Mystery 1: I wear my Fitbit for one reason: to see how much sleep I’m getting. Since Christmas Eve I’ve had a suspiciously good run.
I rarely hit that goal of 7.5 hours of sleep. Usually it’s between four and six hours, with a “full night’s sleep” every three or four days. I don’t use an alarm to wake up, I just wake up when I’m done, and I truly am done. I don’t have insomnia. I have a perfectly adequate amount of somnia, thank you, even after four hours. What you see here is a freakish run of somnia. How on earth does my body know that Christmas is over, I’m on vacation, and I can sleep in?
Mystery 2: I’m still curious about my hypnagogic chicken hallucinations, and what they call REM intrusions, but it seems I can’t get to any information on it now without digging through the chaff about Near Death Experiences. It seems that in addition to narcolepsy (which I don’t have) and Parkinsons (which I don’t have) and insomnia (see above), now they are trying to say my benign little dream chickens might be related to Near Death Experiences. They suggest that someday instead of hallucinating dream chickens, I might hallucinate Dream Jesus before dropping off into the Big Sleep.
It’s not always chickens, but it has never been Jesus, though, or any human figure. Sometimes it’s a disordered idea, for example a few nights ago I “remembered” I’d put a lot of money in a special account, and for a brief moment I considered checking my bank app before I realized I’ve never had any special accounts.
I don’t think I could confuse a REM intrusion with a Near Death Experience. There’s almost no lag between “The doorway’s blocked by a dog eating a pan of lasagna” and “There is no dog eating a pan of lasagna, time to close my eyes and go to sleep.” If I were to see Jesus, I’m certain I would tell Him, “Jesus? Oh wait – You aren’t real, goodnight.”
2 responses to “Sleep Mysteries”
Are “vivid dreams” a potential side effect of any medications you’re on? Vivid dreams can sometimes stretch over into the sort-of-awake-sort-of-asleep bit. (and yes, while I have not had dream chickens, I’ve had some “wait, *is* that happening?” or “wait, did that actually happen?” crossover at various points, and also I have no Parkinsons or proper insomnia) (I have had proper sleep deprivation at a couple of points in life now, and strongly Do Not Recommend, but yes, that is not what is going on.)
KC – I’ve had it since before puberty, so not meds. I’ve heard two numbers: 25% of people have it or else 80% of people, so clearly no one knows how common it is. What you describe is what I would call the disordered thinking. Keep an eye out for chickens!