What do blind people dream about?
Quick Answer
Blind people dream about the same things as everyone else (people, places, worries), but how a dream is experienced depends on when they lost their sight. People blind from birth or early childhood report no visual images in dreams; their dreams are built from sound, touch, smell, taste and movement. People who lose sight later in life usually keep seeing in dreams, though visual detail often fades over time.
Key Takeaways
- Dream content (relationships, daily life, anxieties) is similar to that of sighted people
- People born blind report no visual imagery in dreams
- Sound, touch, smell and taste are more prominent in blind people's dreams
- People who lose vision after about age 5 to 7 usually still have visual dreams
- Visual dreams tend to become less vivid the longer someone has been blind
- One study found congenitally blind people reported more nightmares
Dreams of People Born Blind
Someone who has never seen has no visual memories for the brain to draw on, so their dreams are not "dark" or "black"; they simply are not visual. People who were born blind describe dreams in which they hear voices, feel textures and temperatures, smell food or places, and sense their body moving through familiar routes.
A 2014 study from Denmark (Meaidi and colleagues, published in Sleep Medicine) asked blind and sighted participants to keep dream diaries. Congenitally blind participants reported no visual impressions at all, and more auditory, tactile, gustatory and olfactory impressions than sighted participants.
Dreams of People Who Lost Their Sight Later
People who become blind after early childhood usually continue to see in their dreams. Research on dream reports suggests that sight lost before roughly age 5 to 7 tends not to survive in dreams, while sight lost later often does.
In the same Danish study, people who had become blind later in life reported fewer visual impressions the longer they had been blind, and more input from other senses. Many describe dreaming of themselves as sighted, or seeing faces of people they knew before losing vision.
Do Blind People Have More Nightmares?
The 2014 study found that congenitally blind participants reported nightmares considerably more often than sighted or late-blind participants. The researchers suggested that dreams may help rehearse threatening situations, and that navigating a world built for sighted people involves more of those. This is one study with a small sample, so the finding should be treated as preliminary.
What Blind People Dream About
- Everyday life: work, school, family, travel and conversations
- Getting around: finding a route, crossing a street, losing a cane or guide dog
- Social situations and emotions, just like sighted dreamers
- Sensory details such as music, voices, weather, textures and smells
Frequently Asked Questions
Do blind people see black in their dreams?
People born blind do not "see" anything in dreams, not even black, because they have no visual experience. Their dreams are made of other senses. People who lost sight later may still see images.
Can people born blind dream in color?
No. People who have never seen do not experience color in dreams. They may understand colors as concepts or associations, but not visually.
Do blind people have REM sleep?
Yes. Blind people have normal sleep stages, including REM sleep. Some studies have found fewer of the rapid eye movements themselves in people blind from birth, but they still dream.
Do people who go blind stop seeing in dreams?
Not immediately. Most keep visual dreams for years, but the images often become less frequent or less detailed over time.
Do totally blind people have problems with sleep?
Many totally blind people with no light perception have trouble keeping a 24-hour body clock, because light is the main signal that sets it. This condition is called non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder.