Community Rules
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
Sounds like sleep paralysis:
During an episode, the person may hallucinate (hear, feel, or see things that are not there), which often results in fear. [...] Sleep paralysis may include hallucinations, such as an intruding presence or dark figure in the room. These are commonly known as sleep paralysis demons. It may also include suffocating or the individual feeling a sense of terror, accompanied by a feeling of pressure on one's chest and difficulty breathing.
Pretty sure that the main symptom of sleep paralysis is, that you can't move. Hallucinations can occur, but OP has not mentioned the inability to move.
Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which a person is conscious but in a complete state of full-body paralysis. During an episode, the person may hallucinate
They said they were “in shock for three or four seconds”, and they describe their only movement during the episode—closing their eyes—as involuntary.
We need to consider OP’s actual physiological response, not just the vocabulary they use to describe it.
Ok - not describing any movement, does not mean that they did not move, or were unable to. Just like not describe their breathing or heartbeat, does not mean that they were not able to breathe or had a cardiac arrest.
Further more, they mention that they were in a chock for 3-4 seconds, after seeing the closet change appearance. Anyone would be that while experiencing a hallucination or something that they perceive unnatural. Also they say that they initially woke up and everything was normal, to start with. If it had been sleep paralysis, this would not be the case.
In any case, this is not programing - it is a human describing a weird situation. If it had been sleep paralysis, you would expect them to specifically describe their inability to move, and not describe it as in being in a shock.
I am much more prone to agree with the other user, who mention hypnagogia, or rather just a case of prolonged transition between sleep and awake.
Sleep paralysis is an aspect of hypnogogia—it’s referenced several times in the article linked to in the other comment. It’s a type of hypnogogia associated with both immobility and fear-inducing hallucinations, and OP describes both. They just (mis)attribute their immobility to shock, instead of a condition they’d never heard of before.
There is no immobility described
Also, in the article, sleep paralysis is mention as an aspect of hypoglycemia, as you mention, but an aspect along with other aspects like hallucinations, lucid dreaming, body jerks etc. Sleep paralysis can happen during this phase, but is no the reason why the other symptoms can happen. It is part of the condition not the condition
Dude... its almost a week old post... just scroll by it!
Before it happened, yes I could move While it happened... I didn't notice whether I was able to move or not but in normal cases I usually have a reaction: saying " whoa " loudly or a motor reaction ,
Concur. Especially the frightening and shocking appearance of the augmented closet.
My favorite augmentation is cobwebs all over the room. Often pretty convincing, like if only I could move I could grab them. But then, POOF. Fully awake.
Sleep paralysis may include hallucinations, such as an intruding presence or dark figure in the room.
Had this happen when I was a teenager, and it was terrifying. I started to scream and woke everyone in the house up. Of course my parents decided it was caused by what I liked to read and banned my pleasure reading.
It's called hypnagogia
Surely, by the first paragraph of that article, OP was in hypnopompia.
I learned two things today.
You're Shirley?
You can't be serious.
I'd suggest reading up on parasomnia. It's a class of disorders including sleep terrors, sleepwalking, nightmare disorder, sleep-related eating disorder, sleep paralysis and others. For my own issues (Night Terrors) I have found that I can largely manage them through lifestyle choices: get enough sleep regularly, don't stay up too late, don't drink caffeine in the afternoon/evening, manage stress, keep the sleeping room cool. Finding your own triggers can be useful for managing further episode.
I've had similar things as a child (normally related to overheating in bed) and a couple of times as an adult due to anxiety. Your brain hasn't totally woken up and you're still dreaming whilst your senses are working. We all know dreams incorporate what's going on around us (Hence the joke about eating giant marshmallows in your dreams and the waking to find your pillows have gone), but rarely is sight involved.
It's really freaky, rather disturbing, but nothing to worry about. Just get better sleep.
Sounds like you had a bad dream.
Thanks, dad.