And What Do They Dream About?
People blind since birth do not “see” in dreams, but experience dreams based on other senses.
Blind people also have more nightmares than sighted people do.
Graciela Vilagudin / Getty Images
It also looks at how their dreams compare with those of sighted people.
Within this context, vision is a central component of memory.
However, it is not the only one available to either blind or sighted people.
Taste, touch, smell, spatial awareness, and experience all are available.
What are Blind People’s Dreams Like?
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.
In people with blindness, these sensations are more common when dreaming.
For these individuals, the visual images are similar to those of sighted people.
As they get older, they may only intermittently “see” during a dream.
Without some sense of spatial relationship, dreams may become more detached, disorganized, and chaotic.
It is a phenomenon shared by people born deaf, who are also more likely to have nightmares.
Blind People and Nightmares
Nightmares are more common in people who are born blind.
A Word From Verywell
People who are blind dream as much as anyone else.
Sleep Foundation.Do Blind People Dream?
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.Brain Basics: Understanding Sleep.
Mutz J, Javadi AH.Exploring the neural correlates of dream phenomenology and altered states of consciousness during sleep.Neurosci Conscious.
2017;2017(1):nix009.
2021 Apr-Jun;14(2):190-192. doi:10.5935/1984-0063.20200068.
