What Your Dreams REALLY Mean

Judith Newman, Allure magazine

Ever wake up in a sweat with the certainty that your teeth are falling out or you've just walked naked into your high-school English class? Guess what? We all do. What do these dreams mean? We asked the experts.

The Dream: Teeth falling out.
Probably the most common appearance-related dream.

Meaning: "This reflects anxieties about how others perceive you," says Michael Vigo of the website dreammoods.com. Adds Judith Orloff, author of Second Sight: An Intuitive Psychiatrist's Story (Grand Central Publishing), "Women dream this when they feel they're losing power."

See more: The 6 Most Flattering Haircuts for Round Faces

The Dream: Nakedness.
You show up somewhere starkers- and you're the only person to notice.

Meaning: You're feeling exposed. "You're afraid that you're being too open or that something private will be discovered," says Orloff. But it's not always such a bad thing, adds Gillian Holloway, author of 5 Steps to Decode Your Dreams (Sourcebooks). "This dream typically comes when there's some change in your life-a new love affair, a promotion. You just may feel you're not ready for whatever's going on."

See more: The 10 Commandments of Mascara

The Dream: Breasts.

They're huge, minuscule, or leaking.

Meaning: Often these dreams are about self-worth and sexuality. "I had a patient with huge breast implants whose nightmare was that she was at her own funeral, and all that was left of her in her coffin were her implants," says Orloff. "Her self-esteem was all about breasts." Leaking breasts may reflect a struggle over the dual roles of wife and mother.

See more: Top 21 Drugstore Beauty Bargains

The Dream: Fingernails.
They break, you bite them, or they grow uncontrollably.

Meaning: Breaking a nail suggests you may be trying to avoid a situation or a responsibility, says Vigo; biting your nails may mean there is something in your life that is too tough to handle. And overgrown nails, according to Holloway, suggest you are on the defensive and losing a sense of the big picture.

See more from Allure:
The Top 14 New Summer Hair Ideas

The 12 Best Eye Creams

2012 Readers' Choice Awards
10 Hairstyles That Make You Look 10 Years Younger