Hypnagogia (also spelled hypnogogia) describes vivid dream-like auditory, visual, or tactile sensations, which are often accompanied by sleep paralysis and experienced when falling asleep or waking up. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Sleep paralysis is a condition characterized by temporary paralysis of the body shortly after waking up (known as hypnopompic paralysis) or, less often, shortly before falling asleep (known as hypnagogic paralysis). ...

Hypnagogic sensations

Hypnagogic experiences occur as one is falling asleep, while hypnopompic experiences occur as one is waking up--both experiences occur within the penumbra between sleep and waking (or vice versa). Experienced qualities vary, and include a falling sensation, joy, fear, awareness of a "presence", chest or back pressure, and an inability to breathe. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Umbra. ... Look up joy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Fear is a powerful biological feeling of unpleasant risk or danger, either real or imagined. ...

Auditory sensations are often described as incomprehensible noises rather than distinctive sounds.

During the hypnagogic state, an individual may appear to be fully awake, but has brain waves indicating that the individual is technically sleeping. Also, the individual may be completely aware of their state, which enables lucid dreamers to enter the dream state consciously directly from the waking state (see wake-initiated lucid dream technique). Girl wearing electrodes for electroencephalography Person wearing electrodes for electroencephalography Portable recording device for electroencephalography Electroencephalography is the neurophysiologic measurement of the electrical activity of the brain by recording from electrodes placed on the scalp or, in special cases, subdurally or in the cerebral cortex. ... Lucid dreams occur during REM sleep after the person becomes conscious and aware of dreaming within the dream. ... Lucid dreaming is consciously perceiving and recognizing that one is in a dream while one is sleeping, and having control over the dreamscape, or the faux-reality dream world within a dream. ...

The hypnagogic state can be accompanied by or associated with anomalous phenomena such as alien abduction, extra-sensory perception, telepathy, apparitions, or prophetic or crisis visions. This conduciveness to anomalous phenomena can be correlated with the initial increase of alpha and the later increase of theta brainwaves. The Abduction Phenomenon is as umbrella term used to describe a number of kidnap individuals--sometimes called abductees--usually for medical testing or for sexual reproduction procedures. ... Extra-sensory perception (ESP) is defined in parapsychology as the ability to aquire information by paranormal means. ... Telepathy, from the Greek τῆλε, tele, remote; and πάθεια, patheia, to be effected by, describes the hypothetical transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five classical senses. ...

Artistic and cultural references

• The Serbian comic book artist Aleksander Zograf, catalogs his own hypnagogic visions in his series dubbed Psychonaut, and in self-published editions titled Hypnagogic Review.

• UK band Kitchens of Distinction recorded a song for their 1990 album "Strange Free World" entitled "Hypnogogic."
• The band Fear Before the March of Flames album The Always Open Mouth features the track Drowning the Old Hag, a song that describes singer David Marion's experiences with Hypnagogia.

• The word 'hypnagogic' is also used in 'You and Moon' on Love and Other Planets by the band Adem.

Fear Before the March of Flames (sometimes abbreviated as FBTMOF) is an experimental metalcore band that resides in Aurora, Colorado. ...

Further reading

• Leaning, F.E. (1925). An introductory study of hypnagogic phenomena. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, 35, 289-409.

• Mavromatis, A. (1987). Hypnagogia: the Unique State of Consciousness Between Wakefulness and Sleep. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

See also

• Threshold consciousness
• Lucid dreaming
• Sleep disorder
• Sleep paralysis
• Hypnagogic jerk
• Nightmare
• Segmented sleep
• Hag in folklore
• False awakening

Threshold consciousness is the state of falling asleep or waking up. ... Lucid dreams occur during REM sleep after the person becomes conscious and aware of dreaming within the dream. ... Sleep paralysis is a condition characterized by temporary paralysis of the body shortly after waking up (known as hypnopompic paralysis) or, less often, shortly before falling asleep (known as hypnagogic paralysis). ... A hypnic or hypnagogic jerk is an involuntary muscle twitch (more generally known as myoclonus or a myoclonic twitch) which often occurs during the transition from wakefulness to sleep (see hypnagogia). ... In common current usage, the term nightmare refers to dreams of particular intensity, with content that the sleeper finds disturbing, related either to physiological causes, such as a high fever, or to psychological ones, such as unusual trauma or stress in the sleepers life. ... Segmented sleep or divided sleep are modern Western terms for a polyphasic sleep pattern found in medieval and early modern Europe and many modern non-industrial societies, where the nights sleep is evenly divided by a few hours of wakefulness. ... Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, The Hag, August 1890. ... A false awakening is an event in which someone dreams they have awakened from sleep. ...

External links

• "Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations: pathological phenomena?" article in the British Journal of Psychiatry