A dream analyst has said it is not unusual for people to have strange or intense dreams.
Psychotherapist Paul Gill said this has all been heightened owing to the stress of the pandemic.
He told Lunchtime Live: "The unusual times that we're in because of the COVID lockdown - anxiety peaked in many people.
"Anxiety is fear-based thinking, and fear is our strongest emotion.
"It's not love; people would say that love is the strongest emotion - it's the most desirable, but fear gets you to act and to do things.
"When there's fear of the future - not knowing how long the lockdown will last, not knowing are you going to be OK, is your job going to be OK - all of these things produce anxiety.
"And that anxiety has to be expressed, and there's no better way to express it than in dreams."
He said while people can have unusual dreams regularly, this has been "intensified" due to the pandemic.
"We worry - a lot of dreams can be worry, a lot of dreams can be wishing for things.
"In my profession, I'm seeing more and more people in a very bad way with fear and anxiety because of the current situation."
Conscious vs subconscious mind
Paul said our dreams are influenced by whatever happens in the day.
"You've got basically two minds: a conscious mind and a subconscious mind.
"The subconscious mind absorbs much more data than the conscious awareness does - the conscious awareness has a very limited amount of focus.
"But the subconscious mind absorbs a lot, it's very aware, and at night it's trying to process all of that data, it's trying to file it away with reference to previous experience.
Image by 2843603 from Pixabay"So if you see a man walking a dog during the day, it might give you a dream with a dog in it - and maybe the man might become the dog, maybe if the man has a beard.
"Your mind compares these two things, similar things go together, and this is the genesis of weird and wonderful dreams.
"Our creative subconscious minds are exactly that, they're creative - they will put together things that we wouldn't consciously put together."
He said it is normal for people to not remember their dreams, or even not know that they had them.
"But sometimes people will have dreams that can be disturbing, dreams they might feel that they're dreaming all night and that's a sign that the subconscious mind is not at rest.
"That it's been overloaded with information, data, fears and worries - and it's just not able to settle down and the person doesn't get good quality sleep.
"Some people are more aware of themselves, more aware of what's going on in their heads - they know themselves better.
"I would certainly say if you really want to know yourself, you need to analyse your dreams
"Your dreams are your truth, your dreams tell you how life is as you see it.
"So whether the dream's scary or enjoyable, there's an immense amount of data in every dream.
"Every dream is relevant, every dream is important and every dream can be interpreted."
Paul said he usually asks clients to keep a dream journal, to take note of their dreams.
'The house' dream
One woman, Kate, said she has a recurring dream of being in a large house and is discovering new rooms.
Sometimes she realises she owns the house, while at other times it "turns sour" and she is under pressure to cater for all the people in the house.
"I'm a kind of a waitress and I'm very, very sleepy or drugged - and I can't keep my facts together, and I keep getting lost in this enormous house".
On this, Paul suggested: "It's almost as if there's two separate dreams: there's the basic dream where you discover you actually own or you're in this fabulous house.
"Houses typically can represent you, and discovering new areas, new rooms in the house can be new aspects of yourself.
Image by Pasi Mämmelä from Pixabay"It can be new talents, new abilities, new ways of doing things - and this is very exciting.
"But also going along with that, there might be this idea of a fear of success or self-sabotage: that when you do have this fabulous house, suddenly you've got all this responsibility.
"All these other people there and you've to look after them, show them around, talk to them.
"So I think that maybe you could feel a little bit overwhelmed.
"But maybe it's dreaming - wanting this fabulous house, wanting things to be the way that you want them to be - but then maybe a fear of 'I'm going to change, I'll be a different person - will I be able to handle all this, will I have too much responsibility'".
