People stunned after realising they weren't the only ones to see lights before they went to sleep when young

Getting sent to bed early as a kid was one of the worst punishments. All we wanted was another half an hour on Club Penguin.

But now we’re adults, going to bed early can feel like an absolute treat.

And we’ll even reminisce on those days of long nights of stress-free sleep from our childhood.

Including having this bizarre realisation as pointed out by a London doctor on TikTok.

Turns out you might not have been as special as you thought if you can relate to this.

Apparently, loads of us were seeing those weird ‘lights’ before our little, young selves fell asleep.

In the viral video, Dr Semed Mezher says: “75 percent of people saw these lights just before going to sleep as a child.”

Behind the doc is a load of kaleidoscopic circles and blurred lights, which might trigger a memory of all those nights closing your eyes in that car-shaped bed you loved so much.

“Some people say they saw them as coloured pixels, others say they looked like floating stars or planets.

TikTok/@drsermedmezher

“For others they were more subtle, looking like distant galaxies.”

Mezher says although they may have been different for different people, everyone describes them as ‘positive’ and would want to go to sleep to be able to ‘see these lights again’.

The doctor says the peak time people saw these colourful lights was ‘between about the age of four and seven’.

“Sadly most people describe them as disappearing as they became an adult,” he explains.

But what actually are these weird little lights?

“They’re called phosphenes,” Mezher says. “And scientists have three theories on how they might happen.

“The first is direct mechanical stimulation to the eye. The second is magnetic field interference. The third, and my personal favourite, is biophotonic light.

TikTok/@drsermedmezher

“That is where your retina generates its own photons similar to a firefly.”

Many users on TikTok were quick to recall the ‘kaleidoscope of colours’ they saw that made them ‘feel calm’.

Another even wrote: “I think I used to squeeze my eyes tighter to see them.”

One also put: “OMG YES! It felt like I was travelling through hyperspace but in slow motion when I closed my eyes!”

Another even said: “Yes! There was a pattern how they floated and approached me. I used to call them my friends.”

Although some disappointed users say they ‘must be in the 25%’ as they didn’t see the lights, others are shocked as they ‘thought I was the only one’.

Topics: TikTok, Viral, Weird, Sleep

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_