A hipnapompic state**(or*hypnapomp) is the*state of consciousness*leading out of*sleep.
It is a term coined by the*psychical researcher*Frederic Myers.
Its twin is the*hypnagogic*state at sleep onset;
though often conflated, the two states are not identical.
The hypnagogic state is*rational*waking*trying to make sense of non-linear images and associations;
the hypnopompic state is*emotional*and credulous*dreaming*cognition trying to make sense of real world*stolidity. They have a different*phenomenological*character.
Depressed*frontal lobe*function in the first few minutes after waking – known as "sleep inertia" – causes slowed*reaction time*and impaired*short-term memory. Sleepers often wake confused, or speak without making sense, a phenomenon thepsychologist*Peter McKeller calls "hypnopompic speech".[1]*
When the awakening occurs out of rapid eye movement*(REM) sleep, in which most dreams occur, the hypnopompic state is sometimes accompanied by lingering vivid imagery.
Some of the creative insights attributed to dreams actually happen in this moment of awakening from REM. In*Deirdre Barrett's*The Committee of Sleep,*Margie Profet's McArthur-award winning biology experiment is shown to be one of these. [2]
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