I could go on but i better leave it there... Ive give u a bit to unpack... I look forward to your response
God Bless and Godspeed
Wow ok. That is a lot. I'll answer a couple of things for the benefit (potentially) of any other readers. Btw, I did respond in a message about the first questions about zoloft, so perhaps if anyone wants some advice I could probably PM you. Also, I think the OP is gone for a bit (or left) but I'm not going to keep bumping this thread so perhaps start a sleep thread in miscellaneous or the family forum. I'll contribute if I have more to relate...It seems this type of discussion would be better with voice chatting due to the bulky topic.
Alright. First off here is a link to the national sleep institute. You can look up stages of sleep and find the info if you prefer not to click links on the net.
h (I'm still working on my hyperlinks but it was too long) Scroll down to the graph on stages. You can find this under "stages of human sleep" probably by searching the site.
So I was mistaken (it's been a long time)...according to this site at least. I don't "fully" agree with any person about sleep usually and the phenomena that occur. Almost all of it is anecdotal and while you can measure brain waves, there is still a
TON unknown.
What they are calling Theta (the first one) is what I meant by the inbetween state. Personally I think you start with alpha if you are "meditating" to sleep but I'll be honest, my mind is not apt to be "too" descriptive at present.
So you could probably look up "jerk awake from falling" or dying and get a description. Hypnic jerks are at the onset and based off what you described you didn't experience this.
Hypnic jerks are right at the beginning and it's like your body "jerks" you out of sleep. You've seen/experienced this when you nod off in a class or whatever and then "jerk" awake. Except with a hypnic jerk in bed it's different because you are actually trying to sleep and it still happens. Restless leg syndrome can make this err...terribly worse. I haven't really experienced full on RLS consistently although I have experienced what I think is a form of it, but it hasn't happened in ages. Basically hypnic jerks but only in your legs. They feel like mini seizures to me and it feels electrical in some fashion. You can look up both "hypnic jerk" and "RLS"
The body is trying to fall asleep but it's tired and it could be not actually wanting to sleep or stressing over falling asleep that your brain fights your brain. Or your will fights your brain...or (fill in the blank).
Ironically I said "falling" asleep...when I am "falling" at the onset of sleep I typically wake up. In my dusty past I seem to recall the feeling of those fake lighters where you press it and it zaps you. It's like I trip though. Like a harsh jerk/fall something. It's pretty terrible...this has passed into memory unless I'm incredibly uncomfortable "where" I'm sleeping or I'm dirty or SUPER tired.
That's phase 2 I suppose in the theta category. Hypnogogia is probably that because sometimes I am aware I am "falling asleep". It's difficult to explain but there is sometimes straight to inbetween (theta) and into the next.
Phase 1 at this point is taking care of mental business (praying, etc.) and then slowly drifting. Only with substances have I had prolonged drifting experiences but these were rare regardless. Usually there is a vivid imaginative state that occurs prior to "in between" sleep. So as an example I normally have to use my imagination with a book although there is a natural process also. When listening to an audiobook and going to sleep...I've had it get super vivid with less effort and drift off that way. I actually framed a dream that way once complete with music. It was pretty cool, but I have not been able to replicate it.
Sometimes there is just RANDOM imagery that goes through my mind drifting off to sleep. Sometimes I'll start being able to drive a car (knowing I'm about to fall asleep or be asleep by most definitions) If I stop this process or it destabilizes I wake back up. There have been times I've double checked and intentionally crashed a car to wake up because "screw that"...but there would be like a question...are you sure you are asleep? If I focus and really want to leave a dream then yes.
Sleeping is one of the few breaks I get (and it's not really a break, just a change up) so I get excited when I enter that state and simultaneously try to focus and not focus on it. If I use think on it too much I can sometimes awake due to excitement. I used to have this problem when I was younger and excited about a trip so much that I couldn't sleep the night before...so I would convince myself I wasn't going or purposefully pretend in order to sleep. My first mission trip was like this.
Now I just know I'm going to sleep eventually. It could be 24hrs but it'll arrive.
Alright so there's some personal info on stage 1 & 2 which are the first stages. Alpha (stage 1) is associated with meditation and
very interestingly it is brought on when someone watches television. So you are essentially being "meditated" (negatively cast wording) and feeding on whatever filth is coming across your screen. Not everyone gets here but there are studies on this. That's part of the reason I don't watch anything anymore. Don't want to be trapped in sleep paralysis and get eaten by zombies? Don't watch zombie crap...
Do I think the dreams are of the Lord? Why would he be in favor of Zombies? I can't think of a reason. So it may be...a....deterrent to consume that garbage.
I've also had this alpha state work with video games or whatever I've consumed prior that is REALLY stuck in my mind. There are times I've avoided sleeping because I didn't want to fall asleep playing a game (in an inbetween dream) because it probably wasn't wise to play it in the first place and I did feel guilty about it.
Consider the alpha state a sort of lobby.
Sleep paralysis nightmares??? Aren't they hallucinations??? I googled it and got this...
You wake up, but you can't move a muscle. Lying in bed, you're totally conscious, and you realize that strange things are happening
Is that what your saying? Cos a nightmare is nothing compare to a hallucination...
Perhaps you could be more descriptive here. "Cos a nightmare is nothing compare to a hallucination" is somewhat vague to me. There are sleep paralysis nightmares and REM NREM nightmares. Certainly they are different. As I've already said I pray and exit the states although other times I have had to be very "forceful" in crying out.
I can jerk myself out of sleep paralysis. It's painful but I'm able to force myself awake from that particular place. A little deeper I have to die/be killed/or otherwise have the dream become unstable. I'm not trying to instruct here so I won't be too specific about stabilizing. I just sort of take it as it comes, I don't try to manipulate a dream or access the astral state. I'm NOT going to talk about that, but I do know something about it just from personal experience. Unless I legitimately have been open to the occult since I was a toddler there must be a Godly use for these states. He certainly "can" speak through dreams.
Besides, I gave my life to the Lord then. I won't share that part of my testimony right now, but it's been a long adventure. I'm the type of person that believes there is an appropriate use for powerful things. Creating a child is powerful, but it requires (according to scripture) a specific formula (marriage ideally). So while there are MANY/MOST times it is not done in accord with what is permissible,
still there must exist a pathway to pursue righteousness and the Lord in states you have no control over.
If you want to know about sleep driving just look up "sleep drive ambien" or zolpidem if that doesn't work. Supposedly it only happens when you've taken over the recommended amount or mixed with alcohol or anything that alters sleep...however they did start out with higher doses and probably brought the standard dose down due to lawsuits, deaths, and felonies.
It's the same as sleep walking except somnambulance is nowhere near the level of sleep driving. It's crazy that this drug is on the market frankly. "OH but if you take it as prescribed!!! This won't happen..." Tell that to the people that are dead. It's a risk and not at all worth it. Last I checked (years ago), they didn't even know "really" what Zolpidem even does. They say they do but they can only theorize why the extremely serious stuff happens. Trust theoretical experimenters on your body (not theirs)...yeah pass.
I like the blindfold idea, I've done something similar at times but not something tied, just draped.
Oh I will say that if I sleep on my stomach when my arms go to sleep I can be paralyzed "in" a deeper dream. I can still move but my arms are gimp. I used to have dreams where I couldn't see and I attributed that to sleeping on my stomach (pressure of the pillows on my eyes)...There's more to it, but perhaps a PM.
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The beneficial effects are pointless. (that said, I do drink alcohol, but in moderation)
