Dreams leaking out after waking...

I have had a curious (and slightly concerning) experience several times recently in which things from the dream carry over after I awake. Each time it is very realistic and leaves me questioning my senses and experiences. I will use an example from a couple of nights ago.
I was having some dream or another, not at all lucid, but it was violent and dark and ended abruptly. I awoke in the middle of the night. When I awoke I heard a startling and frightening scream very close to me, on the other side of the room; a man’s not a woman’s.
It had not been part of the dream itself at the time, though would not have been out of place considering what was occurring in the dream, but began just I became awake and persisted even after I was aware I was no longer alseep. It was so vivid and shocking that I even got so far as sitting up and grabbing my fencing sword from beside my bed in case someone was there! Only to realise that it hadn’t really occurred.
After that I just sort of sat for a while, because it was so surprising and unreal that I wasn’t really sure what to make of it.

This sort of thing has happened to me on several occasions, especially with sounds and voices continuing even after the dream has terminated.
I just wondered if anyone else experiences a similar phenomenon and what they make of it. I know that, apparently, when doing WILD the HI can sort of leak out before you’re actually dreaming, so I can only assume that this is something similar - but when coming out of a dream rather that heading into one. It really makes ‘reality’ seem relative.

I have also experienced this but more with the actual location than sounds. On a few occasions I have awoken to not recognize my surroundings. It seems vaguely familiar like something from a distant long ago memory but I cant comprehend where I am or how I got there. Then a minute or so later I recognize my bedroom as the waking world and all the memories come flooding back. It is indeed disconcerting to say the least especially when talking about reality.

nothing is leaking out, you are quite simply dreaming while awake.
there is no OUT to leak to, or IN to leak from.
sleep is neither the house or catalyst of dreams.

I think it’s just common hallucinations from hypnogogia (or more accurately i would use the term “Hypnopompic”, but that never caught on in the scientific community). This more commonly happens to me while on the crest of sleep when falling asleep later than i usually do, when i’m naturally more tired and generally “out of it”. It was probably so much more vivid because it sounds like you just exited a nightmare. It can be freaky, but there is no harm to come from it :smile:

If this happened to me… I would reply to the scream… With a scream. xD

This has happened to me a few times!

For example I’ve had a physical one: I wake up from a dream, I grab my cellphone from my shelf next to my bed and check the time. I notice it’s very early confirming why I felt tired. I close my eyes and almost fell asleep again with the cellphone in my hand (I felt it and everything) but I decide to get up instead. When I get to my senses my phone is back on my shelf since I never checked it at all.

I’ve had some with sounds, voices, screams and even visuals (images, DC, etc) still lingering after I’ve woken up. It can be extremely terrifying when you’ve woken up from a nightmare! Been there, done that.

I’ve had that in quite a number of causes: frogs and spiders in my room, someone yelling at me, things falling on me, seeing my brother walk out the room, stuff like that. It usually results in me acting out on what I’ve seen and feeling really stupid afterwards and hoping nobody saw me do it. :tongue:

Yes, it is common and nothing to be worried about at all. Often right before falling asleep and right after waking up I hear voices, beautiful music, voices, laughs, growls, my name being called or shouted, and any number of audio illusions.

The visual aspect is my specialty, i never wake up without heavy closed eye visuals and often many intricate, detailed and perfectly clear open eyed visuals. You’d be amazed what your mind can do while in the trance state (Which is occurring naturally as you awake.)

I’ve woken more times than I can count from nightmares where my tormenter or monstrous creature has appeared right on top of me, snarling in my face. It always disappears after about five minutes or less, with the open eyed visuals and strong audio hallucinations ending much more quickly than closed eyed visuals.

This has happened to me as well. Occasionaly, when I wake up in the middle of the night, I will hear a nearby scream. It always gives me quite a scare, since at first I don’t know whether it’s a real scream or not. The best thing to do is to just ignore it and go back to sleep.