Is it normal to hallucinate when waking up

It is also important to know if there is something else that is causing these episodes. They may be a result of one of the following:. Sleep-related hallucinations seem to be very common. They have been reported by as many as one-third of all people. They are more common in teens and young adults. In many people, the episodes tend to decrease with age. They also occur slightly more often in women than in men. They are very common in people who have narcolepsy.

Factors that can cause them include the following:. They can also be due to an epileptic seizure. In this case, they tend to be brief, visual fragments. You should see your medical provider if hallucinations cause you great anxiety or often disrupt your sleep. If you have them along with severe daytime sleepiness, then you may have narcolepsy. Narcolepsy should be diagnosed and treated by a sleep doctor.

The doctor will need to know when the hallucinations began. She will want to know how often they occur and how long they last. The doctor will need to know your complete medical, psychiatric, and sleep history.

The doctor will want to know if you are unusually sleepy or have any other sleep problems. Be sure to inform her of any drug and medication use, both past or present. Tell your doctor if you have ever had any other sleep disorder. Find out if you have any family members with sleep problems. It will also be helpful if you fill out a sleep diary for two weeks.

The sleep diary will help the doctor see your sleeping patterns. This data gives the doctor clues about what is causing your problem and how to correct it. Your doctor may have you do a sleep study if your problem is severely disturbing your sleep. It may also be advised to stay out of bed until feeling extremely tired, to avoid lying awake in bed and having the mind wander onto issues that may be causing you stress or anxiety. If the hallucinations are the result of medication, drug or alcohol use, it may be advised to refrain from their use, and you may need to change medications if this is the case.

Any suspected case of narcolepsy should be consulted with a sleep specialist, and an overnight sleep study performed to look into it further. Narcolepsy can be a debilitating disorder that can be treated.

One occured while I was sleeping next to my husband and I heard a hissing sound of a snake and I saw a snake moving toward me to bite me so I woke up and jumped out of the bed screaming and scared. The second, I thought a felt bugs crawling on my legs but I woke up and nothing was there.

This started on Christmas I fell a sleep and then woke up soon after and there was a cartoon movie which looked like it was being projected onto the window shade. I thought it was something being projected from a neighbor that had children and this was coming from their yard display. I found out in the morning, no one had a cartoon being projected for Christmas. It was a cartoon girl riding a reindeer. Then it happened again a week later but I was sleeping in a different bedroom of my house.

Same thing. I fall asleep and wake up suddenly and there is a movie of cartoon characters on my white wall. Both times I have watched it and then it disappears.

It happened a 3rd time weeks later. Not sophisticated, early Disney perhaps. I am not a Disney fan but it looks like an early Disney style. I have never had insomnia. I actually become wide awake and watch this cartoon movie until it fades away.

The brain is so mysterious. This is not frightening, just odd that my brain would choose cartoons projected on a wall, but it just makes no sense to me. I wish I knew why this happened. Since these episodes happened during Covid, I assume it may be that I was dealing with being afraid of Covid but not expressing it to anyone. This all happened in the dream, but I was so scared when i woke up, and so I looked it up to see if it meant something.

I think narcolepsy and insomnia walk hand in hand. I have often been extremely tired at off times, and yet once went for nine days without sleeping. The result was a delusional spell that began when I finally fell asleep, and continued when I woke up. This has been happening to me for God-knows how many times. I have experienced countless sleep paralysis along with hallucinations. It was horrible! The last time was earlier today. Has anyone else experienced something like this? Select personalised content.

Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Have you ever awakened from sleep and thought you were still dreaming? It is very common to have experienced hallucinations while falling asleep or after waking.

What causes sleep-related hallucinations? Learn about these phenomena and why they might occur. As an example, you might see bugs crawling on the ceiling or misinterpret the lamp as a shadowy figure standing in the room. Though visual experiences predominate, some hallucinations may involve hearing things.

These auditory hallucinations may range from voices to loud sounds or other stimuli. It is also possible to feel something with tactile hallucinations or even have a sense of movement with a kinetic hallucination. Hallucinations that occur while falling asleep are called hypnagogic hallucinations.

These most often occur due to the sudden onset of rapid eye movement REM sleep near sleep onset. When waking from REM sleep, which is more prevalent towards morning, hypnopompic hallucinations may occur. Hallucinations may be associated with other symptoms. They commonly coexist with sleep paralysis. It may be seen with other sleep-related behaviors, including sleepwalking and sleep talking. Hallucinations can also occur independently during the daytime. More complex visual hallucinations that occur at night may represent a distinct experience.

This may include people or animals that are distorted in size or shape. Though relatively immobile, it may seem real and be frightening. It may persist for many minutes. Though awake when it occurs, it may follow from non-REM sleep. The hallucination disappears as lights are turned on.