3 things you need to know about sleep... part 4: Halloween Sleep Horror!

It's easy to believe that we are either awake or asleep.

But that is just a simplified view of how our brains work.

As many of you know, it can take some time to be fully awake in the morning. And when we are sleep deprived, we may acctually experience local sleep - some parts of our brains go into sleep mode, even if we are otherwise awake and driving a car, making it a risky business to drive when sleep deprived as we may miss important events in traffic when that part of the brain was in fact Zzzzz...

But we may also experience other, more spooky sensations, in the twilight zone between wake and sleep...

Perhaps you have experienced someone calling your name, a strange sound in the apartment, or seeing something in front of your eyes as you are about to drift off to sleep? Perhaps even a terrifying explosion INSIDE your head?!

Are you about to go mad? Is there a ghost in the apartment? You've never heard anyone else describe anything like this before, so there must be something strange going on, right? Better not tell anyone...

As a matter a fact, you are probably experiencing something that is much more common than you think. And probably totally harmless too!

The reason why you haven't heard anyone else talk about this before, is probably because we tend to keep these things to ourselves. If we would start talking about them more often, we would notice that we are not alone in experiencing inexplicable events in relation to sleep.

These events that we can experience while we transition from wake to sleep are called hypnagogic hallucinations and can range from visual (seeing things) to auditory (hearing things) sensations. Perhaps one of the most dramatic versions is something called Exploding Head Syndrome, which is a feeling of an explosion or loud bang inside of the head.

We don't know why we experience these things, but one hypothesis is that when the brain activity is transitioning to another mind state - in this case sleep - this doesn't always happen smoothly and different brain areas can transition at different speeds. Resulting in for instance a hypnic jerk (a feeling of falling and a sudden muscle jerk while we are falling asleep). Hynagogic hallucinations may be a version of the hypnic jerk.

Just as we can experience strange things as we are about to fall asleep, things can go south when we are about to wake up.

For kids, it's not only the brain that is maturing, so is their sleep. Kids have a lot of deep sleep, and sometimes the process of awakening doesn't always go as intended. This can result in that some parts of the brain is still asleep, while other are more awake. It can happen to adults too, especially if they have been sleep deprived the night before, but it's much more common in children.

In the case of sleepwalking, the sleep walker can walk around, make complex movements and navigate, even talk understandably!

But you can tell a sleep walker from a wake walker by the creepiness...

A sleep-walker can certainly give you the chills.

If you see a child standing in a corner, just looking. Mumbling, talking, but doesn't make sense.

It's like in the scary movies with an obsessed child, or a zombie, coming to life.

Seeing a sleep-walking child can make you wonder if ghosts aren't real, after all...

If the transition from REM to wakefulness goes south, you may find yourself lying paralyzed in bed. You can see the room, but you can't move, not even an inch.

Perhaps you see or feel an evil presence approaching you. Coming closer, but you can't scream for help...

The creature sits on your chest, making it hard to breathe.

It feels like an eternity, but after what may be 2 minutes, you finally manage to move a finger, and the spell is broken.

What you have experienced is probably sleep paralysis. Even if it may feel like an alien abduction.

Sleep paralysis is an abnormal awakening from REM sleep.

Your senses awaken, yet your body remains paralyzed, which is the normal state in REM sleep.

Your surroundings often take on a surreal and distorted quality, similar to the dreaming state of REM sleep.

It can feel as though you've stepped into a shadowy realm, where the boundaries between dream and reality blur, and the weight of an unseen presence bears down upon you. During sleep paralysis, the journey from slumber to awareness becomes a haunting and disorienting odyssey, leaving you acutely aware of your vulnerability in the face of the unknown...

It's easy to chase the perfect sleep in the name of increased wellbeing. Which makes sense, considering the importance of sleep.

Yet, sleep is more than that.

Sleep is a mind-blowing, curious state of mind, that can be both terrifying and fantastic, sparking fascination and curiosity about our brains and about life itself.