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| By Safe Call Now® Board Member - Betsy Smith |
I wrote an article
a few years ago for PoliceOne.com titled “Cop Dreams.” The feedback was immediate and unexpected. So many people were surprised to find out that
they weren’t alone in experiencing these vivid, sometimes terrorizing dreams,
and it wasn’t just the cops who were having them.
When I was a high
school senior I worked evenings as a police dispatcher for my local sheriff’s
department. One night I had a terrible
nightmare. It was so real! One of my
deputies was yelling for backup but no matter how many times I pushed the
“transmit” button, I couldn’t call for another unit. I was unable to
speak. The phones didn’t work. I was completely helpless. I woke up sweating and terrified. I wasn’t even a cop yet, and I’d just had my
first “cop dream.”
There is no exact science when it comes to the
study of dreams. We dream between 90 and 120 minutes
per night, depending on how long we sleep.
We tend to only remember the last dream we had, unless you have
reoccurring dreams, which are pretty common in both humans and in animals. Sometimes I watch my dog Marley twitch,
whine, and pant while he naps. I often
wonder if he’s reliving some of the terrible abuse he suffered before we
rescued him. Humans obviously suffer
similar emotionally difficult dreams. The
top five most common dreams for humans are:
- I’m Being Chased
- I’m Falling
- I’m Lost or Unprepared
- I’m Naked in Public
- My Teeth Are Falling Out (how weird is that?!)
