A hospice doctor spent 30 years with dying patients and found nearly 90% had vivid dreams or visions, but one theme kept coming back

Dr. Christopher Kerr has spent almost thirty years working as a hospice physician, and his observations suggest that the end of life involves a lot more than just the physical decline we often expect. After interviewing over 1,500 patients, he found that nearly 90% of them report having incredibly vivid dreams or visions as they approach their final days. 

As reported by Unilad, Kerr discussed these findings on Diary of a CEO, where he explained that these experiences are not just random thoughts. The most common theme among his patients is seeing people they love who have already passed away. Kerr notes that seeing deceased loved ones is a primary theme that brings deep comfort to those nearing the end of their lives.

One of the most interesting parts of his research is how patients distinguish these experiences from normal dreams. Kerr says that if you call these visions dreams, it often upsets the patients. They feel that term does not do justice to what they are actually seeing. “When you ask them these sorts of questions, the thing that gets them most distressed is when you refer to them as dreams because these are unlike anything they’ve ever experienced,” Kerr said.

The events feel entirely real to the person experiencing them

He points out that these visions lack the metaphorical or fantastical nature of a typical dream. Patients do not come to him asking for help interpreting the meaning of these events. Instead, they have an absolute sense of knowing. When Kerr asks his patients to rate the realism of these events on a scale of 0 to 10, they consistently give them a 10. They feel entirely real to the person experiencing them.

Kerr describes these occurrences as part of a progressive sleep process. As the body begins to shut down, our internal sleep architecture and cycles shift, which leads to these inner experiences. These events become more frequent as a person gets closer to death, often appearing in the last week or two of their life.

“So these dreams never deny the fact that they’re dying. They almost transcend it,” Kerr said. He mentions that while patients sometimes struggle to find the right words to describe what they are seeing, they are very clear about how it makes them feel. He describes the result as being put back together.

Kerr is a neurobiologist and CEO who wrote the book Death is But A Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at Life’s End. His work is aimed at removing the stigma around the dying process and changing how we think about the end of life. By focusing on the psychological and spiritual side of the experience, he challenges the standard medical view of death.