Hypnogogia

From The Book of THoTH (Leaves of Wisdom)

Hypnagogia (also spelled hypnogogia) are the experiences a person can go through in the hypnagogic (or hypnogogic) state, the period of falling asleep. Hypnopompia are the experiences a person can go through in the hypnopompic state, the period of waking up. The term hypnagogia often encompasses hynopompia as well. Hypnagogic hallucinations collectively describe the vivid dream-like auditory, visual, or tactile hallucinations that can be experienced in a hypnagogic or hypnopompic state. These hallucinations can be accompanied by sleep paralysis, the sensation that the body is temporarily paralyzed after waking or before falling asleep.

The term hypnagogic is derived from the French word hypnagogique, coined by the 19th century French psychologist Louis Ferdinand Alfred Maury from the Greek words hupnos, meaning sleep, and agogos, meaning leading. Frederic William Henry Myers coined the complementary term hynopompic, from hupnos and pompe, meaning sending away.

[edit]

Hypnagogic hallucinations

Hypnagogic hallucinations are vivid dream-like experiences that occur as one is falling asleep or waking up. Accompanying sleep paralysis can cause the hallucinations to be more frightening. The features of these hallucinations generally vary by individual, but some are more common to the experience than others:

Most common

Vividness
Fear

Common

Sensing a "presence" (often malevolent)
Pressure/weight on body (especially the chest).
A sensation of not being able to breathe
Impending sense of doom/death

Fairly common

Auditory hallucinations (often footsteps or indistinct voices, or pulsing noises). Auditory hallucinations which are described as noise instead of hallucinations of legible sounds, are often described to be similar to auditory hallucinations caused by Nitrous Oxide by persons who have experienced both.
Visual hallucinations such as lights, people or shadows walking around the room

Less common

Floating sensation (sometimes associated with out-of-body experiences)
Seemingly seamless transition into full hallucinations or dreaming, also associated with out-of-body experiences
Tactile hallucinations (such as a hand touching or grabbing)

Rare

Falling sensation
Vibration
Involuntary movements (sometimes the feeling of sliding off of the bed or even up walls).
The feeling of being pulled in different directions

During a hypnagogic hallucination, an individual may appear to be fully awake, but still has brain waves indicating that the individual is still technically sleeping. Also, the individual may be completely aware that they are hallucinating, which enables lucid dreamers to enter the dream state consciously directly from the waking state (see wake-induced lucid dream technique). Many artists, musicians, architects, engineers, and others demanding creativity to be successful have benefited from hypnagogic hallucinations, where the mind can be free and open to creative and new ideas.

Hypnagogic hallucinations are not an uncommon occurrence with 30 to 40 percent of people experiencing it at least once in their lives. However, it can be a sign of other problems, including sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy and insomnia, and temporal lobe epilepsy.

Hypnagogic hallucinations are often proposed as an explanation for phenomena such as alien abduction and visions of saints or demons.

[edit]