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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
SP Remedies and the God Connection
I really appreciated reading some of the responses here. I had numerous SP episodes from my late teens to late 20s. It’s actually startling how many people have suffered from it. I’m now fast approaching my mid 40s and have left those aggravating and chilling experiences behind.
I believe my SP was initially onset in my late teens by lack of sleep (being over tired), typical irrational teen-year fears, stress and anxiety. That bad combination was likely caused by my social environment and by my genetically inherited wiring (lucky me). Mild to moderate anxiety/social phobia has troubled me almost my entire adult life. In my 30s I finally went to see an Air Force doctor and started my journey through a myriad of SSRI medications to alleviate the symptoms. The SSRIs did help the anxiety, and subsequently likely contributed to fewer and fewer SP episodes through my late 20s and into my 30s.
In those earlier days of SP, I remember that I had all the classic symptoms, but I especially remember a very scary time involving the dark evil spirit looming over me. He even hissed an evil laugh and faded into the background as I was finally able to come to. Scared the mess out of me. It was an extremely vivid experience and sensation, and I’ll never forget it. A lot of folks won’t admit it, but this experience can also involve some sexual situations, such as a sensation of being fondled by the same dark visual presence. Caused me quite a bit of guilt and was not a good experience at all.
Looking back at it, I firmly believe that what I saw with my eyes was actually a visual hallucination – eyes open and seeing to some extent, but the brain overwriting the imagery, such as a shirt on a hanger turning in to a person or ghost-like object. Similarly, the sounds I heard were only heard by me, not my wife or dog. All that said, I do not discount the presence of a negative or evil energy with regard to the visual and aural hallucinations or the physical sensations.
How did I get through those tough times? I finally asked God to intervene. When my SP was real active, I would keep a bible in the bed right next to me or, better yet, on my chest. Sometimes I experienced multiple episodes of SP in the first 30 minutes of rest. After the first onset, I would turn on the lights, read some scripture, pray and go to sleep knowing that I had put on my spiritual armor. That technique worked on every occasion from what I recollect. Did I think this was self-manipulation? Absolutely not. Far from it, if you are familiar with the Holy Bible there is a piece of scripture in Matthew 21:22 where Jesus says to his disciples “Ask and you shall receive.” I grabbed on to this simple passage and asked God to intervene on my behalf and protect me. I had already given my life to Christ through baptism years earlier and knew that He is a much greater power than anything roaming over this earth. And so it worked for me and it can work for you if you have faith, a willing heart and a sincere desire to trust him.
Takeaways:
- SP can be triggered by anxiety and lack of sleep. Don’t hesitate to get help from a physician if you have stress and anxiety in your life. This step may just end your episodes altogether.
- Nothing in your SP experience is going to hurt or kill you. Your multi-sensation hallucinations will only make you panicky an get that heart rate going, especially if you are anticipating bad things to happen.
- If you don’t know God, get to know him first through a friend who you trust. Next, consider joining a Church to get connected with other people and get to know Jesus Christ who is the essence of God. Read Scripture before bedtime, and start reciting the Lord’s Prayer. There are things happening in the spiritual realm right here around us that most people cannot see or understand, but rest assured that God loves you and He has this whole thing under control. Trust him, plug into him, let him be in control and I guarantee you that your SP and other spiritual issues will begin to resolve themselves.
God Bless you all!
Mike
I have experienced what
I have experienced what psychologists prefer to call "sleep paralysis". However, my experience convinced me that I was dealing with a malevolent force rather than a self-induced state of mind. Before the event, which occurred during my last semester of law school in February or March of 1977, I simply did not believe in evil spirits. At the time, I considered myself a radical leftist (i.e., a Marxist) and an agnostic. A basic tenet of my belief system at the time was that if you couldn't perceive, quantify or measure a phenomenon, it probably did not exist. If others had told me that they had experienced what I did, I would have suggested that they seek psychiatric counseling. At the time of this encounter, I shared one side of a 2-bedroom duplex with three other young men. At 27, I was the oldest. My roommate, Vince Matthews, was studying Criminal Justice. Early in the morning (probably around 3 a.m.), I awakened to find myself lying on my back in bed. I felt a distinctly malevolent force around me. The force then attacked me. I felt like it wanted to destroy me. During the attack, the evil spirit, or force, attempted to suffocate me. It also paralyzed me so that I could not move. I was very definitely awake. I wanted to awaken Vince so that he could help me, but I was unable to utter a word. I quickly realized that I would have to deal with the situation on my own. Though frightened, it seemed that I instinctively knew how to deal with the force. Using the power of my will, I was able to push the evil force away from me and hold it at bay, though I could still feel its presence. Once liberated from the force, I was able to move my body. I was amazed, because I had just experienced an event that I had theretofore considered implausible. Still skeptical of what I had experienced (though I could still fee the nearby presence of the malevolent force), I wanted to make sure that I was indeed awake and that I had not simply experienced a nightmare. I pinched myself several times until it hurt. A chemist by training, I wanted to further convince myself beyond a reasonable doubt that I was, indeed, awake. I listened to all of the sounds in my room. I listened to the furnace turn on and off at least twice (over a period of probably at least 10 minutes). I also heard a periodic clicking in my room that I had never noticed before. When I queried Vince about that sound the following morning, he told me it was the thermostat on his electric blanket turning on and off. Some fifteen minutes had probably passed since I had awakened and I could still feel the malevolent force around me (but not on or in me). Realizing that I had ultimate power over this force and that it was probably not going to kill me, I decided to see if I could experience a second attack. So, I stopped pushing the force away from me and allowed it to attack me a second time. I had exactly the same experience the second time. Finally, convinced that I was awake and that I had, indeed, experienced a new power that had never manifested itself to me before, I ended the encounter by again making the mental effort to push the force away from my body. I then held it at bay until it dissipated. The entire episode (including both attacks) probably lasted half an hour. I am convinced that the malevolent force came from without, rather than from within. I do not believe that it was merely a state of my mind. It was something foreign to my body. Realizing that evil can manifest itself so intimately in my life, the event made me receptive to the possibility that a benevolent force in the universe might also make itself known to me and others. A little more than eight years later, I had an experience that convinced me beyond a reasonable doubt that I had distinctly heard the voice of either God or someone closely associated with God. The voice warned me to intervene to save my five-year-old daughter's life. Fortunately, she still remembers that act of intervention. Had I not experienced the prior encounter with the evil spirit, I would likely have been far less inclined to heed the warning. I have heard the voice only one other time---some five months later. Suffice it to say that I am no longer an agnostic. From those two communications, I can say this about God. He knows our every thought, he cares about us, and, though he knows the physical state of all matter, his prediction of the future is likely limited by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle.
hi angus
I had had some friends who linked my experience of this to astral projection. when i would wake up from this my body would tingle. so would theirs after going on their voyages :) one time my friend had an evil spirit taunt him and when he woke up he was foaming at the mouth.
but i was wondering, if u stop resisting would everything be alright? i believe it could be akin to the ending of one's resistance to one's own shadow, the repressed side of our consciousness, and then when u let it in and get intimate with it it can fuel your growth and ultimately become ur light.
but then u said it comes from without this presence and that's how i feel now. i believe its a spiritual experience, although with scientifically objectifiable correlates (aka the neurons in the brain going funny) and am hoping its one i can expand on.when ive grown its quite often assumed the trend of first, there being something i fear, and ultimately a sense of new found freedom--and choice--when the fear is conquered through knowledge, love and awareness.
so what did that part feel like when u didnt resist?
and has anything else happened to u since u wrote this?
Lenny
Response to Inquiry from Lenny
Hello Lenny,
Failing to resist, from my perspective, was not an option. Whatever it was that attacked me that morning wanted to kill me by suffocation. Whenever I stopped resisting, it would try to suffocate me. Only by exercising my will (power of mind) was I able to get the thing off me. I was actually able to manipulate the evil force, and was able to either push it away from me or allow it to take over my body. Fortunately, I have had only one such experience in my entire life (I am now 61). I am a private pilot and have since thought that such an experience could be fatal if it were able to attack me which operating as pilot in command. Nevertheless, it appears that we are most vulnerable to these attacks when we awake from sleep, so maybe I don't have anything to worry about.
Wow, I feel sorry for you guys...
I have never experienced SP like you guys, however I have had related problems which I think is the same concept as SP but with slightly different less freakish experiances.
I have only experianced this several times, two were in the same night. The first I drempt I felt awake, but paralized; I couldn't move, speak and I couldn't breath properly. However I began to force my eyes open and eventully I snapped out of it. After this I fell back to sleep again, and I had another nightmare (I can't remember it fully), where sounds in reality I heard in my sleep (An electric toothbrush sound in my dream was a chainsaw!).
Before I knew it had a scientific name, I would think I was half asleep, which is what it kinda says in the description.
Anyway, I am hoping not to have another one of these experiances becuase I have lacked sleep recently and have been extremely stressed, and these seem to contribute to SP episodes from what I have heard.
The only cure I have thought up is too go to sleep on your front, becuase when I experianced SP, I was lying on my back - I'm not an expert though.
sleep paralysis
Holy cow!!! I cannot believe I just found this page. I have been having these sleep paralysis episodes for years but did not know what they were. My mom is the only other person I know who has them. I will say mine also always occur when I go to sleep on my back. I try to move, speak and wake myself up but cannot. I finally force myself awake and am very scared. They are also sometimes accompanied by very loud white noises that almost hurt my ears. I know this sounds stupid, but the scariest thing about a surgery I recently had a few years back was trying to wake up in recovery (on my back) and having one of these episodes. I told my husband if I ever have surgery again to be sure someone is with me when I wake up. I was terrified.
Once again, I too have never had an episode when going to sleep on my stomach or side, only my back. I thought it was because I am a complete nut case and was somehow feeling vulnerable while on my back. WTF???
Hang in there all of you!! I know this is scary and I totally sympathize. Sometimes I am afraid to go back to sleep because it might happen again.
sp
I've been dealing with SP since my teen years. Usually, it happens just as I'm falling asleep, and it feels like I'm being pulled or pushed into the bed, as if someone was sitting on my chest and pressing down on my shoulders. Sometimes I can catch it in time and pull away before it takes full effect, but usually, I fall victim. Seems like episodes last anywhere from a couple of seconds to a few minutes. Very rarely can I calmly, without panicking, control it and fall asleep. At the onset, there is usually a howling wind followed by a tingling sensation through my entire body, and then most times I will hear voices and footsteps and the feeling of someone's presence right next to me. Completely unable to move and immersed in what I can only describe as pure evil, panic sets in. I try like hell to move and scream, but to no avail. My wife has witnessed a few of my episodes and she says she can see that I'm distressed, but completely still and only able to utter faint cries or moans. There are instances where I will have a complete out of body experience and freely roam my house... weird thing is that it's always faintly lit and when I try turn lights on, they never work. The worst is when my face/mouth is close to my pillow, it feels like I am suffocating, gasping at what little air I can get. Inevitably, I do calm down enough to take some deep breaths and eventually awaken. At that point, it's best to stay awake for a few minutes or changes positions so it doesn't happen again. There have been occasions when it's happened several times in succession because I would just try to go right back to sleep after waking. It's very frustrating and usually terrifying. I had about 10 episodes last night and it made for a very dull and depressing day. hoping for a better night's sleep tonight.
Wow you have just wriiten
Wow you have just wriiten everything I feel. I've read all the stories and yours is the closest to my sleep paralysis. It started when I was about 12 and I am now 21 it use to happen almost everynight but the scary thing is and I'm actually terrified to type this is when i was younger and told my mother about my "frozen states" as I called them she told me to pray and say "in the blood of christ". This worked like a charm at first but sometimes i would get out of the sleep paralysis state after saying that only to doze off and have it happen again numerous times. I would get up and get my dog and then it wouldn't happen anymoe but usually I was way too tired to even sit up. After a while my sleep paralysis outsmarted me and got to strong for my prayers. I would pray and and say in the blood of christ and it would make me even more numb and feel like somnething was choking me. I stopped the prayer thing around 15 when I stopped attending church with my mom, it actually lessened but lately I've been getting them a lot. I use to think if I talked about my experience it would happen that night because it usually did. So i never spoke of it to anyone. But lately it's been happening to me and now whenever I take naps with my bf we figure out a way to beat it. I told him about it and he's seen me in the states. i think you should try this with your wife. I basically warn him I'm in the state when i breather really really hard to get his attention. i can'r move or talk so i just breathe so hard. Now that he knows about it I always tell him to shake me or pick my head up and it takes a few second for me to be able to move again. I asked him what he sees when I'm in those states and he says all i move are my eyeballs and the rest of me is completly still, I can barely move my toes or fingers its such a struggle. he says when he picks me up I am dead weight and my limbs are totally lifeless. i don't know if this is scientific or religious i just know i found a way to beat it. I also never open my eyes if I am alone because i see scary things. I hope this helped you I wanted to write this becuase i felt your story was extremly close to mine...
I was taking a nap on my
I was taking a nap on my recliner at around 12:15p.m when this happened. I am 25 and have had this happen to me around 4 other times. This was the first time that this has happened to me in the daytime. I was awoken by a noise, but when I tried to lean forward to see what it was, I realized that I must still be asleep. My eyes were fluttering because I could see my cat asleep at my feet. I felt like I was fighting so hard to move, but my cat was fast asleep, so I know my body was not moving at all. I felt like my arms were moving but when I lowered my eyes I saw them crossed on my chest. After this I heard music directly behind me moving from the right ear to the left, this scared me because I thought someone was standing behind me. I was trying to lift an arm with the other and nothing was happening. I finally said I rebuke you in the name of the Lord and I lifted my arm and I instantly woke up. I'm not sure what it was but it was not as scary as when it happens at night because I could see everything in the room clearly.
Same Experience
I have the same experiences somewhat often(for years). Usually it happens if I decide to take a nap a few hours after I have gotten out of bed, or if I stay in bed and go back to sleep. My experiences are exactly how you described yours. I can see my surroundings, so I know my eyes are partially open. I feel like Im moving, but I can see my limbs remaining perfectly still (today I was looking at my feet on my ottoman). Today though, my eyes were roaming because I saw my computer which was a few feet to the left and images on my tv. Sometimes I will hear talking, footsteps, or random noises (one time I heard my verticle blinds being rustled).
I used to panic when this happened and eventually I would have to yell in my asleep state to wake up. Now I just yell out when I cant wake myself normally. I have gotten somewhat comfortable with it. Like today when I couldnt wake up I walked into my kitchen and there were 3 people there, but I couldnt see their faces. A pillar was blocking the woman's face and when I tried to see around it, the pillar moved so I never saw her face. So I just went back to the couch and tried to wake up.
I noticed in order for me to wake up I have to be in the same position as I am when Im sleeping. I just deal with it because I know I am asleep and I know I can wake up. Sometimes I have to scream, sometimes I dont. A few times I actually tried to see the people/person.
Sometimes its creepy when I feel someone sit on my bed or lay next to me. Some people say its evil spirits. I think it feels that way because we're scared becuase we dont know who or what it could be. The unknown is always frightening. The best thing to do is stay calm.
good job Baron - tell em' SP
good job Baron - tell em'
SP reflects deep (unaware) thoughts in your mind, one can only imagine what can exist in the subconcious with the help of stunning visual aides like modern gore in movies.
Once one gets pAst all this, SP becomes a welcoming adventure.
I understand the angle you're
I understand the angle you're coming from, but I would have to disagree on the simple fact that almost everyone who has had an SP episode has seen and felt the same presence, with the exception of a few radicals. Now if SP is linked to our subconscious, and your classic gory horror flick has had some kind of influence.. Then that would mean all of us would have had to have the same experiences in life, and watched the exact same movies for the exact same vision to manifest itself during SP. what are the odds of that?
Sleep Paralysis has taken over my life;
My first episode was when I was 13 yrs old, I had my own bedroom at the time and I heard hangers rustling around in my closet. I had an uneasy feeling like I wasn't alone and soon tryed to fall asleep and for me at the stage of just about to fall asleep my body can't move the only thing I can do is breath and blink and that is it! I started to sleep with the bible next to me, then a crucifix also, but it seemed nothing would help. My sister moved it to the room with me because my parents saw how it affected me. I would get episodes almost every night and sometimes two a night. I hated it but I got so used to it. At first I would would pray to god every night for it not to happen and eventually I just prayed that it wouldn't be a powerful one (demon) or so it felt.
During my episodes I never saw a ghost or a face I just saw outlines of people and their color. I would be able to sense something in my room even before I fell asleep. If the color was darker, it was more intense and those really scare me. The lighter the color the less I would fight it. I started to tell myself that maybe I was helping these spirits in some way. I couldn't explain what or why it was happening.
Now I'm 27 yrs old and it doesn't happen ass much but I can say this has TRULY AFFECTED MY LIFE!!! I can't just go to bed like a normal person. so at night before I go to bed I DRINK. Alcohol dulls it out. It seems like they cant get me when I'm intoxicated. I started this when I turned 19 and haven't stopped. And if I go to bed sober it happens. I hate what this has done to my life. I'm constantly thinking that every noise I hear could be them. I'm seriously paranoid and wish there was a cure.
Terrified
This just happened to me, a couple of minutes ago. It's 6:40 am and i'm afraid to go back to sleep. I felt as though I was going to pass away in my sleep! I also heard breathing, which was not my own, while I was going through this ordeal and felt a presence in my bed...I sleep by myself.
I'm going to be up for a little while now..
The Second Time
This is the second time that this had occurred i am only 14 years old and i have problems falling asleep ever since the first incident because it was pretty scary.
My first experience was almost a year ago, I was going to sleep for school and about maybe 1 hour or 2 of sleeping I just woke up but I could not move at all and my ears we're sort of plugged and the tv was on and I could hear whispers as if someone was whispering right next to me,then maybe 1 minute or 2 later i could slowly start to move and it was over. The second time was a little shorter, the same thing happened but it lasted for about 10-20 seconds because I was trying to move as hard as i could other than curiously wondering how long it was going to last on my first experience.
Hey, dont stress about it to
Hey, dont stress about it to much, its been happening to me my whole life since i was about 10 and every time is scary... i hear children laughing, people whispering, things cracking and i feel like i have been taken over by the devil himself, but Im still here, happy and healthy! what i do to help me is remind myself that "This too shall pass" I even got it as a tattoo on my wrist :)
keep yourself calm and think of all the good things in your life, dont pain yourself with trying to move, just keep reminding yourself that it will go away.
best of luck kiddo
;0 D
SP
Thank you thank you thank you for this page. Ive been dealing with this forever and never really told anyone because well I thought I was crazy and maybe being haunted. Luckily I only deal with it about once a year when I get really stressed. I am extremely stressed right now and basically had the worst episode yet. I was pinned down. You can't move, but its like you can see everything thats around you! This dark presence was sitting on my chest. I always try to scream out my sister's name. I really thought I was doing it too. Then it felt like the dark presence took over my voice and I started screaming like the exorcist! It feels like I have to fight my damn body to wake up. This time it was so bad I opened my computer and searched for the answer right away.
Now I can further research the subject. thank you again
SP
I am so glad I found this page, it is such a releif to see other people going through the same thing that i do. I will be 25 next month and have been having these episodes for as long as i can remember. Everytime it happens I cannot move nor talk "with my mouth", i can only open my eyes sometimes it feels like i am moving around on top of the bed, but i do not feel the bed. I hear voices, and see things all the time that I cannot explain. If anybody wants to talk more about this who is going through these same detail please email me!!!! Thanks for listening.
i had just experienced it
i had just experienced it before... THis is the reason why I researched about this thing. Ive always been experiencing it once every 2 days.
Is this a product of too much work or stress? Too much thinking of ideas?
:(( its so hard to sleep that you would never know if youre going to wake or not :(
I can control this
I can control what I believe is this. I feel the sensation that I feel (thingling skin and ears blocking) when I undergo this right before falling asleep, and the sensation grows. I think that there is much to learn in this state, and that overcoming the sense of terror and the certainty that someone/something is there, and ignoring the sounds and feelings, could result in great personal growth. I have had about a dozen episodes in the past five years, including four consecutive ones this morning that I provoked (however, the fourth one I tried to stop), and I would love to go through the entire ordeal. However, I have yet to last longer than about ten seconds. I have seen one soccer coach on my computer chair, and just a bunch of noises. Always have I felt my skin tingle and my ears block. However, the blocked ears is only a feeling, as I can hear the sounds perfectly.
thank you so much for everyones storys.
hello everyone! My names Ivann and I'm 19:) I'm in a band called Appleonia. We just got off tour and this happend to me on the bus almost half of the.60 days touring the US.For the longest time I thought I could die from this odd experience. Everyone here made me realize its just a sleeping disorder. Sleeping Paralysis is my best friend these days. But also my enemy. Scares me to death but then again it lead me to you guys.. if anybody is inrested Id like to have a some sort of partner thru email to talk to everytime this happens.. we could give eachother advice and vent about such behavior..thanks everyone for all your help!!
SP
I've had SP for the past 11 years. Barely found out that there is an actual medical term for the crazy things I've seen at night.. But what doesn't make sense is how these strange visions and the feeling of a presence in the room or on top of you happen the same way for so many different people.. And why is it an evil presence felt.. If this disorder does have to do with REM sleep then wouldn't you expect to see a continuation of a dream, or at least see something different everytime it happens. I consider myself to be a very logical person, but I'm having difficulty believing science is the only thing at play. Starting having SP at 15 with the usual voices being heard, feeling this dark presence in the room, a heavy weight on my chest.. But about a year ago I woke up to what I thought was another episode, but I could sense that this evil presence that I felt was a female, and it was as if she was trying to take over my body.. Then she just popped up over my head, I could feel her breathing? on me, she kinda laughed and went away. Then about a couple months after that same thing started to happen, except this time it was a short dark figure and not female.. But the pressure this thing placed on my body was intense, I felt like I was actually slipping away, fading out.. I remember I resisted with all I had, and then it felt as though someone was digging their fingers right above my groin.. I will never forget the immense pain I felt. It was at this time I prayed to God for strength, and knowing that if I didn't move something bad was going to happen. I finally was able to throw a wild punch across my body... The digging sensation stopped and the weight was lifted off of me.. I then saw the figure move across the floor up to the ceiling.. I couldn't make out it's shape but I think I saw eyes.. Anyway the pain from what felt like digging fingers was so bad I had to get up, go outside, and even then I could still feel it.. anyone have a similar experience?
"SP"
I also have had this happen to me multible times. I do also wonder why the presense of evil occurs during these episodes. I am not a religious person, in fact I don't think a believe in god at all. That is also one of my concerns with "SP", my lack of faith.
For me, its usually the standard "SP" occurances. I'm asleep, My body cant move, I can hear voices and things around me, like people, TV, etc... I can only move my eyes, barely. Heavy feeling in my chest and even the pain in my groin or lower stomach area. Sometimes i even get the chance to move but a suddenly FLASH back to my original position. When that happens it angers me. but yet, as i describe all these common feelings that we have, I also get the sense of powerful evil in the room. let me explain this episode i once had.
It happend to me some years back now, i'm 25 now this happend in my teen years. so i'm experiencing SP all i can see is the corner of my room. the lights are on and i can here the tv, i'm alone. i'm lying on my side i can feel someone right behind me, almost as if its spooning with me. its a very unsettling feeling, being that i'm man i have never felt this before. word cannot describe the terror i felt, i knew this was evil. so it angered the hell outta me to point where i start to say bad things about god. FUCK YOU I FUCKING HATE YOU HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO ME etc...Almost everytime i get SP i say things of that nature to god. anyways back to my story. so i feel this Evil behind me and i'm furious. i keep trying to move but i can't, the pain in my stomach is getting worse. i get this "I'm sick of this" feeling and try, really try HARD to turn around, and i do, but its almost like i had to throw a punch just to do it. When i did, What i saw was the most horrifying thing i have ever seen. it was a dark, cloudy, almost like smoke looking DEMON, about three or four feet tall. very wide, no arms or legs, just what looked like tenticles or thick smoke on its sides. once i stared at this thing it let out a roar and and crawled up my cealing then vanished. I woke up suddenly after, terrified.
i know that in nightmares you see scary figures from time to time. this was something else, the evil was so overwhealming its hard to explain the terror, i hope you can understand.
i too have had other experiences where i get the stomach pain and even after i wake i can feel it slowly going away while im awake. how do you explain that? i never knew about how common this was until tonight. it didn't happen to me tonight, but i was intimidated to go to sleep, fearing it will happen again.
so please, reply back and let me know if this was kinda what you felt, or feel when you experience "SP"
help from above
yo i had another one of these experiences yesterday and was fed up with being afraid in them, thinking it was my own shadow aspect of my psyche i was projecting as an "Out there being." i found this page and am glad i did.
to me it doesnt make sense ud belive in demons but not in God. God is the father of us all.
as ive read through this ive noticed that everyone who prays to god gets out of this the quickliest. one of the first times this happened i said the our father and it took a while but it helped. ultimately idk if it contributed to me waking up or not.
but last night when it happened i asked Archangel Michael (the general of heavens armies) for help, cuz me and him are homies, hes made his appearance as a flash of blue light in my friends house when it was haunted after i invited him into their home. when i did i started seeing him as a blue flash that ppl wrote in books they saw him as. a week later when the poltergeist woke everyone up sebs parents came down stairs, saw a blue flash, and it stopped for good. I NEVER TOLD THEM I INVITED HIM INTO OUR HOME. so i know it works.
and i believe its becuz its easier to put your faith into an actual being, not the pure conscious essence which all beings are contained in. and so ya when i asked michael to intervene i woke up instantly.
Reply to ur post
Your description of that thing you saw was almost identical to what I've seen. A dark, smokey, short figure.. Who apparently loves ceilings. That's crazy, for the longest time I thought I was the only one who had experiences like these. I've just recently started looking this stuff up on the Internet to see if anyone else had similar stories, ur the first one to say they felt that same stomach pain. That type of incident only happened once, but it's something I'll never forget. I kept trying to convince myself that it was just a dream.. But the more I thought about it, the more I know it wasn't. Funny thing is I've read about a few more people who have SP seeing that same exact figure, and also placing it on the ceiling. How can it be some kind of sleep disorder having to do with our dreams if people who have never met are seeing the exact same thing?! Anyways the encounter I had was little over a year ago, and after that I hadn't had one until about two weeks ago.. But for some reason I knew it was going to happen. I was reading while in bed, my son had fallen asleep next to me, and all of a sudden I got this weird sensation, almost as if I could feel a presence enter the room.. So I went to sleep and mentally prepared myself for what might happen. Sure enough it did, this one was a little different because it was the first time I heard almost like a high pitched screaming in my ears. I have read about a lot of people who also heard a "ringing". Anyways I guess my fatherly instincts kicked in and oddly enough I could move my arm over my son, I guess as a way to protect him, because I didn't know what was happening to me. Soon as I touched him though, it went away.. Which only leaves me to believe that it has to be something evil in nature, maybe something we do that may open a door and make us seem suseptible to that kind of attack. But those are just theories, honestly I really never talk about it cuz I always end up getting those "this guy is crazy" looks. Have you had any other strange occurrences? Or if you have any different thoughts on the subject
SP
This has happened to me for quite sometime in my entire life. I am 22 now. My question is: Is there an explanation why SP happens when I sleep late (80% of the time). And does it put one at a risk of dying while asleep? What causes the person to be conscious before the brain sends the signal
An experienced OBE'er...
I am 27 and these episodes started in my late teens.
I believe (my educated guess)that the sleep paralysis and and lucid dreams are not related except for the possibility that they overlap one another. I have had sleep paralysis more times than I can remember (Dozens) and all of them are similar. I never have any hallucinations "leak" into my paralysis. I am always detached from my body usually floating around and completely conscious viewing things around the room in real time just as if I was awake like the tv on the same channel i left it, (except for the fact that I can see myself sleeping). I have never voyaged to far from myself always been scared (although I am hoping to have an episode in daylight to relieve some fear)
I had them almost every night in my first apartment then after a year I moved and in my new apartment It only happened two times in the year and a half i was there, and strangely enough they were two days in a row. Now that Im in another apartment they are happening more often again. Now my girlfriend recognizes when its happening to me because the yells for help come out like mumbles and twitches. I think study needs to be done with multiple people having OBE's in the same room, can our spirits communicate? can seeing a familiar person in your experience help us from feeling scared. Lets figure out exactly what is going on.
When I was a child I would walk home from school, My mother worked a lot so it was tough for her to wait up for me to get home. One day she fell asleep on the couch waiting for me I came home knocked on the door nobody let me in, as a young kid I was scared and started crying outside. My mother at that moment had a dream in which her mother (dead at the time) came to her and said "doris wake up, Paul is at the front door and he's crying because you won't let him in" That moment my mother woke up with a SNAP and went to the door to find me crying. My mother said that dream was vivid almost lucid unlike most dreams.
Further in depth study is needed people.
Thank you.
whenever this happened did u
whenever this happened did u ever try to move and it took everything out of u and made ur breathing stop altogether instead of just being difficult. ive noticed that when i have tried to 'fight it' it lasts longer than if i were to just let it happen. just wondering if this is normal (well as normal as can be considering)
my experience
it started when i turned 12 years old i am still 12 years old at the moment. it began around a month ago .i have violent hallucinations like beings moving around the room and usually feel like some one adding pressure onto my body and won't let go of me i usually find myself unable to speak ,scream or move and sometimes i cannot open my eyes and i usually hear people talking like conversations or someone speaking to me. i also hear a loud buzzing noise and feel like i am floating and when i try wake up i have to force myself to turn to the other side to snap out of it . when i wake up finally i am still paralyzed and I try to shake my legs or arms but i am still unable to move when i close my eyes i begin to see violent pictures or dreams . it usually frightens me i write down all the thing i see so i can try and figure out what is the problem it may have a link to things i am frightened of .
samantha, i myself experinced
samantha, i myself experinced the very same thing you did this morning around the same time. i awoke to feel my body crumpled against the ceiling. i like you am unable to scream or move. i have suffered with this since i was about your age. I am now in my thirties. I understand the terror that you feel. i have become good at waking myself up from what i can only image are night terrors, but last night was different. when i awoke i felt my body fall hard against the bed. and felt things touching and poking at me feet. i find that it helps if you have someone you can trust to talk about your expirences with. keep a dream journal is very wise of you well beyond your age of 12. it truly feels as though your body is being taken over be forces on seen. i am not a religious women but i do find repeating the lords prayer in my head as these events take place help. i also find that once you can speak telling what ever you are feeling in the room with you to go away and leave you alone because they are not allowed to be there and frighten you also helps. i hope the knowledge in knowing you are not alone in what you are experiencing helps. if you have any questions for me i will check this sight again and try to answer them. i just stumbled on to it today wondering if i was on my own in what was happening to me at night.
Hi everybody - I've had sleep
Hi everybody - I've had sleep paralysis for about 10 years now. I'm in my 40s and it seems like the older I get, the worse the episodes. It happens when I'm trying to fall asleep, and I can always tell it's going to happen because I get chills running up from the base of my spine into the back of my head. Within seconds of feeling the "chills" I'm paralyzed and fighting to snap out of it.
I've heard buzzing sounds, raspy evil voices, and lately what sounds like someone trying to find a radio station (static). The worst episodes were the evil voices - taunting me about my dog who had died years ago. Just really evil stuff.
Tonight when I was fighting to snap out of it, I heard my mom (deceased since 2008) singing a Christmas carol in my right ear. I've never had a positive experience with the paralysis until tonight. Her voice helped calm me and I was able to move my feet and hands, etc.
I don't know what to think about this anymore, but my family doctor wants to do sleep studies. I suppose it couldn't hurt?
Hope we all find answers and help......
WOW!!!
I just wanted to say that your experience you just described here, sound exactly like what happened to me last night!!! I am 23 years old and I've only had this happen 2 times that I can remember, but last night's experience was just like yours!!! I got those chills going all the way up my spine to my head and I started hearing a whispering right in my ears!!! It was SOOO creepy, when I finally woke up I asked my boyfriend if he heard the whispering and he just looked at me like I was crazy!!!! Wow, it feels kinda good to know I'm not the only one who is going through this!! How does it happen and is it possible to prevent it from happening??!
this is also happening to me,
this is also happening to me, sometimes when i woke up i am paralyzed and i cant even move my jaw,i believe science has no cure for this they say stay calm but still it wont go away,i believe this is caused by ourselves, abusing our bodies strength and not even resting for a while,i also believe this is caused by emotional problems,stress and even less spiritual health
sleep paralysis
I've had sp for as long as I can remember. Yes, the sounds and figures seem very real at the time. Now, when I have an episode I think to myself oh not again! I breathe slowly and let myself fall back to sleep thinking - not again, this is pissing me off. I wake up later remember it happening and get on with my day.
Strange experience
I believe this happened to me last week. I "woke up" while laying on my side to see what looked like a small light coming towards me. Moments later I realized that there was something standing right in front of me, forcefully holding my head down for what seemed like a few seconds. I was completely unable to move and can remember myself trying to yell "hello" or "help". All I could see of this dark entity was its side or legs due to the position I was in and how it was holding me down. The episode was very short and when I came to, I was in the exact same position as I was during the experience, just pouring in sweat. Saying that I was extremely terrified would be putting it lightly and now a week later I still get chills just thinking about it.
Terrified
Yo you serious??? i had 3 dreams right one after another randomly beggining after one ends... once when i was little i saw my mom breast feeding and the room was all dark and i some how saw something green then i couldn't breath.. I was like sweating and couldn't sleep till the morning..... now i'm here in America and it is been happening rarely but YO!! i saw this tall dark figure just standing there and a spider and other weird moving objects but clearly i ACTUALLY saw myself getting pulled closer to the evil shadow luckily the panic helped me I had to force my jaw shut in order to wake up from sp and it has been my method......I must say if you are tired crazy the method is harder and it could keep happening to you the same night bcuz it happened to me 3 times one night and made me say WTF IMA RESEARCH THIS BULL!!
damn u sleep paralysis.. IM TIRED
this happens to me every now and then. usually when i take naps. nothing TOO scary happens to me, thankfully. today it happened and i heard the phone ringing, and the bathroom door opening and closing. i live alone and i dont have a house phone, only a cell phone which i KNOW was on silent, and when i woke up and checked yah it was on silent and never rang. im a university student and i just moved into this new apartment about a week ago. the phone ringing sounded like my dad's house phone. i hate sp so much.. ive been reading about it all morning and i find people who WANT it to happen to them.. UNREAL!!!! barely anythign happens to me and i wake up TERRIFIED! the only out of body experience i've had is floating around my ceiling looking at myself. that was a few years ago when i was taking a nap after a day of highschool.. ive also heard my dad yelling at me from outside my bedroom door, but when i woke up and i asked him about it and he was lost. said he never left the couch. most of the time my heart just beats really fast and my body parts go numb or tingly. a couple times i have fallen out of bed and woke up to find i never really moved at all. its strange.. i feel like a psychopath when i talk about it.. but thank god for google its actually nice to be able to write about it and know that people reading it aren't going to be like 'wow psycho bitch on the loose' ... GUHHH IM TIRED i HATE SLEEP PARALYSIS
I Snap Out with an Orgasm
I pretty much have read everyones' SP thoughts and not one has mentioned a sexual experience during SP.
This may sound funny and probably inappropriate, but I did not know I had a method on trying to snap out of it until I came to this blog, but I suppose the twitching of my fingers during the act of pleasuring myself is my method of snapping out of it. That would make sense why I never fully climax, because I snap out of it.
So, while everyone wants to escape these episodes I actually force myself to go back to sleep (on my back), so I can finish what I started.
But, I am glad that I found this blog, because I had an SP episode this morning like no other - was beginning to think my nephew, who recently passed, was seeking revenge. My nephew was a heavy set guy, hence the chest pressure
By the way, I mentioned my episode to my husband for the first time and he looked at me like I was crazy, but it would explain why I am having multiple and more frequent SP episodes - two weeks ago my husband was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer. Recently, I can say I have been sleep deprived, emotionally drained and stressed to the max - all these symptoms are causing my SP episodes. Just in case you're wondering, I left the orgasm part out when I told my husband - like he needs more stress!
Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts; it has helped me tremendously and I hope my thoughts helps those seeking answers.
HASH
hey everyone i use to get SP a couple of times a week sometimes when i was falling asleep but mostly in the morning waking up the ones i got at night was quick only a couple of seconds and there would be no presence in the room i could feel myself going numb all over and not be able to move but still see my room i would panic and snap out of it quick. But the ones when i was waking up was terrifying they could last minutes and everytime there would be a tall shadow of a man standing at the end of my bed. i havent had these episodes in 8 years which is the time i started smoking hash on a regular basis(everyday) dont know if that is a factor maybe someone could try doing some test on canibus 8 years is allso the time i moved out of my parents basement....some would say that there was an evil spirit down there maybe lol i dont know.. but i remember how much it affected me i certainly dont miss these episodes so i am in no way condoning smoking hash but if it can help some people get some sleep with out the fear of waking up paralyzed maybe its worth looking into just my 2 cents
couldn't wake up
I've been freaking out all night/morning because this is the second dream (more of a nightmare) I've had in the past few months of this kind. I'd never had this kind of dream before and it really scares me when it happens. Both nights I was asleep in bed with my boyfriend. The first time I dreamt of being in a basement I didn't recognize, then in my own basement (which is incredibly creepy ... dark, scary, spiderwebs). In both basements I was hiding from something, then in my own it was getting nearer and I suddenly realized I was dreaming but that I wouldn't wake up before whatever it was got me. I was absolutely terrified.
The second dream, last night, was much different, but I had the same feeling throughout. I was in a stranger's backyard, and found a key-hiding plastic rock. I bent down to pick up the key but couldn't grab it. So I went around to the front, saw two kids on bikes in the street and asked them to go to the library to pick up a book for me, I think I said I wanted it to be about spirits or ghosts, and they just grinned and rode off. Then I went inside the house and someone was clearing up a dining room table. There was a dog inside that kept whining and looking at me as if nervous. The person at the table told the dog to hush and I said it's ok, she's just fussing because of me. Then the person was gone and all the lights were out. I kept trying to turn on light switches but they wouldn't turn on. I came around a corner and there was a huge man standing with his back to me. I yelled at him that all the lights were out and he turned around and for some reason startled me. At this point I realized I was dreaming again and that I didn't belong in this house. The man scared me so much (gave me the same feeling as whatever presence I was hiding from in my basement) that I stepped backward and tripped.
In BOTH dreams, as soon as I realized I was dreaming, I knew I wanted to wake up. I started falling (well more pulled in the basement dream, and falling backward after my trip in the stranger's house) and SCREAMING for my boyfriend to wake me up. I would scream his name and realize I was lying in bed but not able to wake up yet and being terrified that the presence/man would grab me and pull me back so that I couldn't get back to my body and wake up my boyfriend. Then I would suddenly be able to sit up and roll over, breathing hard and freaked out.
I've been doing all this research because I thought that a lucid dream can lead to astral projection, not the other way around like I've been having it. It scares me to suddenly realize not only that I'm dreaming but also that I can't wake up when it feels like something dark is going to grab me and keep in my dream forever. I had also heard once that while you are not inside your body during an astral projection, your body is kind of left open for other darker forces to take over while you're away. Which is why I wouldn't choose to leave my body during a dream.
This is all weirding me out, and I'd really like to know how to NOT leave my body during a dream without realizing it, and why I end up in such scary places.
Your trouble can be remedied
Hey, my name is Zack and I noticed that you have been having some distressful dreams and I would like to let you know that I will pray for you during this hard time. I don't want to force my beliefs on you through this message in any way, rather I would like to help you in the best way possible. I will keep you in my prayers daily for your healing, just as well I ask that you go to God in prayer during these dreams to counter and end them, by all means when you are facing these troubles and fears, fight them with everything you have and don't let up. I ask that you pray for God to intervene and pull away these dark forces that invade your thoughts and dreams. I also don't intend to frighten you by saying these dreams are probably more than mere dreams but I want to tell you the truth of the matter: you are probably being attacked by spiritual forces. The evil presense you feel is obviously a threat and I want you to remain strong through it all. Pray to God and trust that He will remove the evil presence that is active around you. I will do so as well. At no time do you have to take my advice, always know that, also know that I wan't to help because I care and I want you to stay encouraged and overcome. Pray to God as I will for strength, do it before you sleep and while you sleep if you have a dream. My e-mail is Hicks.Zachary@my.occ.edu if you ever need some sort insigt or even a question.
I experienced this alot when
I experienced this alot when i was aged around 4-8 which was pretty scary at that age yet i have had NO hallucinations whatsoever during it.
At first i thought it was simply strange child-like dreams yet 8 years later and i experienced the same thing again! only this time i was still in the dream.
It's a pretty scary at the time.
Today, i remember attempting to cry out for my mum really loudly but all that came out were murmers (almost like whispers) and there is no way anyone could have heard.
ANYWAY, that's why i decided to do the research - luckily there's a name for it!!
I Snap Out with an orgasm
I pretty much have read everyones' SP thoughts and not one has mentioned a sexual experience during SP.
This may sound funny and probably inappropriate, but I did not know I had a method on trying to snap out of it until I came to this blog, but I suppose the twitching of my fingers during the act of pleasuring myself is my method of snapping out of it. That would make sense why I never fully climax, because I snap out of it.
So, while everyone wants to escape these episodes I actually force myself to go back to sleep (on my back), so I can finish what I started.
But, I am glad that I found this blog, because I had an SP episode this morning like no other - was beginning to think my nephew, who recently passed, was seeking revenge. My nephew was a heavy set guy, hence the chest pressure
By the way, I mentioned my episode to my husband for the first time and he looked at me like I was crazy, but it would explain why I am having multiple and more frequent SP episodes - two weeks ago my husband was diagnosed with Bladder Cancer. Recently, I can say I have been sleep deprived, emotionally drained and stressed to the max - all these symptoms are causing my SP episodes. Just in case you're wondering, I left the orgasm part out when I told my husband - like he needs more stress!
Thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts; it has helped me tremendously and I hope my thoughts helps those seeking answers.
sleep paralysis
does anyone out there have fun with this besides me?
the experience is undisputedly strange, but full of lessons for your mind.
I find it interesting myself
I find it interesting myself when I watch. I have read many of these. But to my surprise I don't ever feel paralyzed. I often motion my hand at the ghost like man or woman like I am waving, as a joke sometimes. Makes me laugh. I often find myself laughing at what would normally scare someone shitless, because I have always kept a clear mind during the encounters since I was 6 years of age. The ghost never do scare me. I believe in the real ones. I've hunted them down with recordings and sounds. But still, hard to prove.
One I only spoke in was when I was lying in bed, sleeping. Awoke feeling like someone was looking at me. I tapped my chest a few times to know I am awake. I opened and didn't see a thing in the room. I looked around and there it was. A hand on my bed next to my knee. Then I followed that hand up to a arm and a side of a dark body. A car drove by, exsposing it's left side of it's body. I saw it. The head lights went away and it took a step forward as I watch the hand slide a step closer to me. I can now see it a little better in the street light better at this distance. It was a young boy. No one I knew, so I said calmly, "What do you want? Need anything?" It said nothing but looked over me. So I shrugged my shoulders and turned and went back to sleep. Quiet the rest of the night. I know they aren't there. At the same time, I believe they reach out to chosen people.
I just had a episode last
I just had a episode last night,but my eyes are always closed and then I hear myself snoring, and I purposely will snore really loud until it wakes me up..I hate this SP thing, been dealing with this all my life
SP
I am 45 and mine started when I was 8. Some years back I started taking Zoloft 50mg for panic attacks. Now, when I get lazy and don't take my Zoloft for a few days, I start getting the Sleep Paralysis.. I start taking it again and the SP stops. So a low dosage of Zoloft, 50mg, will help and keep this from happening. After the last SP where I actually thought I had died, I swore never to miss my taking my Zoloft again.. SP is pretty scary!!
I had five espisodes in a row lastnight
I have had this problem since childhood and they seem to be slowing down, but for the first time this year lastnight it happened to me five times in a row..I get them when im starting to fall asleep my brain feels a bit numb in a strange way and i do not like the way im falling asleep im trying to wake up im aware of whats going on my body is paralized but this time my eyes were wide open and i couldnt move speak, right away i go into a panic of trying to yell for someone to wake me. I am not the only one that gets them, its obvious its hereditary because of my mother getting them, I go into a panic like im never going to wake up and im going to die from this. After lastnight getting them how many times in a row to me indicates that its getting worse now..im 33 yrs old and like i said i starting getting this when i was around 7 or 8yrs old.
Same issue
Well i had this problem few years back, I used to feel that, some one is pressing my body or some one is walking on me or pulling me, I was feeling that my soul is coming out of the body etc and was able to hear properly if any one from my home is talking nearby and was also able to seem them but not able to talk to them or move. I used to give me full force to move my body, i felt that i have moved little bit but finally when I woke up i found that i did not move. Thanks God now this is not ...
DK
helo
helo m anu frm punjab want to be n contact with u as m also feling the same as u.if u get ths msg tahn contact me on my id