Sleep Disorders What Blind People See or Experience When They Dream at Night By Brandon Peters, MD Brandon Peters, MD Facebook Twitter Brandon Peters, MD, is a board-certified neurologist and sleep medicine specialist. Learn about our editorial process Updated on March 04, 2021 Medically reviewed Verywell Health articles are reviewed by board-certified physicians and healthcare professionals. These medical reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research. Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Learn more. by Isaac O. Opole, MD, PhD Medically reviewed by Isaac O. Opole, MD, PhD LinkedIn Isaac O. Opole, MD, PhD, is a board-certified internist specializing in geriatric medicine. For over 15 years, he's practiced at the Kansas University Medical Center, where he is also a professor. Learn about our Medical Expert Board Print Table of Contents View All Table of Contents Dream Sleep Patterns Sensory Differences Visual Dreaming Nightmares and Aggression Do blind people dream? It is a question that people with vision sometimes ponder given that dreams are largely regarded as visual experiences. At the same time, most of us understand that dreams are comprised of thoughts and sensations that extend well beyond that is visually represented in our minds. How might these thoughts and sensations translate to dreams in those who have either lost their vision or were born blind? Graciela Vilagudin / Getty Images Dream Sleep in Blind People Firstly, blind people do dream. The processes that induce dreams in blind people are no different than those in sighted people. Dream sleep is associated with the sleep stage called rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. During REM sleep, people will experience physiological changes such as deep muscle relaxation, faster respiration, jittering or darting eye movements, and increased brain activity. In a typical night, REM sleep will lead to around two hours of dreaming, broken up by other alternating stages of sleep. As for the dreams themselves, some researchers believe that they are simply the mind's way of consolidating memories, either by reviewing and reorganizing recent events or sensations or by connecting new experiences to older ones. Within this context, vision is a central component of memory but not the only one. As long as there are memories and sensations to connect them with, a person will dream whether they are sighted or blind. Why Can't I Remember My Dreams? How Blind People Dream When most people think about dreams, they recognize the intense visual imagery created in the dreamscape. For many, it is like watching a movie in one's head. There may be other elements to the experience, including sounds, touch, taste, and smells; nevertheless, the visual experience plays a central role. While most dreams contain features that are kinesthetic (related to movement) or auditory (related to sound), less than 1% involve olfactory (smell), gustatory (taste), or tactile (touch) sensations. In people with blindness, these uncommon sensations are more commonly experienced during dreams. In the absence of vision, these are the sensations that blind people rely upon more acutely when awake but also when dreaming. Visual Dreaming in Blind People Some blind people experience visual dreaming in which they "see" images in the dreamscape no differently than a sighted person. The facility to do so is largely dependent on when they lost their vision. Research has shown that people who are born blind or become blind at an early age (typically before the age of five) will not have visual imagery in their dreams. By contrast, those who became blind after five will more likely experience visual sensations while dreaming, suggesting that there is a developmental threshold during which vision, cognition, and memory are melded. For these individuals, the visual images can be as concrete and identifiable as those of sighted people. With that said, people with late blindness will often lose clarity and color of the visual impressions the longer they are blind and, as they get older, may only intermittently "see" during a dream. Although people born blind or who became blind early in life will not have visual dreams, many will experience spatial relationships that allow them to form imaginal representations of the size, scale, position, or movement of people and objects. In essence, they "recognize" time, place, and people in the same way that sighted people do during dreams. What Are the Risks of Dream Deprivation? Emotional Intensity in Dreams While the contents of a dream do not vary between blind and sighted people, there are differences in the intensity of certain emotions. According to a 2014 study published in Sleep Medicine, people born blind tend to experience more aggression and nightmares that those with sight or who became blind later in life. This may be due to an inability to achieve imaginal representations that help consolidate memories and sensations into something the mind can readily observe and process. Without some sense of spatial relationship, dreams may become more detached, disorganized, and chaotic. Others believe that nightmares are more common in people who are born blind because they have a higher rate of threatening experiences in daily life. It is a phenomenon shared by people born deaf, who are also more likely to have nightmares. A Word From Verywell People who are blind dream as much as anyone else. Even though the ways in which they dream can differ, the emotional response and content of dreams remain exactly the same. If anything, the way in which blind people dream confirms that sight and experience are not integrally linked and that the lack of sight doesn't make an experience any less "real." It is a lesson that should extend to how we view blindness in general. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tossing and turning night over night can have a big impact on your quality of life. Our free guide can help you get the rest you need. Sign up for our newsletter and get it free. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit 8 Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Cleveland Clinic. Sleep basics. Updated July 20, 2012. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Brain basics: Understanding sleep. Updated August 13, 2019. Mutz J, Javadi AH. Exploring the neural correlates of dream phenomenology and altered states of consciousness during sleep. Neurosci Conscious. 2017;2017(1):nix009. doi:10.1093/nc/nix009 Hobson JA, Hong CC, Friston KJ. Virtual reality and consciousness inference in dreaming. Front Psychol. 2014;5:1133. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01133 Nir Y, Tononi G. Dreaming and the brain: From phenomenology to neurophysiology. Trends Cogn Sci. 2010;14(2):88-100. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.12.001 Kahan TL, Laberge SP. Dreaming and waking: Similarities and differences revisited. Conscious Cogn. 2011;20(3):494-514. doi:10.1016/j.concog.2010.09.002 Meaidi A, Jennum P, Ptito M, Kupers R. The sensory construction of dreams and nightmare frequency in congenitally blind and late blind individuals. Sleep Med. 2014;15(5):586-95. doi:10.1016/j.sleep.2013.12.008 Rego MF, Duarte I, Nunes R. Hearing impairment and nightmares: a theoretical insight. Springerplus. 2015;4:786. doi:10.1186/s40064-015-1579-1