Written by the Nuvirox Research Team
Key points
- When sleepers are woken in the lab and questioned immediately, color shows up in most dream reports; one 1962 study found it in 82.7% of dreams.
- Self-reports have shifted dramatically over time: about 71% of students in 1942 said they rarely or never dreamed in color, versus about 18% in a 2001 replication.
- People who grew up with black-and-white TV report more greyscale dreams, but researchers still debate whether that reflects the dreams or how we remember them.
Short answer: yes, most people dream in color most of the time, but a minority report black-and-white dreams, and how you remember a dream shapes the answer as much as the dream itself. When researchers wake people mid-dream and ask about color right away, color appears in the large majority of reports. When people are asked days or weeks later, color is often “forgotten.” Add in generational differences tied to black-and-white television, and you get one of the odder debates in sleep science.
How do researchers know whether dreams are in color?
They wake people up and ask immediately. In a 1962 study published in Science, Edwin Kahn, William Dement and colleagues woke sleepers in the laboratory and questioned them carefully about the dream they had just been having. Color was present in 82.7% of the immediately recalled dreams.1 That figure was far higher than earlier questionnaire studies had suggested, which pointed to a simple explanation: color details fade fast after waking, and if you do not ask quickly, people under-report them.
This matches what dream researchers see in general. A large share of dreams leave almost nothing behind. A 2019 review of so-called “white dreams,” where people know they were dreaming but can recall no content, estimated these make up almost a third of dream reports.4 Color is one of many details that can vanish in that gap. If you rarely remember your dreams at all, it is no surprise if you cannot recall their colors.
Did people really dream in black and white in the past?
That is the puzzle. In a 2003 paper, philosopher Eric Schwitzgebel repeated a questionnaire first given to students in 1942. Back then, 70.7% of 277 students said they rarely or never dreamed in color. In his 2001 replication, only 17.7% of 124 students said the same.2 Either dreams changed, or people's beliefs about their dreams changed. Schwitzgebel's own conclusion was blunt: one group or the other must be profoundly mistaken about its own dreams.
The mid-century era was also the era of black-and-white film and television, and early dream researchers of the time often described dreams as greyscale. That raised a provocative idea: perhaps the media we grow up with shapes how our dreams look, or at least how we describe them.
Does black-and-white TV change your dreams?
There is some evidence it changes what people report. In a 2008 study, Eva Murzyn compared younger and older adults using both questionnaires and dream diaries. Older adults who had been exposed to black-and-white media before color media reported more greyscale dreams than younger adults raised on color media, and the diary results matched the questionnaire results.3 The study suggested that true black-and-white dreams may occur mainly in people with early childhood exposure to black-and-white media.
The honest caveat is that it remains hard to separate the dream from the memory of the dream. Diaries are better than questionnaires because they are filled out soon after waking, but they still rely on self-report. No one can look directly at a dream's color palette.
What human studies actually show
Study snapshot: Kahn et al., 1962 (Science)
- Method: Laboratory awakenings with immediate, careful questioning about the dream
- Finding: Color present in 82.7% of immediately recalled dreams
- Why it matters: Suggests delayed questionnaires under-count color
- Limitation: Small, mid-century lab sample; color judged by verbal report
The 1942 replication (Schwitzgebel, 2003). Design: repeat of a historical questionnaire. Samples: 277 students (1942) and 124 students (2001). Finding: reports of rarely or never dreaming in color fell from 70.7% to 17.7%.2 Limitation, and the key counterweight: self-reports about dream color are clearly unreliable, because they swing with cultural expectations.
The media-exposure comparison (Murzyn, 2008). Design: questionnaires plus dream diaries in younger and older adults. Finding: early black-and-white media exposure was associated with more greyscale dream reports.3 Limitation: observational, and the published abstract does not give effect sizes, so the magnitude is unclear.
Dreams without content (Fazekas et al., 2019). A review estimating that almost one third of dream reports are contentless “white dreams.”4 This is a limiting finding for anyone hoping self-report can settle the color question, because a large share of dream detail is never recalled at all.
Dreams in blindness (Meaidi et al., 2014). In a four-week diary study, people who lost their sight later in life reported less visual clarity and less color in dreams the longer they had been blind.5 We explore that research in our article on how blind people dream.
What this research can't tell you
It cannot tell you that black-and-white dreams are a problem. There is no evidence linking greyscale dreams to any health condition, and color recall is not a measure of sleep quality. It also cannot fully settle whether some people genuinely dream without color or simply remember dreams without it. If you have noticed a sudden change in how you see while awake, such as fading color vision, that is an eye-health question for an optometrist or doctor, not a dream question.
How to notice the colors in your own dreams
If you are curious, you can run a mini version of the 1962 experiment on yourself. Keep a notebook or phone note by the bed. When you wake, stay still for a moment, replay the dream, and before anything else write down one color you saw. Over a week or two, many people find their dreams were more colorful than they assumed. This also tends to improve dream recall generally. Waking naturally rather than to a jarring alarm helps, since abrupt awakenings tend to wipe dream details faster.
Frequently asked questions
Is it normal to dream in black and white?
It is less common, but it is reported, especially by older adults who grew up with black-and-white television. There is no evidence that it is a sign of anything wrong.
Why can't I remember the colors in my dreams?
Color is one of the first details to fade after waking. In lab studies, color appears far more often when people are questioned immediately than when they are asked later.
Do people who grew up with color TV only dream in color?
Studies suggest they report color dreams far more often than people who grew up with black-and-white media. Whether the dreams themselves differ, or just how they are remembered, is still debated.
Do colorblind people dream in color?
The research summarized here did not study color vision deficiency specifically. In general, dream imagery appears to draw on visual experience, so it is reasonable to expect dreams to reflect the color vision a person has while awake, but that has not been directly established in these studies.
From Nuvirox
Why we formulated Sleep+ Restore
Dream color is a curiosity, not a health marker. What does matter for most people is how easily they fall asleep and how restored they feel. We built Sleep+ Restore for the more common problem sitting underneath a lot of night-time questions: evenings when your body is tired but your mind will not settle. It is a nightly capsule formula designed around several evening-relaxation pathways at once, rather than a single sleepy ingredient, to support relaxation and a more restful night's sleep.*
Because the formula includes botanicals that can interact with some prescription medications, talk with your doctor before using it if you take any medication, are pregnant or nursing, or manage a health condition. It comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, which is long enough to judge it across real weeks rather than one lucky night.
Learn more about Sleep+ Restore →The bottom line
Most people dream in color, and lab studies that question sleepers immediately find color in the large majority of dreams. The famous black-and-white dream reports of the 1940s and 1950s probably reflect a mix of fading memory, cultural expectations and, possibly, the media people grew up with. The fair reading is that self-reports about dream color are unreliable, and that black-and-white dreams, when they happen, are a quirk rather than a concern.
References
- Kahn E, Dement W, Fisher C, et al. Incidence of color in immediately recalled dreams. Science. 1962;137(3535):1054–1055. PMID: 14453103. DOI: 10.1126/science.137.3535.1054.
- Schwitzgebel E. Do people still report dreaming in black and white? An attempt to replicate a questionnaire from 1942. Percept Mot Skills. 2003;96(1):25–29. PMID: 12705505. DOI: 10.2466/pms.2003.96.1.25.
- Murzyn E. Do we only dream in colour? A comparison of reported dream colour in younger and older adults with different experiences of black and white media. Conscious Cogn. 2008;17(4):1228–1237. PMID: 18845457. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2008.09.002.
- Fazekas P, Nemeth G, Overgaard M. White dreams are made of colours: what studying contentless dreams can teach about the neural basis of dreaming and conscious experiences. Sleep Med Rev. 2019;43:84–91. PMID: 30529433. DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2018.10.005.
- 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):586–595. PMID: 24709309. DOI: 10.1016/j.sleep.2013.12.008.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.