Dream themes

What does it mean to dream about flying?

Flying dreams have no fixed meaning. Among 1,181 Canadian students, 48.3% had ever flown in a dream (Nielsen et al., 2003), but in four German surveys only 7.5% of adults had done so in the last few months (Schredl & Piel, 2007). Research ties flying dreams to lucid dreaming, in which you know you’re dreaming, and more loosely to the body’s sense of balance (Picard-Deland et al., 2022).

Last updated: 2026-10-13.

How often do people fly in their dreams?

Many people fly in a dream at some point in their lives, but far fewer do in any given few months (Nielsen et al., 2003; Schredl & Piel, 2007). Among 1,181 first-year students at three Canadian universities, men (58.1%) reported flying dreams more often than women (44.4%). Flying was also one of three themes students most often named as their earliest remembered dream theme.

Flying dreams are widely reported but infrequent, as the researchers who brought them on in a lab point out (Picard-Deland et al., 2020).

Does your sense of balance make dream flight feel real?

Your sense of balance may help make dream flight feel real, and the idea has been tested in the lab (Picard-Deland et al., 2022). In the Canadian survey, flying grouped with falling and nearly falling, themes the authors say clearly involve vestibular sensation, the body’s sense of balance (Nielsen et al., 2003). Some dream researchers think this balance system causes dreams of flying and falling (Picard-Deland & Nielsen, 2021). It can become active on its own during REM sleep, the stage when we dream the most.

Two lab studies lend the idea some support (Picard-Deland et al., 2020, 2022). In the first, 137 people did a virtual-reality flying task and then took a morning nap. In the nap and the next morning, they reported more flying dreams than before the task, and more than a comparison group. That lab result is one example of nudging what you dream about. In the second, better balance on a force plate went with flying sensations in men’s dreams among 131 people, but only mildly and on some of the tests, and body height and sleepiness muddied some of the results.

How are flying dreams tied to lucid dreaming?

Flying dreams often come with lucid dreaming, knowing you’re dreaming while the dream goes on (Picard-Deland et al., 2022). In 1,910 dreams from 191 people, flying dreams were likelier among those who reported lucid dreams (Barrett, 1991). When both came in the same dream, the lucidity came first rather than being set off by the flight.

In an online survey of 684 people, 571 of them lucid dreamers, flying was among the things people set out to do once lucid, though they didn’t always pull it off (Stumbrys et al., 2014). The flights brought on by virtual reality also came with more lucidity and control (Picard-Deland et al., 2020). Our guide on how to start lucid dreaming covers what works and who should take care.

Why do some people dream of flying more than others?

Several explanations of flying dreams have some support, and none explains them on its own (Picard-Deland & Nielsen, 2021; Schredl, 2007). Flying dreams became more common in German surveys between 1956 and 2000, which the authors suggest might reflect more air travel (Schredl & Piel, 2007). Nielsen et al. (2003) suggest that men’s higher rate may reflect differences in how often, or how fearfully, men and women travel by air. A 1977 paper they cite linked flying dreams with a desire for freedom, to stay in the United States, among newly arrived Mexican immigrants. Freud, as they summarize him, traced the dream to being tossed in the air as a small child.

A personality study linked flying dreams with calmer, more open people (Schredl, 2007). In 444 students, flying dreams went with low neuroticism (a lower tendency toward negative emotions), openness to experience, remembering more dreams and playing an instrument, among other traits. A review of correlational studies points the other way, placing “dreams of flying or falling” in a wider cluster of unusual sleep experiences that, as a group, tracks stress (Soffer-Dudek, 2017). Lucid dreaming sits apart in that review and goes with resilience. Flying dreams can be positive, even euphoric (Picard-Deland & Nielsen, 2021). Researchers have called the meaning of typical dreams like these an open question (Schredl et al., 2004).

What should you notice the next time you take off?

The details of a flight will tell you more than a dream dictionary. Try these:

• Did you know you were dreaming?
• How did you lift off: a jump, a run or a slow float?
• Were you escaping something or exploring?
• How high did you go, and how easy was it?
• What ended the flight?
• How did you feel when you woke?

What if a flight turns into a fall or a frightening dream?

Some flights turn into falls; the guide to falling dreams covers those, and how they differ from the jolt of a sleep start. A flight that keeps coming back has become one of your recurring dreams. If it wakes you frightened, see the guide to nightmares. A frightening dream that keeps returning can sometimes be changed by rewriting it while you’re awake (Picard-Deland & Nielsen, 2021); the guide to changing a recurring nightmare explains how.

Sources

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2. Li, Y., Zhang, W., Han, L., Li, M., Jing, H., Lu, H., Liu, N., Han, X., Su, M., Yang, T., Yin, F., Xie, B., & Zou, X. (2023). The relationship between typical dreams and mental health of residents in village-in-city. Sleep Medicine: X, 6, 100081. doi.org/10.1016/j.sleepx.2023.100081
3. Nielsen, T. A., Zadra, A. L., Simard, V., Saucier, S., Stenstrom, P., Smith, C., & Kuiken, D. (2003). The typical dreams of Canadian university students. Dreaming, 13(4), 211–235. doi.org/10.1023/B:DREM.0000003144.40929.0b
4. Picard-Deland, C., Allaire, M.-A., & Nielsen, T. (2022). Postural balance in frequent lucid dreamers: A replication attempt. Sleep, 45(7), zsac105. doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsac105
5. Picard-Deland, C., & Nielsen, T. (2021, August 18). Being chased, losing your teeth or falling down? What science says about recurring dreams. The Conversation. theconversation.com/being-chased-losing-your-teeth-or-falling-down-what-science-says-about-recurring-dreams-166006
6. Picard-Deland, C., Pastor, M., Solomonova, E., Paquette, T., & Nielsen, T. (2020). Flying dreams stimulated by an immersive virtual reality task. Consciousness and Cognition, 83, 102958. doi.org/10.1016/j.concog.2020.102958
7. Schredl, M. (2007). Personality correlates of flying dreams. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 27(2), 129–137. doi.org/10.2190/IC.27.2.d
8. Schredl, M., Ciric, P., Götz, S., & Wittmann, L. (2004). Typical dreams: Stability and gender differences. The Journal of Psychology, 138(6), 485–494. doi.org/10.3200/JRLP.138.6.485-494
9. Schredl, M., & Piel, E. (2007). Prevalence of flying dreams. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 105(2), 657–660. doi.org/10.2466/pms.105.2.657-660
10. Soffer-Dudek, N. (2017). Arousal in nocturnal consciousness: How dream- and sleep-experiences may inform us of poor sleep quality, stress, and psychopathology. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 733. doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00733
11. Stumbrys, T., Erlacher, D., Johnson, M., & Schredl, M. (2014). The phenomenology of lucid dreaming: An online survey. The American Journal of Psychology, 127(2), 191–204. doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.127.2.0191