I’ve noticed that different people have different ways of getting to sleep, and different things happen to them as they near sleep. For some people, they enter waking SP (lucky them, easy WILDs). For others, that screeching silent noise. For others, they feel a calming wave over their body, and suddenly their eyes feel heavy.
For me, I’ve noticed that when I’m nearing sleep, whether I’m REALLY tired or not, I seem to think irrational thoughts. My mind will wander to something random, useless, confusing or just plain nonsensical. For example, I was extremely tired last night, unfortunately I could not get to sleep. Eventually I closed my eyes, and after thinking of many things such as school, friends (Thinking happy thoughts) suddenly my brain switched to soccer. I was thinking of a bunch of different plays I could make to score a goal on Pro Evolution 4 (a game I’ve been playing lots lately, I got it cheap and I love it). I thought about it for what felt like (and I’m pretty sure it was) about 5 minutes, before realising ‘wait a minute, what the hell am I thinking?’
So my “breaking point” of the sleep barrier is irrational thinking. What’s YOURS?
A combination. White noise, irrational thoughts, and… well, I’d say light-headedness, but it’s not exactly that. My head feels… well, weird. The closest thing I can imagine to it is light-headedness…
I don’t notice at all when I’m about to fall asleep. I can’t sleep if I’m aware of my thoughts - it just doesn’t happen. For this reason it usually takes me at least half an hour to get to sleep after I turn out the lights and settle down - particularly since my brain has a habit of being extra-active late at night. This is when I get all my creative inspirations!
I have to fully relax and not think about anything before I can get to sleep. Sometimes this is hard, because I can’t relax if I’m cold or hot or if I’m lying on a surface that’s too soft. I can’t let myself think about anything, so of course if I’m really excited about something or looking forward to the next day, I usually get no sleep and end up feeling ill the next day due to lack of it.
I have a problem close to yours. I got into SP once, but I couldn’t start dreaming! It’s stupid! I was just laying there, totally aware of me sleeping! Then I made a mistake by doing a RC, which awakened me.
Mine is same that nictheman: in one moment i realize about how stupid things i am thinking. If i dont realize that, i am dreaming about that stupid things. And a tingly feeling. It forces you to move and wake up your body =[
Mine is when I can visualise a very faint tunnel in the back of my eyelids and it closes in on me. I also had SP when this happened too, accompanied with the loud whirring noise, and sometimes auditory HH like cars whizzing by.
I don’t know if this is because i’m about to fall asleep but sometimes I’m awake, lying in bed, just thinking, and random thoughts pop into my head. Or if i’m thinking about my favorite tv show, suddenly I get an image in my head of the main character and he/she starts talking. They talk way faster than I think my brain could come up with something for them to say! And just as random as that ‘thought’ occurs, it disapears. It’s very odd and I think that when random thing like that start happening, that’s when i’m about to fall asleep.
I don’t often concentrate on what is happening as I fall asleep, as it tends to lenghten the process. When I do, first I become aware that my body is tingling and feeling ‘light’. Soon after, if I am lying on my back, I often can’t resist rolling onto my side. As I loose consciousness I begin to see fleeting images flash by and then sounds. The sounds can be anything from voices to bangs and are often very loud. That used to bother me, but now I am very calm and able to tell myself ‘Yes I’m very nearly asleep now’.
I can´t generalize on when I know I´m drifting over into sleep. When i fall asleep at night or for the first time I hardly realize it most of the time, it´s just as if my consciousness was switched off at some point and I don´t get when that happens.
It can be different in the mornings or in general when I am going to sleep for the last time before getting up. At these times I often much more consciously realize that I am falling asleep. At times I even hear some sort of sounds, music etc. before the images of a dream set in but while I can still feel my body lying in my bed. Might as well be that SP sets in at that point, but I´m not sure about this.
Usually when I’m approaching sleep (in a natural way, not trying to force conscienceness like WILD), I start imagining one of two things: my life as a teen drama, or my after school activities (acting and sports) as a reality show. The teen drama mode reflects on my friends and their problems, and my reality show life reflects on my friends and the fun times we have had together… It’s like two opposite ends of a spectrum.
I would actually really like to relive some of the things I think about in “reality show mode” in a dream, but it hasn’t happened yet.
It’s stupid! I was just laying there, totally aware of me sleeping! Then I made a mistake by doing a RC, which awakened me. 