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What Is Hypnagogia, the State Between Wakefulness and Sleep?Medically reviewed by Raj Dasgupta, MD — By Daniel Yetman on October 26, 2020
Hypnagogia is the transitional state of consciousness between wakefulness and sleep. It’s the opposite of hypnopompia, which is the transitional state that occurs before you wake up.
During hypnagogia, it’s common to experience involuntary and imagined experiences. These are referred to as hypnagogic hallucinations. Up to 70 percent
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of people experience these hallucinations, which can appear in the form of sights, sounds, or even feelings of movement.
Muscle jerks, sleep paralysis, and lucid dreams are also common during the hypnagogic phase.
Let’s break down the science behind hypnagogia, examine what you may experience during this state, and look at why some of the world’s most famous thinkers have tried to induce it.
How the hypnagogic state of consciousness occurs
Neurons in your brain communicate with each other through bursts of electrical activity. This electrical activity can be measured in waves with a machine, called an electroencephalogram (EEG).
An EEG can measure five types of brain waves. From slowest to fastest, these waves are called:
delta waves
theta waves
alpha waves
beta waves
gamma waves
When you’re awake, your brain produces measurable alpha and beta waves, with beta waves being predominant. Once you become drowsy, alpha waves take over.
Stage one is the lightest form of sleep and typically lasts for between 1 minute and 5 minutes. During this stage, alpha waves drop to less than 50 percent
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of your total brain waves and researchers can observe ripples of slower theta waves.
Hypnagogia occurs during the transitional period of wakefulness to sleep, when alpha waves are decreasing but you haven’t yet reached the first stage of sleep.
During this period, your sense of “here” and “now” transitions from the real world to the dream world. When this happens, people commonly experience:
hallucinations
lucid dreaming
body jerks
sleep paralysis
We’ll discuss each of these experiences in more detail below.
Effects of hypnagogia on your body
During hypnagogia, you start to lose touch with reality as your body prepares to enter sleep. The following are some of the most common effects you may experience.
Hypnagogic hallucinations
French psychiatrist Jules-Gabriel-Francois Baillarger first described hypnagogic hallucinations in the 1840s.
Hypnagogic hallucinations are imaginary events that seem real as you’re on the cusp of falling asleep. Usually, these hallucinations are visual, auditory, or tactile. However, they can also involve your other senses and feelings of movement.
They most often occur in young adults and teenagers and become less common with age. Women are more likely to experience these hallucinations than men.
It’s not clear what causes these hallucinations, but some risk factors include:
alcohol or recreational drug use
insomnia
stress and anxiety
narcolepsy
bipolar disorder
depression
Visual hallucinations
In about 86 percent of cases, hypnagogic hallucinations involve visual stimuli. Some of the ways visual hallucinations can manifest include:
kaleidoscopes of changing colors
the appearance of random geometric patterns
flashing lights
images of people, animals, or faces
Auditory hallucinations
About 8 to 34 percent of hypnagogic hallucinations involve sounds. These sounds can range from faint noises to loud crashes or bangs. Some of the forms they may appear in include:
voices or words
music
phone ringing
doorbell sounds
your name