Women have emotionally more intense nightmares than men

New York: Women not only have more nightmares than men, their nightmares are emotionally more intense than mens', finds a study.

Men also typically dream more of exciting and joyful things, the researchers said.

"Nightmares come from anxiety. The extent to which women are more prone to anxiety disorders than men may be an underlying reason for this," Anne Cutler, a US-based psychoanalyst, was quoted as saying to dailymail.co.uk.

The findings showed that the most common nightmare for females is about their partner cheating on them.

Teeth falling out, being chased, and seeing spiders are the other three most frequently-occurring nightmares among women.

Also common were nightmares about being chased (51 per cent), being back in school (38 per cent), and being unprepared for a test or important event (34 per cent).

Conversely, men are most likely to dream about flying, meeting a beautiful stranger, or finding money.

According to the study, women also better remember their dreams or nightmares than men.

A quarter of women (24 per cent) remember their dreams almost every night compared to 14 per cent for men, the data showed.

"Women may be more fixated on their anxieties and may be more likely to remember dreams that focus on those anxieties," added Jennie Parker, researcher at the University of West England.

The study was conducted on 2,000 men and women from the US by Amerisleep -- a bed firm in Arizona.