You see things like colors, patterns, and shapes (called phosphenes) when you close your eyes because of normal electrical activity in your brain and retina, not necessarily a lack of light; these can be intensified by pressure, fatigue, or certain activities, but vivid, story-like images, especially falling asleep, might be hypnagogic hallucinations, often harmless but worth checking with a doctor if frequent or disturbing.
Hypnagogic hallucinations are hallucinations that happen as you're falling asleep. They're common and usually not a cause for concern. Up to 70% of people experience them at least once. A hallucination is a false perception of objects or events involving your senses: sight, sound, smell, touch and taste.
One common cause is staring at bright lights or screens for prolonged periods, which can temporarily overstimulate the retina and lead to afterimages. Another cause can be related to eye fatigue or strain, where the retina briefly retains an image after the visual stimulus is removed.
Specifically, the brain, including the visual system, is wired to detect and perceive patterns, and may create patterns even when one isn't really there. That is, you may be perceiving a staticy grid because your visual pathway is organized to detect organized patterns.
Level 1 and 2 are very common and often happen every day. It is still normal to experience level 3, and even level 4; however, only a small percentage of the population does this without psychedelic drugs, meditation or extensive visualization training.
Symptoms of eye stroke
Most people with an eye stroke notice a loss of vision in one eye upon waking in the morning with no pain. Some people notice a dark area or shadow in their vision that affects the upper or lower half of their visual field. Other symptoms include loss of visual contrast and light sensitivity.
Negative and positive afterimages are a natural part of human vision. But rarely, an underlying condition causes people to see more afterimages or similar visual sensations. These are part of a group of symptoms called palinopsia. There are two types: Hallucinatory and illusory palinopsia.
Typical symptoms of a damaged retina include:
It has been reported as a result of many causes such as head trauma, epilepsy, brain tumors, drugs (trazodone, topiramate, mirtazapine), ionic disturbances, diabetic decompensation and Sars-Cov-2 encephalitis [1], [2].
3 hours before bed: No more food or alcohol. 2 hours before bed: No more work. 1 hour before bed: No more screen time (shut off all phones, TVs and computers). 0: The number of times you hit snooze in the morning.
Pareidolia is a phenomenon wherein people perceive likenesses on random images—such as faces, animals, or objects on clouds and rock formations. It is not a clinical diagnosis nor is it a disorder. The brain has a tendency to assign meaning wherever it can.
Various forms of hallucinations affect different senses, sometimes occurring simultaneously, creating multiple sensory hallucinations for those experiencing them.
Instead of seeing the latest image in real time, humans actually see earlier versions because our brain's refresh time is about 15 seconds. So this illusion demonstrates that visual smoothing over time can help stabilize perception.
Causes of hallucinations
Afterimages are a normal effect of how your eyes communicate with your brain. Palinopsia isn't normal, and it sometimes means something is affecting the part of the brain that processes vision.
You may notice symptoms such as:
But when retina cells get damaged, they do not regenerate. They don't heal or grow back. The good news is that an eye doctor can repair a damaged retina in most cases. Although a patient may not experience completely restored vision, a timely retinal repair can prevent any further vision loss and stabilize vision.
Blurry vision and vision that gets worse over time are the main symptoms of macular edema. You may also notice that: Objects look wavy, especially when you look straight ahead. Objects look like they're different sizes if you look out of 1 eye and then the other.
Wearing sunglasses and contact lenses can also reduce some signs of illusory palinopsia. Treating migraines will also fix palinopsia in some people. However, it's only effective for those who see illusory afterimages with their migraines.
While anyone can develop floaters (little spots or shapes that “float” in your vision), they can be a symptom of diabetes-related retinopathy or diabetes-related macular edema. If you have changes to your vision, including seeing floaters, contact your eye doctor (optometrist or ophthalmologist) right away.
Psychological Factors: In some cases, stress, trauma, or psychiatric conditions such as anxiety or PTSD can trigger palinopsia, especially when combined with neurological factors.
Other signs and symptoms may include:
These symptoms include blurred or double vision, a droopy eyelid, a dilated pupil, pain above or behind one eye, weakness or numbness, he said. “If you experience these symptoms, contact your primary care provider quickly, and you can be screened using a brain scan,” Bradbury said.
Sudden painless loss of vision may occasionally be caused by an 'eye stroke'. These typically occur when a small clot (an embolism) blocks an artery supplying the retina (the nerve tissue that lines the back of the eye).