Right before I feel like I am about to “pass out” I start thinking about it and I lose it. Is that feeling real or am I just imagining it? How does that transition from awake to asleep happen? Can one tell when it’s about to happen and maybe force it to pass that threshold even more?
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[https://www.healthline.com/health/hypnagogia](https://www.healthline.com/health/hypnagogia)
Hypnagogia is the state between waking and sleeping (conversely hypnopompia being the state between sleeping and waking.
>When you’re awake, your brain produces measurable alpha and beta waves, with beta waves being predominant. Once you become drowsy, alpha waves take over.
So basically your brain has a certain pattern to the electrical activity during wakefulness and that changes when you start to fall asleep. It is possible to not disrupt it while continuing to think about things but in order to not disrupt it you probably need to know how to lucid dream. Practice sleep edging maybe? Practice is generally the best way to train yourself to do stuff like this. My parents even taught me how to wake myself up after x number of hours or at x time in the morning without an alarm clock by focusing on the time, how many hours or what time I wanted to wake up and then gently plopping my head onto the pillow the number of hours for the time I was going to wake up or sleep (5 times for 5am or 5 hours, for example).
I lucid dream (although sometimes I have to flap my arms to fly). Success varies from attempt to attempt and hormones also play a part as to the nature of your dream (high progesterone in women causes vivid dreaming, for example). I dunno of any scientifically proven ways to learn how to lucid dream but generally my reality was not a fun place growing up and my life was much more fun in dreams so I lived in them and let life be the dream. Nightmares are now some of my favorite dreams because they engage so many parts of me as a person (emotionally, physically, etc).
So, go lay down at night. Turn off all sounds and lights.
Lay there, and do your best not to think about anything.
Don’t let your mind wonder, just lay still and keep a black image in your head, as if you’re going to sleep. This is where the real fun begins. Your body will test itself to see if you’re asleep. It’ll be an itch here and there. Refuse scratching it.
I used this trick before to try lucid dreaming, and damn does it work if you can make it past the itchy part.
Long story short we fall asleep because our body makes melatonin when in a dark place, which is a way of our body knowing we will be sleeping soon.
Don’t ask about sleep paralysis. That’s scary.
I also can tell I’m falling asleep when I lose train of thought. I let the thoughts keep drifting forward rather than trying to remember anything.
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