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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
Stop it , this isn't Demons or some Archaic God
This is scientific , and I'm genuinely disgusted . I don't need to scream for a god to get myself together . We hear or see similar things, because theyre primordial human fears . Like Dragon's being born from our ancient predators, just a twisted amalgam . Europeans saw Witches, Irishmen saw Goblins , Israelis and Iranians saw Sucubi . We're exposed to tradtional human fears, and recreate it in our wakeing dream state. Christ we've been dealt a preatty screwed up hand . But don't you dare fall back and say it's god . Pray if that gets you off , be my guest . But don't start raveing over demons and witches sneaking in the night .
Can this be stopped
ive been experiencing this for as long as i can remember. sometimes i have out of body expiriences and float around my room, or im paralyzed and feel like im being shocked by some kind of evil spirits, i cant take this anymore im scared to even fall asleep, my girlfriend constantly has to wake me up from me grinding my teeth and whimpering and rocking myself in my sleep hoping someone will awake me. the most recent expirience was last night i fell asleep cuddled up to my girl, then i slipped into sleep paralysis and tried opening my eyes and i see this arm waving infront of my face, it scared me so bad and it wouldnt stop so i tried yelling help help, but my girlfriend says the only noise i make is whimpering so she wakes me up, if anyone knows how to avoid this please message me at
Avoid sleeping in a face
Avoid sleeping in a face upwards or supine position and also don't forget to pray.
For info
I dont know if i havce this exactly but i wake up almost every night atleast a few times open my eyes and cannot move i can see my girl next to me and try to speak and tell her to move me or help me i thought at first it was a night mare but it keeps happening almost every night. I dont understand why.and i get really scared in that time that i cant move and i cant move but if i try really hard almost unbarably hard i can make my leg or toes or arm twitch and it wakes me up. i dont know what to do about it but i really dislike it, it happened to me the other night to where i shouldve slept for 10 hours but it happened so much that i slept maybe 10 minutes. WHAT TO DO?
anxiety
i am 12 years old and i have anxiety i told my mother she didnt believe me she thought i wanted attention now shes tired of hearing my complaints no whon believed me not evan my sister and i have been suffering for over a year fealing like somethings going to get me i see things on the side of my eye i am scared to death so i look up anxiety symptoms i get irritated fast and get mad at my little brother in a snap so iget in trouble.
A Video to Watch....
Hello everyone.
I've been doing some online research, and found several videos on YouTube related to SP. There's one in particular I liked at . It's called "The Science of Sleep Paralysis" and I think it's very informative, as there are interviews with real people who have what we have, scientific tests run on SP sufferers to see what is going on in our brains when this happens, the reason for the intense, inescapable fear we feel and the reason for the "demons" we all see. It's about 10 minutes long, but worth the watch. Hopefully some might find comfort in watching this.
Take care!
~Jess
Your not hopeless in this state.
This night, I felt all the similar fears and horrors and paralysis, but In the midths pf it all, I began to feel an extreme power within myself, like an energy that I have never felt before, In fact the best sensation of my entire life. I did, in this state have the ability to trigger this "awesome feeling" of joy, safety,and altogether a sense that I had a power inside of me that could be awoken in this state. It was like being high times a million and it just kept getting stronger and stronger until at last I felt my arm serge with power, furious strength in my left arm. It was as if I was given, and i mean given.. a defense to fear and horror, like i had the power to overcome it. My theory is not that this state is brought because of evil spirits, but instead you are more susceptible to spirits of all kinds, the only one that want to attack you are the bad ones. However, your own spirit has defenses of its own. Try to awaken this power I felt, it can be done and it can be controlled. Yet, you need a trigger, a way to bring forth this power. All I can say is it can be overcome within this state that is fearful, in the fearfulness you can start a feeling, and absolute feeling, that you are protected and you can even protect yourself. Take it or leave it. God bless
over coming the fear
I figure if I could over come the fear and have faith in God to help me that I the terror would go away during SP. It is just so hard to over come the fear and panic. I would love to hear more stories of how people over came there fear and how it all turned out.
So far now SP Episodes
IT'S KYM HERE...I am just reporting back with the updates.
I haven't been experiencing SP as of now.
I recite the 23rd psalm as much as I can.
I pray.
I try to remain positive before bed.
.. I am not cured. I don't know when it will come about again.
I will return to update as much as I can
I have experienced SP three
I have experienced SP three times this week ...I don't have it this often usually Sometimes I don't have it for a long period of time .. and other times I have it more frequently .. I have it since I was 5 ( now I'm 20 ) .. I've seen / heard a lot of things during all this years of expericing SP .. Sometimes I feel as if I walked out of my body and then realise that I'm still struggling to wake up ..and again it's like I woke up and I could see my room and everything in it completly the same to find my self under SP .. and so on . . I've seen shadows or some creaturs a lot of times .. once when I was about 14 there was this very scary woman walking around my bed and making loud sounds with a drum that she was holding .. it was sooo scary and annoying I couldn't move or scream or do anything but by the time I could move my hand to were she was walking I woke up and the scary thing was that I felt it when I woke up that I touched something .. !
Last night I saw ( and it was the first time ) some blinding light in the windows but somehow I could close my eyes to avoid it .. !
In the past I used to hear a loud static sound but i got rid of it !
I don't understand why do we all have a lot of things in commen that we see and hear .. I mean if it's our mind that created that .. then we all have an identical mind .. which is not possible .. besides we all live in diffrent places .. diffrent ages !
It can't be a coincidence .. !
I always tell myself that there is a scientific reason for all that but it's hard to do that with all that I experienced .. there's another part of me that believe something else !
RE SP
Hi I just noticed you said you get the electricity sound ...me too!!! sometimes at the base of my head and neck... almost like the sound of a radio being tuned in ...then I cant move... I used to freak but now control it with the realisation ...that it is my muscles going to sleep first BEFORE MY CONSCIOUSNESS....instead if the other way around...hence the feeling of not being able to move , sometimes a nice warm feeling that i dont want to move....our brain trys to make sense of it and puts a person there?
Saint Michael the Archangel,
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Hosts, thrust into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen" This will work to get rid of the demons you see..
Hate it..ruins my sleep!
I have been having episodes of SP for over 20 years. I used to tell my husband about it and he would tell me that I was just dreaming. When I have an episode, I desperately try to wake up and I can flicker my eyes so I can usually see the wall or ceiling. I can wimper (in my head I'm screaming my husbands name) so he knows now after all these years to wake me up. I usually wake up and say 'what took you so long to wake me up?" My husband has told me that I'm hardly making any noises and that my body is very tense. It doesn't matter if I'm sleeping on my back, side or stomach. It's happened at night and also during the day. I have SP when I'm going through a stressful time in my life or if everything is going smoothly. I don't feel a evil presence or see witches. I usually have SP once or twice a month. It's a horrible thing and unfortunately it's passed on to my son.
Scary... SP happened to me
Scary...
SP happened to me for the first time when I was 14 years old and was taking an afternoon nap, I felt like I was paralyzed and couldnt move a finger, I felt like I was able to see part of the room, in the direction my face was facing but I felt a presence or something on the opposite side of the room, it was so scary because I coulnd't move my head. It happened again during the years, Im now 36, thank God haven't had one in years. I also used to scream my husbands name hoping he would wake me up, he now knows about the episodes and even if he hears me whimpering he"ll wake me up. At first I was sure it was something supernatural, after a few episodes I thought for sure I was awake and my body wasnt, but after a few years I came to the conclution Im in between sleep phases just like the research proved, and it takes my brain who is scared to death to wake the rest of my body, I also feel very cold while SP is happening....Im so glad we have internet now days to be able to research into episodes like this......I read another person passed on to her son, I don't know if my kids will inherit this behavior, I do know, my son sleep talks and walks sometimes too, and my little girl after she turned 8 months had horrible night terrors, and just recently became a better sleeper, she is now 4 1/2 years old. It was a tough 4 years hearing her scream her lungs out in terror in the middle of the night. Thank God it seems to have gone away.....God Bless
this page
today i just had this symptom but i could not move and also was paralyzed. i could not think but il i saw was black it was like i was dead and when i woke up i was really scared and dont want this to happen again
sp
I have experienced sleep paralysis many times. Sometimes it will occur as soon as I lay down in bed. I can even tell when it is about to happen and try to move and get up before it completely takes over. The strangest thing that happened to me one time during SP was like an out of body experience. I tried moveing with all the will power I could muster. I then got out of bed moving very slowly, walked trough the door and towards my brothers room. I then opened his door and as I did I started falling almost floating to the ground. Right before I hit the ground in an instant I was back in my own bed able to move again. That shit is really weird to me. I also have experienced everything else that has been detailed on most everyones blogs. It i good to know that im not crazy. But praying does help. Usually ill try to focus on moving a finger and as soon as I do I'll snap right out of it. It is really only a concious dream though. So if you learn about lucid dreaming it actually can become pretty damn cool. I can basically put myself into sleep paralysis when I want to. Dont get me wrong tough it still happens when I dont want it to. But you can do just about anything you want and it is more reallistic then the most vivid dream. E-mail with some thoughts of your experiences.
sleep paralisis
I dont c how anyone can find this shit cool im 22 almost 23 this month and this has been happening for couple years now and it was really really scarry the first times i tried so hard to move and was unable to then i heard a loud buzzing noise i tried to calm down and ride it out but then a felt like i was getting sucked in somwhere so then i panic and try moving again thinking this can kill me il focus real hard on moving my finger and when i finally do i usually wake up. iv talked to my doctor and friends about it they all think im making shit up but its real and this is the second time iv looked into this over the internet and im amazed its not just me. Iv been having SP more frequently lately i just had it this morning and after reading about other peoples experiences i tried to c how mine relate i never c the shadows or ghostly figures but when i got out of SP today i fealt as if something left my body which was freaky. i usually try to yell out jesus's name or gods and that usually helps me wake up. I hate SP my biggest fear is thinking that it can kill me and usually after i finally do get out of it im affraid to go back to bed and most the time my head feels all weird for the rest of the day it sucks.
Yep same thing happens to me.
Yep same thing happens to me. See weird things, hear weird noises/voises.. And i feel like garbage the whole day after, like my thinking is very clouded and i feel like my head is full of cotton balls... if that makes sense
These so called dreams are more then just scary.
I wake up in the middle of the night feeling scared and feeling like I am being sucked back into being paralayzed and can't move at all or can move very little with very much effort. I fight with all I have to keep from going back into the dream or whatever it is. I think I wake up because I can see the house as it is, It is funny how I can see stuff like my eyes are really opened but my mind is still half asleep. I think that I am really awake to find the next morning that I never made it out of bed. I am so scared in these dreams because I don't know if I am awake or not, sometimes it takes me awhile to figure out I am still asleep and then I really start to freak out, I start yelling out for Jesus to help me and that always brings me out of it. The dreams are not always the same, some I hear noises as I am being pulled in the "black hole" like somoene walking on paper or dry leaves and I realize what is going on but I can't pull myself out of it, it is always too strong or I never was awake to pull myself out of it. Sometimes there is a shadow of a man in the room with me and he pushes me down as I try to get out of bed. I remember the first time I had this experience I was 19 years old, I got so scared that I got in bed with my parents and it happened again to me that night, I could see the room and my parents lying beside me but I couldn't move, I wanted to touch my mom so she would wake up and wake me up. I knew that something was coming down the hall to get me and I knew I had to wake up before it was too late. I have always made it out of the dream or state before I see what is coming but the past few months I am seeing the shadows that try to get me. The real weird thing about that night that I slept with my parents is that my mom had the same thing happen to her that night. I couldn't help but wonder if an evil spirit was messing with us. I would love to believe it is just a bad dream but if feels way more then that. At times if almost makes you wonder if your heart stopped for just moment and your spirit is walking around the house. My dad has the nightmares alot and my mom seldom does. My dad and I suffer from restless leg syndrom and I hear it can be caused by low dopamine levels which makes me wonder if that has anything to do with it. I would love to know the cure to make these bad dreams go away because they are so horrifying. I would love to talk to someone that has the same thing going on.
i feel your pain!
This has been happening to me for22 years , I just dont understand how we all see and hear the same things....why is this not treated or talked about more? I believe 100% that it is demons i see them and feel them .I do not have any negitive things around me...i just wish ther was a way to understand, In my days I have kept a journal of my s.p and now i think my daughter who is 3 has it.....I feel helpless....
I have never had this exact
I have never had this exact experience but I have had similar ones and not while I was sleeping. I am not sure what your ideas are about the world we live in but things are more complicated than they seem. What you are describing is clearly spiritual. There may be chemical & physiological reasons that you are particularly susceptible to these sleep related incidents but I think it has more to do with the altered conscious state we experience during sleep that makes us all more vulnerable during sleep, some more than others, that is being exploited by demons. Yes there are really demons and this is the kind of thing that they do. Feelings of fear and panic and a clear sense of something evil should be a clear sign of what you are dealing with. You are not helpless though none of us are there is authority to dismiss these beings in the name and authority of Jesus. I know this sounds crazy to some or ridiculous to others but what you are experiencing is real and so is Jesus no other name or god can help because there is only one God all the others are just the same as the demons that are tormenting you. The reality of this life is veiled and it's hard to see it for what it is but you don't have to live in fear or dread. I hope you can hear what I am saying to you because I really want to see you free of this.
Hopefully you are right
I think you are right about me having more control them I think, I will always call out on Jesus to save me but I need to remain more calm and not get so worked up during the SP. I am tired of thinking about it because it only scares me more. I am trying to think on happy things and put the demon thoughts on hold. I hate the night, I wished it never got dark. I just can't stand the suprise of something sneaking up on me during the night even if it is just a crazy dream state. I am not for sure what is going on but I know I don't like it and want to get my mind back to thinking on good things. If it is going to get us it is going to get us one way or another so we might as well get our mind off it and on to something more worth while. I thank your for your reply, I am going to put this thing behind me (at least until the next time it happens) and not let it control me.
Ive had many similar dreams
Ive had many similar dreams like the ones im reading, i do not believe its scientifical problem, its just weird that we all have some sort of negative feeling when going through this, my best advice is when ure sleeping and going through this start praying, and if you cant pray just repeat jesus name, when he ask for help hes always with us, atleast everytime i dream and begin to say him name or pray i wake up. Ive also started to pray everysingle night before i go to sleep and i havent had any of these type of dreams if thats what u can call them, sorry to hear about those that have a real hard time sleeping, it can be quiet scare,
you will all be in my prayers
<3 nat
IS THERE A CURE FOR SLEEP PARALYSIS!?!?!?!?!?!?!
iv had sleep paralysis happen to me 2 nights in a row... 1st time, i woke up i dont know how but i woke up.. and when i became conscious i was paralyzed, i was unable to move or call for help. i heard my mother go into the bathroom and my little brother on the compluter but i was unable to tell them what was happen to me but i did have this feeling of being lifted off my bed a little bit. i dont rememebr much of that night, just the part of total fear.
2nd night. i went to sleep and had a not so pleasant dream and right when this being was about to get me in my dream i was paralyzed in my dream unable to scream and unable to move.. at this moment i hear my little brother get out of bed and that was enough to bring me into conscious but still even being "awake" i was unable to move or speak, but when i tried to force myself to scream i was unable it was only after much force i got out a low scream by that time my little brother was shaken me to wake up which i was very thankful for.
...i am tired of being afraid of going to sleep because it may be the last time i am alive, does anyone know how to beat this sleep paralysis?!?!
Treatment
when i travel in night bus returning to college after holidays from home, i arrived at morning, and i attended 2 periods of my class at the day, while sleeping in that night i got SP and wake up.I tried to sleep but again got SP, and then again and again for 4 or 5 times..,I really frustrated and got bottle of water and and reversed my sleeping direction and slept properly..Next day means today i googled about it and read this article and gotta know something about it..,
some helpful tips are here:
I Agree.
I don't quite understand this whole SP thing but I have these paralyzed in my bed, coupled with a scary thing beside me, nights. Sometimes I feel like I have a sorta ESP going about me when I am just waking up and I know this sounds silly but I feel like one side of my bed is sort of more evil, or right where my head was resting is sort of like "bad dream quick sand" and sleeping on the other side or in reverse stops the dreams.
questions & experience
i used to have these experiences when i was in my teens. always in the same house where i lived with my grandparents. i would be sleeping, then all of a sudden feel this black mass rush up on me and feel like i was being held down and couldnt breath, couldnt yell, or speak. i would try to hit or kick the footboard or headboard whatever i could. i would also call on god. or pray that god watched over me while i slept and kept bad things away from me.
at 19 i married my husband and we moved downstairs from my grandparents into one of their apartments. i had never told my husband about the experiences because i felt that if i discussed them it would make them happen again and i just wanted to forget about them. one night i was watching tv and he came out of the bedroom where he had been sleeping. he said "why didnt you wake me up" i asked him what he meant he said he kept calling for me and asked why i hadnt come in and woke him up. he said he woke up and saw me in the corner, or what he thought was me but it was a.. and before he could finish i said "black shadow" he said "how did you know" i immediatly thought this thing was following me! he said he woke up and saw me but it wasnt me and this shadow figure rushed up on him and he couldnt breath or move and he tryed to yell for me. i told him this was the same experience that had haunted me since i was a pre-teen.
i do suffer from anxiety. my husband does not however. so there is nothing to link the events there. id rather believe that it is scientific rather than an evil presence. i also have a friend who i have been working with for the past 5 yrs whos mother had the same experience. i was almost resorting to believing my small town had some kind of mothman or something that haunted people while they slept. so it makes me feel better to have some kind of answer.
does anyone else have experiences similar to mine? also, it does not matter if i layed on my back or stomach when the experiences happened. i have also been on anti depressants/anxiety meds since i was 18 and havent had any experiences in years.
Just had this @ 3am.
Just experienced this at 3am..
I tried to speak- couldn't. Tried to move- couldn't. I literally FELT like i was going to die.
Had this nightmare about 5 times, usually when i'm sleeping on my left side.
My nightmares were:
Flying to a white space.
Other weird stuff i can't remember.
I also pray to GOD, and then after a few minutes i'm awake again.
Something else?????
I’ve experienced this only a few times in my life, all occurring after the age of 17. I am 19 years old and after reading this I thought I’d share my experience too. I’ve read many of your comments and after going through most of them I think that my experience in particular was a little bad too.
It was around 5am when I woke up
suddenly, reached for my water bottle for a drink and reclined back on my bed. I stared at my roof for a few minutes, arms behind my head, and I see this green orb thing floating right under the bottom of my ceiling. It starts coming down slowly, I don’t think much of it, but I cannot stop staring at it. 2 minutes go by and it’s hovering right over my bed, about 15 seconds later it is right above my body, seconds later it’s over my body and I feel something drop on me.
This thing that dropped on me felt like a 300 pound person right above me. As soon as I felt this over me I yelled “get the fuck off me!” really loud. I think I got what ever was on me mad. I tried to yell a second time, but it was too late, my body was paralyzed and I could no longer speak. Next I heard this girl laughing, laughing towards me I suspect, and she sounded young like 9-10. Point is her laughing got louder and louder, and then she sounded like there was many of her laughing at me. Her laughing was not heard outside, but inside my head. Next my eyes go black like I’m staring inside my head. Then my mouth opened by itself and I heard this incredibly loud scream that turned into a screech inside my head. Then I got control of my body, got up, and turned on all the lights in my room. It is a true story. I hope it never happens again. I’m sure It will, but fuck it. You got to live with some shit sometimes.
You know what is slightly worse than that?
I live in a very old neighborhood and so the power goes out a lot. Somehow i guess a noise is made before the power goes out or w/e and I wake up from a terrible demonic dream and 1-2 seconds after I wake up scared out of my mind the power goes out. Total and I mean total darkness with no choice on the matter.
witches board??
Would love to know if anyone with SP had ever played with a witches board or any black magic. I had played with a witch board one time when I was a teenager, didn't think it could do anything but apparently it did. Just crossed my mind after reading some of these posts.
ouji board
hi, i am so glad i seen your comment, i suffer from this disorder, and i used to play with the ouji board a lot when i was a weird teenager, and i am certain it is them who come to visit me during the night. people would think you were daft if you told them that, nobody believes you. also black magic never leaves you, if you have messed with it. i think that ouji board has a lot to answer for what i have done in my life. but out off everything i have read about this disorder, nobody has mentioned ouji boards till now, probably cause they dont want to admit to themselves, or maybe they forgot about playing black magick years ago. i definetly get visitors from hell, i dont think i am dreaming. i am sure this is really happening, i am convinced that i am going to die in my sleep one night. this has been going on for more than 20 yrs now, them demons have raped me in my sleep, i have woke up with scratches on my neck, when they have been choking me, this shit is'nt nightmares, fuck nightmates are tame, too what goe's on my bedroom. i,ve told one off my sons, he just thinks it is funny, and i have an overactive imagination.
Have you ever thought about seeing a minister about this?
I have never had anything like that happen to me, Just now starting to see a shadow figure. If I was being raped or attacked like that I would be going to see a true blue minister and beg him to to make the demon go away. I would beg him to do something. I can't even imagine going through something like that. I want to cry just thinking about it. Do you believe in Jesus? I remember when I played the ouji board, every time I aked it about Jesus it would go to good bye, it would quit talking to us. I didn't beleive the thing would do anything and the girls that owned the game told me I had to say I believed for it to work and so I did and then it started moving. I was so scared, I swore I would never play with anything like that again. I don't know if that was the start of my SP or not. I wished you would talk to a minister that deals with stuff like that. I promise you if that starts to happen to me I will be finding me one. I am the biggest chicken when it comes to stuff like this.
I have experienced this many
I have experienced this many times, mostly once a month, sometimes twice. Also, one thing I am wondering is can this also occur while on your stomach? The only two times this occurred during daylight, I was on my stomach sleeping. The second of those two daytime experiences was the worst that ever happened that caused me to research this. Most of the time, this happens at night when im in my room when its dark and I cannot breath and all i can do is move my eyes but can barely open them all the way. I try to calm myself down, and when i do i look around the room and usually see a dark figure either standing on side of me or at the end of my bed. My worst experience was during one afternoon. I was taking a nap on my couch, on my stomach. I awoke but was 'paralyzed'. I could not breath at all. I watched a dark figure walk across the room and next to me on the couch where it stood right up against the couch next to me. Usually when I experienced SP it wouldnt last but a few seconds. This time however, it seemed like several minutes. I noticed it was lasting longer than normal and I was feeling like I was dieing because i was not breathing. I was sure i was going to die which caused me to be so frightened i began to cry but nothing came out, besides tears ran down my face. no breathing, no facial movement, just tears. I finally prayed to God and begged him to help me and not let me die and the shadow disappeared and i was able to breath. Being so close to death because of this led me to research it and warn others. I dont kno if there is a cure or treatment for this but i would like to kno. That most frightening experience was the last I had and I am afraid next time it will be worse. I dont kno whether to believe its scietific or spiritual, but i do know that i will continue to pray to God because that seems to be the only way I am ever able to awake from it.
Thank god i found this blog.....
Hearing all your stories give me comfort in knowing that I'm not the only one that went through that. I'm 25 now but back when I was 19 I remember clearly I will never forget this..... I'm sleeping when all of a sudden I opened my eyes and I couldn't move, breath, or talk and standing before me is a man, woman, and two kids. I was so scared, they looked so real. They didn't move or anything they just stood there looking at me and I could feel evil vibes(as crazy as that sounds) a feeling as if i wasn't alone in my room. Inside me in my thoughts I screamed in fear yet my yells didn't come out, it took a while before I was able to move. I never slept in that room again to this day I wont I'm terrified, I slept in the living room with the kitchen lights on. But that night was awful my screams woke everyone in the house my mom was so scared and she didn't even know what was going on. How was I going to explain something like that to anyone. I'm sure they would have thought I was crazy.
Sleep Paralysis SOLVED!!! I got it! Please READ carefully.
Ok my friends. I have solved this thing and buried it in a coffin. You can skip the intro if you want.
I am a biologist. And a scientist. 25 years old in Germany. I was being nagged by this SP since some time now. And I wanted to get this solved because it was starting to get on my nerves.
I thought of many possible solutions to myself. Which are very scientific logical things. It means having an hypothesis and then testing out things by trial.
I thought of what happened to others and the feeling of being chocked by something etc. I thought maybe we need to put a pillow on someone's chest and try to see if the person felt this pillow crushing into him or not. Trying to see for sure whether it can be filmed etc to see what is really happening.
But I do not have all this equipment and the solution came out much more simply to me.
This EVERYONE MUST read.
So I just got this SP, it is now 9.20 am here. Just like we are happy if we caught our prey in the night, I am happy here to have caught it in the day. It is my first experience of SP in the day and I needed this to get my theories about this right.
I was lucky I had my bed light on me. So the condition was perfect to test anything.
I had slept the whole night before and woke up at 2 am then went to sleep again at around 7 am.
Then it felt it happening...
I felt the paralysis coming.
I had to choose whether to go in or not.
I had waited for this.
It came to me before just like this but always at night and I had not dared to enter.
But today.
I could clearly see everything in my room and I was determined to have my hand on that. I had told myself before that, I wont fear. If I see anything am gonna scare it myself!!
My courage paid off..
-----
So now my account really starts:
I went down slowly. I felt it coming. slowly. I jerked myself back to life many times. It worked. I moved my hands and limbs etc to get myself back conscious. It worked a couple of times. So it was like putting my feet in cold water and testing before plunging my whole body. But it was day light and I was sure that if I would see anything at all then I would see it. And I was curious. What was it the others saw? I only got that far. I had felt the weird feeling before.. But that was all.. but then.. I wanted to know more. Because I did not want to keep living under the fear of it happening to me.
So.. I went in down this paralysis.. like allowing myself to sink in it.. slowly.. I battled a bit at first.. then it got me strong. It was like it bite me. ( the sp).. now I was really in it. It takes maybe 1 min to get into it. But I cannot be sure how long exactly.Maybe much less..45 seconds..
The FIRST thing I felt was the choking. A slight feeling of having my chest having some trouble. It was the first time I felt that. Then.. suddenly.. I felt like something blew up under my back.. just like a floating bag having a rapid rush of air and this blowing under my back. It was still light AND amazingly I was still seeing my room. It was all real and I was definitely conscious and still battling with the SP. Now I was struggling like mad to get myself up. It was HARD. I even felt my left limb had gone up in the air. I was not scared yet but it became clear it was still on the bed when I tried to move my feet. As I felt my foot rubbing with my bed. so as you see even in my head I was testing out everything instead of alarming myself. Then I managed to get myself free from the SP and saw a tissue paper roll under my back. This is the same thing I kept in my kitchen locker. I did not ask myself how it got there. It was damn right there, under my back and this is what appeared like to blow up with air like a floater. And I was like okay..I did not feel puzzled. It was just that under my back. I had the feeling of total vision without time. Anything could happen in any way and my brain would by pass the details--> This bit will make sense in a moment as I explain.
In that moment, I saw myself talking to my uncle. I was no more in my room. I was at his place. And there was a problem with the way he was using the computer he was using. It is all clear to me as I am seeing it. But I will not explain it in detail what I saw..for a reason as you might have guessed already. This moment was not scary at all.
=I am not sure if I continued to jerk myself. But if you followed what I said you would have understood that I thought I was already awake. But at some point I woke up again TO MY AMAZEMENT and I immediately understood everything. This is the KEY. I had thought I was already awake when I SAW with my two eyes as hard as real.. that tissue paper roll under my back.
Everything that I felt was a dream even tho I thought I was awake and conscious.
When I felt the choking.. I got a normal body sensation that my brain interpreted as something under my back. I could feel my brain thinking and trying to understand what it was. I was anticipating the thing that comes over me and chockes me like others say.. I was waiting for it like a hunter with a gun...but it never came and I never saw anything.I felt something instead under my back rather which surely must have been due to the body paralysis kicking in while me being semi conscious.
But the true conclusion in that.. is that EVERYTHING that you all guys SAW, HEARD, FELT etc.. is ALL fake. Just strange things that happen to the body due to paralysis or other abnormalities in the ear drums.. which the brain is interpreting.
This time during the day I did not feel anything weird koz I was mentally very up for it this time. I had it under control.
So folks.. NO MORE FEARS. All these are what your mind made up due to all your experiences in life.. that are buried deep down ur subconscious that come up in that moment as frightening episodes. It is your own fears materialsing in front of you. This is why the God praying helps for some.. because it gets the fear down for them.
As for me, I have solid beliefs where it needs to, I had a more intelligent eye on the thing to convince myself beyond doubt what is really happening and what is not happening at all.
**
Small explanation to myself as to why I saw the tissue roll was because my mind was preoccupied about this. I had 2 more like this and they all vanished each time. So the last one I locked it in my kitchen cupboard. But I saw it in my " dream" I had not thought it was something found but the one I had locked in my kitchen. I dont want to explain too much here because there is no use of it.
Second is the uncle. This guy is far away from his home right now.. but I talked to my mum about him some time ago so this is why he came up in my dreams. And the PC problem he got.. is just normal stuff I would imagine from him.
So point is.. It is all a mental imagination. If you read my other posts.. you will see I was already determined to finding the truth about it, instead of making false assumptions.
**
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I hope this message helps the world.. who ever reads it.
wished we all could have ones like that.
I am glad to here nothing bad happened while in SP, I really hope you are right, the last thing I want to believe is that demons are out to get us while we are a sleep. I want to go to bed and sleep with no fear. After having a bad SP night, it is hard to get it out of your mind for awhile and have a good night. I had a small one last night, I remember feeling that deep sinking feeling and I reminded myself to stay calm and nothing came of it. Not really sure if it was SP because it came and went so fast. I would love to be brave and calm and play with it like you did but once it is dark I am all chicken and my mind starts reminding me of all that I have read in books or heard on here and I can't take it. I am losing sleep because of the fear and I feel so stupid once morning comes but as soon as the night comes I am back to childlish fear. I am glad to here a good SP story. I hope to hear more.
My SP experience
Ok,
So I am 25 year old guy. Student. I live alone in my student room. I have been reading some of the accounts here which I find quite interesting. I wonder at times if they are real. What if someone tries to make a joke with it with all kinds of bizarre things to scare people. So I cannot be sure what to believe.
So I can only write about my own experience. I have had SP at least 5-6 times since maybe 6 or more months ago. It occured to me ONLY when I drastically shifted my sleeping hours. For example.. when I slept in the day.. then went to bed again to sleep around night..whatever ..disbalancing my sleeping hours would cause this to happen. I totally believe it is due to a disbalance in the rhythmic sleep cycle. At least in my case.
BUT:
What I think is disturbing was also this weird feeling. I just had it some hours ago and came to look for information about it. And I confirm that I got this weird feeling too. My room was dark. Each time I got it, my room was dark. But there was a faint light from the day.. so that it was not totally dark in my room today. I had this weird feeling of the devil ..satan came to my mind.. there is something i did to prevent the fear from gripping me.. it is like holding your breath and keeping calm and trying to get yourself back. I had the feeling like this may be the way people feel when they are about to die. I could feel the threshold between falling totally down this REM state. It is really like going down a dark tunnel. I realised at that point that it was my decision to continue it or stop it by jerking myself. I was too scared to continue so I tried to jerk myself by moving my hands and limbs. It is hard ..like trying to kick my conscience back to life. After a while.. I would come back to my senses. I understand a chemical has taken time to relieve my muscles ( according to what I have read).
But on each occasion I can say for sure there was a weird feeling and also fear. A feeling of anxiety maybe..but mostly fear of some kind of bad presence in my room. I dont know whether this feeling has to do with my life.. the way it is going. I must confess feeling lost in life before those moments and stressed. I am a believer,in the sense that I understand the possibility of there being a "God". But I dont pray because I think the effort must come from us.
I have never made a nightmare since a VERY long time now. Maybe since 10 years never made a nightmare. So I dont understand why I should feel "fear", anxiety etc in that specific moment. I dont know what it means. In my view it could just be that the normal anxiety someone feels at this abnormal period is interpreted by the brain causing these feelings to occur which has nothing to do with anything at all except pure mental workouts because we are close to dreaming anything is possible. I absolutely believe it is impossible for a devil or whatever to penetrate the physics of this world which functions on defined mechanics. You cannot perceive something which is not there. But you can hallucinate. If you hallucinated. Then you hallucinated. The question now.. is why you hallucinated. And not instead.. go on believing that what you saw or felt could be real.. because this is impossible.
So that was my view. I am happy so far that I have no had extreme fear with it. But I admit the feeling of fear is there. But once the experience is over I feel totally back to reality. I feel normal. But in that SP moment, it is a battle to become conscious again and the paralysing feeling is interesting. Who knows this is what happens when someone dies. Probably that is just it.
I was particularly moved by
I was particularly moved by your post and I'm 16 years old so it was nice to see someone explain what they went through in detail. My apprehension for future SP moments for myself scare me so much and I enjoye reading your view on God and hallucinations.
Spirituality and science
I believe science does a good job of explaining the process our creator has used to create everything. We are in fact just reverse engineering everything to understand them. I appreciate the attempt some scientists make to discredit everything spiritual and explain it as biological, but they are just theories. I experienced many of the things others on here have described. The weight of the demon actually pressed me into my bed and leaned down and whispered in to my ear in what sounded like every language that has ever existed simultaneously. It did not stop until I prayed for God to help me. It was still in my room when I jumped from my bed. If this is happening to you, please pray.
Fighting my "Evil Entity"
As an atheist my form of prayer I suppose is mustering my courage and fighting back alone. I find that when I make myself unafraid despite what is happening and fight back even being paralyzed it is a mental battle. When the shadow, demon, evil spirit, ghost or whatever everyone else wants to call it feels you have hope or strength it is all over. Your hope and strength is God whether he exists or not.
SP during daylight -anxiety/hallucinations-anyone??
I have only one question.
Has anyone in the world got a sp during the day or in some light? If yes, did those people feel the same anxiety, hallucinations etc ?
i have it 2
not only do i have it in the night but at daylight to in fact i have just had it an now i decided to search in the web to see if this is a problem that i only have and what is called."sleeping paralysis" just knew it today,but i discovered the more you fight back the heavy the paralysis or hallucination.so i relax or try a little to come to wake,sometimes i call to Gods and Jesus name and it works to.i thought that there is something evil about me but now i think not that so.at first it was scary i knew my death will come by sleeping but now i dont think so.also use of some drugs brings this problem let me not elaborate on that much athawise Have a good sleep and waking moment.
Yes..
The majority of my SP experiences have been during the day. Sleeping on my back, stomach or side doesn't seem to have any effect either way but I've found that if I sleep on my bed during the day I'm more likely to have one. Almost every time I lay down on the bed during the day in fact, I can count on it. I think when I nap on the couch I don't get as comfortable & quiet of a rest so maybe I don't get to REM sleep? In fact I had SP while laying on the couch for the first time ever two days ago, after I hadn't slept in 3 days. Most of the SP I have during the day doesn't usually involve a visible presence of a shadow or entity but more of the feeling of evil and panic. I also will wake up over and over each time still in a "dream" up to 6 or 7 times in a row some days. I wake up feeling like something bad will happen if I don't get up but when I try to sit up I can't move, panic, and wake up again sometimes this time someone is hurt or I feel something chasing me out of bed again so I panic and wake up again, sometimes by the 2nd or 3rd time I KNOW I'm still sleeping and dreaming the feeling of evil and dreaming about waking up but I can't stop it. I can only keep waking up more and more hysterical with one of a hundred different horrible scenarios anywhere from simply over sleeping and it being the next day to someone having died in the house to a shadow at the foot of the bed.. all with a sense of evil about it.
I don't have the repeated waking up problem as often at night, though it still happens from time to time. At night it's usually a shadow or dark mass and it ranges from just feeling/seeing it in the room to having it physically lift my covers or even jerk me out of the bed. I'm always trying to scream bloody murder and crying but no sounds come out. Sometimes I can clearly see my husband in bed next to me sleeping through everything and sometimes he's not there even though when I do finally wake up he had been there the whole time.
I've only been suffering with this for about two and a half years and it seems to get worse with stress, although it doesn't NEED to be triggered by anything, it can be totally random. I'm fairly certain it was all brought on by stress in the first place and when it started it was every day every time I tried to sleep SOMETHING would happen.. after 6 months or so it became less frequent but could still be set off by being over tired or stressed.
Yes, I have experienced SP
Yes, I have experienced SP during the day twice before. The first time during the day, i experienced the fear but did not see the dark shadow that i normally saw when it would occur. Also I was on my stomach which is odd because after reading this I see normally people are on their backs. The second time it happened during the day, I was on my stomach again on the couch in my living room. I experienced the fear and I watched a dark shadow walk across the room and stand next to me against the couch. This was my most frightening experience because this one lasted a very long time and like all the other times i was not able to breath. I was desperately trying to breath because any longer and I feel that i mite have died from suffocation. Also, as i struggled to breath i was so frightened i began to cry and tears were running down my face but i still could not move. Finally, i prayed to God and i was able to breath. Almost feeling close to death, i started researching and found SP to be closest to what I'm experiencing. I'm just not sure whether to believe its scientific or spiritual.
Spiritual Case- Let's try to understand it.
Ok everyone, I had posted a question recently about whether anyone got SP during the day and its comparison to night time. I was surprised to know it was similar to night.
So my next question is as follows:
When such things happen. From deep inside, prior to this event, do you have some kind of guilt within yourselves for things you might be doing wrong in your lives? Also do you have a belief in a God?
I want to establish a link between personal belief/ state of personal life and SP. Is there a possible correlation?
Second, I would say that.. in my view I am still personally convinced that it has nothing to do with anything of the above except that at that moment we are on the borderline of REM and the normal anxiety of this strange period is interpreted by the brain and converted to all kinds of terryfing experiences which are not real at all.
But.. I dont think I should be convinced by those unless we do experiments to induce SP in someone and see if we can cause those to happen by ourselves. If we can, we can then say for sure it is all a chemical problem. If not, for the same exact phenomenon, we cannot re-create those strange feelings, then this would be interesting.
Trying to understand...
I love the fact that there are some of us delving into this - trying to figure out the questions "why me?" and "how does this all happen?" and "is it a spiritual battle or just a chemical imbalance?"
So thanks to all who are trying to figure this out. The facts of my experiences are:
•episodes can happen day or night, light or dark
•mainly happens when my sleep cycle is inconsistent (not staying on a regular sleep schedule or taking a nap during the day can trigger it)
•there have been visual appearances by demons (both male and female), aliens, flashing lights, even seeing my husband as an old man
•sounds include electric static, zapping, underwater rushing noises, talking
•inability to move, scream, or make contact with my sleeping husband to request help, even if my hand is touching his arm.
•dizzy temporary discomfort and disorientation in my head (from the loud noises and inability to breathe, I believe). It almost seems to culminate in what I would imagine a seizure to feel like, then I go straight from paralyzed to snapped awake and can move every limb at once, breathing hard, heart pounding.
•does not matter what position i sleep in - I have gotten sp on my stomach, sides, and back.
•one ever "pleasant" version where I twisted and felt like I rolled up and out of my body, traveled off the couch, floated through the ceiling and to the second floor to watch my husband playing with his sugar gliders...when i woke up, i went upstairs to find him doing exactly that.
•feelings range from intense anxiety and fear to dull acceptance. I experimented by giving in to it, letting it run it's course, unafraid, and it resulted in a prolonged version.
•I have woken up from an episode to find that I'm within another episode (dream within a dream)so there have been multiples right in a row up to 4 in a night.
•Ability to feel an onset before it happens - hard to explain, but sometimes you know when it's coming, and it can be prevented through getting up and walking around for a bit.
•I am a very open-minded Christian. I believe in a power greater than us all, and that there are things and realms we do not understand. However, I highly doubt that there are beings really trying to attack me personally whilst I sleep. I have the daily stress of an average 30-year old, no depression, no drugs, no alcohol, and no health problems to speak of. I'd like to consider myself normal in pretty much all facets. I am a professional artist and have a creative mind.
•My non-SP dreams tend to be quite pleasant and adventurous, very fun and colorful. On average, I sleep too little, and get SP when I sleep too much.
I think that about covers it. Hopefully someone will put all of our collective information together and make sense of it all!
My answers
Hello,
My name is Gustavo, brazilian male 27 and I had few experiences with SP, since 2006. My last post was "A Good Hint" (begining of july)
My answers to your questions are:
No, no guilt feeling, it can happen doesn´t matter the place, doesn´t matter the time doesn´t matter the position you are sleeping AND doesn´t matter who is right by your SIDE (sleeping or not) in that SP moment - I also read something about a guy having SP inside a train or something and people about to ask for the correct sit to this guy, stoped and comment to each other "leave him, he is sleeping", and the guy was there paralysed and watching everything paralysed and unable to ask for help - and Yes, I believe in God (everybody believe it, sometimes in a different way cuz everybody dies one day and the FACT that you don´t know where you come from and to where you go after this life MUST have a "God/religion/belief" related to it!! or else you simple don´t care about it and just don´t think about it).
No, I don´t think that belief or life style has something to do with SP cuz as you see I´m brazilian, I a have different way of life from people from Italy, or India, USA, Japan or other place, but if you read the comments you can see that we are from every part of the world, every ages, religion... and the comments are similar.
(...this strange period is interpreted by the brain and converted to all kinds of terryfing experiences which are not real at all...)
I don´t know what to say about your comment, it can be true!! But one night I woke up in my bed, I was fully aware that I just woke up very sleepy and staring at my ceiling lamp iluminated by the TV and in that moment I felt my eyes moving itself, rolling really fast but my REAL view focus was the LAMP ONLY.. I did not have the view from what my eyes where pointing to... very strange, and then I realised I was paralysed but few seconds after that I woke up AGAIN with a technique of rejecting that situation mentaly with no physical effort, it really work for me.
And for the last paragraph I can say that this is an interesting thing, to be paralysed, aware of it and seeing GOOD and BAD things...it´s "daaaaammmmnnnnn" interesting!!!
Daylight SP
Yes, I have had SP in both night time and daytime hours. The feelings are the same, the visions are the same, and the terror is the same. I always see the "hat man" or a similar vision. Every single time he is at the end of my bed or in room by my door. He doesn't ever move, and if he does it isn't fast enough or drastic enough to notice. Every time I have an SP episode, I notice it gets a little more intense...and a little worse.
What do we all have in common?
It seems to me there are a lot of people out there experiencing this strange behavior. I think we should start asking ourselves what do we all have in common, and perhaps then we can come to conclusions why this is happening.
SP started happening to me at the age of perhaps 5 or 6 for the first time. Then it restarted around the age of 18 when I had long forgotten that one time when I was a kid. Ever since then I experience SP in a very regular basis, but only when I am alone. Now I manage to force myself to wake up from them, as I don't really care to venture into the exploration of my SP state. It takes me what feels like an eternity but do usually manage to wake up, very tired from trying to wake myself up. I also experience sexual touching.
So could there be something we have in common that causes us to experience this? something that damaged our neurological wiring? life style choices? I did drink and smoke from the age of 18, I was no very healthy living, but now I am. I am in shape, take care of my body as best as one could. I did have some life changing moments when it started happening I moved to another country. Did go through a lot of emotional drama.
Hope this helps. Would be interesting to find out what we have in common!