these things are pretty weird. they are common in people with narcolepsy. It's like dreaming while you are awake. You wake up and see something in the room or get a feeling of urgency that you need to move, but you can't. You are completely paralyzed. People usually report that their experience with hypnagogic hallucinations are terrifying. I've been researching these phenomena a bit and it seems to happen like this: you are on the edge of your REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. in this type of sleep your brain activity is greatly increased and you eye movement and breathing becomes erratic. in your rem sleep you dream, so to keep you from hurting yourself by flailing around while you dream your muscles become paralyzed. if you wake up going into this sleep you can be paralyzed and have dreams while you are awake. this state of being paralyzed and dreaming while awake is called hypnagogic hallucinations. have you ever had these happen to you before? please feel free to elaborate on any part of how these happen.
Actually I've had something similar happen on several occasions. On all accounts it's been where I have woken up rapidly and was unable to move, although I was awake. In each instance I was cognizant and was able move after a brief period of time, although initially it was quite frightening. I asked my doctor about it the first time it happened and he explained it to be a case where my brain regained consciousness with such rapidity that it had not yet been taken conscious control of my motor functions.
I frequently experience hypnagogic and also hypnopompic (hallucinations while waking up) hallucinations, more often when I'm trying to avoid sleeping. Some of my classes have taken a very strange turn, not dissimilar to Homer going to candyland when his new German bosses are interrogating him about safety practices in the nuclear power plant.
The temporary paralysis when waking up goes a long way to explaining why the "falling into bed" dream is so common! I find that if I sleep in an unusual position (e.g. in a bean bag), I'll almost certainly experience some waking paralysis for several seconds. It doesn't surprise or confuse me but it's certainly not pleasant!
I hallucinate like that right before I fall asleep after a period of not sleeping. I'm not asleep, but I'm paralyzed and I hear crap and sometimes see shadows.
Doesn't happen usually, but it still happens. It's mostly audio hallucinations, but occasionally if I have my eyes open I'll see things. Once I'm unparalyzed my body jumps. I don't get it.
I already get hallucinations while I'm awake, but right before I'm about to go to sleep and I see a demon above me. Not funny. -.-
I have the 'falling in to bed' dream at least two or three times a week, now days unlike when I was younger, I'm actually stunned when my eyes open so I can't really think clearly.
