My guess, your remembering dreams from nonsense |
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Over the years I've occasionally become (barely) aware of a phase of involuntary mind-wandering that occurs just as consciousness is lost on the onset of sleep. I wonder if there's a technical name for it. I've informally just called it the “predream state” since it seems very similar to dreaming, the only difference being that the scenarios playing in my thoughts are still internal, rather than appearing “for real” through my senses like full dreams do. But they wander and behave in seemingly random ways just as dreams do, and I tend to mentally react identically as if they were actual non-lucid dreams (i.e., happening “for real”). In rare cases, I've even experienced actual transitions from these thoughts to “proper” dreams, where images I'm thinking about smoothly transition so that I'm seeing them for real in a dream. Anyone happen to know what I'm talking about? |
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My guess, your remembering dreams from nonsense |
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I think your talking about HH or hypnagogic hallucinations. As your relaxed and starting to fall asleep images or voices pop up into your mind.I use HH as a sign that I'm getting closer to falling asleep. Sometimes after you get HH you will get a non lucid or lucid dream. But based on my experience If its my first dream it won't last long. Like you said it will feel like a non lucid dream but you will snap back out of it and realize you were getting a dream. Another possible outcome of it is you just falling asleep and after some time you will wake up remembering a dream or waking up without a dream.However,If I wake up after falling asleep and try to enter a dream, lucid or non lucid the dream will probably last longer and be more stable. |
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Well, there's a distinction here between actually seeing HH (which I've also had before) and it merely taking place in my mind, which is what I'm describing here. Also, this can happen right at the very beginning of sleep, before the first REM period, so no dreams yet. But I have noticed it can sometimes lead right into an actual dream, and admittedly the line can seem rather blurred at times. It's sort of like a very early stage of dreaming or something (although I can experience it right at the beginning of sleep, where NREM would take place first). |
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Last edited by TravisE; 12-07-2014 at 12:43 AM.
When you say theres a distinction between seeing it and it merely taking place in your mind, do you mean the times when you are aware of it and the times you are unaware of the HH? Anyways I think you had the name for it the whole time which is Hypnagogic Hallucinations. However, I have had moments similar to problem solving before. It would only happen rarely whenever I got a annoying cold though. But only like once or twice during the time I had the cold. It was sort of weird cause it would always happen as I was waking up.It felt like i was trying to solve a game/musical problem so I could clear my stuffy or runny nose. Even though I wasn't aware of what I was doing till I snapped out of it. I'm not sure if that is HH though because I think I was moving my hands or arms a bit and I was slowly waking up. |
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Last edited by DawnEye11; 12-07-2014 at 01:36 AM.
I'm not sure I understood your question correctly, but I mean that when I happen to notice it (usually just after snapping back awake), I can tell that I wasn't actually seeing/hearing the thoughts; they just seemed to be thoughts (although I might have been startled awake by them as if I thought they were actually happening, like in a non-LD). I assume HH means that you actually do see/hear/etc. things, and I have experienced those on rare occasions where I occasionally gain consciousness while the rest of my body is trying to fall asleep. The former is what I'm asking about in this thread. During the latter case, I've also sometimes experienced an actual transition between thinking of something (as in the former case) and then suddenly being in a dream and seeing it, like when people do a WILD. |
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Last edited by DawnEye11; 12-07-2014 at 03:17 AM.
What you might be experiencing, Travis, is a phenomenon that some people call dreamlets. |
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Interesting. That description seems to fit. Admittedly, the line between “actual” and “thought of” imagery I keep mentioning can seem rather blurred sometimes in this state—something a bit difficult for my waking self to comprehend, being as accustomed to always having a sharp distinction between the two as it is. |
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I notice this most when I have woken up on a Sunday morning and I drift towards sleep but don't actually fall asleep. They're kind of in between HH and proper dreams. A very blissful state yet, as you say, much is forgotten once you wake properly. |
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My LDing record, if you want to hear about it, is about 4 WILDs, 1 DEILD, and the rest DILDs.
Sure. In fact, if you use WILD as your gateway to LD's, you will likely encounter dreamlets during your dive. Trouble is, dreamlets are much more impressive as a memory than as a "here & now" sensation, so when you lucidly encountered them, you probably did not care. |
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Thanks, everyone. I'm discovering now that this is actually mentioned fairly often, and there were even some similar questions to mine asked (one just last month)—I just didn't see them because until now I didn't know what exactly to search for. |
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OP i know exactly what youre describing. I always know that im about to fall asleep when i get these thoughts. A single thought will only last for a half second and then another one takes its place. Theyre always so ridiculous, I couldnt even give you an example in real life. Its kind of like someone swiping through pictures on a phone, but youre not physically seeing anything, just thinking it. |
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Yeah, I'm discovering they're useful for knowing just that. For instance, if I'm having trouble getting to sleep but then notice these fleeting thoughts/dreamlets here and there that I didn't consciously initiate, I know I should hold out a bit more since I'm just about to go to sleep. |
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My LDing record, if you want to hear about it, is about 4 WILDs, 1 DEILD, and the rest DILDs.
I get dreamlets a lot too...except they are something that is very unstable to remember right now. My dream recall is kinda funky...I remember more details a while after I wake up. |
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Come to think of it, I think I do become “lucid” during dreamlets on occasion myself. For instance, last night I'd be falling into the mind-wandering stage and unconsciously picture myself doing something (usually an ordinary, mundane daily task), and then make a big mistake or do something I regret. Then, I'd abruptly realize that they're just thoughts/dreamlets, not reality, and just think, “Nope, let's undo that,” and consciously modify the situation accordingly (or simply ignore it altogether). This tends to immediately bounce me out of the “dreamlet” stage and back to full waking awareness, though. |
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One more interesting observation/idea I realized, in case someone still cares. |
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