So Maybe I'm Not a Lucid Dreamer, But I've Got My Own Thing Going On

So, I can't count the times I've said to someone, "I need a nap. I just had one of those dreams that you have when you are falling asleep." If they say, "What are you talking about," I usually reply, "Oh you know, how you'll be falling asleep and then you notice the chickens that are walking around your room balancing on two-by-fours, and then you realize you're dreaming and it's probably time you get some sleep."

Sometimes they know what I'm talking about and sometimes they don't.

Well, I was reading about how you only dream druing REM sleep, and REM sleep takes hours before it begins, and I thought, no, that's totally wrong, because I get these falling-asleep preview dreams. So I did a little more research, and discovered that technically I'm hallucinating.

So that led to a fun evening reading all about hypnagogic (pre-sleep) hallucinations. Evidently at least one in four people have them. There was a lot of information on related neurological issues, none of which I have. No narcolepsy, no Parkinsons. (MS isn't mentioned. Besides, they started well before my brain had any issues. I remember when I was eleven or so: I was lulled to sleep by violent tableaus that played out on my wallpaper.)

I presented the findings to Gary, just so he knows I can match him in the dream game, and he scoffed, "Everyone does that."

Comments

[KC]

Huh. Also totally do that. Hallucinating: greaaat.

[KC]

Okay, after reading the article, I'm not sure I "count" since the drifting-off-to-sleep imaginings are not necessarily vivid/sensory. But also, no narcolepsy (except when *severely* sleep-deprived for non-medical reasons - in college after sequential all-nighters, I'd nod off randomly, but I'm pretty sure that's normal [not healthy to do sleep-deprivation to that degree, but normal]).

[theQueen]

KC - What I remember best about narcolepsy is a black and white film from junior high when a man is screaming at his family at the dinner table and then suddenly conks out, asleep. (The little boy in the family bursts in to tears. It's very sad, really.) Evidently strong emotion is a trigger, not so much lack of sleep.

[KC]

Yeah, that was definitely not me; although when sufficiently sleep-deprived I did fall asleep or partially asleep for short periods in a lot of circumstances where really one would not expect to, it wasn't in response to emotion or anything like that, just "even though there is a jackhammer working nearby this is *still* the best opportunity for sleep that my body has spotted for the last 48 hours" sorts of things.

In retrospect, it was a very good thing I only used public transit and didn't drive at all during those years. Bus passenger falls asleep: substantially fewer fatalities likely than if a driver falls asleep...

Also: what are they doing showing films of a man screaming at his family in junior high? (unless the takeaway is: hi, this is maybe not an okay situation if this is normal in your family, tell appropriate people; but if the takeaway is "this is narcolepsy, isn't it interesting?" then...???)

[TheQueen]

KC - oh, it was the seventies, and I think the original footage was from the forties. No trigger warnings back then, sad to say.