At night, we would like to sleep peacefully and recharge. However, it is difficult to find a person who has never experienced some strange and unpleasant sensations that accompany sleep.
We decided to tell you about these experiments, which remain a mystery to science today.
What Happens When You Sleep
Sleep Paralysis
How it feels: The person wakes up at night and cannot move. Add to that the terrifying hallucinations and the feeling that someone else is in the room. In ancient times, this state was associated with the antics of evil spirits.
Why this happens: Normally, when we fall asleep, we paralyze not to walk in sleep and such. With sleep paralysis, our muscles “shut down” when the brain is awake.
About 7% of the population have experienced sleep paralysis at least once (source). They say this is more likely when you sleep on your back.
Hypnagogic Hallucinations
How it feels: When a person is about to sleep, but still awake, they see strange images before their eyes. These are often terrifying faces and fantastic creatures.
Why it happens: This is one of the few types of hallucinations that mentally healthy people can have. Children have them more often (source), which may be the reason they don’t want to sleep.
These hallucinations can be due to stress or simply a good imagination. They can also appear if you go to bed drunk.
Sleep Talking
How it feels: Normally, the person who suffers from sleepwalking (a fancy term for talking while sleeping) has no idea about it. This condition is not psychologically dangerous, although a person with this problem may be concerned with revealing secrets.
Why this happens: Men and boys are more prone to this (source), and the reason is stress. The person’s psyche is trying to resist what it really does not agree with.
A Dream Within A Dream
How it feels: The person sees a dream, then wakes up, but strange things keep happening to him. Turns out, he was just dreaming that he was waking up. This was explored in the movie The Origin. After the success of the film, many people reported experiencing this phenomenon.
Why this happens: Esotericists believe that if you have this dream, it indicates your predisposition to spiritual practices. Official science cannot explain why this happens.
Sleepwalking
How it feels: This state is the opposite of sleep paralysis: consciousness is asleep, but muscle paralysis does not occur. During sleep, people can walk, clean, or even leave the house, which is often very dangerous. In the morning, they don’t remember anything.
Why this happens: Sleepwalking occurs in about 4.6-10.3% of the population, with children being the most affected (source). The cause is still unknown, as are the treatment methods.
Exploding Head Syndrome
How it feels: The person wakes up to the sensation of a loud bang or applause. Sometimes the sound seems deafening. It may be accompanied by a rising buzz or flash. The phenomenon is not dangerous, but it scares people. Some think they have had a stroke.
Why it happens: It occurs when, for some reason, there is a burst of neural activity in the areas of the brain responsible for processing sound (source). Sometimes the syndrome is associated with insomnia or jet lag.
Preview photo credit Spectral/depositphotos
