Poll: Am I Sleeping?

[ReaperzXIII]

Often particularly, on the bus, lying in bed in silence or in my english lessons I start thinking of something and continue thinking of something and while I can hear what people are saying I don't really absorb it. Then someone jolts me and I wake up or something but it feels like no real time had passed or that I was sleeping, all I can remember is thinking of something then my eyes closing without me noticing and I stopped paying attention to noises.

But it differs from my actual sleep in that I was continuing the same thought process during whatever it was. Sometimes, whilst I know I was thinking of something because I try to recall it the moment I wake up, a lot of the time I can't remember what exactly it was or I get vague glimpses of it in my head however I can't grasp on to the exact idea that was in my head.

I have no idea what this is so I'm asking if anyone has ever experienced something similar or perhaps knows what it is.

Closest thing I've heard about similar to this is sleep paralysis but the thing is, with this I'm not aware I'm sleeping, to me all I'm doing is thinking of the same thing in greater detail with branching off ideas to the thing I was thinking of when I was awake.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Often particularly, on the bus, lying in bed in silence or in my english lessons I start thinking of something and continue thinking of something and while I can hear what people are saying I don't really absorb it. Then someone jolts me and I wake up or something but it feels like no real time had passed or that I was sleeping, all I can remember is thinking of something then my eyes closing without me noticing and I stopped paying attention to noises.

But it differs from my actual sleep in that I was continuing the same thought process during whatever it was. Sometimes, whilst I know I was thinking of something because I try to recall it the moment I wake up, a lot of the time I can't remember what exactly it was or I get vague glimpses of it in my head however I can't grasp on to the exact idea that was in my head.

I have no idea what this is so I'm asking if anyone has ever experienced something similar or perhaps knows what it is.

Closest thing I've heard about similar to this is sleep paralysis but the thing is, with this I'm not aware I'm sleeping, to me all I'm doing is thinking of the same thing in greater detail with branching off ideas to the thing I was thinking of when I was awake.

As someone who has experienced both what you're describing and sleep paralysis, I can say you aren't suffering from the latter, and you are just falling asleep. It happens sometimes when I'm sleep deprived; I'll fall asleep in the middle of a paper, a lecture, or what have you, and dream that I'm still working on whatever it was that I fell asleep in the middle of. The best way to avoid it is to just get a good night's sleep every night. Sleep deprivation is not fun; I should know, it's finals week, and I've been up for damn near 36 hours now.

 

[AvsJoe]

Huh. I had a sorta-similar experience two nights ago.

Between 1:30 am and 6:00 am, I was lying in bed thinking. Not dreaming, thinking. Thinking in lieu of dreaming. Funny thing is that I was sleeping; my body was resting and recovering and most of my brain was turned off (including memory; I only recall 5 minutes of those 4 1/2 hours). It's like I was sleeping, but awake. I wish I could explain it in a way that didn't make me sound like an idjit.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Its called a fugue state. Trephination cures it. Call your doctor and set up an appointment.

Unless wikipedia has completely failed me here, this doesn't match up to the Fugue State at all. He's falling asleep and dreaming that he's still doing whatever it is he was doing before he fell asleep. A fugue state is a weird case of localized amnesia.

<link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue_state>source

Also, hesitate before you use the word "cure" when talking about drugs and neurological conditions. There isn't really a cure for that sort of thing; the drugs are palliatives. It doesn't mean they don't work, but they're not going to outright cure you.

 

[The Paradigm]

That sorta thing happens to me all the time in school. Really tired, trying to keep awake.. BAM! Snap awake, but it doesn't feel like I've been asleep at all, except people are talking about different stuff.

Weird, huh?

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Its called a fugue state. Trephination cures it. Call your doctor and set up an appointment.

Unless wikipedia has completely failed me here, this doesn't match up to the Fugue State at all. He's falling asleep and dreaming that he's still doing whatever it is he was doing before he fell asleep. A fugue state is a weird case of localized amnesia.

<link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue_state>source

Also, hesitate before you use the word "cure" when talking about drugs and neurological conditions. There isn't really a cure for that sort of thing; the drugs are palliatives. It doesn't mean they don't work, but they're not going to outright cure you.

I think if you knew what I was talking about, you'd realize I was dripping with sarcasm. At least I think its sarcasm.. *checks* Yup.

Ah, excuse me; I mistook a term for an archaic form of surgery for a drug. Also, my sarcasm detector is temporarily on the fritz; I haven't slept since 3:00 yesterday afternoon. Bloody finals.

Edit: The sarcasm was not as obvious as you intended. I've seen some pretty ridiculous diagnoses from armchair doctors.

 

[Chunko]

I get this all the time, I'd like to know what it is.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Its called a fugue state. Trephination cures it. Call your doctor and set up an appointment.

Unless wikipedia has completely failed me here, this doesn't match up to the Fugue State at all. He's falling asleep and dreaming that he's still doing whatever it is he was doing before he fell asleep. A fugue state is a weird case of localized amnesia.

<link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue_state>source

Also, hesitate before you use the word "cure" when talking about drugs and neurological conditions. There isn't really a cure for that sort of thing; the drugs are palliatives. It doesn't mean they don't work, but they're not going to outright cure you.

I think if you knew what I was talking about, you'd realize I was dripping with sarcasm. At least I think its sarcasm.. *checks* Yup.

I was about to quote you and correct you on that too... sarcasm doesn't translate well into text.

Anyways... yeah, OP, you're just falling asleep. Plain and simple.

 

[ZeroMachine]

Its called a fugue state. Trephination cures it. Call your doctor and set up an appointment.

Unless wikipedia has completely failed me here, this doesn't match up to the Fugue State at all. He's falling asleep and dreaming that he's still doing whatever it is he was doing before he fell asleep. A fugue state is a weird case of localized amnesia.

<link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue_state>source

Also, hesitate before you use the word "cure" when talking about drugs and neurological conditions. There isn't really a cure for that sort of thing; the drugs are palliatives. It doesn't mean they don't work, but they're not going to outright cure you.

I think if you knew what I was talking about, you'd realize I was dripping with sarcasm. At least I think its sarcasm.. *checks* Yup.

I was about to quote you and correct you on that too... sarcasm doesn't translate well into text.

Anyways... yeah, OP, you're just falling asleep. Plain and simple.

Except that if you knew how ridiculous my suggestion and assertion were, it would have been crystal clear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trepanning

Oh, I looked it up. And to be honest? And, no offense meant here, just so you know- I just thought you were batshit crazy I've met plenty of people that say stuff like that and think they know what they're talking about.

 

[ReaperzXIII]

As someone who has experienced both what you're describing and sleep paralysis, I can say you aren't suffering from the latter, and you are just falling asleep. It happens sometimes when I'm sleep deprived; I'll fall asleep in the middle of a paper, a lecture, or what have you, and dream that I'm still working on whatever it was that I fell asleep in the middle of. The best way to avoid it is to just get a good night's sleep every night. Sleep deprivation is not fun; I should know, it's finals week, and I've been up for damn near 36 hours now.

But I'm not dreaming I'm doing the same thing, in my dream like state I'm actually still thinking about whatever the idea was and thinking about it in different ways, its weird.

 

[ilspooner]

Yeah. I was on a school trip down to the Gold Coast, and we were traveling by bus. I was awake until about 1:30 am, and then the next thing I knew, it was 7:30 am. It was strange, I don't even remember closing my eyes. My friends had also tried unsuccessfully to wake me.

 

[Grabbin Keelz]

Sometimes I'll be asleep in class, except I'll be aware of it and I can't move by body until something jolts me back awake. It's scary.

 

[WolfEdge]

I thought this was going to be a thread about existentialism...

Carry on.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

It sounds like a trance state of some sort. Most of us pass in and out of more trance states than we ever realize, we tend to associate them with hypnosis, which is a systematic method for inducing trance states, but they do not have to be intentionally induced. All it is is a state in which the brain functions differently, and it can make an inner "reality" more consuming than the outer "reality" most people tend to spend their time in.

 

[DangerFish]

Happened in math class thought I was flying was awake enough to think I'd fallen asleep and check if I was by kicking the floor lightly, since I felt it my brain said I was awake and therefore actually flying.

Also had sleep paralysis once in class and freaked because I thought it was permanent went away after a couple minuets though.

 

[tharglet]

I can go into a state of semi-sleep - usually happens if I'm just listening to music on a car journey or similar.

I'm still listening to my music, but I'm not fully awake either. Usually people think I'm actually sleeping, but I'm still processing what's going on to some extent.

 

[Luftwaffles]

Do this all the time when dozing in lectures or driving. I believe its called [link]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsleep[/link]

 

[micheil3]

Darn I was hoping this would be about Descartes.

I get this all the time when I'm intoxicated.
Also joke answers skew poll results.

 

[Gaiseric]

I remember a time I woke up(or did I?) and could hear/see, but couldn't move. Didn't scare me though. It felt like I was asleep but aware that I was asleep.

Perhaps a little different, I also once fell asleep on walking on the track at my high school during P.E.(it was a free day and I'm lazy) and continued walking along the track. I conked out on one side of the track and woke up on another. My friend swears I walked a whole lap before he woke me up.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

As someone who has experienced both what you're describing and sleep paralysis, I can say you aren't suffering from the latter, and you are just falling asleep. It happens sometimes when I'm sleep deprived; I'll fall asleep in the middle of a paper, a lecture, or what have you, and dream that I'm still working on whatever it was that I fell asleep in the middle of. The best way to avoid it is to just get a good night's sleep every night. Sleep deprivation is not fun; I should know, it's finals week, and I've been up for damn near 36 hours now.

But I'm not dreaming I'm doing the same thing, in my dream like state I'm actually still thinking about whatever the idea was and thinking about it in different ways, its weird.

That's generally the form those dreams take, at least when it happens to me. Moral of the story, the human brain is weird, but this isn't a sign of anything unusual with yours.