Eyes Perception
Closed-eye hallucinations
Close your eyes and you do not see nothing. You see speckle, drifting colour, and, as you fall asleep, moving patterns and even scenes. Everyone has them. Almost nobody talks about them.
Everyone
Sleep
Happens around falling asleep or waking up.
6 oddities.
Spiritual 6Icky 4Not an emergency 20Get it checked 14Try it 62Learnable 20Party trick 19Vestigial 7Genetic 35Sleep 6Illusion 21Childhood 10Debunked myth 11Community 13Famous people 14Record 7
Brain Involuntary
Exploding head syndrome
A loud bang, crash, or explosion heard inside the head while falling asleep or waking up. Nothing actually happens, there is no pain, and it is harmless.
10–37% of people, lifetime
Brain Perception
Geometric nightmares
A kind of dream, usually during fever in childhood, filled with huge or tiny shapes, infinite space, crushing pressure, and dread. The name comes from an online forum, not a medical text, but each piece of it is well known to neuroscience.
Unknown. Common in children with fever
Brain Involuntary
Hypnagogic hallucinations
Vivid images, sounds, or touches that appear while you are falling asleep or waking up. A face, a voice saying your name, a hand on your shoulder. They are dream fragments arriving early or late, and they are normal.
About 25–37% of people
Brain Involuntary
Hypnic jerks
A sudden jolt of the arms, legs, or whole body just as you fall asleep, often with a feeling of falling. Most people get them, and they are harmless.
60–70% of people
Brain Involuntary
Sleep paralysis
You wake up, or start to fall asleep, and cannot move or speak for a few seconds to minutes. Sometimes a threatening presence seems to be in the room. It is the normal paralysis of dreaming sleep running a little late.
8–30% of people, lifetime