Do strange images of geometric shapes, people or animals appear out of nowhere as you lie in bed at night? Perhaps you’ve heard voices or noises which can’t possibly be real?
If so, it could be that you’ve experienced what’s known as sleep hallucinations.
Despite leading to the occasional leap out of bed in sheer terror, they are usually harmless. And many people experience them at some point in their lives – including me.
My nocturnal flying geometric manifestations
As a child, multicolored geometric shapes would regularly swoop across my bedroom, just as I was drifting off to sleep. I remember simultaneously marveling at them and wishing them away so I could sleep in peace.
It doesn’t happen so often nowadays, but once in a while, I’m still prone to my mathematical manifestations.
Perhaps I should be grateful for my geeky hallucinations – especially compared to the disturbing experiences some people have.
What are sleep hallucinations?
Sleep hallucinations are imaginary experiences that happen during the transition between being awake and asleep, and can feel confusingly real.
They are also referred to as hypnagogic hallucinations if they occur while you’re falling asleep, or hypnopompic hallucinations if they happen while waking up.
The hallucinations are usually visual, such as seeing shapes or figures in the dark. But they can also involve your other senses.
The hallucinations can be vivid and frightening in some cases. If you see a giant creature in your room or hear a scary voice, it’s understandable that some people will jump out of bed and turn the light on to check what’s going on!
How many people have sleep hallucinations?
A commonly quoted statistic in medical articles comes from research conducted in 1996. The team interviewed 4972 people in the United Kingdom by telephone. They found that 37% had experienced hypnagogic hallucinations. And 12.5% had experienced hypnopompic hallucinations.
In 2000, another team of researchers surveyed 13,057 people and found that 38.7% had experienced hallucinations at some point during the day or night. 24.8% of the sample had experienced hallucinations at sleep onset, and 6.6% upon waking.
A sign of Narcolepsy
For some people, sleep hallucinations can be a sign of narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder which involves sudden daytime episodes of:
- Unexpectedly falling asleep
- Sleep paralysis
- Hypnagogic hallucinations
If you have these symptoms, it’s important to seek medical advice.
Symptoms
The main symptom is seeing or hearing things while falling asleep or waking up that aren’t real.
Researchers believe that the most common type of hallucination is visual. However, it’s possible to experience hallucinations that correspond to any of your senses:
- Visual – such as geometric patterns, shapes or light flashing. Sometimes complex forms like animals or people.
- Auditory – voices talking, phone or doorbell ringing, music, hissing, humming or whistling.
- Olfactory – pleasant or unpleasant smells.
- Tactile – insects crawling on the skin, rubbing, stroking, tapping or tickling sensations. Perhaps also feeling weightless, distortions in the body, flying.
Not the same as nightmares
Telling the difference between dreaming and hallucinating isn’t always obvious in the moment. But sleep hallucinations are not the same as nightmares.
When you wake up from a nightmare, you’ll know you were asleep (even if it takes a little while to come back to reality).
Sleep hallucinations, however, can feel like they are really happening. You know you’re awake, but you’re not convinced it’s merely your imagination playing tricks on you.
Coexisting with sleep paralysis
Sleep hallucinations sometimes happen during an episode of sleep paralysis.
During sleep paralysis, you might be unable to move your body in bed, which in itself is often frightening.
The hallucinations that accompany it can range from seeing a presence in the room to seeing and feeling a creature sitting on you.
Causes
The International Classification of Sleep Disorders manual suggests two causes related to brain function, though also states that more research is needed:
- An intrusion of dream imagery onto wakefulness.
- A lack of stimulus leading to the visual cortex in the brain creating images.
Health websites, such as healthline.com, suggest that sleep hallucinations can be caused by other conditions, such as:
- Sleep disorders like narcolepsy or sleep paralysis
- A medical condition or medication use
- A mental health disorder, such as schizophrenia
- Substance abuse
Risk factors
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, they are more common in children and young adults. Women might experience them slightly more often than men.
Some factors are thought to increase the likelihood or severity of the hallucinations, including:
- Drug or alcohol use
- Anxiety or stress
- Mood disorders like bipolar disorder or depression
- Insomnia
- Epileptic seizures
Research shows that fragmented sleep is associated with more hallucinations
In 2021, a team of researchers published an interesting study of sleep hallucinations (you can read it in full on nature.com).
Based on an online survey of 10,299 people, they found that poor sleep is associated with the occurrence of hallucinations – a point already confirmed by previous studies.
However, they further showed that fragmented sleep, i.e. regular wakings, is related to hallucinations. And that fragmented sleep is also related to the content, frequency, duration, and associated distress.
Interestingly then, people who had better sleep had less negative and less disruptive hallucinations when they did have them.
So the more you have them, the worse they might be. It seems to me to be a good motivation to tackle any factors you know that make you wake up more often in the night.
Treatment
Do you need to see a doctor?
If you’re experiencing anxiety or losing sleep because of regular sleep hallucinations, it’s a good idea to speak to a doctor or sleep specialist.
They would ask you about your hallucinations and look at your medical history and other factors like medication and lifestyle. They might decide that an overnight sleep study is needed to find out more.
They would also look at the possibility of another condition causing the episodes. And if they find one, give you the appropriate treatment.
Worried about your mental health?
If you suddenly start having hallucinations, it’s understandable that you might question your mental health. This is a point I’ve seen raised in the comments below many times, so you wouldn’t be alone in thinking something was ‘wrong’ with you.
It’s worth noting that if it only ever happens when you’re in bed trying to sleep, there’s a good chance it’s harmless sleep hallucinations. Perhaps it’s a sign you’re under a lot of stress lately, for example, but it might not be an indicator that something is wrong beyond that.
Having said that, if you have hallucinations during the day, or other symptoms that are making you feel anxious or confused about your mental health, then it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor. And if you’re still not convinced the nighttime hallucinations are benign, talk to your doctor to get a professional opinion.
If this line of thinking feels relevant to you, there’s a good article on psychologytoday.com in which a clinical psychologist talks a patient having sleep problems rather than a schizophrenic illness.
What can you do to help reduce them?
Here are some ideas which might help keep the hallucinations at bay:
- Get an adequate amount of sleep every night. Try to stick to a regular sleep schedule and don’t allow yourself to become sleep deprived.
- Avoid recreational drugs.
- Eat a healthy diet and drink plenty of water.
- Try to reduce your stress levels.
- Try using a soft night light in the bedroom. This might help fill the space that your brain uses as a blank canvas.
- If you tend to have auditory hallucinations, listening to music, radio or a podcast in bed might help.
- If you find yourself focusing on visual hallucinations, try to re-focus your mind on something else. Breathing exercises or muscle relaxation can keep your brain occupied.
- If it’s overwhelming, turn on a light and get up for a while, do an activity you find relaxing, and then try to sleep again after 10-15 minutes.
- Several readers have said in the comments below that wearing a sleep mask helps them.
Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucinations are a normal part of life for many people. Once you’ve ruled out any serious illness or disorder, you’re left to deal with the experience in two ways.
First, try to adapt your lifestyle to make sure you do everything possible to sleep well. Second, relax and try not to worry about things that go bump in the night.
Your thoughts
Do you ever experience hallucinations when falling asleep or waking up? What form do they take?
Feel free to describe your experience in the comments below and share any ideas you have about dealing with them.
For as long as I can remember I have suffered hallucinations as I fall asleep. More often than not I see bugs, mainly spiders in the bed or next to the bed. I went through a phase of seeing animals too: dogs and alligators stick in my memory. Once I saw a black hole on the ceiling.
I often physically get out of bed to find the insect/animal, turn the light on, etc. Sometimes it’s funny but my partner is annoyed at his broken sleep lately.
There doesn’t seem to be a pattern, sometimes I can go weeks without it happening whilst at the moment I’ve experienced it every night for the past week.
I’m almost 30 and used to be a frequent sleep walker. Now I alternate between sleep talking and hallucinations.
Considering seeing my doctor but don’t want to waste their time if there’s nothing that can be done!
Hi Nicole
Thanks for your comment. You might be right in that sometimes the best thing is to find ways to cope with it ourselves. Perhaps avoid turning the light on if you can, and try to focus on something else. I often recommend switching the focus to your breathing, or some muscle relaxation exercises. It might not work for everyone, but I think sometimes it’s good to try to take our minds off all the things we otherwise might imagine.
Regards
Ethan
Oh my goodness, I have seen an owl too. When I was about your age as a kid (6-8). It was a spiny owl though. So bizarre. Imagine a normal barn owl but with porcupine-like spikes all over it’s body. Really benign though, as like you, I have also seen some spooky things. Last night, I kept smelling banana oil and then, neroli. Kind of pleasing aromas, but then the tactile and auditory hallucinations began. Sounds like you hear in a hearing test booth, and faint shouts of “hey!” and a sensation like someone playing with my blanket near my feet. I get the last one a lot when I have this happen. Then I got the paralysis. I willed myself out of it because I knew it was just my mind playing tricks on my sleeping body, but I lost 2 hours of rest last night behind trying to calm myself down because I was freaking out a little.
Hi murasakisan
Thanks for your comment. Well done for managing to will yourself out of the moment. I think it’s great if you can do that. It always does take a while to calm down once you get spooked by something like this. I think it’s useful to go into another room and do something familiar and relaxing and then go back to bed.
Regards
Ethan
I stumbled across this page whilst googling seeing things/people when you wake up.
Last night i shook my husband awake as i was convinced there was an old man at the side of the bed looking at me. It only lasted a few seconds.
This kind of thing does happen to me alot. Sometimes there are several ‘people’ around my bed. It can be really frightening, but i usually get up and put a light on and talk myself out of it, or wake my poor husband. The mind is capable of so much, and it scares me how i can frighten myself this way.
Once when i was around 17 i had an awful sleep paralysis experience (though id never heard of this at the time) in which i felt someone sit on my legs, i couldnt move or shout out and i felt as though my bed was shaking.
Isnt it funny how we experience similar things?
It tends to happen to me if i am under stress or lacking sleep.
Hi freddy
Thanks for your comment, and I can totally understand why you’d wake your husband up. These things can be very frightening. Do you think you’re experiencing sleep paralysis each time, or by the description, is it more like a hypnagogic hallucination without the paralysis? Hopefully you’ll have found some useful tips here, and in the sleep paralysis article. I also suggest trying out some relaxation techniques to help you sleep if stress is a big factor.
Regards
Ethan
I was only six when I first saw the shapes. I would see triangles, rectangles, circles, and rain – all in the colors of blue, green, orange, and red. The shapes would move in a geometric pattern, while the rain would start on one side and move like a current to the other. When I saw them, I was curious. I found that I could see them better early in the morning, when the sun was starting to rise and the room had a faint light. I began to wake myself up at this time, just so I could sit at the foot of my bed and watch the darkness take shape. When I saw the rain, I would put my hands up to try to feel it. The more I looked, the more I saw. The most memorable experience was when I saw animals materialize out of the walls. I saw a deer and an owl. They were a faint blue and blended in with the dim light. The deer stood still and causally gazed at me, before walking back into the wall. The owl swooped in from the air and landed on my night stand. I crawled over and tried to touch it. Just as I was about to touch its feathers, it flew away and vanished into the air. Although these visions were rather positive, I had some bad experiences that ended my curiosity. I saw evil things, and they hung out on the ceiling. A big octopus thing would cling to the ceiling and try to get me with its tentacles, or I would see a face peering at me from behind the wall. It would look at me before retreating back. A few seconds would pass and it would return and peer at me again. The experience that ended it all for me was when one of these creatures landed on my bed beside me. Besides the octopus, these strange floating things would circle around on the ceiling and would travel in a pack. One time one flew down from the ceiling and landed beside me. At the time I tried to convince myself that it was my cat, but it wasn’t. The thing was bony, no fur, long bony neck, and a dinosaur head with faintly glowing grey eyes. I felt its weight on me, and decided to just make a run for it. I ran out of the room and from then on, I never again woke up at dawn to stare at the walls. This is my first time sharing this with anyone. Not even my parents were told.
Hi Cake Quester
Thanks for your comment. What an interesting name you have there too! What kind of age did you stop seeing all these things, out of interest? Do you still see any animal forms nowadays?
Regards
Ethan
Hi there. I thought it only happens to me. While I am writing this, I just came out my heavy head trying to sleep. The problem is, not regularly, may b once in a month or once in a week, as I close my eyes to sleep , I feel a ball – a big iron ball, huge things , that come towards me and hit my forehead. Because of which my eyebrows start to ache and I cannot sleep for few minutes thereafter. Is this a hallucination too ? If yes, which kind of it is ?
Please reply.
Hi Nitesh
Thanks for your comment. It could be a hallucination. I’m wondering if it’s also something you notice while you relax at night at the end of a long day. Are you under a lot of stress for example? Perhaps the feeling is your mind’s way of interpreting the sensation of relaxation that you’re having. I don’t know though to be honest – just an idea!
Regards
Ethan
I am so glad I have researched and found more information about this, because I have been starting to encounter some of these and thought I was going crazy! My experiences began about a year ago I had sworn I had seen the television on screeching with no picture. I ran out of bed trying to figure out why the tv wasonand of course there was no tv on and no sound. I kind of let it go. A couple months later I had sworn there were spiders in my bed crawling all over my husband. I was frantic pushing him telling him to get up because there were spiders every where. I still kind of ignored or thinking maybe I had just been really tired. Here recently my hallucinations have been appearing more frequently at least 3 times a week. Except now I feel like it has progressed and I keep experience people standing and talking at my bedside waking me up. I flip a light on and of course they are not there. Luckily the past couple times I have been woken up I will check my phone and I had only “been asleep” for like 15 minutes. I am so glad that I am not the only one!
Hi Brianna
Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you found the article helpful. Sometimes it’s a great help knowing that you’re not the only one who experiences some of these strange goings-on at night. Hopefully you’ll have some ideas for dealing with it better now.
Regards
Ethan
I have these hallucinations quite frequently when I close my eyes to sleep at night. I don’t see geometric shapes, but fast changing, highly detailed images, mostly of people/faces and often scary. Another hallucination I get when falling asleep which occurs less often is the sensation that I am levitating off of the bed or weightlessness. Some nights it is hard to shake off as it keeps happening every time I close my eyes. I’m glad I found the answer as to what these experiences are and that others experience them. I have always been an extremely vivid dreamer, and I’m convinced my dreams are way weirder than most other peoples’. So I’ll just chalk it up to that. I also don’t remember these experiences before experimenting with hallucinogens. Luckily I don’t have hypnopompic hallucinations/sleep paralysis which seems much scarier!
Hi Racquel
Thanks for your comment. I’m glad you found the article useful. I think most people are capable of having very vivid dreams – it’s just a case of whether you remember them or not. Do you think that your experiences only happen in days after experimenting with hallucinogens? Or was that something in the past which then led to the increased activity at night?
Regards
Ethan
I began searching this topic when I read “His mother will only come to him in the in-between space, the gray time between waking and sleeping” from The Fifth Wave book and wanted a definition. I was interested to find that you said you had these interesting patterns when you would fall asleep as a kid but that they are no longer so prevailent. That is the same case with me. I wonder if there is a provable correlation to how these visoons decline as age increases and why that would be if true? Like one of the first commenters, I have also had “lucid dreams” where I can navigate my dreams as if I was truly there. I have found this kind of dreaming occurs after many hours of sleep when I crash after being awake a long time. I’ll wake up extremely tired and roll back over, sometimes popping right back into the same dream. I can do this several times as long as I return right back to sleep. I’ve also heard when you start to awaken to stay still and you will have better luck remembering your dreams. She mentioned. I too, have experienced the “spasms” for example, feeling like I’m falling while falling asleep, and once experienced them in my sleep which felt like a seizure and my boyfriend woke up to shake me awake. Why do you think our bodies have these reactions to falling asleep? What’s there significance? And why would the most visual dreams occur when we are the most tired? Could this be a reason for why we dream? Any ideas?
Hi Jordan
Thanks for your comment. I’m not sure why it declined with age. I think perhaps because nowadays I sleep better and tend to fall asleep quite quickly, but as a child I would often be sent to bed quite early and stare into the darkness or at the back of my eyelids. And even if not tired, I think I tend to think more rather than focus on any visual input.
In terms of the falling whilst on the verge of sleeping, that might be hypnic jerks.
In terms of why we have more visual dreams when tired, I’m not sure that’s something I’m aware of as a pattern. I think it depends more on the stage of sleep we wake in, and how we wake up. If we wake up from REM sleep, and wake up gently rather than an alarm, we tend to remember our dreams more.
Regards
Ethan
Hi, gosh it’s good to not were not alone! Mine started around 6 years ago after chronic insomnia which lasted for almost 10 years. I did and still do now hear noises as going off to sleep – can be anything from buzzing, to squeeking very loud but doesn’t bother me at all. What did bother me much more was the ‘things coming at me when drifting off or trying to sleep’. It used to be things like big colourful birds or mouse like lady coming at me, or sometimes just dark stuff like on the example above? I would hit out at it and in the past have (poor husband) hit my husband as I try to get to him for safety. It’s not nice but good to get relaxed about it and almost see the funny side.
Now I only get these occasionally like last night and hence coming on-line. I had an experience which is possibly like what is explained in the above picture, sort of dark stuff coming at me??
Things I have done which has helped enormously and lessened these occurances.
EFT (look up Gary Craig or Nick or Jessica Ortner) – emotional freedom technique. It helps enormously. I do it if anxious about going to bed or I will do it in middle of the night if I can’t sleep etc. Do EFT on all your worries and anxieties over not sleeping or dreading going to bed or fearful in case of these strange occurrences. Last night a scary incident happened where I shouted out whilst trying to get to my husband, so fear came in, so I sat on my en-suit toilet seat and did EFT on feeling fearful over what has just happened etc then I went back to bed and fell asleep.
Loads of spiritual development has helped with my insomnia which has helped with less and less episodes of my strange night time occurrences, so what-ever that is for you please find it – connecting to nature, god, or the unconditional love from the universe anything that helps you find your own peace. Like the website says eliminating any stresses from your like, not taking &*$% or negativity from people anymore, and then hence not being negative anymore myself. Do things that nurture and value you, then believe me you will sleep more and more and have more peace at night time.
Hi Jenny
Thanks for your comment. I think you’re absolutely right in that spiritual/meditation/relaxation/self-work techniques can be an immense help when it comes to tackling sleep problems, especially if caused by mental problems such as stress or anxiety. And I think that you’re also right about the importance of bringing as much positivity as possible into your life.
Thanks again
Ethan
Hi, I’m not quite sure what to do or if I even have this.
It seems like 10 or 15 minutes into falling asleep that I feel like a bug or a spider is in my bed and I wake up and start panicking so I go to my lamp to turn it on and nothing will be there and I feel like I’m going crazy because I knew what I felt, and then I won’t be able to fall back to sleep for a while because I keep thinking about it which will creep me out to the point where I can’t have any covers over me and I will sit there worrying, I don’t know what to do but I hate going to the doctors as it is, I’m a hypochondriac so I worry a lot about my health yet I hate going to the doctors incase they tell me that I’m lying or I’m making things up.
I just want to be able to sleep without seeing or feeling this.
I feel like I’ve gone crazy.
If there’s anything you can do advice or something to help me sleep ut would be much appreciated
Hi Jade
Thanks for your comment. Sorry to hear you’re having these worries. Can I ask you, do you feel like there’s something crawling on your body, or do you just get the feeling that there’s something in bed? Do you have itching or crawling feelings on your legs for example?
It could be just hypnagogic hallucinations, but not necessarily. I think there’s no harm in talking to your doctor about it. They might be able to recommend someone you can talk to about it. I know you’re worried about being told you’re lying, but doctors are used to people talking to them about odd things happening in their sleep; it’s very common. And I think if it brings you some peace of mind, that’s great.
My other suggestion would be to perhaps try some exercises to take your mind of the feeling. Perhaps by doing some relaxation or meditation exercises in bed.
And finally, have you tried getting some high-quality cotton bed sheets? I speak from personal experience in that I’m allergic to dust mite, and if I get into a bed with lower quality material or which hasn’t been washed recently, I get a terrible itching feeling on my body, and had to get up and have a shower in the years before I worked out it was an allergy. And even nowadays it can happen if I sleep between sheets which aren’t really good quality. Perhaps try that!
Regards
Ethan
So what causes hypnogogic hallucinations while I CAN move? It happened this morning. I woke up and my brother was standing in front of my bed, but I saw him as a black colored silhouette. I could move at least my upper half and I even say up while screaming (not attempting to as with sleep paralysis). Is it maybe related to sleepwalking? I’ve only sleepwalked once but I was pretty sleep deprived Last night so it could be related.
Hi Andy
Unlike when having sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations on their own are often experienced in a state where you can still move. So it’s very possible that this is what you had. And sleep deprivation is known to be a possible trigger for hallucinations. Try to keep your sleep in check if you can.
Regards
Ethan
I am just going to describe what I experience as I’m falling asleep some nights. As a lay in bed, my eyes get heavy and I feel them start to close. It feels like my mind starts to drift off to sleep, but my body is still awake. My eyelids seem like they are see through. It’s like I am dreaming, but not. I can see creatures or things coming down from the ceiling and wall. Usually, it’s spiders. I’ve also imagined birds swooping down, needles falling, and spider webs. I start to freak out and I jerk up, trying to get it off me. I stop immediately because I realize it’s not real. Just now, I saw sewing pins falling on my fiancé and I in bed. I literally woke up and started looking for them in the bed. This doesn’t happen all the time, but it is very frustrating and slightly disconcerning. I once scared my mother in law, who was staying the night, because I was yelling about birds. I haven’t had any yelling “dreams” un a while, but still scary. Just wanted to see if anyone knew what the heck was going on. Thank you in advance.
Hi Dana
Thanks for your comment. It sounds like hypnagogic hallucinations to me, and is very common. What you describe, especially spiders for example, is something many readers have also described. Perhaps try and focus your mind elsewhere when you go to bed. You could try some breathing or meditation exercises to see if you can distract your mind from the images it creates.
Regards
Ethan
Love this article! I am about to go read your REM sleep behavior article! I just wanted to share my sleep issue!
I have sleep walked for years as well as sleep talked. My biggest problem is hallucinating. I regularly will hallucinate people in my room, around my bed. It will be the middle of the night. I sit up and talk to them, get out of bed, walk around. I, like Jessica, have hallucinated my sister outside my window and opened it up and held a conversation with her when shes not actually there. The ones of people around my bed are the worst because a lot of times I know its not real, I know i’m dreaming, but they wont leave. I usually beg them to go away and it lasts for minutes if not longer before they disappear and I can fall fully asleep. Some nights its nonstop. Every few hours it happens again.
I now share a bed with my SO and I dont experience people as often but I do hallucinate things happening. Ive gotten out of bed and started to leave (stark naked) before and hes had to direct me back to bed. During those times i’m imagining I’m doing something. Ill be awake, but asleep I suppose, and picturing everything completely different.
Its crazy!
Hi Kelly
Thanks for your comment, and I’m pleased you enjoyed the article. Hopefully the other article will also prove useful. I can see why you’d be interested in reading it considering your experiences. Perhaps if you do think it seems like what you have, a trip to the doctor and/or sleep specialist might be a good idea. They will be able to assess your behavior better and give you advice on dealing with it.
Regards
Ethan
Really interesting article and I find it fascinating reading everyone else’s experiences!
I was 14 when I had my first experience of the hallucinations and 22 years later they’re still as active (I’ve actually just woken with one having been asleep briefly)! There have been hundreds.
I have to point out that when I was 16 I suffered my first bout of alopecia, apparently caused by stress at school. My Mum and I think it was related, however I’d never have spoken to the doctor about it as I assumed I’d be classed as crazy, especially as there wasn’t the internet with articles like this back then!
My very first one was seeing my quilt hovering over me in bed, which caused me to jump out with my heart beating ten to the dozen! Then it was strange looking insects, coloured shapes, figures etc.
A lot involved me jumping out of bed and turning the light on as they were quite disturbing. I was convinced I’d end up suffering a heart attack at some point!
I’ve had a huge man made of iron standing at the foot of my bed, bringing his huge hammer hand down on me, which I avoided by jumping out of the way…
On one occasion, around 15 years ago, I was watching a flying insect that looked like a wire hanger; it was going to wrap itself around my then partners neck (so I thought), so I ‘saved’ him by putting my hands around his neck to stop it! Needless to say he woke up rather startled!
And when I started dating my now husband, I watched him having a fit while he was laying next to me, so I sat on top of him and held him down…he also woke up startled to say the least…he never did have a fit!
He does say that when it happens, although my eyes are open, they are glazed over, so he knows when I ‘wake’ up.
It’s got to the point now where we don’t have much in the bedroom for me to focus on so to speak. The walls are bare and dressing gown’s aren’t left hanging on the door, although I do still get visions but they’re quite toned down nowadays.
My eldest daughter (who is 6) has had, on a few occasions, a night terror, where she is awake but very distressed, crying, shaking and talking incoherently. I wonder if it’s hereditary?!
The brain is definitely a fascinating and intriguing organ!
Hi Kay
Thanks for your comment. It sounds like you really have had a range of experiences which must have caused a lot of conversations in your household! Have you ever had a sleep study done? Do you think you’re definitely awake during some of the more activity-based episodes such as the fit and strangling ones? Or are you possible asleep? If you’re asleep and doing these things, it might be worth getting checked out.
In terms of hereditary night terrors, there hasn’t been a lot of research done on this it seems. I found one study in 1980 which suggests it might be. Perhaps if you dig around you might find some more recent research.
Regards
Ethan
I had the experience of long alphabet glowing time things. For some reason I was hearing laughing and a music box in my hypnagogic hallucination. It is well known I have sleep terrors every day, of some sort. Ot was preceded by demonic nightmarish spirit dreams. I have dreamt I was up and about for the day, or at work. It feels so real, because I am actually interacting with the environment in my head. every time I have these experiences, I am completely lucid. Although the dream is quite vivid. It can be extremely frightening, dreaming of monstrous apparition kind of things. Because it used to cause such fear and trauma, they had to give me anti anxiety pills. After I learned how to defeat the nightmare apparitions in my dreams, I have gained the ability to make every dream lucid and mold it to my will. These night terrors have been a part of me since I was 3 or 4 according to my parents.
Hi Nick
Thanks for your comment and fascinating story. It’s great that you’ve managed to lucid dream and therefore change your experiences into something presumably more enjoyable at times. If you have any tips for lucid dreaming, I’m sure other readers would love to hear them!
Regards
Ethan
I hate to keep leaving comments, but it won’t let me alter the first one as it is waiting approval from moderator. The most frequent time for me to have these is about 1-3 hours after falling asleep, especially 90 minutes after falling asleep. Another problem that happens frequently during this time frame is GU spasms/ pelvic floor spasms, when I get them. Sometimes frequently, sometimes months in between.
Hi again
Sorry, I have the comment moderation setting on because I get hundreds of spam comments every day! And I’ve been away recently so unable to respond to comments until now. The fact that they occur at that time after falling asleep makes me again think of an REM sleep disorder. I’d chat to your doctor if I were you and see if you can get referred to a sleep specialist. Or perhaps in your line of work you have a way to access one in your community?
Regards
Ethan
I should add that family history includes probable bipolar, Tourette’s syndrome, narcolepsy, many with OCD. I’ve been diagnosed with ADD as an adult, depression, PTSD and anxiety. I don’t have severe symptoms of any for a few years. I do have as needed med for anti-anxiety- which I take less than twice a year.
I haven’t researched your site very much, but I wanted to share my experience and see if you could offer any insight.
My first memory of a night hallucination? is when I was still old enough to sleep in a crib with the side dow, maybe 4 years old. I saw circus animals, specifically a tiger, coming at me from the bedroom door. Of course, no one thought anything of it, but I have always remembered that. I don’t recall any specific sleep issues through the rest of childhood, but I was always a very light sleeper. As a teen, I I would wake up in a panic that I couldn’t hear any music (I was a DJ at the time) and start pressing random buttons on the stereo until I realized I was not at work. As a waitress, I got up a few nights and poured tea, until I realized I must be sleep walking. Then I became a nurse, and thankfully I don’t go around giving shots! For the most part, I didn’t pay any attention to the sporadic times I would have dreams of falling and suddenly feel like I was hitting the bed when I awoke. It wasn’t until after a serious illness, and a threat to my safety by another person (said he would put a bomb under my bed) that I began to have frequent Night hallucinations. Mostly they are of a wolf, human, or spider. Many times the person is not threatening- once it was a tour guide when I was on my trip- and he told me I was late, so I decided to wake up everyone else (at 4 am). Recently, it is my landlady, and I am annoyed that she is in my bedroom and my room is a mess. Occasionally I feel like someone is breaking into my home. Always- as soon as I turn on the light- the situation goes away. I know that the situation isn’t real, and if I can get to the light, I will be ok. In fact, after the trip ( a missions trip) I had a very scary night hallucination (not sure what it was) and I couldnl’t figure out how to turn on my lamp, and in my panic, I crushed the light bulb with my bare hand and got a nice slice. I am pro- CCW, and am 100% responsible in every other aspect- a respected healthcare provider in the community- but I am afraid of having a gun in my room because of this. This morning I was flipping through my phone, and realized I took two pictures last night- one of my wall and another of my lap. I was sure there was a spider there until I had proof of it not being there. Anyway, I know there is an uptick of the frequency the more stressed I am. I have been through PTSD counseling. I wear a CPAP for sleep apnea. I was extra tired yesterday, all day long. I should practice better sleep hygiene. Any other suggestions? Just like most people here, if I can get the light on- I’m ok. I thought about getting the “clap on, clap off” device, lol. I hate having any lights on when I sleep. There’s too much ambient light coming in from my windows for my taste as it is, I often have to shield my eyes with a pillow, etc to get to sleep. I know reducing some of the stress I can reduce- like getting my room cleaner- might help. (the room became the catch all for the holidays…)
Hi fimeow
Thanks for your comment. Sorry to hear you’ve been under so much stress and that you sleep is so disrupted. I’m wondering if you’ve ever been to a sleep clinic to get a study done? What you describe sounds like it could be a combination of sleep walking and nightmares, but also makes me think of the possibility of a sleep disorder such as REM sleep behavior disorder due to the fact that you seem to be acting out your dreams at times, unless I misunderstood? I can understand about the light problem – I’m the same. But I just thought of something which might help with both issues. You could perhaps get yourself a night light which would be strong enough to fulfill the ‘if I get to the light, it will be ok’ feeling, and then also get a sleep mask. Then you would eliminate the problem of not being able to sleep due to the ambient light, and if you wake up feeling anxious, you could simply remove the sleep mask to reveal all the friendly light which is already there due to the night light.
Regards
Ethan
So I had been seeing this guy and it was stressful. Started out stressful, I knew it was bad but continued to stay with him. Well one night I slept on the couch… I don’t know if I was drugged because he used to pretend to shoot up all the time. Anyways, I’m not sure if it was a sleep sensation either. I was falling over things, it was the same room minus added chairs which I was falling over. I continued to fall over then until I thought I woke up to cats sitting on this shelf above me. There was actually a wooden shelf there but he had said that his cat ran away. He had abundance of cat food which made no sense to me at the time. Anyways, I looked at and there were cats sitting on thus shelf. And I couldn’t move after this, all I could so was look at the cats and wonder how they had gotten in there. I’ve rattled my brain about this for months and still have no idea what it could be. I’ve thought about seeing a doctor but honestly I’m not one to run to the doctor , especially something like this. I’m terrified that he could have shot me up with something or if this is actually my mental state while I was sleeping. I told my dad and he told me that it was a sign, a sign selling me that my life was chaos. That the stressful situation I was in was taking its toll. Please, if there is anything you can tell me. I would greatly appreciate it.
Hi Summer
Thanks for your comment. I think it’s important not to panic when you have a strange sleep experience. The chances are you weren’t drugged – that’s something which happens to rarely, it’s unlikely to have been that. It sounds like it could have been a bad dream, or perhaps you woke up to some kind of hallucinatory experience too. I think perhaps see if it happens again. If you keep having strange experiences like this, then there’s no harm in getting some reassurance from your doctor. But I imagine it won’t keep happening. I’d also perhaps take it more of a sign that you’re dealing with a lot of stress, if anything. Perhaps take some time to try to really address the stress in your life, and also do some things which can help you relax. I’d recommend mindfulness in particular.
Regards
Ethan
Hey this article helped a lot ever since I was little I haven’t slept well and it’s because of some of the stuff you described.
Hi Noah
Thanks for your comment and I’m glad you found the article helpful.
Regards
Ethan
I’m so glad I found this site – mainly to discover that I’m not alone in seeing these patterns as I’m trying to fall asleep.
What is most disturbing about them is that I can still see them even when I open my eyes – and they’re unlike any of my regular dreams – in that when I eventually “snap-out” of them my head feels as if it’s about to explode and I feel agitated and restless for ages afterwards.
– This is a relatively new experience for me – I’m in my late 50’s, but these “visual disturbances” only began about 4 years ago when I went through a particularly stressful period in my life and began to suffer with bouts of insomnia. At first, I was completely freaked out by them, and although still quite frightening and disturbing, I’ve got used to them and now have tried to see whether I can influence the events I see (as in lucid dreams) – to nil effect so far!
It doesn’t happen every night, and what I experience varies considerably but usually very intense and completely immersive (and in full 3D – as if I’m living the event)
Most commonly I get vivid floating and ever-changing psychedelic patterns – like the colours you get with a thin film of oil on water – but much brighter, more colourful, (similar to the “paper marbling” patterns found in the endpapers of old books!), sometimes incredibly regularly geometric (often symmetric) where the vividly coloured random patterns form, disperse and merge over and over (as in an old-fashioned kaleidoscope toy)
Other times I’ve seen thousands of vertical bright thin green stripes on a dark background, but delineating in relief furniture and objects that I can see in my bedroom.
Possibly the weirdest experience was experiencing/seeing the whole world – including the air between objects) being made up of some sort of regularly-sized but intensely clear small foam bubbles or “cells” – like free-flowing squishy clear glass spheres that moved as I passed through them(!)
Sometimes I see completely unknown people, unfamiliar surroundings (buildings/landscapes etc.) and nonsensical objects that appear so real that I feel that I can touch and interact with them.
I don’t take any medication (prescription or otherwise!) and I don’t drink – so I can only attribute these “disturbances” to the state of my mind as I go to bed – I’ve yet to discover any potential triggers (foods, watching TV etc), but am learning to live/cope with them. Just hoping they’re not a precursor to something else!.
J
Hi J
Thanks for your detailed and fascinating comment. If you’re only experiencing these hallucinations whilst going to sleep, it’s very probably just hypnagogic hallucinations and not a precursor to anything else.
Have you tried sleeping with a night light? It might help fill the void a bit. Equally, doing some relaxation and breathing exercises might help take your mind off all the visuals you see.
Regards
Ethan
Great site. thank you for this forum. Based on what I read here, I am experiencing Hypnopompic hallucinations. I appreciate the sharing done by others on this site.
Hi Freddie
Thanks for your comment and for the compliment. I’m glad you found the site helpful, and the sharing from so many great readers.
Regards
Ethan
I used to be a logical thinker but all that has changed. My logical job in computer architecture has not. I have been given a gift as all humans do of psychic abilities. Spirits are real. I don’t call them ghosts. I cut out soda alcohol drugs and started acting more loving, meditate and now My chakra system is open and I can feel and see spirits. Right now it is mainly purple and last night pink light. This happens with my eyes open. Of course the third eye being opens help. That starts with not drinking the polluted Flouride water that is called tap water. We were not born with it in our body so why do we drink it every day. Because it suppresses the ability to open up our spiritual connection. The third eye. So many of you may be starting to experience awakening symptoms which is a beautiful but sometimes difficult transition. Please keep an open mind. It is the only way forward and many new experiences will open up for you. No lease listen to yourself. What you have been truly saying all your life, your wishes, the fire inside may be just what you desire and can become.
Hey~
I’m a 17 yr old girl who has been trying to lucid dream for years now. Last night I tried to do the WILD method were I trick my body into sleeping and it worked. Then I didn’t know what to do next or how to get into a dream. I then looked at the ceiling and realised there’s like moving squares (I don’t really know how to explain) and then I see someone covered in white walk in the room. I got nervous as he kept coming closer, I tried to wake myself up but I couldn’t until he got so close that I somehow woke myself up. Can you please tell me what was that and how can I get into a lucid dream after that stage? Thank you
Hi Maria
Thanks for your comment. What you saw was possibly a hypnagogic hallucination, or possibly sleep paralysis. Alternatively, you could have been asleep and dreaming you were looking around your bedroom. I’m planning on doing an article soon on lucid dreaming, but for now, this isn’t really the place for advice about how to do it. My advice for now would be to just keep practicing if it’s something you’re interested in. It’s not easy for most people, and does take time to really pop into the dream world and be able to take control.
Regards
Ethan
I have had hallucinations prior to falling asleep and waking up here and there for several years. However they have become an issue lately due to an increase in their frequency. The hallucinations appear to be quite similar or repetitive. As I’m falling asleep I hear voices in one or both ears, I have thoughts that are noninterpretable, and hear odd sounds. Then once I’m asleep I feel like I awake suddenly but cannot move. Something or someone is right next to me holding me down and won’t let me go. The presence seems so dark and menevolent; however, I never see what it looks like. Because I know it’s not real I try to look at it and break free, but I always break free before I can turn and look at it. What’s weird is during this paralysis/ hallucination I know I’m asleep which means I must be partially conscious. I have also learned that the harder I struggle to break free from the force that is holding me down the faster I wake up. Another important thing is when I have these hallucinations/dreams the surroundings are always exactly how I fell asleep. For example, tonight I dozed off only to feel like I’d awoken to a dark force whispering in my ear and holding me down as I lay under my covers laying on my right side. This exactly how I fell asleep and woke up. It’s rather troubling because it makes me hesitant to want to sleep. Especially now because they are more frequent and are now occurring sometimes multiple times a night. Also why is it so evil? Why so negative and repetitive? Thanks
Hi Joel
Thanks for your comment. It sounds to me like you’re experiencing sleep paralysis possible.
Regards
I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only one. I’m 14 and since i was little I’ve always talked in my sleep. Most of my friends/family say that i would sit up and have a conversation with myself. For about time 6th or 7th time, I’ve had this experience where i would wake up(atleast i thought) covered in spiders. The first time i was so terrified that i didn’t notice i was screaming. It usually happens when i do not leave my tv on. I’m so terrified i always leave my tv on. One night, i turned it off on accident and i woke up, completely paralyzed and terrified. For some reason i felt like there were thousands of things coming at me but i couldn’t move. Recently, i woke up to hundreds of spiders crawling on me. I ran as fast as i could down stairs while thrashing around, i curled in a ball on the ground and me mom found me. I told her a poster fell on me and i woke up scared and that’s when i realized it wasn’t real. A lot of people tell me i thrash around in my sleep though, and i can tell by the way all of my blankets are on the ground in the morning and I’m on the opposite end of the bed. Also, when i sleep in a new place, i usually get woken up and im just sitting on the edge of the bed staring at nothing. When i was in the hospital for first time, a nurse woke me up and asked if i was okay and i was confused about why i was there. Same thing happened at camp. My friends told me i did the same thing at their house, and after an hour i just laid down. I want to get help because i hate the feeling of being terrified, and that goes along with my Anxiety disorder.
Hi Brooke
Thanks for your comment, and sorry to hear you’ve been having these problems with your sleep. It’s never nice to be afraid during the night, or worried about sleeping, so I can understand your concern.
What has your family said about getting help? Have they taken you to a doctor to talk about your sleep problems and how it’s affecting you? Have you asked them if you can speak to a doctor about it? I think it’s important that you voice how you feel about it, and that it’s making you anxious and afraid at night. Even if the doctor feels it is just hallucinations, they should be able to put your mind at ease with some more information about it and perhaps some ideas for dealing with the feeling you have. And if they feel that you have a sleep disorder, perhaps related to thrashing about in bed, then they can refer you to a sleep specialist.
So I think the first step is to be open with your family about it all, and ask to visit your doctor for some advice.
Regards
Ethan
hi there, ever since i gave birth i have been experiencing weird things shortly after falling asleep. it started immediately after giving birth with strong hypnic jerks after a very short life-like dream after the hospital it changed from things i cant explain to anxiety attacks, waking up heart racing and recently ive been seeing the spiders, wasps and shapes. its all blurry like no description really just i can tell it was a wasp or spider. this makes me so so so sad my only wish is to sleep like a normal human being i am afraid so afraid and tired.
Hi Nuraan,
Thanks for your comment and I’m sorry to hear you’ve been having problem sleeping. Have you spoken to anyone about the anxiety attacks? Perhaps you’re having panic attacks, which can be very unpleasant indeed. Then if you do wake up in that state, and start seeing things in the dark, it’s understandably going to make you feel even more anxious. I’d suggest talking to someone close to you and/or your doctor to get some support. You could also try sleeping with a night-light on to take away the darkness and provide some comfort and familiarity if you do wake up in the night feeling anxious.
I’d also suggest having a look at my article about mindfulness. You might find the exercises there really help you in moments of anxiety.
Regards
Ethan
Hello, I’m 14 years old and I have been having hypnagogic hallucinations every so often for as long as I can remeber. It’s always of a spider crawling towards me or around me. I’m not scared of spiders or anything but it seems so real, last night I saw a big spider next to me and when I jumped off my bed I saw one behind me, that was the first time that in saw two spiders continuesly and of course they vanished after I turned my lights on. This seems to happen when I have any kind of lights on. I’m very confused, please help!
Thank you!
Hi Leticia
Thanks for your comment. It does sound like hypnagogic hallucinations. Do you have a night light you could try and sleep with to see if it helps? If not you could ask your parents to get you one. You might find that having some light stops your brain from creating the spiders in the darkness.
Regards
Ethan
What a terrific site–there are names for all the things that happen while I fall asleep and dream. I knew I couldn’t be alone in my sleep experiences. I very frequently– 3 or more times a week– experience hypnogogic hallucinations, and have for as long as I can remember. I’m 59 years old. I really enjoy them. They’ve taken many forms but are mostly visual. I often see geometric shapes and patterns, vivid moving color blotches, and grids. I also see faces which usually start as familiar people and then morph one by one into different people that I know and sometimes strangers. I also occasionally (several times a year)experience exploding head syndrome, which is not fun! Loudest imaginable noise and light that wakes me–think nuclear explosion. I also frequently experience very vivid dreams within dreams– thinking I’m awake until I’m awake for real–I find it fun and interesting most of the time–and oddly only when I nap during the day, not at night. I am occasionally able to experience lucid dreaming as well, which is awesome! My boyfriend also experiences hypnogogic hallucinations–stars and clouds and tunnels– which we were discussing tonight, which is why I tried to find out more about it. Voila’ here I am sharing my experiences. Thanks!
Hi Donna
Thanks for your comment and compliment – I’m glad you enjoyed the site. There are indeed names for all of the things you described there. The dreams within dreams might be false awakenings – did you find the article about that one?
It’s good that you find some of your experiences fun and interesting – it’s great to be able to regard them in that way. If only everyone could!
Regards
Ethan
I’m 54 and I’ve had vivid nightmares all my life. The reoccurring nightmare that I have had since the age of 4 was of an evil presence of something coming through my window while I am asleep. It seemed as if I’m awake because it was so vivid, in these dreams or hallucinations I would sit up in my bed and see the curtains of my window moving and then the window raising up as if someone was there opening it but I don’t see anything I just feel a evil presence so I would run to the window and hold it down to keep it out but it opened and I was thrown back on the bed and they was a pressure of something heavy on top of me pending me to the bed and hurt me, I can’t scream or move and I terrified. As a child I didn’t know how it was hurting me it seemed like it was stabbing and killing me in the lower half of my body. When I got older I understood what it was doing and it seemed sexual. I was horrified and traumatizing from it most my life. I felt as a demon was after me and it didn’t matter where I lived it always found me. It drove me crazy literally, my church did a 8 hour prayer over me re-puking the demon and I didn’t have that dream anymore but they was others just as bad. I took myself to a psychiatrist at the age of 25. over the years I have been diagnosed with bipolar2, depression and PTSD, General anxiety. They did a sleep studies on me and said I have narcolepsy which don’t make any sense because I don’t fall asleep all the time, my problem is insomnia and being able to stay asleep. I can go days without sleep and when I do sleep it’s as if I wake up from a vivid nightmares in a panic and look at the clock every hour. I’m always exhausted and crave sleep but can’t get rested. I go to a psychiatrist every month and they cannot find a sleep medicine that helps me sleep. The dr. said I’m a difficult patient and sleep resistant to medication. And I’ve been on just about everything. That was just one of my reoccurring dreams I have others that you would say I was crazy if I told them to you. I wasn’t ever told that it could be hallucinations, now I read this blog. I don’t know what’s happening to me. Can you help me make sense of this so I can communicate better with my doctors.
Hi DeAnna
Thanks for your comment and for sharing your experiences. Sorry to hear you have such a difficult time sleeping, and have different problems to have to cope with in life. It must be very stressful.
Have you been to a counselor or talking therapist as well as a psychiatrist? If not you ask them to send you to see someone who can help you talk through the nightmares and the other issues. It could be that they can help you find a way to deal with the sleep problems. Medication isn’t always the best answer for everyone. And if it hasn’t worked for you, then perhaps some guidance which doesn’t involve sleeping pills might help.
I’d also suggest taking a look at my article about stopping nightmares. You might find some advice there which is useful.
Regards
Ethan
I think I’ve only had these rarely, or more often when I was younger, before I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, depression, and generalized anxiety disorder and went on medications.
The most vivid one to this day was when I was living in a really stressful situation for a while. One early morning I woke up (so I thought) and there was a UFO hovering right outside my bedroom window, with bright lights and everything!
It seemed so real, and I was so scared I finally got out of bed, walked across the house to the phone and called 911. Once it started ringing I think I woke up a little and hung up. I went back to bed, but unfortunately the police still came out!
I told them I’d had a bad dream and was confused when I’d called which is why I hung up. I was pretty embarrassed having to explain it to them.
The fact I had such a vivid hallucination (or waking dream? Is this the same thing?) upset me for a long time. I felt like there was something seriously wrong with me, not knowing my exact mental health issues at the time. Now I just see it as the result of stress, and am glad I got help.
Hi Elena
Thanks for your comment and for sharing your experiences. You’re not alone in having such vivid experiences that you end up actually taking action on them. There are several articles on this site with hundreds of readers commenting about how they did something because of the things they thought were real, but weren’t in the end. It’s confusing and often upsetting, but by the sounds of it you did the right thing in seeking professional help.
All the best
Ethan
Hey,
I would like to share my experience here:).
I am having probably all kinds of hallucinations when falling asleep just when I fall asleep and wake up instead of sleeping. I wonder if it is connected to breathing problem as I get half-stuffed in mynose at night (not during days, just at night). I always had some tiny symptoms of weird sleep problems but it may be like two or five year since they started increasing.
I experienced typical waking up when falling alseep with my eyes opening and me seeing (mostly static) half transparent things in ceiling. They mostly dissapear fast, but sometimes they persist little longer or I see new things. At one night I may experience one or many hallucinations one after another with my anger raising up lol. No sleep paralysis, I turn around angry and fall asleep. Usually I am not scared and I notice pretty fast that its not real, yet cannot connect hallucinated things to any dream mostly. Last night it was a brick wall on ceiling, one other time I opened eyes and room lit up and all furninture was totally different, other time I saw person (static) by my bed but he was on the other side of bed sleeping so I got a bit startled as it felt real for 1 sec.
I have sound hallucinations aswell but not often. Mostly when I fall alseep but it happened that I dreamt on some sound when waking up in the morning.
I had earlier (before hallucinations) noticed that I sometimes could wake up with tired hand. It got worse with time so it happened at times that I woke up with hand up in the air. Once it was so up there hanging on its own even after I woke up so I had to drag it down with my other hand! I woke up siting on my bed once and once shaking my hand with person from a dream except that I opened eyes and it was just me and..my hand in shaking gesture in air. Not long time ago I experienced worse, woke up and…couldnt find my arm. I thought my husbands hand was mine but he moved it away (when I moved it) so I had to search and found my arm behind (not under) my head. It was so dead I had no feeling in it, but it came back after some longer while. My husband said that there was time I spoke in sleep some jibberish (he didntlisten lol), moved in the bed when in sleep and sat myself on bed (dont recall it…).
I have very vivid imagination and some crazy adventure dreams. I like them a lot, they can tell some nice story. It happens that I am not myself in my dreams, was superman once even;). Sometimes I get flash images out of nowhere and out of context. Some flashes are really creative but they are so fast and then I wonder why did it come to my head.
When I started programming a lot I had some weird nights with me dreaming of coding, hallucinate-coding, wake up coding in my head, solving problem I wondered about. My brain kept processing and I couldnt stop thinking of programming even if I tried thinking of other things just to fall asleep and wake again with my head still solving programming problem.
I am often very tired, wake up tired. I may have problems with falling asleep but not always and hallucinations happen also when I thought I fell alseep pretty fast just to wake up openinig eyes and seeing things.
I have yet to confirm if I trully wake up. I think I once did it but I am unsure. Thinking of having paper and pencil at my bed and trying to remember to write something on paper when I wake up with hallucinations so I am sure that I do wake up. I had experienced some aware dreaming a few times in the past (though I dont encourage it and dont concentrate on it, was just experiment I regret lol) and mostly it was me realizing I dream and can change dream or all went white. I experience weird sleep things at least 20 times a year, it increased during past year. I started to google it when it started to occur weirdly often, sometimes few nights in a row.
I dont know what to think of hallucinations. If I speak of them to people around then they say that I am making up things so I keep it to me.
Hi Agness
Thanks for your comment and for sharing your experiences. I can understand why you end up keeping stuff to yourself – I think many people find it difficult to share these kind of things with others after they repeatedly receive responses of either disbelief or questioning sanity! But really, you’re not alone in what you’ve been going through.
I think that what you describe really does come down to hallucinations, and I imagine that the best way to deal with them is to try and make sure you have a very stable sleep pattern and try to do what you can to protect your sleep. It’s not always so easy though, but you might find it helps to really stabilize your sleep patterns.
Regards
Ethan
Hi thank you for this article.
I have always had (what I suspect to be) hypnopompic hallucinations however recently they’ve started to become more frequent.
I fall asleep and usually a couple of hours after I will wake up and I can see a hand and arm of someone pushing my door open to the bedroom. It is absolutely terrifying, i freeze and stare for a few seconds then usually grab my husband to wake him up to tell him. Then usually at this point I realise that there actually isn’t anyone there but by then my heart is beating ridiculously fast and I’m shaking with fear.
I have lived in this house for almost 3 years and it only occurred every few months but now it’s started to become a few times a week, I’m getting to the point where I’m getting worked up before I go to bed because I think I’m going to have one of these episodes.
That is the most common one I suffer with however recently I have also seen cobwebs all over my ceiling and walls when I wake, which isn’t as terrifying but still odd and still prompt me
To wake my husband.
My husband started working away quite frequently in the past year so I thought that put me on edge, although it still happens when he’s here, so don’t think that’s why.
I am in my second year at uni so I have had quite a lot of deadlines recently however didn’t feel stressed about them so I’m confused as to what can be making them become more frequent.
It’s awful because although they only
Last for around 10-20 seconds it’s still absolutely terrifying for me
I have started to keep a food & sleep diary with the intention to go to
The doctor if I don’t find a correlation between something and them but after reading your article I probably won’t find a correlation.
I eat relatively healthy and exercise around 4 times a week so can’t even make changes like that.
I’m getting to the point where I’m worrying and getting worked up before I go to sleep and I know this probably
Makes it worse
Hi Lorna
Thanks for your comment, and I’m sorry to hear you’ve been having these problems with your sleep and the subsequent worry. I think it’s still a good idea to keep a diary. You might find some correlation, and even if it isn’t with your food, it could be with something else, like how tired you are that night when you go to bed, how stressed or anxious etc. So you could try keeping a wider ranging diary.
I think it’s important to try not to allow these things to lead you to the point where your worry is what keeps you awake. It then becomes a vicious circle, with the worry being the cause of sleep problems rather than the initial problem.
My advice would be to perhaps try some mindfulness techniques before going to bed. Doing simple exercises like those can really help to settle your mind and stop you from worrying too much.
Regards
Ethan
Hello! Thanks so much for this article, I didn’t know what this was for so long. There was a period in my life a couple of years ago when I would hallucinate in the middle of the night, nearly every night. I would see huge spiders on my bedside table, spiders hanging from the ceiling and falling towards my face, or just weird shapes floating around. Many times I saw those seeds from maple trees that spin as they fall, sometimes all the way on the other side of my room. Very strange. Every time it happened I would sort of stare at it for a little while. I was never frightened when it happened but I would always get up quickly to turn the light on, because I knew it was not supposed to happen even though I was half asleep. Then once I turned the light on I would realize that I was hallucinating and felt silly for thinking something so obviously not real was. Now, I will experience this rarely, but still sometimes. I’m not sure what causes it. Is there a reason that it would have happened so often for a short period of time and then almost completely stop? Thanks so much.
Hi Leanna
Thanks for your comment. To be honest, I’m not sure why this would happen exactly for that period of time. It could be due to all sorts of things, such as tiredness or stress to name just two, and probably you’ll never really know.
The main thing is that it’s not happening so much now, and hopefully it will stay that way!
Regards
Ethan
When i am trying to sleep i often see “someone” at the end of my bed but i just brush it off, but later at night when i wake up, all lights are on in my room, and it is common for me that it is around 3 or 4 am then. Is this sorta related or is this something different?
Hi Marlene
Thanks for your comment. Well, without the feeling of not being able to move, it could be a hypnagogic hallucinations. When you say the lights are on, do you mean they somehow turn on in the night? Or are you imagining them on?
Regards
Ethan
Ethan, your article was very helpful. My hallucinations started appearing when I first became pregnant in 2010. I would be woken up in the middle of the night by a lady standing by my bed, I could tell you everything about her, she was so clear. I tried talking to her, asking what she wanted. Then I started being woken up by a child no older than 2 by my bed, but his face was mangled. In both of these instances I was not frightened but was more intrigued as to why these peopled were coming to me, and how I could help them. most recently this August 2015 I was woken up by a construction worker, again I could tell you all about him, eye color, clothing, everything, this time i was scared and had troubled going back to sleep, and last night I was woken up by another male standing in my bathroom doorway, this one really scared me, my heart immediately started racing and my first thought was to wake my husband and protect my family. These hallucinations are getting worse I feel. Both my sons have been diagnosed with epilepsy, it has been triggered when they going into REM sleep. I have also been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, but I am wondering if maybe I should have an EEG myself to rule out any electric activity in my brain that could be causing these hallucinations.
Thank you again for your article,
Emily
Hi Emily
Thanks for your comment, and I’m glad you found the article helpful. Sorry to hear you’ve been having these vivid and worrying hallucinations. I think that if you are worried about it, then there’s no harm in talking it through with your doctor. If nothing else, they will hopefully be able to set your mind at ease. You could also try sleeping with a night light on to see if it helps fill the darkness a bit so when you wake up you see familiar surroundings.
Regards
Ethan
I’m glad I found this article, as I have been wondering about some experiences I have been having. It’s nice to know it is relatively normal.
I, too, saw the geometric patterns when I would fall asleep as a child. I thought everyone did. I also would feel like I was floating, falling, or spinning while I would fall asleep. On rare occasions I experienced paralysis or sleep walking, and talking in my sleep.
Now, as an adult (I’m 40) I have had the experience of seeing dark shadowy figures standing in my room. It’s quite creepy. I never told anyone because I don’t believe in the supernatural and neither does anyone I know, so I felt ashamed. Then my father, who was dying of cancer, was living with me so I could take care of him. He told me that he was waking and seeing shadowy figures in his room at night. I started to wonder why we both saw the same thing (as a side note, he hallucinated a lot as he slowly died from cancer). He passed away, and we moved to a different house. I am still seeing the figures, and in the last few months now I am hearing noises while I fall asleep. Usually it is a sigh right in my ear, or a giggle. Sometimes I hear talking, voices, or other whispers directly in my ear. It is very realistic. I hear doors slamming, footsteps and sometimes loud rushing noises like a train going through the room while I’m falling asleep. It’s all very unnerving, and when I experience it I sleep very badly for the rest of the night. I finally decided to google since I’m the only one in the house hearing anything (I have a very large family), and figured my brain must be playing tricks on me. As it turns out, it is! I feel very relieved!
Hi Ann
Thank you for your comment and for sharing your personal story. I think that your experiences are very likely explained by a range of parasomnias as you yourself have spotted. Most notably hypnagogic hallucinations, albeit very vivid and intense ones at times by the sounds of it. I’m glad the article has provided some relief, and hopefully given you some direction to investigate and research it a little more to see if you can find ways to reduce it.
Regards
Ethan
Greetings,
I’ve been on my iPad all morning trying to find out how to define what I experienced last night. Here’s some background info that might be useful to those who have similar experiences:
Since I was a child I have always had vivid dreams/nightmares and hypnagogic hallucinations. As a child of 4-5, it started with severe ear aches which I would, because of the pain, pass out and then have the nightmare of marching wooden soldiers coming up our driveway and I knew they were coming for me. One night during that period as I slept in the same room with one of my brothers (I was the 10th of 10 kids), I was awoken by the shaking of my bed. I thought it was my brother and looked over to his side of the room but he was right there sleeping away. I hadn’t the courage to look under the bed.
I have often had apocalyptic nightmares where I’m often walking in a landscape of utter destruction, often being aware that my family was dead or missing, coming upon other people crying over their dead loved ones, but always trying to get somewhere specific.
In 1970, I was 6 and had my only UFO experience. I was outside our house riding my bike around our country property. We were well off and had a huge house with an paved circular driveway that was built around an island of native rocks, trees and weeds. It was fun to ride around endlessly. But this day was strangely quiet. There was always a cacophony of sound from birds, tree branches rustling in the wind and such. As I was making my first circle around our driveway, I heard the strangest “whooshing/whistling” sound coming from the southwestern sky. As I looked up to see where this was coming from, a circular object about several hundred feet in the sky went from one horizon to the other, zigzagging along in a matter of seconds. Since we lived at the top of a hill I was used to seeing aircraft make their way across the sky, but this thing was faster than any other thing I had ever witnessed! Nevertheless, at age 6, I wasn’t aware of what UFO’s were and thought it must have been an Apollo capsule coming down from space. I exclaimed this to my family afterwards to which they laughed me away as stupidly childish.
Later in my childhood when became aware of the UFO phenomenon, I wondered if I actually witnessed an alien craft and have been hooked on the subject since.
Anyways, lately I’ve been very concerned about our environment and the constant news about climate change. This has also made me remember the Billy Meiers UFO account and his prophecies of doom and destruction at the hands of mankind. I have no idea if what he’s prophesied was actually wrote in 1958, but if it was then we are in for some real changes in our lives.
To return to what happened last night, and with this type of background info, perhaps this kind of experience was bound to happen. I woke up from 5 hours of sleep as I normally do and looked at the bedside clock to the usual 2:00am reading. It’s either between 2:00am or 3:30am that I awake wishing to sleep more but can’t. But after I looked at the clock, I thought I fell back asleep. This didn’t feel like sleep as I immediately found myself in the backseat of a mid-1970’s sedan seated back right electric roll down window. I was aware of other people in the car and thought I knew the driver. It was dusk and we were driving frantically up this hill and to the right was a lake immediately off the roadside. As I become more aware of my surroundings, the driver was not making one of the turns and the car was quickly running off the right side of the road. At this point I was becoming extremely frantic and started screaming, as everyone did that he needed to turn the wheel but it was too late! At great speed we ran off the road, spinning out and into the darkness of the lake! I’m going to die. That’s all I remember as the car began to sink. The last thing from this scene was attempting to roll the electric window down as the car sank. The window opened to the rush of water coming in and then it went black. I thought to myself that this couldn’t be real because I’m now aware of being in bed in my room, on my back and staring up at the ceiling.
As I was quickly relieved, I found myself again in the old sedan but this time we had made it to camp site where everyone was waiting for us. Who these people are I have only the awareness that we are here because there is no where else to go and its with great urgency that we head together to the site of some grouping of other people. It’s nighttime and we all start looking up to see something but someone in the back starts shouting to run! Let’s get out of here! They’re here! And they’re not here to help us!! As I started to run, something took me forward by both sides of with exceptional speed away from these people until I was well ahead of everyone. My forward progress stops and I’m alone in the dark and nobody is in sight. I’m back in bed now, again looking at the clock and it’s still 2:00am. But I don’t know if I’m really awake looking at the clock or if I’m sleeping looking at the clock. Anyway, I’m calm and looking up at the ceiling fan. There is a flash of bluish pink light around me and I’m aware of someone behind me. But that can’t be because there is a wall behind my bed that is where the outside front gate is with a cement pathway to our front door. From the bed I turn to look to see what’s behind me and the walk becomes translucent. There I see 3 or 4 beings that run up to from an area where they shouldn’t be able to come from! I’m not frightened but am confused about what’s happening. As I once again look up to the ceiling the entire top of the house disappears and I’m aware and in awe that Im looking out into space! But not just space, as the seconds tick by, Im aware of moving far beyond and away from my house INTO space! The site of this is beyond awe inspiring. It’s like the movie Contact when Jodie Foster is looking out of her transport pod into a space-time event of uncalculating beauty.
Just as I’m starting to lose myself in this star scene, I’m becoming aware that I’m not alone and that all around me is the presence of something. The Stars start to fade away and now I’m beginning to become quite frightened. I’m alone in a void of what is fast becoming a malevolent inspection of my soul. I’m puny! I’m nothing compared to what’s being forced upon me now! A molevolence of consciousness that is judging my very existence. I start calling out into the void: “Who ARE you??!” ” What do you WANT?!”. I’m screaming now with some idea that I’ve been heard and all I can fathom is “Nothing now”. I’m back in bed and see a figure standing over me. I’m freaking out now with what I’m seeing. In the darkness of my room there is a figure of ugliness standing over me and it’s looking at me and I’m screaming! It’s starting to put its hands on face and this all too much for me!!!! NOOOOOO!!!
My roommate from upstairs runs into the room and I to the place where this being was standing and forces me awake! I’m still screaming but slowly become aware that I’m OK. I’m not dead! I’m not with this malevolence and I begin to thank God for everything in my life.
So folks, is this sleep paralysis or a night terror or a hypnocogic hallucination? I’m still at this point not all convinced that this wasn’t real. I can’t stop thinking about it and that’s what brings me here.
I’m sorry for all the typing errors in my previous comment. Writing on an iPad these days is struggle of side panes and sliding top and bottom panes which really makes typing an arduous task. But I should have proof read it first so the blame goes on me and not Steve Jobs.
No problem! I’m used to correcting the bulk of typing errors in the comments on this site. All part of the job:-)
Hi Kenneth
Thanks for your comment – it was a fascinating read! To be honest, it’s hard to distinguish what it might be. The UFO part aside, as it was in the past and during waking hours, the rest of the story seems like it could have been a few things. My best guess is that either you has repeated bad dreams, slipping in and out of them over the night, or you had several false awakenings. False awakenings can be very confusing, and often result in people feeling like they’ve woken up in bed, but are actually still dreaming. That might explain some of the events which seemed to take place in your bedroom. Or it could be that you had a series of bad dreams, and then finally woke up to experience either hypnagogic hallucinations or perhaps the dreams had been so vivid and intense that it took a while for your brain to come back round to reality, mapping some dream imagery onto your bedroom.
To be honest, you might never really know what happened. But it sounds to me like it was probably a combination of different parasomnias wrapped into a very long and vivid night.
Regards
Ethan
I’ve been experiencing these for years, but only recently figured out what they are. Mine typically involve out of body experiences where I can feel myself lifting out of my body and floating around. Often they are terrifying, but I’ve gradually been getting better a controlling them a bit and “going with the flow” which makes them less scary. After reading this article and others, I now realize that I’ve had some form of these since I was a kid. I used to lie in bed at night and see this swirling tunnel-type vision that was sometimes accompanied by a heavy feeling and taste that I can’t describe. Even as a kid I suspected it was weird, but never told anyone. Earlier this year I had a sleep study done, but they found nothing concerning, so I guess I’ll just live with them. I heard that it’s more likely when you sleep on your back, so I’ve tried changing to my side & stomach. That’s mostly helped, but I still have them sometimes in those positions. I hate that they disrupt my sleep and are sometimes scary, but I also find them fascinating.
Hi Michele,
Thanks for your comment, and I’m glad you’ve found some answers to what you’ve experienced for a long time. It’s interesting what you say about the sleeping position. I do wonder if it’s because the brain can sense there are actually real things close to you when on your front or side. Out of interest, what did the sleep specialists say about it even though they found no actual sleep disorder? Did they give you any advice?
Regards
Ethan
I’ve always been a sleep talker but for the past two years, I’ve started to hallucinate. Often when I’m stressed out, but sometimes just randomly, I will hallucinate when I am drifting off to sleep or in a stage of waking up. It feels so real because my eyes are literally wide open and I feel like I’m awake but the hallucinations still occur. I’ve seen rats climbing up walls, spiders, cats running around the room, humans with glowing eyes, blobs floating above my head, bats, and even paper cups floating around my room and diagrams I’ve been studying printed on my bedroom wall. It’s all random with no rhyme or reason. I also hear sounds, the sound of trains going past my window (I live no where near a train station), bags rustling, footsteps, human voices etc. I’ll often scream and wake everyone in the house up, or I’ll get up and ‘inspect’ whats going on, I’ve thrown my pillows across the room to try and ‘get rid’ of the spiders or whatever climbing on my walls, I’ve even slapped my boyfriend because I was convinced their were lizards climbing on his body. Eventually I’ll wake up and find that I’m standing in a corner of my room with my heart thumping out of my chest and needing to take steady breaths to calm myself down. It takes a good twenty minutes or so before I can get back to sleep because the adrenalin is still racing through my body.
Sometimes it occurs every night of a week and then sometimes I can go weeks without experiencing it. But it would be nice to know that i’m not going crazy, my brain is just a little overactive sometimes I guess!
Hi Brooke
Thanks for your comment. It sounds like you get the hypnagogic hallucinations very often, so I can understand why you question whether you’re going crazy or not if you so regularly have such vivid experiences. As long as you’re not seeing things during the waking hours as well, then it really probably is just the hallucinations many people get at night. Have you tried sleeping with a soft night light on to see if that helps fill the darkness so your brain doesn’t feel the need to create form in the emptiness? It might help, if your boyfriend is willing to go along with it as an experiment.
Regards
Ethan
Hi, I’ve had about six episodes since last December when I found my husband dead. Never had them previously. I always feel pressure, sometimes on my body, my arms, and last night on the left side of my face/head. I ask if it’s my husband, well shout really, last night I saw a white candle holder with glass droplets hanging from it, move from the drawers and fly around the room, not real might I add but seeming so very much. I concluded from this there must be something spiritual going on but I know that’s what I want so my husband hasn’t really gone. Sometimes I feel the covers being pulled off me, I get in a state of panic, it’s usually about 3or 4 in the morning so more when I’m waking. I don’t feel scared when I wake but I certainly am terrified during these hallucinations. There always seems some malevolence about it, like if it was my husbands spirit it wouldn’t feel so scary? So why am I terrified by it?
Hi Sue
Thanks for your comment, and my condolences for the loss of your husband. It sounds to me like sleep paralysis, and with accompanying hypnagogic hallucinations. I imagine the feeling of terror comes from the fact that pretty much everyone who experiences this finds it extremely scary and unsettling. Have you had an opportunity to talk to someone about your husband? Not family or friends, but perhaps a bereavement counselor? You might find that it helps, both to manage your day to day feelings, but also with the events happening at night.
Regards
Ethan