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Sleep Paralysis: Awake But Still Asleep
Biology 202
2000 First Web Report
On Serendip
Sleep Paralysis: Awake But Still Asleep
Hiro Takahashi
A person may wake up and find himself unable to move or speak as if he is frozen. He also may hear footsteps, see a ghost-like creature, or feel someone sitting on his chest. Throughout the history, people considered this phenomenon as work done by evil spirits. However, the modern science can explain the terrifying event as a Sleep Paralysis.
A Sleep Paralysis is possibly a hereditary disorder in which one experiences very frightening seconds or minutes of total body paralysis with little respiration and eye movements (1). A victim in this state feels awake, but he cannot move or speak (2). In addition to the immobility, the common symptoms include feeling choked or suffocated, hearing strange noises like footsteps and voices, seeing beings or dark shadows, and feeling an existance of someone in the room (1). Although these symptoms often direct the victims to believe in ghosts, mistransmission of neural signals in the brain causes Sleep Paralysis. When a person sleeps, his brain sends signals to inhibit any muscle contraction (3). If he comes into consciousness before the brain sends signals to activate muscle contraction, he cannot move his body, and consequently, become "paralyzed"(2).
In order to understand how a body becomes paralyzed while the person is awake, it is necessary to understand sleep cycles. In a mammalian sleep, the brain activity undergoes two different states called non-REM (NREM) sleep and REM sleep, which differ very much from wakefulness (3). NREM and REM sleep alternate cyclically through the night; in human, about 80 minutes of NREM sleep starts a night of sleep, about 10 minutes of REM sleep follows, and this 90 minute cycle is repeated about 3 to 6 times during the night (3). During NREM sleep, a body produces few movement, but the body has capability of tossing about in bed and producing some other motor events, such as sleepwalking and sleeptalking (3). The cardiac-muscle contraction and breathing occur at a uniform rate, and the eyes move slowly (2). During REM sleep, on the other hand, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure vary (3). The eyes move rapidly because most dreaming takes place in this period, and the sleeper probably "look" at the moving objects in a dream (2).
The brain's control over muscles during REM sleep points out that in this period, a body is normally in the state of total paralysis, called a "nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis" (3). Probably to prevent a person from "acting out" a dream, the brain sends signals to inhibit any muscle contractions (2). Although some peripheral muscles, such as the muscles of the fingers and face, still twitch, the large skeletal muscles become relaxed, or "paralyzed" as a result (3). Some evidence supports that the motor paralysis of REM sleep protect against the acting out of one's dreams. A patient who suffers from rare syndrome called REM Sleep Behavior Disorder lacks the normal nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis, and he acts out violent dreams during REM sleep, often with injurious consequences (4). For example, a 60-year-old surgeon dreamt that he was attacked "by criminals, terrorists, and monsters who always tried to kill [him]" and fighting against them in the nightmare, he was actually punching and kicking his wife who slept in the same bed (4).
A nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis during REM sleep is accomplished actively by postsynaptic inhibition of motorneurons (3). Although the exact process of motor inhibition is not clear, some neurotransmitters and hormones are known to generate the many components of REM sleep. Aministering physostigmine, an inhibitor of the catabolic enzyme, increases the concentration of acetylcholine within the neurons in the pons, making it possible to artificially generate and start REM sleep in the middle of NREM sleep (3). Carbachol, the cholinergic agonist, produces a period of REM sleep in cat when directly injected into the pontine tegmentum (3). The hormone melatonin, a "master hormone" (5) that mainly controls circadian rhythms, also seems to play an important role in enhancing the REM state; the level of melatonin secretion by the pineal gland reaches its lowest during REM sleep (5). Such neurotransmitters and hormones probably activate or inhibit the activity of second messengers, which then activate or inhibit the third messengers, and so on till the last messenger inhibit the synaptic transmission or cause hyperpolarization of the motorneurons. And if, for some reason, the nervous or endocrine system continues to release the neural inhibitors, a person may experience Sleep Paralysis as he enters awakefully into or awakens directly from REM period (2).
While the modern neuroscience can describe the state of Sleep Paralysis as some errors of the neural transmission in the brain during REM sleep, a person who has seen or heard ghost-like figures/voices may easily believe that eveil spirits fully controlled his entire body. However, the images or noises, which the victim believes that he has seen or heard, are most likely hallucinations; and hallucinations, too, can result from the brain activity. In the 1960's, the Canadian neurologist W. Penfield introduced that electrical stimulation of the temporal lobe can cause the auditory hallucinations in the wake state (5). The buzzing or ringing sounds in the ears and other auditory hallucinations are closely associated with the activity of the auditory cortex and involves the temporal lobe (5). During the early period of sleep paralysis, the activity of the temporal lobe increases significantly, sometimes inducing hallucinatory sense (5). Similarly, the visual cortex generates internal visual stimuli, causing the victim to "see" terrifying figures during the paralysis (5).
How an episode of Sleep Paralysis induces visual or auditory hallucinations is still not clear, but it seems to have a significant relationship with anxiety (5). For anxiety is a neurocognitive event closely related to both psychological and physical processes, the extreme anxiety or panic may cause the release of several different signal molecules that trigger all kinds of physical events (5). A person experiencing Sleep Paralysis feels mortal fear or extreme panic, and hence, the brain generates and releases internal visual or auditory stimuli, producing hallucinations.
Also, hallucinations during Sleep Paralysis may happen, for one keeps dreaming even after some parts of his brain wakes up directly from REM sleep. Since the nervous and endocrine systems continue to release the neural inhibitors which sustain the paralysis, it may be possible that those systems keep releasing the neural activators that stimulate dreaming. Thus, a person continues to "see" the images and "hear" the noises produced in the dream that he has just had in REM sleep from which he has awaken.
Understanding more neural concepts of Sleep Paralysis, some researchers now hypothesize that a very rare condition called Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS) may closely relate to Sleep Paralysis (1). Upon the death, a SUNDS victim produces no body movement even though he experiences a myocardial infarction and strong breathing difficulties and should straggle in agony (5). The death may be caused by the extreme muscle atonia during Sleep Paralysis, which is so severe that even the cardiac muscles and the diaghragm paralyze (5).
Until I started researching on this subject, I have believed that the total paralysis of a body is due to an evil taking absolute control over the body. However, the interactions between neurons in the brain can explain this seemingly mysterious phenomenon in a scientific way. Although the explanation is not complete yet, for there are many unclear processes about Sleep Paralysis, the current hypothesis appears to reject the possibility of ghosts on this matter. Of course, it is impossible to completely disprove the existence of "spirits", "minds", or "God" affecting one's behavior. Nevertheless, like Sleep Paralysis and SUNDS, many or the mysterious conditions and behaviors which are only explained in supernatural terms probably result from brain.
WWW Sources
1)The Evil's of Sleep Paralysis
4)REM Sleep Behavior Disorder: A Neurologic Dissociative Sleep Disorder
5)Recurrent Isolated Sleep Paralysis
Comments made prior to 2007
I have been trying to figure out what was going on in my sleep untill i read this.Now i am happy to know what my body was expeiencing. It's quite scary your first couple experiences of sleep paralysis but now i'm gonna stay calm when it is happening to me and try to get my own understanding of the experience ... Jeremy, 21 March 2006
I have had sleep paralyisis at least once per month for the last 8 years. I am 29 as of this writing. I just had the experience about 1 hour ago and thus has caused me to do reasearch about it on the net. I noticed that many Dr.'s contribute this to anxiety, stress and other factors. My question is ... why is there always an evil presence in that concious yet body is still asleep phase? Today I heard a loud static sound, and opened my eyes to a spider crawling all over my arm. When I prayed to God, or said His name (Jehovah) the spider would start to disappear. I finally went thru my mental prayer when I awoke. This leads me to believe that it is more of a spiritual occurence, because I never have positive images while in this paralized state. I know there are many things in which our ancestors thought it was demonic rather than scientific, only to find there was a scientific explanation. However, I think this is different and cannot be simply written off as "scientific". There is not enough proof to show that it is scientific.
About a month ago I had another episode of sleep paralysis and I saw a small presence in the room with me. It was dark, and I could not see it's face (I am getting chills typing about it right now). My question is, why is there always an evil presence not only associated with my episodes, but so many others I have read about? ... Abel, 24 August 2006
i was thinking it is evil who do that during night but now i find out why. I am suffering from sleep paralyze possibly every nigh spicily when i have dinar ... Salah Nasser, 28 January 2007
I used to have this sleeping disorder when I was a child. It has come back once or twice with adulthood, but otherwise, it is in the past. I used to, with great effort, move my hand to my face and pull an eye open, which would wake me up, but sometimes the struggle was too much and I would go on into a deeper sleep.
Since the brain can do this to me, can it also cause me to get migraines just as I am about to wake up?
It seems, as I have discovered, if I get less than 4 hours sleep a night, I do not get migraines. If I get 6 hours or more, it's about a 90% chance I will wake with a migraine. Later in the day, I get an hour or two nap and that is the routine as it works. Doctors just sort of treat the migraine and don't get into the sleep thing I have. I take MaxAult for the migraines when they do get me.
I woke one time, and just as I woke, I felt this white-hot needle going into my head... bingo. A migraine in 5 seconds. That is how they can occur. I wake with them otherwise. I figure it my brain doing things it shouldn't. I have a clean bill of health otherwise.
Thanks for your time. Have a good day ... Jay, 11 February 2007
I have a question, and hope someone out there has an answer, it has been months and I have thus far failed to find one. Has there ever been a record of anyone receiving the effects of sleep paralysis without having been asleep? The reason I ask this, is a while ago, having not slept in a few hours, I was sitting at my computer, and it seemed to have happened to me. Within seconds I was too tired to hold up my own head, and my breathing got very difficult. Then I began to feel a sort of dizziness as my limbs lost feeling, and dropped to my side. after this, the dizziness turned to near blindness. I could see, but nothing would focus, and everything I tried to look at seemed to dart around like a mosquito. By this time I had no feeling in my entire body, could move nothing without quite a bit of concentration, and I could barely breath. My mother heard me try and make out some kind of cry for help, and found me there spilled into my computer chair. She rolled me to my bed, and poured me into it. Within about 10-15 minutes I had regained everything I once had, but my sea legs did not ware off for another ten or so minutes. I went to the emergency soon after. I had an E.K.G. and a C.A.T. scan, with no results, and I piss less in a week then the amount of blood they took that night. After basically telling me I was lying, the doctor told me that my symptoms did not fit anything at all. What I do know, is I have been researching the issue ever since, and can only base my problem on Sleep Paralysis. All the symptoms match. And again, my question....Has there ever been a record of someone under the effects of sleep paralysis without ever having gone to sleep? I hope you can shed some sort of light on this subject, as it,...well, it freaked me the hell out, and no one has been able to answer me! Thank you for your time ... Mitchel Henderson, 7 December 2007
I used get this "evil paralysed me" feeling when i was paralysed and usually saw a ghost. i tried to shout or move but no sound escaped my mouth and couldn't move at all. it happened again yesterday and was almost convinced that ghosts/evil spirits were getting the better of me. But, me being a practical and logical guy, erjected this theory and started researching on this phenomenon. I came across this research paper on Sleep Paralysis. This greatly helped me in alleviating my fears. And next time i "see" a ghost during sleep paralyses, ill just laugh at it ;-) Thanks for the research ... Siddarth, 10 December 2007
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| This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated. |
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Comments
i've been having very strange
i've been having very strange dreams lately. usually it only happens when i'm asleep, stretched out in the back seat of the car. in my dreams i can literally hear everything everyone in the car is saying, like it's like i'm actually awake because when i actually do wake up and ask them about it they really did say or do whatever i ask them. but while i'm asleep i cant move or breathe well. and so i start to panic and ask for help but my voice wont work or it's very little so no one can hear me. i have no idea if i'm actually talking in my sleep or if i'm really trying to get someones attention. i also try to raise my hand for someone to see or to even hit the seat to alert them i need help but i just cant move. and when i realize i cant move or speak i just go into more panic and i then really can't breathe at all. what's going on? why am i doing this?
Sleep Paralysis
Years ago I was on a fishing holiday in France but had to return to the house due to the thunder storm outside. Once i got in the house, watched a bit of telly then set up to sleep on the sofa. everyone else was in the bedrooms.
Cant describe it but as I was laying there i felt like i was awake, just really tired. I heard the front door slowly squeek open, then it shut, for what seemed like a second nothing happened, but by then i was petrified and couldnt move, waited a sec then these footsteps came slowly over to me on the floor like a lady in high heels was the sound, this completly ruined me! I couldnt move, but didnt really want to, I was laying with my back towards the door and as the steps came closer i felt like my heart was pounding so hard it was shaking my whole body, plus i could hear it pounding! Then the steps stopped, but they came so close i could feel this person standing right over me, I was frozen with fear. Then to make things worse, this f.cker put its hands round my neck and shook me softly like a lympt attempt at strangling me. i still couldnt move nor did i want to. it stopped and this person walked off slowly and shut the door behind them.
I didnt move until the morning, not sure how long this was as i stayed in tha same position the whole time swetting like a pig completly awake!! i got up slowly and the sofa was soaked with swett, i am talking puddles like!!
i did not mention this to anyone else until a few weeks later back at home as i was worried they would think i was a nutter and also didnt want to scare anyone on the holiday.
Anyway, i have had similiar things happen throughout my life, mainly as a child. One i had of a youngster was i was being drilled in the stomache by a kango concrete machine and as i came around my whole body was shaking like it was vibrating! Also one of someone grabbing my feet and yanking me down the sofa!
What is it with me and sofas!!!!
Anyway, I am glad i have come across this site as i think the ones i had as a child and the odd ones i get now are just this sleep paralysis like recently opening my eyes up and a massive spider and its web right next to my face. i couldnt move but when i could i smacked the web and hid under the covers. but when i got out there was nothing there!
I can take these ones as slepp paralysis but the france experience is something that was terribly real feeling!! so and i am not convinced either way on that event.
im scared
Hi my name is lexie im 14 years of age this morning i decided to look up what was wrong with me this morning i was awake and its was like i couldnt control my body i could move open my eyes like i was paralyzed i was scared out of my life this is the first time this ever happed to me i dont wanna die and i hope i dont i could not breath i could here because hanna montana was on in scared out of my life and what i do is i force my self to move but i cant but in a few secounds later i will see and be back to my normal self can any one help me?
only outlet ill get
I kind of broke down the first time I read this, ive been having these "dreams" my whole life. I never told a soul because once when i was a kid i was describing it to my mother and she looked at me with such fright that i passed it off to her afterwards as a bad dream. After all no fault of hers she didnt know but when your mother looks at you like your odd you never mention it to anyone else, so ive lived my life thinking im a normal kid who is secretly haunted by demons. Kind of obsurd to write but i didnt know what else to think.
My demons have always been the same looking, they act differently but it usuely follows the same pattern. I usually awake on my back, occasionally on the side but usually on the back, then in the corner of the room at the foot side of my bed the creature is standing there. Sometimes i can see him sometimes hes just below my eyesight and im aware of him sometimes he hisses or breathes but i am always paralyzed at this point. It then falls down into a crawl position and i can hear it/sense it move up to just below the side of my bed. Ive never had it touch me but ive had it right in my ear hissin but its favourite is laying right next to me on the ground. I dont think i need to describe the terror that is involved in these situations, once my paralasyis wears off my biggest challenge is rolling over looking on the floor to see its not there. best way to describe him would be like that creature from the black lagoon movie a long time ago, but without the fish gills, more smooth cause its not a suite, and not as bulky.
Ive never written or spoken that, i cant stop reading ppls comments, im 25 and this article literally changed my life. Im not alone
Sleep Paralysis and Dark Entity
I've had sleep paralysis every so often since I was twelve or thirteen (currently 26). At least, that's the first time I can clearly remember trying to open my eyes, and move my limbs and it not working. But I only recently, within the last two years, even thought of looking into it and discussing it with my family. But I've never experienced the dark or ominous spirit that people speak of until just now, and it's horrible! Only, in this instance, I was dreaming of sleep paralysis, and the entity was coming towards me. It was quite disturbing and I'm keen to never experience this again. Does this shift in the phenomenon's properties have any meaning?
This is crazy stuff!
Hey im not actually sure whats wrong with me; it seems to be a mix of spiritual and this SP. the reason why im saying this is that the first time i ever experienced this was when i was driving home i kept on feeling like i was being followed by something every time i got near my house. then weeks of this happening i experienced the first time (over a year ago now) and i woke up during the night and i saw my friend sitting on the bed and asked me to follow him to the kitchen. i didnt because i questioned why he was there (in my head) cuase by then i could move. but then wen he left the room and i didnt follow i couldnt move and cudnt call out to my mom and dad (as i tried to scream)struggled to breathe. it has happened ever since.
but its different everytime once i heard someone in the garrage walking and then came in my room and i sat up saw the door move and a human figure was standing there and i put my fists up cause i thought it was someone. but then it jus faded away afta about 5 seconds. then somenights i just cant move and it seem like the SP with most symtoms from it. iv been also been sleeping next to people when ill wake up and feel something near me and swing for it until i realise nothing there. neally knocked my friends teeth out was pretty funny now that i think of it.
or ill wake up know im awake and the room just then gets darker and il be like "ahh here we go again" and then everything over again. few times this feeling has happened and when i snap out i seriously felt like crying. because i jus wanted it to stop. but whenver it happens i pray to jesus and it does go away (and im not the biggest christain out their thats for sure)
but the weird thing is every night it happens i get that weird feeling randomly during the day like sumthing is watching me and thrills just go up my body and i get paranoid. that happened again last night. but last night was different because my friend messaged me late at night wen i went to bed but i was going to read it in the morning and then half hour later ( i hadnt fallen asleep by then) but the room jus got bright as if my fone lit up then i looked and it was dark. closed my eyes (played with the feeling that was happening to see what could happen) and then i started feeling tingly in my body (more then the usaul when you get this) and i got dizzy and then again the room looked really bright but was from another angle. (which was extremely different to other experiences)
and i no im not hallucinating because i know by my own eyes what is happening because im paraniod about looking like an idiot. so im not to sure what is wrong whether its spiritual or SP or both :S
jus thought id let my story out
I'v seen it's true form
I'v been a slave to this sp for some time now and to be honest i think it is a deamonic force. Ive wokein up to my hands being heald above my head and something screaming in my ear but it did not sound human. I'v tried sleeping in the living room, from what I can remember I was being pulled off the couch, I was able to fight back. I'v had dreams to where it would take on apperences of my loved one's but it's eyes remaind red on that occasion I was able to fight it back I'v punched it's head at least three times but it still over powered me in my dream. it was at that point that I was able to find a painting of the last supper that has a light above it and I hung it on my bedroom wall. When i woke up the window was open the picture tilted to the side and the light was flickering mind you this was during winter so I closed the window then I just went back to sleep. And then this might shock you I went to sleep one night in my dream on command I was able to picture my self in a room with one matress lying on the floor I look over I can see a closet that was black and i was unable to see what was inside so I decided I'm not playing his game no more Im going to start mine, so then I said I command you to come out you BITCH. He finnaly showed him self he was all black with red eye's big sharp fang like teeth and abnormaly tall I'd say 7 foot he ran after right from the closet and picked me up slammed me into a wall and said in a very deep very dark voice.... what do you want. so i told him I WANT YOU GONE he said no so then i said FUCK you. And then at that point he let go and then I woke up. The whole time my wife was watching and listning to me she said i was shaking she also said I was growning angree and mean like. So Tonight I'm going to call him out tonight while having on a cross and this time I am going to fight him back I think out of all these years He has had no one confront him before and then I came along he's about to get that beat down becuase I am not afraid mabe that's why I'm able to hit him...... WISH ME LUCK
Sleep Paralysis
I've tried to fight back with that entity.It worked so i thought but then it came back i've learned to embrace it sometimes i get a good spirit that calms you and tells you not to be afraid then other times you get the dark entity.It's been 10 years since i started have this happen to me and my best solution is preventing it from happening.I also noticed that this usually happens to me when i fall asleep while i'm hot.So I started going to sleep with the a.c on blast and this works very well but winter time i have to jeep a fan by my bed at all times blowing in my face this helps to but sometimes i get under the covers and thats when it happens but i know when its happening and I have three ways to control it if it occurs 1.Pray to God or Jesus and repeat there names until the entity leaves.2.Try to focus on a part of your body and try move it like your hand your head,legs or your foot usually once one part of your body moves you wake up from it.3.Give in just stay calm and try not to panic pray while its goin on close your eyes you usually fall back asleep before waking up to it again but sometimes you just wake up.but i would just try if your in a hot area to just turn the a.c on before you go to sleep or if in a cool area keep a fan around you when your goin to sleep I live in Ma so i use both.Good Luck On conquering this entity
similarities
In writing this I've found similarities in our SP. And this happened to me for the first time last night. The voice I heard was from a past lover, but she was speaking evil. And in reading your account I noticed the scenario where you were on a single mattress located on the floor with the closet opened. Well...my bedroom setup is a single mattress on the floor, with my closet always opened. And the figure was female and completely dark. She was to my left squatting while holding my head close to hers so she could whisper in my ear. These cases all have their coincidences, but they are unexplainable.
SP
Ok so I had one of these episodes about 3 mornings ago, though mine started the same as everyone elses, i.e, I wake up and can't move, but with me the next thing that happened was loud buzzing and then it was like I had an epileptic fit, my body was shaking and I could feel my eyes rolling in my eyelids, I was completely conscious and knew what was happening so I don't think I have epilepsy.
I spoke to my mum who goes to a psychic circle once a week that is run by a medium, and the medium told me that this is not caused by spirit, it is simply that your conscience can leave your body while your asleep and sometimes you wake up and your conscience isn't back in your body yet and the fittting is my conscience re-entering my body so I can fully get up. It only lasted about 20 seconds and then I was fine and could get up. It had me pretty scared as I thought it was some evil spirit coming to get me, but from the sounds of things it is something that I will just have to learn to live with :)
Sleep Paralysis
I used to have these incidents once in a while were I fealt like I was going to die in my sleap while awake. I couldn't control my heartrate my mind was making me hear loud noises and dream and I couldn't move. I kept telling my hand to move in a panic desperate to wake completely. It was only once n a while but last night it seemed to last the entire night. I called my doctor and he said it was because I stopped taking Paxil too fast. I thought there was a band outside my window, and my bedroom was the livingroom. Then when I finally did wake up I realized it was silent, but I couldn't stay awake so it kept happening. Im afraid to sleap tonight, but I will say my prayers.
Sleep Paralysis
This is one of the major symptoms of narcolepsy. It's not a bad idea to go get tested at a sleep center. I just went to Jefferson Sleep Disorder Center in Philadelphia last april and was dx with Narcolepsy. I have all symptoms. After 10 years of shrinks and discussions I finally went to sleep center and now the meds keep it at bay and it's wonderful!!!
For those who are tormented and scared
Try an experiment get a bible and somehow open it and attach it to you
while you sleep like a Teddy bear cuddle it open over your heart. I can guarantee if it's open
on you, you will NOT have an SP. Prayer helps too. The demons are out tormenting
because there time is almost up.
Oh please
This is scientific, you can gaurantee no such thing.
I never experienced this
I never experienced this before until last month. I heard of it but never experienced it. I always sleep on the right side of the bed and my boyfriend on the left. I was sleeping straight on my back and fell into this state where something on left was coming close. It felt so evil that it made me go crazy. I was trying to wake my bf up by yelling and even biting him so hard but he never woke up. I was watching myself crazy in the inside but then I felt paralyzed then see myself unable to move, very stiff. I finally woke up and heard these voices, it took me a very longtime to feel like myself again. I couldn't sleep for hours after that, scared out of my mind. The next morning I asked my bf if I actually bit him, we checked his arm, there was nothing, weird cause I really felt the sensation of biting it was so real. NOw it seems like I have this OCD of wanting to sleep on the left side of the bed now, I was even arguing with my boyfriend to have the left side. One night, I felt so unsafe that I went to go sleep with my mom, I mean I'm over 20 years old and felt so vulnerable. Also, I'm really scared to sleep now, I feel like something is around me once I close my eyes. I hate this feeling...
I know what you mean
I am over thirty and if my mom lived with me after I had one of those SP episodes I would tell her to move over because I am getting in. I might even snuggle close just to feel safe. These dream states will make the bravest soldier want to crawl in bed with his mom too.
Demons
Hi I lived in a house where two people killed themselves in the 60's
and in that house I experienced all of those sleep paralysis and visions etc..
The house was demonic for sure. If you are truly suffering pray before bed Psalm 91
and the lords prayer. Call out in the name of Jesus Christ leave. Keep a bible opened up on you or under your pillow. It won't happen! I suffered in that house but the bible was the ONLY thing
to make it stop. Trust me on this it works. Look up deliverance on google and you will find some
spiritual warfare prayers to help you get free from the enemy. Good luck and godbless!
i just had one of these
i just had one of these experiences about 10 mins ago.. i was sleeping on my side facing the wall of my room and all of sudden i felt something massaging my back... it was someone..and then i heard their voice whisper something to me and i figured it was a guy i had encountered a couple weeks ago in the streets trying to offer SEX to me.. creepy old man in his 60s id say..i saw his shadow over me and tried waking up and screaming and he wouldnt let go..and i couldnt move at all!!! and i kept screaming and screaming till i woke up.. -_- pretty scary feeling :C i woke up breathing heavily 0_o second time this happens in 3 months :O hm...
SP and Exploding Head Syndrome?
Any research on the relationship between SP and Exploding Head Syndrome? I suffer from both. Interesting, too, in that I seem to be the only one, based on reading the posts, whose SP episodes do not include any sort of paranormal hallucinations. I'm merely paralyzed until I can break myself out of it, nothing else.
SP and EHS
I'm 42 and get both. Now, the EHS is more common, though, since I don't sleep on my back anymore. My SP would usually consist of nightmares where "something was approaching" (evil) but I never ended up seeing it. Sometimes, it would just be me seeing the room and feeling the same thing.
Since I don't sleep on my back anymore, what I get nowadays are freaky nightmares where I wake up, still dreaming, and see some shade, shadow or half outlined "thing" - blob, whatever - in my room. Many times I yell out loud, yes, and wake myself up, yelling. It's embarrassing. Hope this helps.
It's amazing how much
It's amazing how much information there is now...
I first started getting sleep paralysis in 2003. It was so frequent that I would get it three times a night... I ended up becoming so used to it, that when I woke up and was paralysed, I'd just go back to sleep and wait until I woke up next time and wasn't paralysed.
I was 17, and went to a neuropsychologist who didn't know anything about it either... but looked it up and told me it was the body not telling my brain it was awake.. duh.
I haven't had it for 7 years and have just started having them again. All I can do is breathe really rapidly until my partner moves me and wakes me up. If I fall straight back to sleep, I go straight back into it again... this happened about 6 or 7 times last night. I need to make sure I get up, go to the toilet or something or walk around... then go back to bed and it won't happen again that way..
So glad to see that 7 years later, there is so much more information about it!
In my opinion, every time I have had sleep paralysis, it has been in the 2 - 3 weeks after any recreational amphetamine use I have used...
One of my friends also experiences it 2 - 3 weeks after using any amphetamine recreational drug.. has this link also proven at all?!
i Just had one 5 minutes ago.
i Just had one 5 minutes ago. The scariest on i has was when i was 19 when i couldnt move and i saw someone looking down at me i was scared shitless
Sleep Paralysis
I went to sleep last night at around 1.30a.m n was woken up by 3.a.m bcoz of some heaviness i felt in my left fore arm... i woke up with a start as i realized my left arm felt like it was dead... completely numb.. like there was no blood circulation.. completely numb n after pressing it for a min with the other arm i felt a sudden rush of blood through it. i got up from the bed completely freaked out.. head to the washroom n then suddenly my room's door opened a bit... i am anyways afraid of the dark then the numbing of the hand n then the opening of the door without me touching it was enough to make me feel the presence of someone else in the room. after going back to bed i kept the lights on.. i could hear sounds in my room i could see the curtains fly (which is strange as all the windows were shut to let any wind in) then my carpet which was rolled up and supported at the other window slid sideways drawing the curtain open n suddenly fell to the floor with a thud... it may seem like a scene straight out of the movie but it all happened... n for a moment there i felt like it was someone there holding the curtains n not just the carpet.... suddenly my phone light went on for a second n off again. this cannot be sleep paralysis.. i cannot be imagining things to this extent.
Is there any logical explanation to this???
I cannot say that there is
I cannot say that there is any good physical explanation to what you are experiencing but from a logical standpoint I can safely say that you are not having a sleep disorder. It cannot be explained by science in this case. From what I've read in multiple stories about SP experiences I've been able to come to the conclusion that something spiritual is involved. You may not believe in demons but I do think that you are experiencing one at the moment. The demon is trying to torment you and ultimately overtake you and I know that the best way to overcome is to pray about it. Pray to Yahweh and look to the Bible for insight on the connection between God and man through prayer. Demons are fallen angels and are scary but they themselves are terrified of God. Let God come near to you and these demons will be overcome. I encourage that you look into the Bible once again on prayer. If you have any questions at all my e-mail is Feel free to send me a message if you ever get the chance.
checking
hello, i was on the serendip website i saw ur post to another user about demons. u said ur email was free to send messages to, i dont know how this site works if this goes to ur email or what. Hope u understand my hesitance to talk without knowing if this is in fact u.
first time to check on this
my names luke.this has happened to me bout six times since i turned 18.i wake up and cant move or talk,its so scary when i do come out of it i cry.ive only told two people.i just decided to look on internet to see wat it is.im glad im not alone.i never had heard or seen things,my body felt like it was getn a light electricity though.but fear so bad im tearing up now thinkn bout it.i live in louisiana.someone tell me wat it is please.im 21.
It not just normal SP but more than that!
hi i just amazed by the number of people experiencing the same thing as i do. It happened several time now. The last time is about two days ago. while i was taking a nap. And suddenly it happen. But mine is quite different. Before that thing happen i already awake and i still can move my body but suddenly after a while a buzzing sound started to appear and after that i became completely paralyzed. But the weird thng is, I am fully awake at all time. My eyes are totally open and i fully aware of the situation. I just said " there we go again" The same thing happen to me again. So after that i start praying to God to deliver me. I tried so say a prayer but my mouth completely shut. It took me several minutes before i can really say a word. But as it say it, the SP just gone just like that. I dont have any breathing difficulty nor seeing something weird and scary now. But thig are different before. It started to happen when i move into a new room in my campus just a few month ago. On the first day i move it started to happen. The first and the second time is the most severe but after that i just relax when it happen. In my first experience, i did saw somthing bizarre. I saw a dark figure standing by the door and suddenly like surround me after that i started to became paralyzed. Then i prayed after that it gone. But you what i told my friend that morning and the next day he also experience the very same THING! Weird! He told me and i couldnt believe either but one question remain if it really just sleep disorder does it contagious too? the i also did heard a voice but lately when i experience it i just relax and pretend nothing happen. Now i want to ask, why does it only happen after i moved to a new room? why does after i told my friend about it, he also experience the same thing? Then why after i prayed it stop happening? Why i am totally aware of surrounding when it happen? (I can even look at the clock on the wall as it happen). One conclusion i can make from all this. This is something more that SP could explain. I think it must be 'somthing else' which beyond our logic could comprehend...
hey I think that you're issue
hey I think that you're issue is something much more than a simple sleep disorder. I have read over many differing stories of other peoples experiences and have come to conclusions that spiritual forces are involved. Prayer is affective in these situations because God will act against demonic presences which you are probably experiencing. I encourage you to look into reading the Bible on the subject of prayer and its connection to God. Prayer gives anyone who is willing to know God, a direct line of communication with God. Demons are scary and they can do scary things but they themselves are terrified of God and likewise run when a person calls on God's name. You don't have to take my advice but I recommend looking to God through the Bible and prayer. My e-mail is if you have any questions. Feel free to ask any question at all or we could simply talk about it.
It gets freaky when someone
It gets freaky when someone calls your name waking you up and you find yourself unable to move or talk no matter how hard you try. Its most terrifying when the person calling your name is someone you know and can recognize. My guess is your subconscience and conscience minds are working together at the same time. You are awake and fully aware but still asleep and able to dream.
Story of my friend
After having several cases of sp i remember my friend telling me about his outrageous stories and i never believed him. He would tell me about this dark figure hovering over him. He told me it all started when he opened his door after hearing it trying to open. Ever since that, he has these moments when he is asleep and then he is awake but can't move his body and he just watches as his family members watch him sleep, hoping that they will touch him so he can move again. After hearing this, i just believed it was sp, but he told me that one incident after having the feeling of being pushed down he was sometimes on the floor and one time he had ropeburn like marks on his wrists and ankles...It was really freaky and i started to doubt that it was merely sp and that it dealt with a spirit of some sort.
hi all, i didnt think this
hi all, i didnt think this would happen to so many ppl..to all who do not believe in evil spirits..this is exactly what it is..these spirts will try to still your souls if you dont fight it..ever heard of cases where ppl die in their sleep? matrix? exactly. best advice is to move your toes and feet..fingers..these limb are hard for the demons to control. keep moving ur feet and u will wake up. there are ways to scare these spirits away ..you need to seek a shaman...i heard there are fruits of some sort that you place near your bed that will help..best of luck to you all..stay strong!
WHY IS IT HERE?
I go to sleep and wake and i cant move i've experience this at least 20 times i've counted and i never feel my nose breathing and i never seen anything yet but i still cant move and hear things around me its scary but i have to live with it
OMG!!! I totally freaked on one night!!
last week I was sleeping when I awoke suddenly and I felt like I was being watched I opened my eyes and there floating above me was an iridescent....something like a creepy old man smiling in a hooded outfit.LOL!! he looked like igor from young frankenstein now that I think of it...anyhoo... I closed my eyes and can you believe the imprint of his image as in my eyeballs as if he was lite and so I opened my eyes really fast and I thought...WWWWTTTTFFFF???......and he turned his head sideways as if to say what you don't believe me? I grabbed the blanket covered my eyes and called out to my boyfriend who promptly woke up,looked up and grabbed me...he said do you see that? he saw it too....unreal!! Also I have 3 Chihuahuas that will sit and stare at a corner of the bedroom for hours with their heads going sideways one way then another as if they hear a most intriguing noise....aannddd my cellphone would literally fly off the dresser top and out the bedroom door into the hall in front of me....it finally broke...Now that I know what we were all experiancing...LOL!! what a relief cause I thought I was losing my mind....
Dont buy lies, when you have the TRUETH
When do you buy all these lies about what whens to you when you are a sleep? number one facts if you doubt your self concering what you was, your boyfiend was it too, on this website others have tell of what they have seen, could so many people be going mad in the same direction of see things or hearing things while half asleep? some even not asleep, i can tell you this cause i have been have these for 20years so i know what i am saying, thse hapenings have nothing to do with sleep paralysis, what is happen has to do with DEMONS but not many people are will to tell the truth, i can say this cause i went in deep to get answers, At age 10 or 11 was i started to fell them touching me on my legs like a massage when i told my mother that someone or some thing keep touching me see didnt understand or may be dont beleive me then(she does now, listen DEMONS are real and they are not nice or a good spirt they come only but to torment you. JESUS alone can help you, he has for me, now when they try me i call upon JESUS, because they will come cause they are nothing but evil and evil is evil they cant be nothing esle, please take the time out to kow the trueth and dont just buy any answers when you know what your eyse was, if someone had told you you wouldnt have beleive but you was it for your self so why buy lies for an answer?
I agree as well. Anything
I agree as well. Anything that people don't understand, they have to put some type of label on it and what better than to say that it's all scientific! Pish Tosh! Spirits are very real and I truly believe that at some point and time, we've all experienced them, even these "scientists". Any age, race, gender, as well as animals are not exempt when it comes to contact. I've been experiencing this sleep phenomenon eversince my mother passed when I was 14. Now I'm 34 and they're coming more frequently. However, at one point it had gotten so bad to where I'd be afraid to even lay down for just a nap. But then I learned to deal with it. Instead of trying to fight against it, I now go with it and maintain calm breathing. So I started going to sleep either on my stomach or side because on my back is where I felt the suffocation and the most afraid. Like you, I've experienced the left over impressions of them tickling my sides. When I awaken, I still feel where I was touched. I know I'm not going crazy and I'm glad I'm not alone with this. Although there have been some instances where people have seen their spirits, they won't allow me to. Meaning there have been a few times when I would be asleep on my side and I've felt the presence lingering behind me. When I went to try and turn over to see, it kept pushing me forward so I couldn't see it and I thought that was the weirdest thing. Also, now that I have children, it has been passed on to my oldest daughter who's now 9. She had her first experience at the age of 2. She didn't have the sleep thing, but she saw the demon in the corner of the room by the closet. I woke up to a serious loud cry like she'd been scared out of her mind. I tried to lay her back down where she was before, she almost knocked me over trying to get away from that area. She still sees things and I try to help her through it as best I can. Lastly, this whole experience goes even deeper than just sleep for me. I've seen the faces of demons on people and boy that is not something I wish for anyone to beable to see. It's the scariest thing ever. I've seen shadows throughout the house, heard knocking on the door, lights flickering, had a demon voice to tell me to "Get Out!" at the old house I was living in while in Georgia and my male friend heard it too. I've had spirits to go through my body into the back of the couch. It's crazy, but it's my reality and can't no scientist explain it with a scientific melanonin theory.
demons
Hello anetta, I am a lot more
Aware of what I have gone through
Because the other night something
Lifted my legs when I was asleep
And tonight I slept with my window
Open when it was very foggy outside
And in my lakota culture sleeping
With a window open is bad, anyway
I was fully asleep when I dreamed
Of a man who came from the devil
And he was standing outside my
House window waiting for me and
When I tried to wake myself he
Wasn't letting me so I tried rolling
My body around I couldn't move,
So now I'm awake here at home and
I'm scared to go back to sleep.
I burned some sage and prayed for
Protection and asked him to leave
Away from here. Its quite disturbing. I
Just found myself as one of gods
Soldiers and maybe this is why
Deamons are trying to scare me.
A Form of Sleep Paralysis
I'm pretty sure I have a form of Sleep Paralysis. It has been happening in the past few years. It never used to occur as much as it does now, it occured only occasionally. But lately throughout the past few months it's been happening almost everytime I take a nap, but never during a nights sleep. I feel like my mind is awake but my body is asleep including my eyes. When this state of sleep comes, all I can do is make a faint wimpering sound in the hopes of my roommate hearing me and trying to wake me up. To wake myself up I have to jult myself but I feel paralyzed trying to do so. I have never experienced or seen any evil spirits or felt anything holding my body down. Can someone help me figure this out?
same problem
I have exactly the same problem you have. Its been going on for years, I think it started when I was about 13.Fortunately for me mine do not come with any wierd noises or "visions",but I had an aunt who was always complaining of demonic attacks where she could see the demons enter the room and sit on her chest.This always led her to accuse a lot of people around her of being witches. Though I believe in demons I am more inclined to go with the scientific explanation for the episodes,which also happens to coincide with the explanation my mum gave me years ago: your mind is awake but your body is still asleep. When I started experiencing it,i would always try to call God's name Jehovah until I could move again,but as time passed I realised that even without any spiritual help it always passed in less than half a minute, convincing me that it has nothing to do with demonic attacks. Like you too it only happens to me when I nap in the afternoon, in fact an episode yesterday afternoon made me google it. I've decided to just learn to control my panic and go back to sleep if possible though that is easier said than done.
sleep paralysis
i have experienced the same, my body asleep but mind awake. its pretty scary. when i do finally wake up with body able to move as well im scared out my mind and i even cry sometimes cause i never new what was wrong. but i also dont experience no evil spirits see ghost or anything like that. i try everything i got to move, kick or scream but nothing ever happens. i feel like im screaming but must not be cause my boyfriend hasnt said anything about it yet. it use to happen to me every night but then it went away for a while and now its doing it again. im glad i looked it up so now i can understand a little about it and that im not the only one experienceing it. thanks
SP
I've been meaning to do research on this for a while, but I always forget about it the next day. Last night however, I had the most intense sleep paralysis I've ever had, which caused me to Google it this morning. I happened to be watching The Exorcist, which I think may have contributed to the evil hallucinations I experienced. I turned it off when I was tired but as I was falling into my sleep state, I would hear a buzz, which would wake me up again, and this happened a few times. I also heard other noises, like people shuffling and moving around in my flat. I've never experienced SP more than once in a night, but last night it happened every time I fell asleep. I saw and heard a number of different things, from people breaking into my flat, to a darkly dressed Asian guy standing over me and watching me while I lay there, unable to move. When I snapped out of it, I was looking at my towel hanging on the cupboard door. When I sleep on my back I can guarantee that it'll happen, so I avoid that at all costs. But last night I was extremely tired, which I've read can also cause it. It also happened to me at work, I felt like my boss was watching me sleep but when I pulled myself out of it I was alone in my studio. But it made me think, what if he had come in and I was paralyzed.. He would probably think I was a complete mental case. Anyway I'm just glad I'm not alone on this, nice to read everyone's experiences. Next time it happens I plan on embracing it and seeing if I can be a bit more relaxed and in control of the experience. Thanks to all..
Not Asleep
I'm just an ordinary scottish woman & I honestly thought I was crazy when this happens to me when I sleep... It's been happening to me since I was a child.
I just found this by accident on the net & I don't think calling it just
"Sleep Paralysis" because Iam NOT asleep when this happens to me...my brain is fully awake and I know it is Satanic of some sorts I know I feel a buzzing taking over my entire body then I feel scared as if somebody is trying to take me away...
I also feel as if something is attacking me and I hear... like laughing it is by far the most "Real" thing & NOT sleeping...
Can anyone help me to understand what exactly is happening to me???
This sounds exactly what
This sounds exactly what happens to me, I've never seen anything like other people seem to experience
But that buzzing taking over my body is the perfect way to describe it and I feel like someone is trying to take me. I try to stop it by trying to move my hand or scream, it rarely works.
Actually just been woken by this now, happened 3 times with in the space of an hour and now I feel to scared to try go back to sleep.
I know this has been happening to me since I little, I'm 25 now. I just wish I could stop it or at least understand it.
What worries me more is that I'm pretty sure my 2 year old daughter has started to experience it.
If anyone could offer any advice or explain more about this to me, I'd be very grateful.
WTF is going on with me?
Is there any way to explain why I am almost fully aware in my dreams to the point I can wake myself if it gets to intense? I also wake up almost every night still dreaming for up to 30 seconds and then like everyone else I have a really creepy feeling like a ghost or evil spirit is near even if it wasn't a dream about that because usually it's I wake up and I'm in bed but I still feel like I'm on a crashing plane (it's very intense to the point I hear others and see the ground coming closer and closer from out the window and I feel major turbulence yet I'm almost subconsciously aware that I'm in my bed) and I'm able to pull myself out quite quickly before impact. Another dream I have on a regular basis is running from a tall black man (the same one every dream whom I've never seen) and he is trying to shoot me and I always come to a dead end and know he is about to find me and he always does and he shoots me in my head and I actually can feel the pressure of the impact. I don't know what will stop these I'm going to try and monitor what time I wake up from the what I call "terrors" and I'm going to have someone wake me up before that time to see if it will interrupt the terrors.
I have experienced sp several
I have experienced sp several times even up to five times a night and it is really creepy. It only happens occasionally, i pray everytime it happens and i start moving again, but then it happens almost 5 minutes later. The weird thing is, is that when I turn my lights on and leave them on after being frightened, the sp stops.
Sp
This has happened at least two times to me, maybe more but I've probably discounted them as being regular dreams the ones I won't forget or can't discard are the scary ones, the ones that you know you're awake, that feel like something is holding you down with unexplainable (until now. maybe) sounds, mine have been growling right in my ear, hell I can almost picture the doberman it's that vivid, but I've never seen anything. I will try to move, try to scream but nothing works at best I think I can muscle a pathetic whimper with what feels like the fight of my life but I don't know if its audible on the outside, I do believe in God so I also believe in the devil and demons so I'll concentrate really hard on Gods name, Jehovah, and try to speak it. it always takes a couple times of trying but I can usually start regaining movement and voice slowly .If this is strictly a body malfunction thing maybe repeating Gods name has a relaxing effect which helps me out of it and if it is something more spiritual I know Gods name has authority there.
well spoken
you have spoken well about God and him helping you what you are experenceing is most certaingly demons, they are so real just that most people hate the trueth but if you get closer to God he will give you deeper insight on what is going on, he has for me, put your heart in him your whole heart and see the resolt. GOD BE WITH YOU!
now i know im not crazy
I wake up can't move or talk and I always see this black hand in front of me. At frist I pay it no mind but then it keeps happening. Then one nite my girl seeps over and I get up and get ready to go to school like every morning and I tell her I'm going see u when I get back and turn off the light and the same thing happens to her but it never happend till she slept over so give me a answer. To that one because I would love to know
This issue of a black hand is
This issue of a black hand is not simply a dream or sleep paralysis of some sort. I think that you are facing demonic activity in which case the presence of the demon is in your house. Your girlfriend experienced it when she stayed in the same place. I encourage you to look to God through prayer and seek out information on the power of prayer in the Bible. Demons are scared of God and they will flee his presence so I encourage that you guys look into speaking with God on the subject. I encourage research into the Bible on God's power and his existence. You don't have to take my advice of course but I definitely know that looking to God would be worth it. If you have any questions at all my e-mail is Feel free to ask or comment on anything that you like and I'll try my best to answer any questions you may have.
Sleep Paralysis.
For the past few years I've had 1-2 a month of being unable to breathe whilst sleeping on my back, it only ever happens if I'm Extremely Tired or I have an ailment where my nose is blocked and I have to breathe through mu mouth. I am asleep and unable to wake up, though whilst sleeping I am also aware of my breathing difficulties and I make noises in my sleep to attract the attention of my wife who duely wakes me up and out of my sleep paralysis. My heart beats like 100 beats to the minute when I do finally get woken up and I can remember everything about my experience. Recently my wife was out in the afternoon and I felt tired and unwell and again experienced this event, there was someone in the house who heard me making noises but they did not know why and did not want to intrude on my privacy, it seemed to last for 10-15 minutes and I knew I was choking in my sleep and just as I was about to give in to this encounter and accept I cannot wake up I managed to wake myself up, this is only the second time I've managed to do this, as on all other occasions either my wife wakes me up or I wake someone else up in the house with the noise I am making whilst experiencing this event. Maybe it's my throat muscles closing and restricting the oxygen, I don't know, all I know is it's not a nice experience and I very rarely sleep on my back, unless I cannot get to sleep. Thanks for listening to my experience. David.
CPAP Machine and Sleep paralysis
I had Sleep paralysis at a very young age and still have them occasionally. I believe the symptoms occur when stress and lack of sleep prevents you from getting a good nights rest. Five years ago, I was diagnose of having severe sleep apnea and just started to use the CPAP machine again after not using it for four years. I felt better for a few weeks and started to exercise by walking 2 miles every day to lose weight. Just recently, I had an episode while using the CPAP machine that I went into a deep sleep paralysis and cannot move and breathing became very difficult. I started to panic that I'm going to die in my sleep but cannot snap out of it until my partner heard me mowning. Even with the CPAP machine on it didn't help me. I was terrified and was wondering if anyone has gone through what I just did.