Hypnagogia

so i think i experienced a version of this, its mild and i dare say i want to learn to control it because its scary.
i'll briefly explain what hypnagogia means first.

the hypnagogic state is a strange phenomena that occurs at the onset of sleep. it induces visions, voices, insights and peculiar sensations as you sail through the borderland state. people are commonly used to seeing the familiar faces, landscapes or merely geometric shapes dance across the visual field at night. many would assume that it is merely the adjustment of your eyes to darkness/ low light conditions. with focus however, these complex patterns can be manipulated at will, e.g. focusing on a single shape within a pattern you may zoom in, discover more shapes, or look around the area, rotate or change the shapes, etc.

i can definitely say that i've experienced the geometric shapes previously - as i could quite give an elaborate description of it. the experience is actually quite similar to meditating and gives the brain a sense of clarity and focus away from the worries of the day. it basically helps you get to sleep.

while i was sick however, i didn't merely experience muscle pains and aches associated with the onset of the flu through the night. i experienced a sense of paralysis accompanied by strange repetitive (abstract) noises which to me sounded like blood flowing through arteries.
the scary part was that my mind was conscious, i was aware that i was asleep, or wanted to sleep because i was sick and wanted to get better. i couldn't will my fingers to move, or lift my arm, or even roll over. gravity had me pinned in place. i couldn't wake up either, or more precisely open my eyes - an effect which gave me unnecessary anxiety.

i don't think i have sleep apnea because the sleep paralysis was brief, and this sleep paralysis followed my episode of hypothermia (same night i had the flu symptoms) and it was probably brought on by my severe headache.

i didn't think much of it until it happened again 2 nights later (my flu was way into full swing by then). the second time round it was pretty much the same experience, but briefer because i knew what it was, and so i wasn't in panic.

to finally open your eyes from sleep paralysis brings relief. the moment you will your eyes open, the sensory stimulation of paralysis and noise depletes.
to stop this from giving me a scare i want to learn to control this, tackle it better.. i want to stop the paralysis from the beginning, and for some reason i think it may have something to do with the amount of oxygen reaching the brain, in addition to strengthening the muscles around the chest area. low oxygen = paralysis... if that makes sense?

so to me thats another reason to work out.. i think it would help in more than one way in my life.

first night shift duty

Today I had my first night shift in the hospital. it all started out quite nerve racking initially, and soon things began to calm down, and patients began to go to sleep. its really quite different at night compared to the normal duties in the day hours.
first of all, theres few of us around roaming the hospital, in my ward there was 2 healthcare assistants, 2 nurses and an oncall foundation doctor who seems to always disappear off into and out of the ward. the ground rules for healthcare assistants are: no music, no loud talking/gossiping, there is always something there to be done, turn patients at 10pm, 2am and 6am. pad change at 10pm and 6am. check the hourly catheters, ensure paperwork is completed and the sluice room, commodes and bed pans are clean & tidy. you then move on to update the kitchen boards, and be available for when you are needed in the event of a new admission, ensure patients are comfortable and answer call bells promptly. in the final hour prepare breakfast and ask patients what they want. following this, assist patients with breakfast.
simple enough the night shift goes as quick as any shift. make sure to get some sleep or stay up the night before so you do end up sleeping in the day ready for your night shift. the sleepy feeling should only kick in at 5am, but should be tolerable till 7.30 when your shift ends.
for nurses, its first stats checks at 9pm, followed by drug rounds at 10pm. following this and pad changes, its lights out for patients, and documentations are written out. duty boards get updated, kardex and Realtime updates are done. any patient requesting extra pain relief medications are flexible dependent on whats been prescribed and the allowed dosage. this should continue, when a new admission is received its handover, followed by admission papers and risk assessments are implemented. social history as well as the medical history is taken, swabs for MRSA are done, stats checks, admission packs given and so on... you're also expected to help your healthcare assistants >.>
for my first night shift i feel like i have coped quite well. following the scheme of things, it was not as bad as i had previously anticipated, though the healthcare assistant i was working with had a disregard to patient care.. she simply wanted to get things done on time, did not take much regard for how the patients felt to be handled at the early hours of the night/waking up at 2am to be repositioned and with so much going on around it was almost impossible for the patients to get sleep. it might have felt like a quiet night, but being in a hospital there is always something going on.