual impulse.

Dreams of falling are most likely to take place during the first stage of sleep. That is because dreams at this stage are often accompanied by spasms of muscles in the arms, the legs or even the whole body. These sudden muscle contractions are known as a myclonic jerk. The dreaming mind can interpret these muscle spasms as falling and thus incorporate falling into the dream state. Often when dreamers experience this myclonic jerk, they awaken at feeling their body twitch. This fast reaction is part of the evolutionary mechanism that allows us to be awakened quickly in the presence of a threatening environment.

Those who do biblical and religious interpretations of dreams often see falling dreams as meaning that the dreamer is taking his or her cues from the world of man instead of turning to God for guidance and advice.