MovieChat Forums > The Door (2013) Discussion > It is called hypnagogia

It is called hypnagogia

posted 11 years ago by Sick_Spazmoid
18 replies | jump to latest

The transition between sleep and wakefulness and back is called hypnagogia. Many people experience hallucinations during this transition. Usually auditory, but rarely visual, out-of-body experiences and event touches . The so called "sleep paralysis", where the person can not move, hardly breathes and experiences scary hallucinations, also is a hypnagogic phenomenon.

Most reported hallucination during this state is the "shadow people". It is just that your brain continues to dream, while in the same time is also awake.

Damn scientists - they make this world boring. No fairies, dragons, zombies, magic, ghosts, aliens, shadow people... Damn.

____________________
I see undead people...

[–] zachdela100 11 years ago

How have scientists proved that there are no aliens?

[–] Sick_Spazmoid 11 years ago

I meant in a sense of night visits/abductions.

____________________
I see undead people...

[–] DreTam2000 9 years ago

Why would scientists prove that there are no aliens? If anything, it makes perfect scientific sense that there is life on other planets. I think many scientists would find it perfectly reasonable that there could be life on other planets. Thus, many scientists find it perfectly reasonable that there are aliens.

I'm not a control freak, I just like things my way

[–] mjr3090 11 years ago

I was going to get on here and say the same thing, but you beat me to it. :)

I get sleep paralysis periodically, actually, especially when I'm exhausted and trying to wake up...and I do get the "shadow people" phenomenon occasionally with it. Used to terrify the hell out of me (not being able to move at all is pretty freakin scary), until I got used to it. Now I just wait for it to pass and go on with my life...

The only thing that makes me wonder, though: my daughter had a nightmare and my ex went in to sleep on her floor. I woke up briefly, got the old sp, saw the shadow, which descended over me, and then zipped out the door of our bedroom through the door that led to the kitchen/dining area (which opened up into our daughter's room, which was originally a walk in closet off the dining area...It was an odd house) The paralysis passed, and I went back to sleep. Wake up the next morning, and the ex says to me "Why the hell were you running through the dining room last night making all that noise?"

I could have been sleepwalking? Don't know...don't remember (and honestly don't care...It never seems to have any ill aftereffects...Sorta makes you grateful to be able to move and talk actually :))...but it did make me wonder. :P

[–] jeffyoung1 7 years ago

I can get sleep paralysis if I take a nap in the afternoon and sleep too long. It's best not to nap more than 30-45 minutes. Worse, my brain hallucinates/dreams that I've awakened and am moving off the bed when in reality I'm in the same, prone position and haven't moved a muscle.

I've learned a trick to awaken myself out of sleep paralysis.
I wiggle my foot vigorously. If necessary, I wiggle my hand, too. It may take some doing but keep shaking your foot and/or hand vigorously until it forces you out of your sleep trance state. Eventually it will take effect. A secondary trick is when your sleep trance state is breaking, move your head around too. This speeds up your awakening.

[–] melissa-183 11 years ago

Thanks for your post, I was wondering about it.

Sometimes (only when I'm very tired), right at the moment I fall asleep (I think) it's like I hear someone call my name, really loud. I know it's in my head and has something to do with falling asleep but it still frightens me and sometimes I almost jump up.
I thought it could be something like auditory hallucination but I looked it up and that is way more weird.

(On wikipedia, where I looked up auditory hallucination, I came across something called 'exploding head syndrome'...really!)

[–] House_of_No 9 years ago

I too hear people shout my name just as I'm drifting off..and I've had other symptoms of explodig head syndrome like lying in bed and suddenly feeling for a split second like I'm being slammed against a wall or dropped from a great height. It can be pretty scary.

******
Nessarose:What's in the punch?
Boq:Lemons and melons and pears
Nessarose:Oh my!
******

[–] EazyEwok 9 years ago

^I frequently experience the exact same thing, and the "impact" is usually enough to give me an adrenaline boost that makes it difficult to get back to sleep.

[–] Tracey73 9 years ago

I've had other symptoms of explodig head syndrome like lying in bed and suddenly feeling for a split second like I'm being slammed against a wall or dropped from a great height

Yep, I've experienced that before. It startles the crap out of me. It's like I will physically jerk, which I think is what wakes me up (?). All I know is that it's scary and freaky when it happens.

The beauty is I'm learning how to face my beast ~ Blue October

[–] Tracey73 9 years ago

'exploding head syndrome'

I never knew that had a name to it. I've had episodes like that, along with sleep paralysis episodes. It's quite freaky to say the least lol.

The beauty is I'm learning how to face my beast ~ Blue October

[–] raf-33 8 years ago

Many people have died from EHS, Kurt Cobain is quite a famous example.

Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived. -Isaac Asimov

[–] always_keep_fighting 10 years ago

That would be a great explanation if everyone in this movie was in that alpha state when they experienced the Shadow People, but these people were wide awake, walking around, in the shower, etc. I wouldn't be so quick to discount supernatural causes. Science can't explain everything, not by a long shot. I'm not talking about the tooth fairy or Santa; these are things that man has made up. It's easy to hide behind science. It takes a leap of faith, an open mind, to see that some things are just beyond explanation.

[–] x-shabnam-x 10 years ago

Well said! :)

[–] fleegull5 10 years ago

The whole "open mind" argument works both ways, you can keep an open mind that there is a scientific explanation for this phenomena. Everything amazing in the universe is supernatural until we learn the reason behind it.

[–] always_keep_fighting 10 years ago

Of course I have an open mind that there is a scientific explanation for some mysteries. I know the world is not flat. I know that even though we can't see it, gravity exists. I know that the sun does not revolve around the Earth.
But, so far, science has not yet proven that ghosts, spirits, or whatever you want to call them, do not exist. Until they do, I'll just have to depend on my experiences and those of others that I believe.
It would be a sad world (for me) if there were no mysteries.

We're never gonna survive unless we are a little crazy.

[–] tiger01 9 years ago

I do agree with keeping an open mind and all that, but when it comes to the "Shadow People" (at least in the context of this film), I'd have to disagree. Sure, some people might have seen one or two when they were wide awake (the hot girl in the shower with the shadow "peeper" as you said) but all four people who were killed (three first-hand for the audience - the young Cambodian child, the hot librarian worker, and the nurse - and one off-screen: the paranoid boy who started it all) were likely all in this hypnagogic state. I'd throw out much of the main character's hallucinations as he was shown to be a heavily abusive drinker and kept weird sleep patterns (especially towards the end when he became obsessive). All the deaths in town does bring up the question of probability and whether or not all these people were able to literally scare themselves to *death* via the placebo effect, but it is far more probable than the alternative.

And I'm not laughing it off at all. I think the idea of inter-dimensional "beings" or possibly even things that may exist beyond our perception (ESP and all that) is quite fascinating to think about. The British dude in the film being interviewed gave the best example when he is talking about wavelengths and how we are only able to naturally pick up on a very narrow range visually. The possibly that Shadow People are haunting and killing people who believe in them, like a dark, deranged Santa Claus, is pretty silly though :)

[–] registers-944-48791 7 years ago

Anything that really exists can be explained, it's just a matter of understanding what it is and discovering its properties.

Suppose that shadow people exist and are people living in another dimension. It can be explained, it's just a matter of discovering that dimension and a way to measure it. If those people can interact with us and even be seen by us, then it'd not be that hard.

As well said, we can have open mind that anything can be explained. We just need to be careful in cases of things that can kill us, like radiation and parasites, which could kill the researcher before he has the chance of understanding it, and the death become very scaring for not being understood.

[–] 7 years ago

[deleted]