Have you ever felt the sensation of sleep draining away?

[Stalwart]

Have you ever felt the sensation of sleep draining away?  I mean, like a 'glug', 'glug', 'glug' you can hear in your head and with each 'glug' you rise in consciousness and awareness until you're fully awake.  Along with the audible sensation there are physical sensations including feeling the 'glug' kind of centered in your head and with each 'glug' you gain increased motor control in your limbs.

I've experienced this a few times in the last few years, and I'm trying to understand it.  I just spent an hour surfing google and can't find a reference to anything like this, but I suspect the pineal gland, and/or the pituitary or maybe the hypothalamus.  I read about pineal cysts and sympathetic storming but nothing that spoke to this particular sensation when waking up.

(So of course, I'm going to ask here on Aces High forum, since we're all neurology and endocrinology experts as well as virtual fighter jockeys, right?)

All the same, anyone else ever experience this, or have a clue to offer?

[RedBull1]

I'll have what hes having 

[Volron]

To answer your question; No.

To advise you; Go talk to your doctor.


Just be ready to answer quite a few questions.  A good doctor will bombard you with questions (and listen), but be sure to tell them anything you find out of the ordinary (for you) as well.  You will want to give them as much information as possible so they may determine the cause.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Have you ever felt the sensation of sleep draining away?  I mean, like a 'glug', 'glug', 'glug' you can hear in your head and with each 'glug' you rise in consciousness and awareness until you're fully awake.  Along with the audible sensation there are physical sensations including feeling the 'glug' kind of centered in your head and with each 'glug' you gain increased motor control in your limbs.

I've experienced this a few times in the last few years, and I'm trying to understand it.  I just spent an hour surfing google and can't find a reference to anything like this, but I suspect the pineal gland, and/or the pituitary or maybe the hypothalamus.  I read about pineal cysts and sympathetic storming but nothing that spoke to this particular sensation when waking up.

(So of course, I'm going to ask here on Aces High forum, since we're all neurology and endocrinology experts as well as virtual fighter jockeys, right?)

All the same, anyone else ever experience this, or have a clue to offer?

What you're seeing is a reversal. You (passed out) to sleep hearing those 'glug glug glug' and 'aah' and now your brain is rebooting in reverse order.

I'd also consult your doctor before asking questions here. What you're experiencing is not very normal and if it's repeated it may be a sign of something fishy in your head.

I have one experience that is perhaps close to yours: When I was around 12 I had a Commodore64 which I used through a big screen TV. I got the tv for free because it had a small problem where the tuner 'crawled' with time causing the image to slowly get worse and worse untill you could see artifacts and hear this typical analog 'buzzing' sound when the channel is not quite right. It was so slow that you needed to adjust the channel maybe once every 2 hours.

What this caused to me, however (and only when I was sleeping in one particular room that was 10km away from my computer, oddly) that I woke up feeling my brain go out of tune and hearing that same noise that the tv speakers emitted when the channel crawled far enough to lose signal to the computer. Perhaps you're seeing some subconcious effect of the same nature.

[Stalwart]

What you're seeing is a reversal. You (passed out) to sleep hearing those 'glug glug glug' and 'aah' and now your brain is rebooting in reverse order.

Hehe, no.  Not much of a drinker.  Though, I'll admit i didn't think of that.

[NatCigg]

when i was younger i would hear conversational voices before i would fall asleep. I think I had it happen in the middle of the nite as well.  I attribute it to being in a grey area between awake and asleep, spurred by past experience recorded in my mind.

The location of the voices would be similar to a dream or thought, in my head.  I even got up and walked around attempting to end the voices, yet they continued.  The lag of exiting/entering the realm of dreamland may be your cause.

What to do about it?  Eat, sleep, and kiss your family, its part of life.

[Shuffler]

This may be something they will eventually call "Stalwart Syndrome".

[flight17]

Hehe, no.  Not much of a drinker.  Though, I'll admit i didn't think of that.

It could have been a commercial you had seen while falling asleep or earlier in the day. Your dreams all have to do with what you saw or thought about during the previous day.

[pembquist]

Have not experienced "glugs" but have experienced something like swimming/floating up to the surface of wakefulness. On the other end of the process I have gotten accustomed to listening to podcasts while falling asleep and it has gotten narcolepsy like,e.g. I hear the first couple minutes and then poof.  Makes me wonder what would happen if I listened to books on tape while driving at night.

[Stalwart]

I have one experience that is perhaps close to yours: When I was around 12 I had a Commodore64 which I used through a big screen TV. I got the tv for free because it had a small problem where the tuner 'crawled' with time causing the image to slowly get worse and worse untill you could see artifacts and hear this typical analog 'buzzing' sound when the channel is not quite right. It was so slow that you needed to adjust the channel maybe once every 2 hours.

What this caused to me, however (and only when I was sleeping in one particular room that was 10km away from my computer, oddly) that I woke up feeling my brain go out of tune and hearing that same noise that the tv speakers emitted when the channel crawled far enough to lose signal to the computer. Perhaps you're seeing some subconcious effect of the same nature.

Whoa!   Freaky

[Stalwart]

Have not experienced "glugs" but have experienced something like swimming/floating up to the surface of wakefulness. On the other end of the process I have gotten accustomed to listening to podcasts while falling asleep and it has gotten narcolepsy like,e.g. I hear the first couple minutes and then poof.  Makes me wonder what would happen if I listened to books on tape while driving at night.

Very Interesting.  That floating up feeling, like consciousness washing over you and sleep washing off?

[Stalwart]

when i was younger i would hear conversational voices before i would fall asleep. I think I had it happen in the middle of the nite as well.  I attribute it to being in a grey area between awake and asleep, spurred by past experience recorded in my mind.

The location of the voices would be similar to a dream or thought, in my head.  I even got up and walked around attempting to end the voices, yet they continued.  The lag of exiting/entering the realm of dreamland may be your cause.

What to do about it?  Eat, sleep, and kiss your family, its part of life.

Dream "Lag"...  yeah  I think I get that.
And the voices, kind of like music that keeps going in your head after you stop playing it.
Or scenes you reply in your head from a show, but you 'hear' it ?

But this sleep-draining feeling, it's so real, i hear it, i feel it, and as i go through it I'm aware its happening.
I suppose it could be dream remnants, but I'm not sure its not something physical, like maybe a hormone storm or ?.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Dream "Lag"...  yeah  I think I get that.
And the voices, kind of like music that keeps going in your head after you stop playing it.
Or scenes you reply in your head from a show, but you 'hear' it ?

But this sleep-draining feeling, it's so real, i hear it, i feel it, and as i go through it I'm aware its happening.
I suppose it could be dream remnants, but I'm not sure its not something physical, like maybe a hormone storm or ?.

Are you under any heavy medication or stress? This kind of things can trigger sleep anomalies. Some medications can cause freaky hallucination like dreams where you're half awake and nasty stuff happens like you're on a bad trip.

[titanic3]

Dream "Lag"...  yeah  I think I get that.
And the voices, kind of like music that keeps going in your head after you stop playing it.
Or scenes you reply in your head from a show, but you 'hear' it ?

But this sleep-draining feeling, it's so real, i hear it, i feel it, and as i go through it I'm aware its happening.
I suppose it could be dream remnants, but I'm not sure its not something physical, like maybe a hormone storm or ?.

I get the same thing sometimes when blasting loud music. I'll hear the song "go on" in my head even though I know for a fact that I paused it. I think it's just memory (of the lyrics/music) being mixed with actual thoughts. No big deal.

[icepac]

I simply "pop" instantly awake and aware in the morning.

If I have a crazy dream, it's usually my cue that enough sleep time has transpired.