[hashberry]

Same. I'm convinced OBEs are a form of dreaming, especially when comparing the techniques used for initiating wake-back-to-bed lucid dreaming (relaxing the body & mind, feeling vibrations, being amazed how "real" it is, etc).

[tommydoesntknow]

That intoxicatingly calm space between awake and not-quite-awake-yet is about the best drug there is. The difficulty therein is knowing that the day's remainder will, at best, and rarely in sobriety, only approximate this magical state of bliss.

[Shared404]

> That intoxicatingly calm space between awake and not-quite-awake-yet

...that space is calm for most people?

Being there is usually literally terrifying to me. Like whenever I finally come through to the awake side I'm drenched in sweat and crying on occasion.

[meepmorp]

I dated someone who had sleep paralysis and hypnogogic hallucinations. She'd wake up breathing hard and panicked sometimes; said she was awake but locked into her body and heard these incredibly loud, terrifying noises.

Maybe get a sleep study.

[akomtu]

Sometimes, in that state, the "brain audio processor" gets disconnected from ears and connected to inner sounds - heartbeats and such. The texture to the sound is given by random thoughts, so if you happened to think about a waterfall, you'll keep hearing loud waterfall heartbeats. Even if you're well aware of what's happening, these sounds are still overwhelming. This is a common "OBE mode".

[tommydoesntknow]

Completely calm for me. HR bpm ~55 to 60. Involuntary homeostatic systems (breath, heart rate, mind, muscles, sensory systems semi-on-offline, stable body temperature, especially temperature) are synced and calmly clocking along.

It does, however, take ~9.5 hours to get the pillow to behave to tolerance.

As for terrifying? Well, there's always real life to look forward to, and terrifying is an appropriate reaction to that impending doom, but I hope this isn't an everyday for you. You could have a sleep disorder, night terrors, PTSD, neurology problem, etc.

[bckr]

you might also have sleep apnea, or some other treatable condition

[gpderetta]

I had a few OBEs while falling asleep in the afternoon while maintaining awareness, and it is seemed to me that they were hallucinatory experiences triggered by sleep paralysis kicking in. And yes, they are likely a specific form of lucid dreaming.

[sebastianconcpt]

The dream hypothesis can be discarded with the shared OBE.

Think about it, can 2 people's dream be synchronized from the perspective of each other? Because that's how a shared OBE feels.

Once you have some of these, you know these aren't dreams.

[philote]

Yep, sounds similar to a hypnagogic state.