Heya Sinking,

This happens to me regularly when I am overworked, or very anxious/stressed. I'm no sleep interpreter, it's not even a legitimate profession, but as a knowledgeable person in the field of the mind, I believe that it is the mind's way of attempting to eliminate stress and anxieties during sleep, or a protective mechanism, allowing you to perceive the extent of the impact certain life events are having on your conscious/awake mind, no matter how hard you attempt to push the thoughts away, or ride the wave of thoughts about such things during the daytime.

I find that when I am happy, settled, and not stressed, this does not occur. Those dreams can be very realistic and very very scary. I experience them too