

How Many Beliefs Are Due to Sleep Deprivation? - lermontov
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/04/when-you-hear-a-loud-crash-just-as-youre-falling-asleep/389303/?single_page=true

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shredprez
I experienced something like this during a brief period in my teens when I
experimented with lucid dreaming techniques. I would lie completely still on
my bed in the evening, meditating until I started to drift off. First I'd feel
my body go numb. Then I'd hear either a round of explosions or a roaring rush
of wind. If I managed not to get too excited, I'd cross over into dream, fully
cognizant of what had happened. I had one experience with sleep paralysis
under similar circumstances: during one of these sessions, I was sure I had
pulled myself out of the dream, but I couldn't open my eyes or move my legs.
This lasted for about thirty seconds before control abruptly snapped back. I'm
still not entirely sure whether this happened mid- or post-dream, but it
certainly felt real in a way dreams never did for me.

All in all, it was fun to experiment with for a while. I'd done a fair bit of
reading on lucid dreaming, so the loud noises and sleep paralysis were
expected and not concerning. Very interesting sensory experiences, among the
few you can reach without recreational chemicals.

~~~
ssully
I had a similar experience of sleep paralysis that you mention. It happened
when I was between 10-12 years old. Around this time I was diagnosed with
Epilepsy and had experienced a handful of seizures already.

During the sleep paralysis episode I woke up with a racing sensation in my
head. I couldn't open my eyes at first or speak. Eventually I got my eyes open
and I tried getting up but failed. Needless to say I was terrified. Eventually
I was able to get to the side of my bed, but when I tried to stand my legs
just buckled and I collapsed. Finally I was able to speak and cry for my
parents to help me.

Luckily I haven't had a similar experience since and also have gone years
without a seizure. My doctors thought it was related to puberty, which seems
to add up.

Though I do have experiences similar to what's described in this article as
exploding head syndrome. Every few months, almost immediately after falling
asleep, I will just be jolted awake. A few times its been because of a loud
noise that isn't real, others I just jolt awake and have my heart racing. The
first time it happened I thought I was having a heart attack or something. Now
I am able to calm my self down almost immediately.

~~~
cdr
My whole life, I've been able to reliably cause myself sleep paralysis. I just
have to wake up facing a bright point light - like leaving the light on in a
room before attempting a nap. (Diffuse bright light like sunlight doesn't
generally do it.) No idea why.

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pc2g4d
My first response to the emergence of any new syndrome/disorder is, "Who
benefits?" Drumming up public consciousness of things that are supposedly
wrong with them (rather than being seen as natural variations) seems like
great marketing for anyone selling newly-minted treatments.

> "How much extreme distrust of the government is just a manifestation of a
> sleep disorder?"

Is everyone suffering from "exploding head" really paranoidly antigovernment
as the article hints? Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but the author seems
to somewhat invalidate people's distrust of government, suggesting it's often
only a sideeffect of some sleep disorder.

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bougiefever
I've heard that near-death-type experiences can be induced by stimulating the
brain. I guess that calls into question a lot of the religious experiences
people report.

~~~
ksenzee
If we knew how, we could stimulate the brain in such a way that you would
think you were eating a banana. That is not evidence either for or against the
actual existence of bananas.

~~~
meowface
That seems to be missing the point. The only "witness evidence" we have of an
afterlife is the reports of those who have had near-death experiences. If that
evidence is called into question, then no other evidence remains. This does
not apply to evidence for bananas, as much evidence already exists and can't
be invalidated in that way.

~~~
hyperpape
Y'all should go get some books on epistemology...

[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat)

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homulilly
I had a period in my life where I suffered from so called Exploding Head
Syndrome as well as sleep paralysis. I'd definitely attribute it to
stress/anxiety and insomnia or the medication used to treat those problems.
Exploding Head Syndrome seems like the auditory equivalent of a hypnic jerk
and never bothered me too much. Sleep Paralysis is extremely unpleasant
though.

~~~
brazzledazzle
>Sleep Paralysis is extremely unpleasant though.

Perhaps an understatement. It's increased by stress and it increases your
stress levels while falling asleep creating a nice cycle of stress, fear and
panic. I'm so glad it happens rarely now.

~~~
JimboOmega
Reminds of the cycle of insomnia - where you are tired because you didn't
sleep, so you stress out more about getting to sleep, so you have more trouble
sleeping, in a loop. There's a term for it, though I've forgotten it.

It's supposed to be self-limiting (Because the tiredness is supposed to win
out and make you sleep), but it doesn't always seem that way.

I'm so glad that I'm hardly ever in that space any more, myself. Never had
sleep paralysis, but sleep difficulty of any type is not fun.

~~~
meric
Once that happened to me I told a friend in the morning advised me to go for a
run. I ran till I was exhausted and came home to collapse in sleep. I couldn't
fall into sleep from mid night to 7am in the morning.

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Animats
This is the sort of problem sleep medicine doctors deal with. Normally,
there's a clean transition between sleeping and waking, but when there isn't,
lots of annoying things happen.

There are diagnostic tests for this, which involve sleeping connected to an
EEG. Portable devices for that are available, although, like much medical
instrumentation, overly expensive.

