Thread: Dreams that continue after you awake

This isn't sleep paralysis, this sounds like mere hypnopompia.

Since it seems Shift left us without a decent explanation, I will explain hypnopompia the best I can. During sleep, your body goes into a stage known as Sleep paralysis, which we touched on. During this stage, you get what are called Hypnopompic images and Hypnopompic audio (usually abbreviated simply to HI). Anyways, you will see and hear things that aren't there. This is something often attributed to Sleep Paralysis, because you will get it most of the time, but there are cases when you can have it shortly after waking up.

Originally Posted by oniman7

Since it seems Shift left us without a decent explanation, I will explain hypnopompia the best I can. During sleep, your body goes into a stage known as Sleep paralysis, which we touched on. During this stage, you get what are called Hypnopompic images and Hypnopompic audio (usually abbreviated simply to HI). Anyways, you will see and hear things that aren't there. This is something often attributed to Sleep Paralysis, because you will get it most of the time, but there are cases when you can have it shortly after waking up.

I assumed you would just google, but it seems I was wrong. I was also wrong saying it wasn't SP, because I didn't see the bit where the OP said he couldn't move. However, your answer is fairly incorrect.

During REM stages of sleep, your body goes into rem atonia.
During the transition from wakefulness to sleep, and back, your body can sometimes be in sleep paralysis.

The period of waking up from sleep, hypnopompia, can occur with hallucinations and muddled thoughts. You'll generally read this described as "Dream logic/thoughts persisting into the waking state and interpreting the waking state" or things of that nature.

If sleep paralysis were to occur, with hallucinations, at this point, then yes you'd have SP along with hypnopompic hallucinations. Even without SP though, you can experience hypnopompic hallucinations. The OP's description of the dreams continuing seem more in line with the pure hallucinations and dreamlike thinking of hypnopompia, than the hallucinations that usually accompany SP.

Tim, do they vary depending on whether or not you are paralyzed?

Shift...vary how?

They seem to be very similar dreams and I cannot recall any of these occurring while I was not paralyzed. From now on, I will keep pen and paper at bedside and attempt to document as much fact I can as close to the episode as possible.

One thing that seems to trigger SP is when I sleep at a different time than what I am used to. Also, if I am coming off a night with very little sleep this seems to trigger them. What I find odd is the quality of my sleep seems to be much better when I have an SP episode, even though it wakes me up. This makes very little sense to me, other than the fact that I am obviously in a deep rem state when this occurs.