At night, there are times when I’m almost asleep and I feel the urge to open my eyes. As soon as I do, I either see a tall man walking towards me or a young girl in a white dress standing beside my bed. I scream, and the figures go away. This is usually within 30 minutes of laying down.
This happens about once a month or so. Are these dreams or something else?
I would guess that’s hypnagogic hallucinations.
They are really disturbing. Anything to stop them?
Don’t go to sleep too tired, avoid eating any sweet or sugar two hours prior to the sleeping routine. Before sleeping take a 10-15 min hot shower to relax all muscles. Avoid stress on daily basis.
Take a more positive stance towards life, people and environment in general. Avoid sleeping under any moonlight. Avoid sleeping directly exposed to moonlight. Avoid sleeping on the back. Have your stomach filled with some food, as this can increase chances of having better dreams.
Avoid cigarettes and alcohol in general. Avoid drinking medicaments unless strictly prescribed by doctors.
Those are all dreams that can easily become nightmares. If it happens a lot, I’d seek medical help.
Salutes
This is a very common hypnagogic hallucination. It happens in half sleep. I used to see dark shadows slowly closing in on my bed, as you can imagine, I didn’t like that. It helped a lot to learn what it is. The hallucination simply means that we are falling asleep, or waking up. It can’t last for long and it is completely harmless. For me, it has gone from “GO AWAY!” to “Oh, it is this again…”