#Hypnopompic hallucinations

[adastra-sf]

Sleep Paralysis, Explained

Have you ever hallucinated getting out of bed, only to find out later that you’re still asleep? How about multiple times in a row? Ben Rein, a neuroscientist at Stanford University, has had that jarring experience many, many times.

For people who experience sleep hallucinations, the period between consciousness and REM sleep is shorter. These fits can plague people with narcolepsy, in which a person enters directly into REM sleep - they’re awake, and then they’re suddenly partially conscious and dreaming. This situation is comparable to a hallucination before reaching a true dreaming state.

“Hypnopompic hallucinations, on the other hand, happen while you’re waking up. They are connected to sleep paralysis, which can be downright scary.

“What happens is in sleep paralysis, during REM sleep, when you’re dreaming, your body is paralyzed, you have your brain intentionally disconnected from your body so that you’re not moving around acting out your dreams, for obvious reasons, of course.” (Naturally, you wouldn’t want to inadvertently punch your sleeping partner in the face while acting out a fight scene in your dream. Or go running into traffic, or so forth.)

However, for people who experience sleep paralysis, during this rapid shift from REM sleep to wakefulness the brain-body disconnection doesn’t necessarily happen.

“So you end up remaining body-locked and paralyzed because your brain thinks, ‘I’m still dreaming right now.’ But you are conscious enough to recognize that you are awake.”

Because your brain is still hovering at the border between dreamland and wakefulness, you are not only paralyzed, but also hallucinating. You may even think you’re being attacked - a horrifying experience some people call sleep-paralysis demons. “These are actually hypnopompic hallucinations, because the mysterious things happening in the dream world are leaking over into real life. And so it seems very real, but it’s still really a dream.”

more in the article: X

[eddie-rifff]

anywya. had a hallucination the other night where i heard someone whispering to my right and when i looked over there was a small crumbling tower on my nightstand. i screamed because it startled me/i was confused by it and the whispering and it went away.

[becbecmuffin]

Wanna know what hypnogognic/hypnopompic hallucinations feel like? (At least for me)

This morning I was going back to sleep after waking up for no reason. My eyes were closed and then suddenly i saw an image of email notifications on my phone, one of them from my building's management company about my latest service request. I was going to open my eyes and check my notifications. But I was able to catch it and remind myself that those were dream emails and my phone was on do not disturb.

At our last place we had a doorbell and a neighbor who asked for our help a lot. I would hear phantom doorbells while falling asleep or waking up at least once a week and get startled awake by them.

[zurko48]

Shout out to the vaguely human shaped thing in the corner of my room!!

[someones-teeth]

made some of my drawings digital👍

[defectivegembrain]

Woke up to hear the exact sound of my alarm. Pick up my phone to find that no alarm is going off, and also it's still night, and also I didn't set an alarm for the coming day. Fuck you brain

[totally-not-deacon]

Aight these hypnopompic hallucinations and false awakenings are getting wild. Just had to scour my social media cause I thought for sure I'd posted something I shouldn't have. Then I thought I missed a livestream I was looking forward to, followed by thinking I let the foster cats loose outside.

Also keep waking up at dawn no matter when I fell asleep, so there's also that.

Wellbutrin, you are one weird mfer. If I didn't know this was a side effect, I'd have called my psych immediately.

[furien]

Hypnopompic Hallucinations

Hypnopompic hallucinations occur in the morning as you are waking.

During hypnopompic hallucinations, you are sensing things that are not actually happening while in a state between dreaming and waking.

In the majority of cases, hypnopompic hallucinations are visual, although some can involve sound and tactile sensations.

Hypnopompic hallucinations are typically considered normal, but consult a doctor if they cause daytime symptoms or sleep problems.

Hypnopompic hallucinations are hallucinations that occur in the morning as you’re waking up. They are very similar to hypnagogic hallucinations, or hallucinations that occur at night as you’re falling asleep. When you experience these hallucinations, you see, hear, or feel things that aren’t actually there. Sometimes these hallucinations occur alone, and other times they occur in conjunction with sleep paralysis.

For most people, hypnopompic hallucinations are considered normal and are not cause for concern. They generally don’t indicate an underlying mental or physical illness, though they may be more common in people with certain sleep disorders.

Generally, hallucinations are sensory experiences that don’t correspond to what’s happening in reality. Hallucinations may include seeing, hearing, feeling, or even smelling things that feel real but are not. Hypnopompic hallucinations, in particular, are hallucinations that occur as you are waking up in the morning and in a state that falls somewhere between dreaming and being fully awake. Hypnopompic hallucinations occur while a person is waking up, and hypnagogic hallucinations occur while falling asleep. Together, hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are referred to as hypnagogia. They both likely originate during an early, non-REM sleep stage.

The nature of hypnopompic hallucinations differs from hallucinations arising from mental illness. A primary difference is that hypnopompic hallucinations only occur as a person is waking up. Schizophrenic hallucinations can occur at any time, and commonly occur in the daytime while a person is fully awake. Also, hypnopompic hallucinations more commonly have a visual component, while schizophrenic hallucinations are more likely to be auditory. Experiencing hypnopompic hallucinations does not suggest you have a mental health disorder. Hypnopompic hallucinations tend to be vivid but relatively short and straightforward. Schizophrenia-related hallucinations might be more detailed and consistent, such as repeatedly hearing the same voice speaking. Sometimes, people experiencing mental health disorders other than schizophrenia have hallucinations. Hallucinations might occur in those experiencing severe depression, postpartum psychosis, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and borderline personality disorder. People who have hypnopompic hallucinations and don’t experience other mental health symptoms have no reason to think they’re experiencing mental illness, however. Sometimes hypnopompic hallucinations occur at the same time as sleep paralysis. In these instances, they might feel frightening and similar to a nightmare. Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon in which a person feels awake but cannot move their body. Sometimes sleep paralysis is accompanied by tactile hallucinations, such as the sensation that another person is in the room, or that a person or object is putting pressure on your chest. Hypnopompic hallucinations can be visual, auditory, or tactile. In 86% of cases, hallucinations are visual. They often involve seeing moving shapes and colors, or images of animals or people. While these images can move, they generally do not form a story like dreams do. Between 8% and 34% of these hallucinations involve sound. Common sounds include the ringing of bells or the sound of talking voices. Sounds may be paired with images or occur on their own. Common auditory hallucinations include background noises like a phone ringing, people talking, or animal noises. Sensory or tactile hypnagogic hallucinations refer to when a person feels bodily sensations that are not actually occurring. In 25% to 44% of instances, hypnopompic hallucinations involve tactile sensations. For example, a person might feel like they are weightless, flying, or in the room with another person. The sense that a person is in the room commonly occurs with sleep paralysis.

[566-hope-street]

Sleep-related hallucinations

Sleep-related hallucinations are vivid perceptual experiences that occur as one is falling asleep (hypnagogic) or waking up (hypnopompic). In most people they’re harmless and not a sign of anything wrong, but in some they can be a symptom of narcolepsy or mental health disorders. I fall into the category of “most people.”

I had my first hypnagogic hallucination about 20 years ago. I was falling asleep when the darkness behind my eyelids suddenly “peeled away” like a sticker to reveal a view of the universe. It looked so shockingly real that it startled my eyes open.

I continued having hypnagogic hallucinations for a few years, but stopped after a series of them involving a man I didn’t know, who seemed to be in some sort of trouble. “Help me, please help me!” he would cry at me night after night. It creeped me out every time. So, one night I visualized slamming a door in his face and telling him to leave me alone. The following morning, I had a hypnopompic hallucination of his voice yelling “Leave me alone!” And that was the last I saw or heard of him.

It wasn’t until two years ago that I started having sleep-related hallucinations again. I had recently become infatuated with a rock singer of the 1970s, and on the 24th anniversary of his death had a strange and interesting hypnagogic hallucination.

I saw a big tree in the middle of an open field. Despite having an exuberant crown, the tree was hollow like a coffin, with a hole at the base that was large enough for an adult person to walk through it like a doorway. The hole was in the shape of an antique keyhole. There, peeping out from the pitch-black darkness inside the hole, was the dead singer looking as ravaged as he did in his last years, but happy. He was smiling at me with a playful glint in his eyes.

[half-mad-wanderer]

The spiders are back.

I wake up and see a spider the size of a dime a foot from my face. It stays still then starts scurrying towards me. I swipe it away, go back to sleep.

I awake again some time later, the spider is back.

I slam my fist down atop of it, but nothing is there when I raise my hand.

They call it hypnopompic hallucinations. They may be right. What if they aren't?

I wonder what will happen if I let the spider come to me next time.

[thelaurenshippen]

made to love resident evil games, born to be afraid of spiders

[gothicprep]

one note i have for the paranormal podcast "for skeptics" i listen to: if you have some down time, please learn a few things about sleep disorders and how they manifest.

so. err. there's this thing that happens when people physically wake up, but their brain is still in "dream mode," so to speak. the clinical term for this is hypnopompic hallucinations, and as disorienting and scary they can be, they aren't paranormal.

what makes it very weird to me that this host is not asking more follow-up questions is that he's talked about having hypnopompic hallucinations before. even the one everyone who deals with this has, where the room is on fire and it basically goes away when the penny drops and you notice you don't feel heat on your skin.

there are so many stories on this show that honestly just seem like the interviewee having a sleep disorder. like why dude.

[dontpunchdogs]

had a really vivid dream. woke up hallucinating a guy standing over my bed n hearing voices. fall back asleep to have a dream about getting into a huge blowout fight with my mom, then getting into a motorcycle accident, getting arrested, fleeing custody, hiding under my bed and experiencing brain damage so severe i just lay there for days. and im expected to get up and go to work

[zurko48]

Me: I’m gonna sleep now

The brain bugs: incorrect.!! BIG SPIDER BIG SPIDER BIG SPIDER BIGG SPIDER !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bodymachine]

okay does anyone else get trapped in the realm between a dream and reality and like. you just woke up and so you think you’re awake and you’re crying and hyperventilating and twisting around in bed for some reason and are unable to communicate with anyone. but then you wake up for real this time and you’re like wait did no one just see that.

[defectivegembrain]

Question from a page in general clearly looking for psychotic experiences: Do you sometimes hear sounds that others can't hear?

Me, an autism: Yes, but probably not in the way you're thinking