Why, when I get tired, do my senses sometimes go into super-human overdrive?

dunstanorchard — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:45:34 -0800

I'm wondering if anyone has had similar experiences to those described below, and/or can enlighten me as to what's happening. Occasionally, when I get very tired and am doing something quiet, like reading in bed, or working on the computer, my senses kind of go into overdrive.

My hearing becomes so acute that I can "hear" silence, hear the air move. My breathing sounds monstrous and incredibly detailed, and turning of a book's page lets me hear every fiber of the paper bend and rustle.

My touch and sight go crazy too, with everything becoming super "real". The act of pressing a key on my laptop stops being a quick, fleeting sense of pressure, and instead becomes quite a rich, drawn-out, multi-touch, multi-pressure experience.

And while these experiences seem to slow down in my brain, they're not slowing down my actions. And it's not a panic-inducing experience either.

The only thing I can liken it to is what I've read about top athletes going into the zone, and having everything become slow and intense for them while the world carries on as normal around them.

So, would anyone have any what's happening to me, and does this happen to anyone else?

I am not on drugs :o)
I am perfectly healthy in every other way, except I don't have (and have never had) a sense of smell.

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Why, when I get tired, do my senses sometimes go into super-human overdrive?