Hypnogogia, also spelled hypnagogia and hypnopompia, are the names of experiences a person can go through when falling asleep in the case of hypnogogia, or waking up, in the case of hypnopompia. When in a hypnogogic or hypnopompic state a person can have lifelike auditory, visual, or tactile hallucinations (known as hypnogogic hallucinations), perhaps even accompanied by full body paralysis. The individual is aware that these are hallucinations; the frightening part, in many cases, is the inability to react to them, even being unable to make a sound. In other cases one may enjoy truly vivid imaginations. The term was coined by the 19th century French psychologist Alfred Maury. Many artists, musicians, architects, engineers, and others demanding creativity to be successful have benifited from the hypnogogia state, where the mind can be totally free and open to creative and new ideas. A girl sleeping Sleep is the regular state of natural unconsciousness observed in all mammals and birds. ... Tactition is the sense of pressure perception. ... A hallucination is a false sensory perception in the absence of an external stimulus, as distinct from an illusion, which is a misperception of an external stimulus. ... Paralysis is the complete loss of muscle function for one or more muscle groups. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... A psychologist is a social scientist who studies psychology, the study of the human mind, thought and human behaviour. ...

It is 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 such as narcolepsy or temporal lobe epilepsy. Narcolepsy is a neurological condition characterized by severe fatigue, irresistible episodes of sleep and general sleep disorder. ... The temporal lobe is part of the cerebrum. ...

It is thought to happen when a person enters or leaves REM (rapid eye movement) sleep too quickly. During REM sleep the brain blocks the signals that allow the limbs to move to ensure that we do not act out our dreams. However, when experiencing hypnogogia or hypnopompia, the individual is still conscious of their surroundings, effectively dreaming while still awake. This fact enables lucid dreamers to enter the dream consciously directly from waking state (a Wake Induced Lucid Dream technique). Rapid eye movement (REM) is the stage of sleep during which the most vivid (though not all) dreams occur. ... In the anatomy of animals, the brain, or encephalon, is the supervisory center of the nervous system. ... Dreaming is the subjective experience of imaginary images, sounds/voices, words, thoughts or sensations during sleep, usually involuntarily. ...

One method of getting out of this state is to stimulate a sensory nerve. Depending on the level of paralysis this can prove to be difficult. However, the eyes are still able to move and simply rolling them around can help. One suggestion is to blink rapidly and then attempt to move the facial muscles or wiggle the toes and then the feet. Targeted motion can help alleviate the state of full body paralysis. A nerve is an enclosed, cable-like bundle of nerve fibers or axons, which includes the glia that ensheath the axons in myelin. ...

The cause of hypnogogia and hypnopompia is usually associated with the varied sleep disorders, primarily insomnia. Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by an inability to sleep and/or to remain asleep for a reasonable period during the night. ...

See also

• Lucid dreaming
• Sleep disorder
• Sleep paralysis