Sleep hallucinations - anyone else?

[Rainlounging]

AIBU to think I’m really odd? Quite often I’ll wake up (it’s always when I’ve been asleep for maybe an hour or so) and I can see either someone/something in the bedroom or I’m convinced there’s stuff all over the bed, a spider hanging from the ceiling etc etc.

Often I ‘realise’ within a few seconds that I’m imagining it but sometimes I have to scramble to turn on the light before it goes away and occasionally it seems to get more and more vivid the more I look!

It’s happened most of my life on and off - I presume it’s stress related. I can usually go back to sleep fine afterwards once I realise there’s nothing there.

Anyone else??

Yep I have. Worse if I fall asleep on the sofa downstairs and see insects on the walls or aliens in the garden!

Thought it is a mixture of waking up/still asleep and my poor eyesight!

Hi, yes me, for me it always creepy crawlies, especially spiders. There is a name for these type of hallucinations, Google it. And yes I think stress and poor sleep can have an impact on how often they occur. I can have none for ages, then a few nights in a row. Often, I will jump out of the bed and then check where I saw it, obviously there is nothing there.

It can be a pain in the arse!

Just been googling - seems anxiety is a common cause!

Yes, I get this - definitely much worse when stressed.

They are called hypnagogic hallucinations if they happen just as you're falling asleep, or hypnopompic hallucinations if they happen when you wake up.

I have this all the time - someone’s on the bed next to me, or standing by the bed watching me, or there’s spiders crawling over me! So unsettling and my heart pounds for ages afterwards, I hate it

I used to get them a lot (mostly from lack of sleep when youngest was a baby).
Still get them now and again, I see what looks like spiders everywhere, looks so real and was terrifying the first time it happened

Yeah I get sleep paralysis regularly, especially when I'm stressed. It's horrible. With me I can always see someone in the doorway and I can sometimes hear them saying my name, I try to answer but can't speak or move. It's really scary. I know I'm dreaming after a few seconds but cannot wake up.

Very common, I experience this and sleep paralysis quite often - especially if I'm overtired, stressed or sleeping on my back.

Yes I get this too. Usually spiders, or sometimes someone in the room, or more recently a hand coming out of the curtains...
I also talk in my sleep and will have conversations with my husband, if he's still awake to hear my weird sleep babblings. Apparently I'm quite argumentative!

Yes , I once saw a life size bugs bunny lying on top of my wardrobe and he said " what's up doc" no word of a lie !!!
Happened once when I was very sleep deprived with ds, he was only a few weeks old and I saw him walk into the kitchen whilst I was making up his bottle .
The human brain is bloody amazing

Glad it’s not just me - it is scary what your brain does to you!!

I get flashing lights, hearing people outside etc etc - apparently it can be down to dehydration. So I chugged a load of water and first night it helped (plus two trips to the loo) but they're back. I think it's stress and hormones. Fucking hate it.

It's definitely anxiety-related for me. I call them "microdreams" as they are there and gone in a flash.

I often think that one of our pet rats is in bed with me and I've rolled over and squished her.

Yes! My husband thinks I’m crazy😂 I’ve realised it happens when I’m really tired and it happens just after I’ve fallen asleep.

@EvenMoreFuriousVexation I used to have rats and had that feeling quite often. I still do occasionally. It's not nice! I've had the spiders too, thankfully no hands emerging from curtains as of yet...

I don't have this but I do have "exploding head syndrome", it's an audio, sometimes visual as well, version of those physical jerks that wake you up with sense of falling. I jerk awake to what seems a loud bang or crack of lightening and or a flash of light and have got up to search for the source before I've realised my brains playing tricks again!

Yes, I get this too... though it seems to have improved considerably lately. I am pretty sure it’s stress related as well...

Yes I get them. It's usually someone stood over the bed. I know from my fitbit that it's always about an hour after I fall asleep. Anxiety does exacerbate them. At the beginning of the corona virus madness, they were shocking.

I have audio hallucinations while I'm sleeping- phone ringing, doorbell, children shouting.

It is always at times when I am very stressed. Knowing that doesn't stop me having to get up to check when it happens.

I used to get giant spiders crawling around when I was totally sleep deprived due to non seeping twins

Yes. Usually DS(14) in the room or hearing music or people muttering.

Yes! Me too. Usually massive spiders. I also have sleep terrors.

I used to get this over 20 yrs ago now. I would wake up and see MILLIONS of spiders dangling from the ceiling. I would be looking at them, and get out of bed, still looking at them, walk over to the lightswitch still watching them, and they would only go when I flicked the light on.

So very vivid that I am convinced its a spiritual thing - demonic most likely. I 100% was not paralysed, I was walking across the room. I also would be wide awake, completely alert and confused by what I was seeing. There's no way I was part sleeping. It only ever happened in one room - once I moved from there it finished.

I get auditory ones at times as I'm drifting off I hear someone shout my name or I've been drifting off I think I see a spider crawl up the bed towards me.

Sleep on your side or stomach. I hardly ever get night hag anymore thanks to changing my sleeping position.