These kinds of things have always been a little nebulous for me, as in the distinction between typical/normal difficulties happening in my life and "the forces that caused him to fall asleep" acting upon me. Some experiences are dramatic or a-typical enough that I can reliably say they were caused by "the forces", but many others are hard to distinguish. What you described could be caused by said forces, but I'm not sure how to tell exactly. Either way, said "forces" can come from within (parts and programs) and without (antagonistic, STS forces). Outside forces can also seem to ignite or stir-up our parts and programs.
From my own experiences of spontaneous encounters of Self, or of the experience of Self that comes from steady work, there does generally seem to follow an extra helping of difficult psychological weather or difficult life situations. The encounter with Self seems to spark a reaction. There's the experience (I'm curious if others have had this) where the more I "wake up" the more loudly and chaotic the parts and programs seem, and so its not as if waking up makes things easier at all necessarily. In that sense, being deeper asleep was easier and more peaceful. This is what I most typically associate in my own life with "the forces that caused [me] to fall asleep" acting upon me-- the parts and programs really start acting up. Otherwise there have been some handfuls of experience of forces acting from "outside"-- sleep paralysis where I physically feel something creeping up the foot of the bed towards me, sudden prolonged "electrical" pain and vibration in my body, sudden drops in vitality and mental clarity, multiple things in the house or car breaking or malfunctioning at the same time, etc.