Excursions in Hypnagogia

Delving into the semi-waking-semi-sleeping twilight world that one experiences when falling asleep, the author begins with a look at hypnagogic myoclonus-the muscle twitches experienced when one is drifting off to sleep, and Exploding Head Syndrome-loud noises and other brain sensations on falling asleep.

The mental phenomena of hypnagogic vocalizations and imagery, dreamlets, and lucid dreaming are discussed, along with hypnopompic phenomena, such as Stuck Dreams and Hypnopompic Tripping.

The world of sleeping dreams is dissected by looking at the dreaming mind's use of Familiarity, Context, Forgetfulness, and Ignoring to fool the dreamer. Ideas about Recurring Situational Themes and the dreamer's self-identifying age are introduced.

Finally, the author presents his ideas on waking hallucinations and presents some famous fiction authors' writings on hypnagogia.