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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 have not experienced your
I have not experienced your particular situation with the machine, but I'm well aware of the frightening sleep experience. Too, I hate to say this, but see, even machines can't help what is happening to us. This isn't something that can be scientifically corrected. So what if they come up with all of these big words and all types of brain chemicals that release and shut off at certain times, we'll still experience it no matter what. I mean you've just proven that. I wish there was a better explaination, but there isn't and because there isn't, scientists feel that they have to put it in some type of category with brain and muscle malfunctions. Who wants to hear about that? Well, I do hope that you are able to find your answer and if not, you may have to just do like I had to learn to do and that's to accept it as part of your reality. I don't know if you believe in God, Jehovah, Allah, etc. but he's also a great cure for whenever those times arise. I wish you well and good rest.
crazy
Yes this has been happening to me. at least every month I get a sput of it where it happens every nite at least for a week or two. its the scariest thing. I try to fight going back to sleep becuz im so tramautized from it. Im wondering is there something the doc can give u to control this or what?I dontconsider mine to be evil spirit I totaly believe in God I have none of those evil feelings, when Im in that state Im usually aware of whats going on around me Im just unable to move, or speak.I try to break it by staying calm and trying to get my brain to wake up but its so hard and it gets even scary when ur heart rate goes up becuz i begin to panic.when this first happened to me in my teenage yrs I was sleeping with an heating pad and thougt I was being electracuted but as it continued to accur I see that wasnt it, I have been having them for the last couple of days now so I decided to research this and now I know, its still scary and many questions I have but at least I know im not crazy its just the way my sleep cycle is going and reacting. is there any cure for this?
I'm glad I'm not alone
Wow. I was just googling what it meant when you dream about ghosts and I came across the term 'sleep paralysis.' Wondering what that was I goggled it and am glad that what I've been experiencing can be explained.
I'm 17 and have been experiencing SP for a few years though me experiences have been slightly different from you guys. My furthest recollection of SP was when I was 15. I was sleeping when I suddenly woke up and found that I couldn't move my body. I automatically assumed it was a ghost (I live in Hawaii and some Hawaiian ghosts are known to 'choke' people or extert a lot of pressure on the body). And occurances like that have been occuring frequently.
However, my experiences have been changing. A few weeks ago I was sleeping in bed facing my room when I felt something in the room with me. I tried moving my body but I felt really heavy and couldn't breathe, but for some reason I could move my eyes.. When I opened my eyes, I did not see a dark, shadowy figure; instead I saw a woman all in white staring at me, though I couldn't see her face. My dad told me he woke up deathly afraid and saw a woman dressed in white watching him so I assumed it was her. Using all my strength I covered my body with my blanket and woke up, to scared to move.
My most recent SP moment occured last night. This time I was facing the wall when I got really heavy. However, I couldn't even open my eyes this time and the presence behind began whispering my name. I was utterly afraid but managed to fall back asleep but I was awoken by the presence saying my name. This went on a few times before the presence said my name in a loud whisper causing me to wake up. That incident felt more like a dream than my past experiences so I'm in doubt about that one.
Happy that this can be explained scientifically cause I ain't religious.
The Same Hallucination?
You don't have to be religious to know what you saw, especially if your father witnessed the same exact thing. Whether you believe or not, spirits are very real, otherwise why become afraid if you didn't think they were. Not only that, but could you kindly tell me how scientists would beable to explain the same "hallucinations" that you and your father had with their "scientific theories", besides their predictable excuses of you experiencing it because your father told you about it? They only create these explainations to soothe and comfort those who must have an answer of some sort to something when they themselves (scientists) really don't know the true answer. Where's the proof of their theories? Did they explain that they ran some tests on people? How do they know what people see and what they don't see if they don't believe in spirits themselves. So in actuality, wouldn't you say that they're really biased in their theories?
I'm not sure if this is what happened to me...
I'm not sure if this is what happened to me, I mean, it did. But I do not believe it was something of science. I was dreaming about a man who lived in my apartment unit. I wasnt physically in the dream, it was more like I was watching. He was facing away from me, so I couldn't see his face. And I hear two women talking about this man (in the background) saying "he would just stand and stare at people". And right then is when I woke up and went into this "paralysis" I didn't see anyone..... No ghost, nothing. But I FELT it. It felt like someone was sitting on my body and choking me. I tried to scream for my sister in the other room but the words couldn't come. As if someone was covering my mouth. My 9 month old son must have felt what was going on, too. Because right then he woke up and started crying. This lasted for a long time. I feel as though a ghost or an entity is following me, and has nothing to do with my apartment unit and the dream was just a dream. Because, within the weeks before that happened, while taking naps with my son I would go into this state (not as deep) and I would hear my front door open, then my bedroom door open, and someone who I thought to be my boyfriend layed down beside me and put their arms around me. Minutes later, I would wake up and nobody would be there. That night he attacked me, and I don't know why. He used to cuddle me, now he is choking me. Do you think it's what scientists call "sleep paralysis", or do you believe it's something more?
Have you ever thought to ask
Have you ever thought to ask your landlord about the history and the last tenants of the apartment? I mean it may not be much, but then again it could be a great help. Sometimes spirits can linger, especially negative ones. Also, have you ever experienced anything like that during the times you weren't asleep? I know for myself, it goes beyond my dreams. I knew that coming into this apartment I live in now, a few negative spirits would linger because of the history of the apartment complex in itself; very bad area. However, nothing crazy has happened, thank God, but me and my daughter (she's 9 now) have experienced a few things: knocking on the doors, glimpses of moving and still shadows, and the entering of a presence in the room. My daughter had her first non sleeping experience at the age of 2 and it was very frightening for her! But now we've learned to cope and I help her deal with it as much as I can, so she won't be as afraid. Well I pray that all works out for you and that you're able to find some answers.
The best thing to do during
The best thing to do during SP is just relax, and observe with no fear or judgement. Then imagine your body to be lighter than a feather and you can float out of your paralysed state. When this happens I either snap out of it and wake up, or maintain the state for a while and have a lucid dream (some might call it an OBE) which is an amazing feeling! All the "evil" and negative hallucinations are only brought on by the anxious state of mind you have when you are not comfortable with being paralysed.
I agree with you 100% it
I agree with you 100% it seems that everytime im close my eyes to go to sleep i seem to start to fall into the state. My body starts to tingle, i hear alot of noises like as if im in a train station or sumthing and i start feel really light. This has been happening to me alot lately and i learned to jus relax and fly or float (cuz thats what it feels like) i was really scared and nervous about jus relaxing becuz it felt strange and unatural but im glad im did. When i first started experiencing SP it was a uncomfortable feeling now it is more of a uplifting/relaxing experience. If it helps prey before and while your experince it will help you relax and feel safe :)
my first sleep paralysis
This is just crazy. One of my friends told me about a sleep paralysis episode he had and I thought it was total bullshit. I couldn't fathom being awake but unable to move and i just wrote it off as a bad dream. But for some reason, years later, I was thinking about this sleep paralysis phenomenon before I went to sleep probably because I was missing my friend.
The next thing I know I'm "awake" lying on my stomach with my face halfway pressed into my pillow and having trouble breathing. When I looked to the door there was a misty black fog in front of the door. On the floor there was a big black rat that was about the size of chicken, and it was illuminated by the light under the door. The hair on it's back was tall and jagged, like a the hairstyle of an amine character. I recognized the mist from a previous dream when it tried to suck out my soul and I was confused because I though I was still asleep. But I've had plenty of lucid dreams before and could always come out of them if I got too scared, or I could control them by willing the scary things away or transforming them into good things. It didn't work, and neither did willing my body to move, and then I was trying to thrash and scream to my boyfriend but I could only make pathetic whimpering sounds. I was really more worried about suffocating than the craziness going on by the door. After what felt like forever but was maybe only 30 seconds, I got my leg free and gave my boyfriend a kick which woke him up and then he kind of pulled me out of it and saved me.
Anyways, this information been extremely interesting and helpful, I feel better now that I know what I can do if it happens again. Thanks to everyone for the great posts:)
wow.. this has happened to me
wow.. this has happened to me several times.. it has not happened in awhile..but when it does it is very scary. I too thought it was some evil spirit. The scientific aspect kinda makes sense but not totally convinced. just glad to know im not the only one..
My experience of dark figure person
This morning, I experienced sleep paralysis after my husband left for work. He always kisses my goodbye and I usually fall back to sleep. Ironically, moments or even hours later (not quite sure) but i think he is walking back in the room. So I say "babe is that you" and I realize that it is not. Because I never hear him and of course he did not walk back into the room. However, i learn that I am being held to the bed with full force by a dark figure shadow that has a black cape on. I get chills just writing this. I am a very spiritual person but I also suffer from headaches such as migraines. I heard this may be a contributing factor to this phenomenon. This whole week I have been getting them right before bedtime so i take Tylenol PM to sleep. I am wondering if this has anything to do with the crazy person next holding me down onto my bed?
I had one like that
I had an experience like that, My husband leaves real early in the morning and one morning I look up and I see a hooded shadow standing at the door of my room, I struggle to get out of bed because of my kids in the next room, as soon as I manage to get on my feet he runs up to me and knocks me back down. I manage to get to him and I crawl over him and grab his jacket and start dragging him to the dinning room widow so I can see who it is and before I can uncover his face I am awake in my bed like nothing happened. That was my second experience with a shadow figure. I haven't seen another one and I hope I don't see another one. I know I have wondered if someone was breaking in over the years and knocking me out and then putting me back in my bed. If so then he is a pretty busy person having all you guys houses to visit too ha ha. I am just so glad I can call out to Jesus for protection.
I've had sleep paralysis for a few years, uncountable times.
I have had this happen to me SO many times, I cannot even count. The very first time, it was very tiny, I thought I was having a heart attack, I just felt wrong, it only lasted about 10 seconds but as of never having it before and being about 13 I thought I was dying and as soon as I could move I ran to my dad and told him, but really, what could he do? I was fine when I "awoke". Over the years though it progressed got worse and worse to the point I could hear, touch, and feel things that weren't "really" there. My body would be paralyzed and I could hear whispers, I could feel the breath of it on my ear and hear, I couldn't understand it, it DID sound like some type of fucked up growling that I could make no sense of, and then I would start to feel things touch me. I could feel something tickling me and I could not move or break free, sometimes I would feel pain all down my back. And as fucked up as this sounds... I have felt as if I've been, basically raped in these states..fucked up I know... but I'm serious. I can always move my body but BARELY... and I can always open my eyes. I see different things every time, hear different things every time, and FEEL different things every time. I was so used of SP that I would screw around with it and some times I could make it do what I wanted, see things I wanted to, I wasn't really scared of it anymore. It was more annoying than scary, because I was so tired, and every time I Got out of it I would try to fall asleep again and fall right back into it. When I am in that state, moving does not break me free from it. and I have never had anyone else touch me when this has happened so... I can make noises, my mom heard me once but I always broke from it myself before she could do anything. For me, to break free from of it, I compare it to this- imagine your physical body, trying to lift up a weight, thats way too fucking heavy for you, but you HAVE to lift it up. So you just keep trying and trying even though it's just so god damn hard and FINALLY you get it up, just a cm off the floor. That's what it's like... but instead of physical, its mental. I have to think and try SOOOO hard and I can't always break free instantly. Some times I have been stuck for quite a while, and I have not gotten any better at it. I try so hard sometimes that when I do "break free and awake" I scream someone in my houses name, they come to me of course, but what am i suppose to tell them. I bet I could lay there forever if I never tried. And that is what I've done some times..... and it's like my whole brain... I can feel it vibrating and I can hear a loud buzz, plus all the other things that SP gives you. I have NEVER just fallen out of it though, except for the first time. I have to try very hard. I also would "wake up" and my heart would be beating so fast, etc. Even though I wasn't necessarily scared of them anymore. My sleep paralysis seemed to have been more active when I indugled in a little alcohol or medication, but there have been many times when it didn't seem to be triggered and it would still happen. It doesn't happen to me as often but I know it will. The very last time was a very odd one... I almost didn't even think it was SP but what else could have it been? Usually SP, the general feeling as if something "evil"is present, it's "Scary", etc. But I "awoke", could not move, I could feel something in my lower stomach pounding and it fucking hurt, like something was about to explode. The throbbing pain just got worse and worse and I couldnt move, I didnt feel the SP "presence" so I thought something was truly wrong, my stomach did hurt when I was actually awake earlier that day, however I couldn't move at all. I was trying to call for my mom but could not. Finally the pain got so bad it "exploded"... I was scared shitless when I felt this, I thought my apendix had gone or something. But, instead of feel bad... the "explosion" brought on one of the best feelings I have ever felt... as soon as it happened,it was as if my body was an empty shell and it was quickly being filled up with warm water and I felt SOOO happy I could not even explain, I have never felt so content, part of my mind was saying "fuck! what's wrong, I need to get my mom I think I'm dying",but the other part was... if death feels like this... let it have me. I felt as if I could flow into the universe, just the warm fluent feling, and no I did not pee myself, and no it didn't feel like an orgasm. It didn't last too long.. I think,then BAM I woke up and I found myself screaming without even knowing "MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and she ran into the room and I told her I thought something was wrong with my stomach/apendix, whatever, but...nope. I was completely "fine" again. I wasn't dying. Anyways, that's the last time it happened and that was about a month ago. I just think it was an unusual SP which I think it was... cause I don't know what else it could have been. Just so weird cause I didn't feel uncomfortable this time, just sooo comfortable. I'm 19 now, 20 in a month so I guess I'll see how SP affects me in the future, or what I can learn about it. And I'm a girl, so it doesn't matter gender. It's very interesting,I heard it may have something to do with dmt?I think that's it..not sure. Or the pineal gland,the "third eye". Anyways, any insight or anything, do tell. Bye.
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 keep a fan by my bed at all times blowing in my face this helps to but sometimes i get under the covers and i get hot 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 IN JESUS NAME I COMMAND YOU TO LEAVE 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 or toes 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 to use an a.c or a fan make sure the room is cool or you have some type of cool air blowing in your face while sleeping this prevents this from occuring for me idk how i noticed it but i realized this about 5 years ago it first happened to me 10 years ago when i was 13 now i just try to sleep in a cool room or have cool air blowing on me and it almost never happenes unless i fall asleep hot!Good luck hopefully I can help some of you I really believe heat has something to do with this maybe I might spark some type of cure for this!
during paralysis
hey people i've been experiencing sleep paralysis for almost 5 years now , mostly it happens to me when i go to sleep thirsty, it may explain things scientifically bt i also experienced physical hallucinations and this artical doesnt explain any physical hallucinations.
but struggling from sleep paralysis all these years i learned how to break it , when i wake up paralysed i just close my eyes again ASAP and try to wake up again sometime it works sometimes doesnt it puts lots of pressure on the brain though. this artical helped a lot though , thanks.
Sleep Paralysis
Hi everyone
Just had another experience, has left me not wanting to go back to sleep! I feel traumatized! The experiences I have are so real they leave me shaken. I have know idea if they are spiritual encounters or brain activity! Who can say! All I know is they feel real and leave me shaken for hours after...These episodes have been happening for years but just recently have been occurring more and more! This one has just happened through the day!! My first day time experience! I was feeling alittle tried so lay on my bed with my cat and nodded off. I had set my phone alarm as had to go out so set it at 2.40pm this was about 1.00pm. The next thing I knew was my phone was beeping, I had received a text message. I tried to move and answer it but I was paralized, couldnt move a finger....here we go again I thought...Im totally aware Im awake...totally aware whats happening...but just cant move my body...phones still beeping, which it does continuosly til I pick it up!!! Here we go I thought...I hear someone entering the house..my daughter I think to myself, no shes at school, my sister she has a key yes it must be her...here come the footsteps...the bedroom door opens...I try with all my might to move, roll, make a sound, but nothing...the door closes the footsteps fade away a car pulls away outside...gone...I continue to concentrate on waking up, or moving, I am awake!! I feel my cat against my leg,I can move my leg slightly I rub it against her. Then she goes, I see an arm infront of my face, im freaking out, I feel pressure on my back as someone is laying or kneeling on me...all the time my phone is beeping...im biting this arm as hard as i can...i can feel flesh between my teeth...then pain as the person starts to bite the bottom of my back hard...it hurts i can feel the pain...its real...i get a grip i relax...my fingers crawl towards my phone...i flip it open...i take several minutes to come to my senses...I look at the time the message came through 1.31pm i look at the time now 2.38pm an hour and 7 minutes...i was exhausted...I managed to get myself out of this state 2 minutes before my alarm was set to go off...I examine my back,thank god no teeth marks but the area is red and it still hurts...i can still feel the pain...my legs are shaking i go have a cupa...i sit and contemplate...paranormal.. abnormal brain activity...i just dont know...all i can say is im awake and its real...I have had worse experiences where ive been laying next to a dead person and again its my phone that is beeping with a message that makes me know im awake!! one thing that does help me, is not to panic, just know it cant hurt you, even though it can feel like it is, relax into your body, dont fight against yourself, this i find helps me to move! I was wondering how many people who have these experiences believe in spirits????
Thankyou for this
Haha, I had this dream for the first time today - at the age of 20. A family of girls at my church went through this - and still do at times. I told them it was merely a mental issue that starts this
Did NOT know it was that scary/real/intense until now. But its comforting knowing there are others out there going through the same thing (regrettably)
Only problem now is, I've read all your dreams...and now I hope I'm not influenced by them =D
sp
I'm 15, and the first time I experienced sp was just 3 days ago. I didn't know what was happening then, all I knew was that I was awake and couldn't move. I could see my tv on, I was watching mash. All I could hear was a sinister laugh just out of eyesight right beside me. I tried screaming and nothing came out, just a whoosh of air. I tried rolling out of my bed, and that's when I got out of sp. I learned the name sleep paralysis from a friend on xbox who I talked to about it, and oddly, he has experienced sleep paralysis too.
this happened last night
I was laying on my back and was partially awake then I feel this heavy weight on my chest and a burning sensation and I couldn't move or breath and just as I felt I had no air left it let up. I felt really scared & my moms told me there is a spirit in the house but not of evil. I was not asleep..no dream still pretty much awake when this happened. Anyone have any idea?
playing with sp
i posted this 20mins after my SP. before my sp happened i was already dreaming.. after that dream, SP begin to start. at first i see kids talking about me. then i felt something that if i let myself drown to SP i will end up dream state again with no SP, so i decided to wake up by moving some shoulders, hands, head and toes at the same time and just took me about 30sec SP. still, i feel sleepy.. this time i sleep going directly to SP state and decided to play with it. i feel i can move just my hand and arms but it was transparent. creating immagination, i popped out a coin in my hand (which is also transparent) like i played a magic in my room. it was fun because there was no sound and only one disturbing long black hair facing back sitting on my left and i just ignored it coz i feel that thing came up with my conscious. next time ill try to pop out some hot chicks :D
i thought i was going crazy. im only 15.
ahhh, jeez it feels good to know that im not cmpletely nuts. im 15 years old and this has been happening to me since i was about 10., i would always see a dark figure like presence,or hear people walking around. a few weeks ago, it happened again. i was sleeping ndd happened to glance around the room, and there was this dark like figure,it seemed a little taller then a child. it kinda looked like it was wearing clothes but i couldnt really distinguiish them. i could not see its face at all, and i tried screaming but i couldnt. everytime this happens i always fight against it and try to move something as quick as possible. ive noticed that it takes a while for me to be able to move,and once ive moved a finger or my hand every other movement slowly starts coming back.but after i get my movements back i feel exhausted, and a lot of fatigue. this has also happened when i was sitting on the couch. it was the excat same thing except i wasnt sleeping at all ! i wonder if this can happen when youre not sleeping. im scared. and frustrated, im just trying to figure this out. :|
fifth time this has happend
fifth time this has happend to me so i figured i would do google it. This time it was pretty crazy. I am visiting my parents lastnight out of town and I was sleeping in my brothers bedroom and i was staring at the t.v. screen because i just turned it off and probably twenty minutes later it felt like my chest muscles started to cramp up and then my arms and almost every other part of my muscles started to cramp up so i tried moving and i couldn't and then all of the sudden i started to spin slowly spin on the bed as if someone was doing it for me and then was dragged to the door way where i started to drop like falling and then everything just went blank and i woke up. pretty interesting.
This time i wasn't as scared as i used to be this time i wanted to see how far i could go. i find that the more times it happends the easier it is to wake of from it. I think you could almost practice this. I find that it most happens when i lay awake and stare at something and just think about something continuosly.
I THOUGHT I HAD A BRAIN TUMOR!!!! #RELIVED!!!!
Man ive had sp since i was like 8 yrs old, im 20 now, but back then i freaked the fuck out, but now i jus relax .....im glad its not a brain tumor cause thats what i had been thinkin recently, i dont know why. This article has brought alot of relief. Im glad im not the only person. Most of yalls stories i can relate to in some sort of way. I also thought it was evil spirts in my house, if not a tumor. I thought i was bein possessed!!!! I felt so stupid but atleast i know i wasnt the only dumbass that felt that way.Farewell my fellow SP amigos!
hey, its not brain tumor its
hey, its not brain tumor its very common and happens to a lot of people
All over the board
I had to find an answer or at least try to find others that felt the same things as me because it's such a scary thing that you kinda feel alone on an island about it. SP first happened to me when I was in highschool. I was fast asleep and suddenly felt pressure on my chest and my head and tingling all over. I couldnt blink i couldnt move i felt like hands were pressing down on my chest. There was a dark figure next to my bed that was hooded and saying things under his breath that I couldn't understand but I felt like it was wishing every evil on me. I did the only thing that popped into my head and that was to pray and beg God to release me from whatever thing this was holding me down. Slowly but surely, if I stayed focused, I could finally wake up and would lay there panting and trying my hardest not to drift back to sleep because everytime I would start to, I could feel the lingering pressure and tingling.
This happened to me several more times and I began to realize it would always happen around the exact same time at night (about 3:30) and only when I was sleeping alone. I finally talked to my mom about this and she looked shocked but aware at the same time. She proceeded to tell me that an almost identical thing had happened to my dad several times through the years too. Being extremely spiritual people, they believed there was way more to it.
Finally we moved to a different house and it didn't happen again. Until this morning. I'm now 22, and freshly moved into a new townhouse with my roommate. I stayed home from work this morning while she left for work and it started happening again but with no hooded figure-- and then I would come out of it and fall back asleep. Then my roommate called me from work- I could feel my phone vibrating on my bed but the tingling was setting in the pressure, and the fear. I prayed to God yet again and was able to move.
After I hung up the phone I finally searched key words on the net and found you, and immediately felt reassured. Then, however, I started scrolling through other posts and responses and realized, why IS it that it's the same thing for so many of us? I'm scared of bees too but they're never the thing holding me down. Every piece of me wishes this were all chemistry and heretics, but I just don't completely buy it. My family has a lengthy history with being more aware of things that aren't easily explained and on the spiritual side. There has to be more to it. Any thoughts? I'm all over the board with this one.
sp/the visitor that occurs while I'm asleep/half asleep
I don't why I am responding except that so much of your description of the tingling sensation and a presence that I feel is there -- then struggling to wake up. I pray in this state too, sometimes I find I struggle with praying because I mix it up or forget (prayers I've known for years). I am just about awake and it pulls me back (that is what I call the present thing)' I am very strong in my beliefs of God and Jesus. In addition, as you put it I have a lengthy history of being more aware of things that generally aren't easily explained. My mother use to laugh about things she knew and clearly were not stated to her by me but where about me. It was not scary like this thing but I tend to have her similar talents. She too was much a believer of the Lord but like I said - in tune to things that could be consider abnormal.
I say this because my roommate who researched this for me agrees with what you wrote. It is very similar to my experiences. Last night was the worst in a long time. I was lucky she was there to wake me. I have to admit my heart was beating wild and it was all together more than just surreal. I rely on God to carry me through this, praying it will just stop and leave me alone. Something in my head tells me it can not JUST be science. Please let me know how your doing. You are not alone, although sometimes it feels like it.
It's good to know I'm not
It's good to know I'm not alone. The crazy thing is the night Of the day that that happened to me last and I had made that post on here my roommate was taking a nap and I could hear her in the other room whimpering. I walked in and shook her awake finally after trying for a few seconds, then she proceeded to say, "couldn't you hear me yelling for help?" I told her that all I could hear was whimpering and that she was shaking. She told me that she had a dream that she was running downstairs to tell me something and felt like she had run through something cold in the hallway, when she turned around she saw a dark figured man standing in the hallway. She tried to open my door and could see me sleeping but couldn't move any further and kept trying to yell for me to wake up to save her. It was the single most "coincidental" thing that's ever happened to me seeing as how I had had the SP just that morning. Anyway, I still feel just as confused as I did from day one. I continue to hope I never happens again.
Wow.. I am doing research for
Wow.. I am doing research for my psych class, and have had this same thing for years.. And wow.. between 3 and 3:30am and when I pray.. it does go away, Now I am far from a scientist, but it seems there is way more to this. I read a book that is called 23 minutes in Hell.. that was crazy. I actually feel i went through some of those things, and have seen, felt, heard, smelt evil! But, I just had to reply to you. Good luck, and just keep praying before you go to bed too!
You never, ever get used to it
I have suffered from sleep paralysis for years. At first, I thought they were just dreams about being in bed, unable to move. Other times I thought I was experiencing paranormal activities.
I've seen ghosts and children. People have sat on my bed just out sight and talked about me. Voices have whispered in my ear. I've seen nurses walk around the room.
I try to will myself to move and I cannot. Often, I will see my arm or leg rise in the air. Then, I realize this is not real as my body is under the blankets. I fight to scream, fight to move anything. I even try to wiggle myself off of the bed, even if it means injury. I just want to be able to move.
Today i experienced for a unknown amount of time. I heard the television blaring even though it was off. I was able to snap out of it only to be pulled under again and again to sleep paralysis. It is like drowning.
I don't want this to happen again.
scary but fun.
i remember having sleep paralysis when i was a kid, probably twice. but lately i experience it more often. like all other description,its the same to me except that i dont see extreme scary hallucinations,its still scary ofcourse and i hear buzzing or ringing sound.its just terrifying to feel that something terrifying is going on, you know it isnt real but youre stuck there, atleast at that moment. im telling my body to move, move,move..then it ended me waking up(turned my head to the left sharply,since i was facing right lying on my back) i dont know but its kinda fun after i wake up, yes im scared too. but i feel satisfaction after. maybe im nuts.
ugh...
You can't really tell me that what i am experiencing is scientificly proven. I practically base my life on science but its kind of hard to think scientificly when u wake up after one of these dreams and litterally see a white blur at the foot of your bed. I was wide awake. There is no explaination for that. In my dreams i have been unmovable, i have been tossed and thrown around. I have been talked to. I have had something squeezing at my head like a lemon and i felt pain, sharp pain. I felt something trickle down my back while i couldn't move and after i woke up i felt the cold on my back.
Me too...
In high school it happened to me as well. I supposedly awoke on the love seat instead of the couch only to find my body on tw couch which creeped me out. I then saw the white ball floating towards me. That's when I cover myself and awoke back onthe couch.
strange thing
for 3 times in my life i saw and felth things that were extremely unusual!
one of this events occurred in tokio japan i was sleeping and heard a metallic noise that woke me up, to be more precise the noise of chain as if you make it drop link by link as i opend my eyes a saw a little figure standing right beside my bed that was gloving like amber but transparent at the same time, it looked like a monk the detail of his personal features the big eyes and ears with long lobes and wrinkly face he was also bold he was all dressed in japanese traditional clothes after a while while travelling found it very similar to those old little statues that you found in the country side forgot the name of it now....anyhow my body was paralized my toungue was stuck to my palate tried to move but was paralized as a gained strenght i managed to swing my arm throught this figure it then moved towards the entrance of the door of my room and dissolved shortley after there was an earthquake all the doors of the closet came out of the floor and the lamp was swinging i recorded the event on a piece of paper to made sure i
wasent dreaming the time of this event was minutes before sun rise!!!!
it wasent a dream but all this event does not make sense to me there was no message incripted i still wonder why all that happend!!!!
another time i was in london and woke up during the night because the bed
was moving felt like some one very heavy was walking in it as i woke up i told to the occupant of the apartment not to come into my bed room when was deep into the night one girl became all white in the face and sayd that the same thing occurred to her several times but never mention it because she was afraid people would make fun of her,this time i was fully mobile and had no fisical affection @ all!!!!
there was another event we were in the downstairs apartment of my wife home an old wooden clock broken for years started to play the music it once did by the surprise of every one in the room strted laughfin as i moved towards the clock to check it out the wooden mask on the wall flew out orizontally that was preatty freaky the clock wasent touching the wall and the wooden mask was fully secured to a nail and then to a piece of rope that hold it in position didn t it letteraly flew out orizontally towards me!!!!!
i guess these are all coincidences but still ask my self why those fenomena had occured and specialyy why to me!!!!!
thank you all ciaoooo
I have had these dreams more than once
I am educated and understand the science of it but I still think there is more to it. Just the other night I felt this again (as a child I had reoccuring night terrors and as a young teenager I had an extremely terrifying "dream"). This happens when I am half awake. I feel as if something is sitting on my chest and when I attempt to speak I can but only whisper. I get a feeling that something dark, something sinister wishes me harm. When I attempt to pray the pressure becomes greater on my chest and I am breathless. Its interesting that this could be the explanation; I still don't buy it. There is a battle for our souls that usually goes on unnoticed but some just are more aware. Is it possible to have vivid dreams regularly and even a profound sense of smell while asleep? To be visited by loved ones who are deceased and who tell you things that you could not possibly know (older relatives gone who confide in you things that no one has shared with you)? I don't believe in a bunch of hocus pocus but I think there are things that even science can't explain.
SP -- heart rate & loud, high pitched sound...
I tried to google this (as best as one might, using key words) to find if this was common, without luck, but I've had episodes of SP where I swore I was awake, literally looking out into my room in the dark, couldn't move, or speak, tried to, got frantic, and all of the sudden my heart rate grew so loud I thought my heart might explode (I recall the heart rate part happening once), and there was an increasingly high pitched noise growing in my ears (more than once), almost digital sounding.
I wonder, because it's hard to tell if maybe these were just dreams (Any SP episode, in general), except that in my cases I'm literally looking out into my room, in the dark, when this happens. My dreams are usually far off from reality--my room would have looked and felt like a completely different place if it was a dram...anyway, wondering if anyone can explain this or if they've had similar situations.
Fear and anger
i only had two sleep paralysis the first one i suddenly felt a presence behind my back but as a i tried to turn my head it felt so heavy but as i felt heavier and heavier i also felt angrier and angrier and when i wss at the peak of my anger i was able to stand up with ease and punch the shadowy figure but before my punch hitted it i felt a buzzing sound and the shadowy figure that highly resembled death vanish and then i woke up facing the wall that was my second but my first one was i opened my eye facing an open door and on the side a tv i felt heavy and as i tried to move i felt heavier and i finally gave up but then the death like figure past my door and my fear immediately reached its peak then the tv opened and i heard the buzzing like sound and feeling going throught my body is this really normal?
sleep paralyses
I remember having this "disturbing" event happen when I was 5 or 6 yrs. old and I still experience it occassionally at 57 yrs. old It happens approximately 2 or 3 times a year. As an adolescent, it occured seemingly at random, then in my teens, it seemed due to stress, as I think it is now. I would suddenly get a rushing sound in my ears, unexplainably become frightened, unable to move or speak. Sometimes accompanied by hushed voices;sometimes threatening, sometimes not but; always with a morbid fear. Other times I feel like I'm being grabbed by the legs or pushed on the arm or side. I can sense a presence in the romm or "feel' footsteps. I don't recall ever sweating or being really out of breath. I have to concentrate on trying to shake my head to come out of it. Sometimes, I slip right back in, if I don't get out of bed and move around. It always seems to occur while I'm sleeping on my stomach or on my side. Never if I fall asleep on my back.
my boys and husband have this
I wounder if this is mostly in males? My boys and my husband get this once in awhile. Should I bring them to see a doctor? It kinhda makes me worry and if touch them will it help or make it worse?? Someone help me plzz!!!
Hi, my name is Rozie. I am 57
Hi, my name is Rozie. I am 57 and have been having this experience since I was 21 years old. I have 4 children. A son and a daughter have it. Most G.Ps. dont know about it so I was referred to a sleep specialist. He told me it was ok to be woken up during one of these horrific episodes. Since then I have got my partner to wake me up if he knows I am in this state. Thank God. Shake them awake. It wont hurt them it will help. make sure they are wide awake before they go back to sleep.
Hi Tammy, This happens to me
Hi Tammy,
This happens to me randomly, but not too often. It's so scary when it does. My eyes open and I can see and hear what's going on in the room, but I can't move. I don't hallucinate or hear anything strange. I literally feel paralyzed. I find it a little hard to breathe and the best I can do is exhale as hard as I can to make an audible hum. I had an instance once in high school where I fell asleep in class and I "woke up" but couldn't move. I could hear and see what was happening. The bell rang to switch class and I couldn't move. My friend shook me a little to wake me up and I was able to move and get up. I prefer to have someone help me, which is why I try to make noise and get someone's attention. Sometimes I can wiggle my fingers but that's it. I can't recommend taking this as advice because I am not an expert or a doctor, but I felt it would be appropriate to share a relevant experience.
Sleep Paralysis
Hi Tammy,
I have had this happened to me during the last 50 years. I have noticed that when I wear warm clothings, it tends to give me a deeper sleep very quickly, and when I "WAKE UP" I cannot move most of my body, except my feet, take deep breaths to make a heavy sound, and frown and un-frown my forehead. I cannot move my eyes, and I do not see any evils or ghosts. I do hear every bit of conversation around me. Due to the heavy sound that I make, my wife or my mother (she passed away 2 weeks ago and I am deeply missing her) would shake me or move me, or simply turn my head and I would really wake up and move on my own. Since I am able to move my feet very strongly, if a foot is caught in the blanket, then the blanket moves and wakes me up. The sleep paralysis does not happen to me when I am sleeping in a relatively cold room or in winter time.
Sleep paralysis
Hi Tammy:
It is also in females as well. I have had it since Ican remember and I am almost 49 years old. It does seem to run in families because a lot of my family has it from my dad's side of the family. My dad had it , several of my female cousins and my dad. Now my daughter has it and she is 31 years old. Touching them will not make it worse, it will actually help bring them out of it. I make noises and my husband touches me or puts his arm around me, and my grand daughter also gets my arm and lifts it to help bring me out of it I do feel for any one that this. I would take them for a sleep study, something I have not done my self, but I have read that it can also be linked to narcolepsy. I do get frequent day time sleepiness, and can not stay awake and have to go back to bed and usually the paralysis hits when I got to bed. Take care and hope things work out for you and yours
I would like to be awakened
Hi I suffer from this all my life (now I'm 29), but this year has become more often practically once by month. I had saw everything, the person sit over you, the man stand in front, the black fog taking over you, I have open my eyes and still not waking up, well mostly all the cases posted here I already have had them. I'm also has random migraines... Hmmm.. I'm always alone at my room, so there is nobody to wake me up, but I had learn that if I close my eyes so hard when I open them I will be wake up and out of the SP situation, and if I still don't wake up I just close my eyes again, till I just wake. Is just matter of realized that I was just dreaming. By I definitively would like to someone help me to wake up faster from the SP. Also, my dad has the same sleep disorder and definitively my mom is who takes the consequences especially when you are a child... Loves you mom.. :) Also with the past of years I have decided to take it with a more humorist side of view... Hey you super heavy moves!!! And you black smoke, I'm gonna put you a smoke filter to set you white!! Jajajajaa... :D And of course there is always the fight to finally wake. :|
Hi.. I came across this post
Hi.. I came across this post as I was searching to see if anyone one else has experienced what I have.. and hoping to gain some insight.
I attended a pentecostal bible school for 4.5 years. I started having dreams in the summer after my freshman year. I was on a ministry team that traveled around to camps all over the US and we were camp counselors. That summer I had dreams of issues that my girls were having in their personal lives (I had never met these girls before) and almost always the girl would come up to me during prayer and I was able to think back to my dream and pray for them as God showed me to.
I was always super involved in leadership at school- and everytime my roommates were gone for the night I would be attacked during my dreams. The one I am most concerned about happened in April of 2008. I dreamt that I had given birth and a huge battle for its life was going on. There was a demon and an angel fighting over it. I remember praying “in jesus name” over and over again- and had severe cramps. The cramps woke me up ( I was terrified when i did wake up) and went to the bathroom. I was completely shocked and scared when I found that there was blood all over. (I was mid cycle.. no way that it was my period). This dream still worries me today- and I am just wondering if anyone has experience with a dream like this effecting you physically.
today i was able to control what i saw durring SP
I get SP randomly sometimes it can happen several times a day and sometimes i go months without it happening. it happened once or twice as a kid. I was totally paralyzed and being dragged across the floor by something i couldnt see. when I was in Iraq it would happen while i was just sitting in a chair all the time...i would see this freaky clown and i would try so hard to open my eyes, i can fight really hard to move and eventually i can. It was happening daily. This morning i woke up early and i wasnt tired but i sat down on my couch wathcing tv and i was fighting to stay awake, i eventually gave in...it was instantly Sleep paralysis,but im so use to it i know whats happening. I know how to wake up but i dont try because sometimes i see really cool shit. Today I was able to think about what i wanted to see and thats what i saw. It wanst totally controlled but somewhat it was. some of the things i was seeing was ging along with the movie that was on, but things were weird but kinda cool. Its still a little scary because im totally parlyzed and its so hard to get out of it. Sometimes i hear voices right before this happens, its a creepy voice saying my name over and over...now that scared the shi* out of me!
Way to escape sleep paralysis
When I was 13 or 14, I had my first (remembered) episode of sleep paralysis. I dreamed I was in a room with a little girl, who was inherently evil, who then turned into a cat and began attacking me. In the dream, I felt myself levitating off the bed, and it felt as though I had gooseflesh all up and down my entire body; I couldn't move.
I didn't have an episode again for quite some time, but episodes have continued sporadically over the years (I'm 27 now). I really wouldn't be able to say what brings on the episodes, like caffeine, staying up too late, etc. The one thing I have noticed is that when I fall asleep on my back, the episodes seem more likely to occur (but still isn't a definite cause of them). (I wonder if it is when I fall asleep on my back and then fall into such a deep sleep that I can't move, that they occur.)
It used to be demons or the devil himself in my dreams -- usually flinging me against the ceiling, or holding me down and sitting on my chest. Whichever way it was, I always woke up terrified, with spots in my vision (probably from not breathing much). I would refuse to get out of bed for fear that something under the bed would grab me (which is an old fear, thought banished at age 8 -- fear does breed fear).
Whatever the dream surrounding it, one thing was always, always, always true: I could tell when it would happen, because the dreams preceding the paralysis would always be of me trying to turn on the lights in my dream, and always failing. I'd hit the light switch -- no lights. Run outside into the 'sunshine' -- no light. Turn on all the lights in my little dream house. Nothing. Straining to see anything beyond the -- yup -- spots in my vision. And within seconds of the realization that the lights weren't coming on, paralysis would hit, and I would be lying in bed, feeling my body be as stiff as a board, hearing my own ragged 'breathing.'
Why the darkness in my dreams? I have a theory: I think that my eyes are partially open when I'm dreaming this, and all I can see is the darkness of my bedroom, and my brain mixes that with my dreams.
Anyway, I struggled for a long time with that, thinking that it must be a demon (I do believe that there is a supernatural world in addition to what we see). However, finally I read an article about sleep paralysis, about the 'witch on your chest,' as some cultures refer to it. The article advised that if you can, move! Move just a toe -- just a hand -- just something -- anything. The next time I had a sleep paralysis episode, that's just what I did. Not that an outside observer would have noticed anything! :) I focused as hard as I could on shifting my shoulders back and forth. And it worked. I woke up almost immediately. True, my body still 'buzzed' (like when your leg falls asleep and then wakes up again -- my body buzzes under paralysis), but getting there was quicker, and there wasn't that feeling of suffocating.
Ever since then, my sleep paralysis dreams have incorporated no demons, no witches, no devil. My brain was, I believe, interpreting the suffocating feeling as something evil. But ever since I took control of the dreams, I haven't interpreted them as such. Also, I've been able to escape them much quicker.
I hope this helps.
Thanks
Rita
I'm 15 and experienced SP
I'm 15 and experienced SP just a week or so ago and it was my first time. It was heaps scary but i woke up around 3 times, the first two times i fell back asleep but the last time, i saw a little ghost girl and she was pulling off my plantets. Her face was becoming closer and closer and i remember my e talking about this and had said that some people die from it and the only way to snap out of it was to focus on moving a little part of your body. I ended up moving my thumb and the girl instantly vanished and i was able to get up. It was the most terrifying experience i'v ever been through!!
I still believe that there is a spirit of a little girl in my room >~<
I have been having SP
Ive had them when I was younger and I had watched Nightmare on elm sttreet and tried to controled what I saw but that only seemed to work in normal dreams. But I am able to speak in SP. Its very hard but most of the time the fact that I freakout in the dream so much that I am able to force myself to yelling "sometimes there are actual words." I would wake my girlfriend. I would tell her if she feels me moaning, or yelling in my sleep wake me Im having SP. She has woke me up a few times and that was working for my except for today. I saw a shadow figure standing over me, I was laying flat on my back with my hands on my chest and I felt something pushing down on my head. It seemed very real I coulnt move but its fist was over the top of my head I was able to yell after much effort and then eventually awoke. It really freaked me out to the point that I googled it. I have noticed many people having similar experences. Just strange.
nice life
I was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
SP & dream control
Good Job on figuring out new things!
After SP for years, i then began controlling dreams as well.
Then astral planing began opening new doors.
One of my favorite things to do is create music during this