How the Blind Dream

Most of my dreams are boring. I’m typically talking to someone I know, either on the phone or in person, in a familiar place. The conversations tend to include ideas that I’ve read about or experienced recently in my waking life. Some of my dreams don’t even have the intrigue of another character; I’m just alone, sitting in front of my computer, reading or Tweeting or whatever. Occasionally when on deadline I’ll have a classic anxiety dream, but even that’s pretty tame, with me flunking out of college because I forgot to go to class.No matter what the psychological message, my dreams are almost entirely visual and auditory. Every once in awhile I’ll have a dream that includes a physical sensation, like my stomach dropping as I ride down an elevator. But it’s so rare that when it happens the feeling sticks with me all day. That probably makes sense, as I rely on my vision and hearing far more than other senses. But what about people who lose their sight, or could never see? What do they dream of?A group of Danish researchers posed those questions in this month’s issue of Sleep Medicine.Read more at...Only Human, February 2014.