Do you ever get this thing when you close your eyes when you're trying to sleep, and you get lots of moving images, like a cartoon?

[AntiHop]

Sometimes, when I try to go to sleep, when I close my eyes, I get these busy and crazy images in my mind's eye. It is like a crazy cartoon. It's different every time. I can't control it. It is more likely to happen when I'm stressed.

It doesn't bother me too much. But I was wondering if anyone else gets this, and it it has a name.

Oh yeah, I’ve had sensory hypnagogic/hypnopompic(?) hallucinations too - once I could feel little people pulling my face skin out inches from my face (much less scary than it sounds) and one time I could feel a whole other person in bed with me although I was half awake so knew I was in my bedroom and that no one was actually there but could feel it really distinctly. Again, less scary than it sounds - weirdly these experiences seemed perfectly fine at the time. Woken up with sleep terror/paralysis once and that was truly horrifying.

I call them my eyelid movies! They just randomly happen sometimes and drive me nuts. They can be about anything and everything and they are just a chaotic stream of 'stuff'.

When I was a teenager, I spent a summer picking strawberries 8 hrs per day. Every time I closed my eyes, I could see strawberry plants for the whole summer.

Def get the cartoons, it's bonkers and drives me nuts

Look up hypnagogic hallucinations, it might be what you have.
I have them quite often, as soon as I start to drift off I begin to dream before I'm even asleep. Every now and again there are loud noises in it as well.

I don't know if I've always had it or if it's started in the past few years as I hadn't actually noticed it happening until one day it suddenly dawned on me that it was a bit weird.

This is like a lightbulb moment for me!!! So many times I've woken up in the night "hearing" a noise and waking my husband saying did you hear that??? And I also often hear a child shouting when they are asleep.
Once years ago I had a very realistic "dream" where there was a man standing in my bedroom. I was absolutely paralysed with fear and couldn't move. I'm now wondering if that was a hypnagogic hallucination and sleep paralysis??

Yes! I know when I’m about to fall asleep because the mental images that I have about planning things or replaying the day, or imagining scenes from a book or thinking about a film, creating something or whatever I’m thinking about start becoming very weird and not making sense, things morphing into each other, etc. These days when it happens I think aaahh yes, I’m going to fall asleep soo….. (snore!)

@OhYouBadBadKitten

I get sleep paralysis and hypnopompic hallucinations when I'm stressed. I also get suddenly woken up by a doorbell which is annoying. When I'm unwell or really really stressed, I sleep walk.

I also start dreaming as soon as I fall asleep but before I'm actually properly asleep which I think sounds like what a lot of what you experience. I was thinking about starting a thread asking what sleep cycle I'm in when that happens.

I get lucid dreams too, which are actually quite helpful as I can sometimes turn nightmares around.

I don't think I've got the hang of just sleeping.

I get lucid dreams as well. I remember telling a friend that I was going to tell him he'd been in my dream when I woke up.

I see things like games graphics and can get the "exploding head", occasionally have lucid dreams (handy at the end of a bad dream when you can twist it to improve it). I've been known to wake at the end of a dream doing the action or speaking. Waking up miaowing was an interesting one... not woken up laughing for a few years.

Yes I get that sometimes. Also something like fractal patterns swirling about (mostly in black and white). I never thought to question it.

Yes. The other night it was a clear image of the road, I was driving, a man in a wheelchair rolled straight into my car. Very alarming.

Yes! Not often. Actually normally when I'm hungover. And it's just before I fall asleep. It's always in black and white and it I'll be almost flying though and landscape or the passenger of a car going through some roads. I really enjoy them!!

No idea what it’s called but I think I have it too,
If I start off going to sleep I’ll be thinking of random things that I need to do the next day etc but I know when I’m actually falling asleep as the things I’m thinking about start to become really abstract, I’m conscious that it is happening but it must be my brain moving into a dream state.

Yes! I do. Usually when I am very tired.

Although when I was in my twenties and used to take ecstasy I would get it every time I tried to sleep.

Came upon this post as l was searching for exploding head syndrome. I usually get it about 3 times a year..once at night and l have grown accustomed to it ..but last night l got it about 10 times. Every time l drifted off it happened and l thought l would have to stay awake all night. Wrecked and quite disturbed after it this morning. This began with the menopause....another thing!!
If l do a continuous thing during the day it will come back at night but out of control eg. As student l worked a factory line and every night the line was in my sleep but totally out of control.

I occasionally get random faces moving and changing. They are gargoyley / cartoon creepy. Not actually scary because I’m used to it.

I get it very rarely, if I've had an exceptionally tiring day. Like other posters, I used to play video games a lot and would often see the game still running.

Yes I get these and I'm usually grateful as I know that when the images in my mind make no sense it means I'm about to drop off to sleep, so I welcome them happily x

HI, I've actually experienced this exact same thing several times. Every detail the same. They are old cartoons right, on a loop? I also noticed that when I love the position of my head the images don't so I will see them sideways or backwards. In other words, it's not in my mind's eye. It is something external.
I don't game and I have read other people's experience of this online. I don't think anything is wrong with you. I think we vibrate at diff frequencies and only a few can see these moving Disney images. yes, I believe a satellite is being used. Yes, I believe Disney has their hand in this. Please reply so we can chat asap. Thank You.

Hello, I have just seen the post about banging people hear when trying to sleep. This banging is the same I have and I realised it is coming from the Spirit World, so you are not going mad!! It is scary at first until you get used to it. The moving images are the same also, perhaps it has a name but I don't know what it is yet.

The spirit world you say?