Background

What are body part dreams about?

Body parts are a general category of things that make up the body. Arms and legs are body parts. So are hands, feets, necks, and eyes. It is interesting to think about. Who we are is made up of body parts, but we are not our specific body part. My hand is part of who I am, but I am not my hand. The DreamWell Dream Dictionary is based upon insights from 1,200 dream symbols in over 200,000 dreams. Let’s see what the data has to say about body part dreams.

The word cloud above shows the words that are specifically associated with body part dreams. These are the words that make body part dreams unique compared to all other dream symbols. Just examining the graph and reading the words of body part dreams can be illuminating about show body parts affect our dreams. Be sure to check out the example body part dreams at the bottom of the page.

The circular bar chart above shows how body parts in a dream will affect dream content as compared to other dream symbols. Higher bars indicate that body part is more related to the specific symbol in the graph. Lower bars indicate that body part is less related to the specific symbol in the graph. Specifically, body part dreams have more touch than 99.5% of dream symbols, more vision than 99.4% of dream symbols, and more pain than 99.1% of dream symbols. On the other hand, body part dreams have less recurring dreams than 67.0% of dream symbols, less good dreams than 66.2% of dream symbols, and less human-made places than 61.2% of dream symbols. Notably, dreams of body parts tend to contain much more emotion than other dreams. Additionally, body part dreams might be nightmares! Though even if these dreams are nightmares, it doesn't necessarily mean that they are bad dreams or that body parts is a bad thing to dream about. It just means that dreams of body parts are more likely to be nightmares than dreams of other things. Furthermore, dreams of body parts are friendly! These dreams have more friendly interactions than 80% of all of the other dream symbols. Friendly dreams can be great. They involve people helping other people, expressing love, and just being good to one another. Also, dreams of body parts are aggressive! Body part dreams have more aggressive interactions than 80% of all of the other dream symbols. Aggressive interactions involve attacks, arguments, yelling, pushing, killing, and so on. These dreams can be scary, stressful, or confusing. But, as with all dreams, it is best to explore what is there. Why was there aggression? Was it really aggression? Finally, dreams of body parts are auditory! They focus on sounds and hearing. Dreaming is primarily a visual medium. We see in our dreams, but hearing is less dominant. It is interesting to explore why body parts in dreams could be related to hearing. Every dream is unique. These are general patterns observed in an analysis of over 200,000 dreams. This analysis is a tool to help you make sense of your dreams. It is best to look at the differences. See how your dream of body parts is different than dreams of body parts in general.

56%

of dreams have body parts

How common are body part dreams?

56% of dreams have the body parts symbol within the dream. That's about 1 out of every 2 dreams. Considering all the dream symbols, it is frequent.

Identification

How are body part dreams identified?

This symbol is identified by the presence of other dream symbols such as heads, noses, teeth, general body parts, lips, shoulders, mouths, skeletons, necks, legs, calves, eyes, feet, ovaries, fingers, toenails, ankles, stomachs, ears, and backs.

Most related

What is most related to dreams of body parts?

Body parts dreams are notable because they have substantially more verbs, movement, senses, general movement, vision, qualities, opened my eyes, closed my eyes, penises, events, dead bodies than 95% of other dream symbols.

Least related

What symbols least related to dreams of body parts?

Body parts dreams are notable because they have substantially less Princess Leia, being chased by a gorilla, Bangladesh, winning the lottery, Indonesia, ovations, alimony, Estonia, Bolivia, Ethiopia, recurring dreams than 95% of other dream symbols.

Deep dive into body part dreams

Get an overview of characters, emotions, places, events, dream events, and senses in body part dreams.

Who is in dreams of body parts?

Who is in dreams of body parts?

Body part dreams are more related to animals, more related to insects, and more related to fantastic beings than dreams in general.

more than usual
more than usual
the same as usual
more than usual
more than usual
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the same as usual
the same as usual
What are the emotions in dreams of body parts?

What are the emotions in dreams of body parts?

Body part dreams are more related to happiness, more related to grief and sorrow, and more related to confusion than dreams in general.

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the same as usual
more than usual
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more than usual
much more than usual
much more than usual
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the same as usual
the same as usual
Where do dreams of body parts take place?

Where do dreams of body parts take place?

Body part dreams are more related to magical places than dreams in general. They are less related to human-made places.

the same as usual
the same as usual
less than usual
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the same as usual
more than usual
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What happens in dreams of body parts?

What happens in dreams of body parts?

Dreams of body parts are much more related to aggressive acts, much more related to friendly acts, and more related to eating and drinking than dreams in general.

much more than usual
much more than usual
the same as usual
the same as usual
more than usual
more than usual
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How do dreams of body parts related to the type of dream it is?

How do dreams of body parts related to the type of dream it is?

Dreams of body parts are more related to lucid dreams, much more related to nightmares, and much more related to sleep paralysis than dreams in general. They are less related to recurring dreams and less related to good dreams.

more than usual
much more than usual
less than usual
much more than usual
more than usual
more than usual
more than usual
less than usual
the same as usual
How do dreams of body parts related the senses?

How do dreams of body parts related the senses?

Body part dreams are much more related to hearing, much more related to smelling, and more related to taste than dreams in general.

much more than usual
much more than usual
more than usual
much more than usual
much more than usual

How can you make sense of body parts in dreams?

Body part dreams are frequent. Among other things body part dreams are very emotional, nightmares, friendly, aggressive, focused on sounds, focused on smells, focused on touch, focused on vision, containing lots of movement, and containing lots of thinking of thoughts. Do you think this is true for your dream of body parts? How might your dream of body parts be different?

All dreams have meaning

All dreams have meaning

You can gain insight from thinking about any dream, no matter how strange. Only you, as the dreamer, have final say on what your dream may or may not mean. Each dream is unique.

Look for the differences

Look for the differences

The DreamWell dictionary provides information on how each dream symbol appears in dreams in general. Finding how experience body parts in dreams can be a key to understanding its meaning.

Return to the feelings

Return to the feelings

Our emotions in dreams can help us understand its meaning. Pay attention to how you felt in the dream. Pay attention to how you feel about body parts in dreams. See how you feel about body parts now, in your waking life.

An interpretation of body part dreams

An interpretation of body part dreams

This interpretation is from ""The Dream Interpretation Dictionary: Symbols, Signs, and Meanings" and is provided by J.M. DeBord aka "RadOwl". He is the author of several acclaimed books about dreaming, the host of The Dreams That Shape Us podcast, and is a moderator of r/Dreams, one of the largest dream sharing communities on the internet. Parts of the body such as the head and feet have specific symbolism. Look them up individually—a list is provided at the bottom. This entry will give possibilities for overall symbolism. Since you live in your body and get nightly updates about its health and status via dreams, you dream frequently about it, usually shown through symbolism such as a home, other structure, or vehicle. See: Buildings, Buses, Cars, Home, Trees For example, a man dreams that he’s in the home of a famous baseball pitcher, who has been fixing up the place and is patching up the ceiling. The dreamer offers to do it. It’s a way of saying he knows his body isn’t what it used to be—like during his baseball days—and he’s willing to take the steps to “patch it up.” The ceiling that needs patched represents his head. That’s where the game is really won. Sometimes the connection between the body and health is rather obvious, such as in dream imagery featuring a hospital bed, an autopsy, getting examined by a doctor, or getting an X-ray. People sometimes have vivid dreams with this imagery when an illness is developing or their health is on their mind, and after spending time in medical facilities. See: Dissecting, Doctors, Hospitals, Illness, X-rays Parts of the body can be symbolized, such as a fishbowl representing a bladder or kidney, windows representing the eyes, or branches representing the arms. See: Skyscrapers, Trees A dead body can symbolize detachment—especially detachment from the physical condition and needs of the body. It can express a fear of what will happen if you allow your health to deteriorate. It can express the idea of being dead inside, or exhausted. This use of the symbolism is particularly likely if you see yourself dead in a dream. See: Zombies A dead body can mean that something about yourself is receding back into your mind, or a time of life is over. You are changing—out with the old and in with the new. This use of the symbolism is quite common in the dreams of people who resist change or hold onto something for too long. See: Death In many dreams about seeing the dead body of someone close to you, the meaning is found in the fact that the relationship is changing. The person portrayed as dead is “dead to you” in the sense of no longer as important in your life, or no longer as emotionally connected to you. It’s very important to see beyond the imagery of death and recognize it as symbolism. A dead body can mean something is figuratively killing you inside. Any sort of tense situation that’s close to the breaking point can spark dreams featuring corpses. A dead body or bodies can signify that old parts of yourself are passing away, or it’s time to change. People who make big changes in themselves are known to dream about dead bodies, representing parts of themselves no longer needed or wanted. For example, a woman dreams about being forced at gunpoint to fly a plane. She manages to do it, lands on an alien planet, and sees dead bodies stacked around her, killed by aliens, but is not bothered by the sight. The dream shows the big changes in her life. She forces these changes on herself by thinking about the consequences of inaction, symbolized as being forced to fly at gunpoint. The aliens and alien planet symbolize being in a foreign place in her life. The dead bodies symbolize her old ways as a self-described “couch potato.” That part of herself is gone, and her nonchalant reaction to seeing the bodies indicates it’s a welcome change. The symbolism of a dormant body can be like that of coma, shut down inside, or unable to express yourself. See: Comas A sleeping body can reflect the fact that as you dream, you are asleep, so the imagery reflects your physical state. Or it can be a way of saying you are “sleeping through life.” See: Sleeping Wounds to the body are a physical representation of a personal situation, often tied to how you feel: damaged, battered, sore. It’s particularly common to dream about wounding to the body after going through a rough patch. Just how rough it was and how you feel about it are shown in the severity of the wounds. See: Wounds A shriveled body can indicate declining health or shrinking prosperity. A decomposing body can symbolize a dead situation, or something dwelled on too long. Time to move on. This use of the symbolism is common after close relationships end. Or it can mean putting something off for too long, perhaps allowing an opportunity to pass by. Disposing of a body can mean you want to forget something, you’re done with it. Or you’re hiding your feelings and emotions. It can reflect feeling disrespected, unrecognized, or discarded. See: Hiding Burying or hiding a body can symbolize trying to hide or cover up something, such as a secret. Or you feel guilty or ashamed. You want to hide something about yourself or cover up your actions or behaviors. Think of the phrase “where the bodies are buried” and how it’s used as symbolism. The bodies are things you want to hide. See: Burying Stretch the idea of hiding or covering up. Hiding a body can mean you hide your body because of embarrassment. Or you have a weakness you want to conceal. Or you don’t want to acknowledge something about yourself because your ego wants to keep its illusions. Covering a body can symbolize choosing to ignore someone or something. For example, covering the body of your father can symbolize choosing to ignore his rules. For an example dream, see: Casino. If you dream about a pain in your body it can be caused by pain experienced while asleep. Oftentimes it’s translated into symbolism, such as when a stabbing pain in your back is dreamed about as being stabbed or shot in the back. You can even continue to feel it the next day as a sort of nerve memory. Tells you how believable your dreams are. See also: Amputations, Ankles, Anuses, Arms, Attics, Basements, Beauty, Birds, Biting, Blood, Breasts, Breaking, Buildings, Burying, Buses, Cages, Calluses, Calves, Cancer, Cars, Casinos, Clean, Comas, Crying, Death, Deformation, Disease, Dissecting, Doctors, Ears, Eggs, Elbows, Elderly people, Excrement, Eyes, Faces, Feet, Cemeteries, Hair, Hands, Heads, Hearts, Hiding, Home, Hospitals, Illness, Invading, Jails, Knees, Legs, Lips, Mouths, Necks, Noses, Ovaries, Pain, Paralysis, Parasites, Pregnancy, Skin, Skyscrapers, Sleeping, Stomachs, Teeth, Testicles, Toilets, Trees, Ugliness, Uteruses, Vaginas, Weakness, Wounds, X-rays

Examples of dreams of body parts

Reading dreams is one of the best ways to understand dream symbols. Even though the DreamWell Dream Dictionary is based upon data, it is grounded in the experience of reading thousands upon thousands of dreams. We invite you to read examples of body part dreams for yourself. These dreams are actual dreams people have had. As result, they may contain racist, sexist, violent, or otherwise offense language and imagery. This can be true even for body part dreams. Read at your own risk.

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