numbness? or half lucidity??

i had a very strange experience last night....
i went to bed and then after a little bit i felt really numb, and it was hard to move, i saw a few flashes of white light, and each of them were pretty far apart. and i swear i saw like something dancing for a second and then it was gone. my eyes were still closed. so am i mentally retarded and have a defect in me somewhere, or was that like a sort of lucid dream? during the whole thing i was thinking to myslef "when your dreaming wake up and remember them." let me know. peace.

FluBB

Sounds kinda like Sleep Paralysis to me. Sometimes I can't open my eyes when I get SP, or I can experiance visual or auditory halucinations. *Shrug* Just sounded like you had a lil halucination.

hmm.. ya thats what i was thinking, so you just think the dancing stuff and the white flashes were just me hallucinating, not an LD?

FluBB

when i wake up too fast, like jump out of bed, i feel like the world just fell over and My eyes are freaking out with crap dancing all over my vision, then it goes away after a while and i splash water in my face to wake up... maybe thats it or something

That's the hypnogogic state. Textbook example, actually. You were numb and it was hard to move because of sleep paralysis, and the hallucinations are often associated with hypnogogic experinces. Auditory ones are a little more common, but still, what you felt was definitely hypnogogic.

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Originally posted by RCLefty
That's the hypnogogic state. *Textbook example, actually. *You were numb and it was hard to move because of sleep paralysis, and the hallucinations are often associated with hypnogogic experinces. *Auditory ones are a little more common, but still, what you felt was definitely hypnogogic.

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so what does hypnogogic mean? some sort of hypnosis?

FluBB

It describes the state between waking and sleeping, before the delta waves kick in. It's when you start getting scattered thoughts, like when your friend is on the phone late at night, and they start talking nonsense because they're falling asleep.

Same thing.

so does that mean that i could stay awake during all the levels of sleep mentally? or is that impossible, so instead of having to wake up during dreams you could already be awake?

FluBB