Question
The other night, my girlfriend came to visit after I was already asleep. As she told me later: upon her entrance, I opened my eyes and sat up in fear as if she were an intruder. Then, I apparently recognized her and opened my eyes to her and pulled her onto my bed and hugged her very tight. I woke up with absolutely no memory of this and it seems that this is a fairly typical case of automatic behavior in sleep.The issue is that apparently I hugged her too tightly and wouldn't let her go and she felt threatened. She had to force herself out of my arms. My question is: should I worry about an episode like this recurring? I've never been told of doing anything like this before (but who knows since I wouldn't remember). My concern here is about my girlfriend's (or any potential partner's) state-of-mind and security in sharing a bed with me.
Answer
tHIS isnt automatic behavior, as automatic behavior is when you are awake and do things in a robot manner. What you had was hypnangogic hallucinations which is natural phenomneon unless it is accompanied by daytime sleepiness, otherwise whats happening is that our brains and body are supposed to awaken and fall asleep together but once in awhile there is a lag of a nano second, In your situation you were still dreaming with ones open, which when awakened was so scared of the intruder then realized it was your girlfriend, sometimes those dreams are so vivid you can still think theres an intruder up to 30 minutes after you are fully awakened. relax. If it persists you should stay away from chocolate, tea, coffee, caffeine, caramel colored soda like coke pepsi, and ginger ale and exercise, l5 minutes before bed take a glass of warm milk, milk when heated contains tryptophan a natural amino acid sleep inducer. feel free to email again karel
