Hypnogogia, also spelled Hypnagogia; and Hypnopompia, are the names of experiences a person can go through when falling asleep in the case of hypnogogia, or waking up, in the case of hypnopompia. When in a hypnogogic or hypnopompic state a person can have lifelike auditory, visual, or tactile hallucinations (known as hypnogogic hallucinations), perhaps even accompanied by full body paralysis. The invididual is aware that these are hallucinations; the frightening part, in many cases, is the inability to react to them, even being unable to make a sound. In other cases one may enjoy truly vivid imaginations. The term was coined by the 19th century French psychologist Alfred Maury .

It is not an uncommon occurrence with 30 to 40 percent of people experiencing it at least once in their lives. However, it can be a sign of other problems such as narcolepsy or temporal lobe epilepsy.

It is thought to happen when a person enters or leaves REM (rapid eye movement) sleep too quickly. During REM sleep the brain blocks the signals that allow the limbs to move to ensure that we do not act out our dreams. However, when experiencing hypnogogia or hypnopompia, the individual is still conscious of their surroundings, effectively dreaming while still awake. This fact enabled lucid dreamers to enter the dream consciously directly from waking state (a Wake Induced Lucid Dream technique).

One method of getting out of this state is to stimulate a sensory nerve. Depending on the level of paralysis this can prove to be difficult. However, the eyes are still able to move and simply rolling them around can help. One suggestion is to blink rapidly and then attempt to move the facial muscles.

The cause of hypnogogia and hypnopompia is usually associated with the varied sleep disorders, primarily insomnia.

See also

• Lucid dreaming
• Sleep disorder
• Sleep paralysis