I was bored, and I decided to do some web searching on a strange thing that happens to me every once in a while. While I am drifting off to sleep, I hear a piercing loud sound, accompnied by a blinding flash of light, and for a moment, a sizzling sound as it fades. I decided to see if anyone else had ever had that, and I discovered this: American Sleep Association Exploding... head... syndrome... really? this is what your going to name it? now when I mention the diagnoses to people, they are going to think I am crazy!!! Anyone else ever had this, or some other strange experince that they web search, and find that some doctor decided to give it a whacky name?
As someone who's been practicing lucid dreaming for years, I happen to know this is called Hypnagogia, it's a fairly frequent occurrence, along with hypnic jerks. Try concentrating on your breathing the next time you go to sleep, mid morning naps are the perfect time for REM (dream) states, and try and remain conscious and slow your breathing, don't concentrate on anything except for your breathing and any slowly moving colour patterns in your vision. If you do this right very soon those vague amorphous blobs become shapes and other complicated things, until the next thing you know you are fully conscious and aware you are dreaming. With a bit of practice you get used to the whole idea and can remain in this state for hours, the biggest problem for the beginner is waking up because you are so excited. If you can imagine it, you can do it in a dream. It's a wonderful thing, all without the use of powerful hallucinogens.