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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
This has happened to me
This has happened to me plenty of times but I never felt fear or anything like that every time it happens I just hear someone telling me its time to get up and they're nudging my arm, Weird lol.
zzzzz
can anyone tell me whats the difference with laying on your back or stomach? 'cause sleep paralysis occurs upto 4 times a week with me, no matter which position i lay! Im tired of it im so scared to fall asleep!
i think wheter you sleep on
i think wheter you sleep on your back or not its still going to happen, i personally think and also having done some research, that it comes from anxiety(being over excited,depressed, angry or stressed), i read that its basically an anxiety attack but during your sleep. So its like you go to bed stressed out and you start dreaming during a stage in our sleep called REM sleep(rapid eye movement sleep), so during that stage your body is paralyzed so your body doesnt act out any dreams so what happens is that when you wake up while your in REM sleep part of you brain wakes up and your body is still paralyzed from lack of neurotransmitters to the muscles so its basically like if your still asleep dreaming but with your eyes opened and aware that have woken. Like with some people that they say they see or hears things, its cuz they woke right up from REM sleep and right into sleep paralysis to where now they are aware that they are awake but part of their brain is still dreaming so thats what makes them believe what they are seeing or hearing is real. Just dont be stressed out when going to bed is what i think will work for you!
Ive noticed that when I have
Ive noticed that when I have music playing or a Movie that it tends to happen quite a bit. I can hear everything that is going on. If you do the same you should try and cut it out before falling asleep.
Ive had it on all positions so it doesnt really matter. If you have messed up sleeping patterns or stress it tends to happen more.
Just try and remain calm and wait till you get the right moment to shake yourself out of it.
Sleep Paraysis
I'm 17 now, and it started happening 2 years ago.
When it started, it was very frequent (3 timesa night) but now it happens less and less as I've avoided things that cause it.
In my case... what brings sleep paralysis on is..
1.Being really tired! It happens in that phase between being awake and dropping off t sleep, if I'm really tired I hit the pillow and I'm immediately in this phase.
2. Stress! i.e. can't sleep.. so it make's you very tired.. and so go's back to number 1.
To begin with my experience's were very typical (pressure on chest, footsteps ect) but more recently it's been actually seeing a man on top of me, strangeling me, whilst hearing laughing, voices ect. and also someone pulling my leg (trying to drag me off the bed) and also the tightening of my bed covers around me. It's really freaky, but sometimes it can be pretty cool... kinda :/
Sadie
same place
i experienced this too. The explanation is reasonable. However, i don't understand why is it always happen in the same place. I only have sleeping problem whenever i sleep in the same room.
Good point!
I just realized that location does hold significance. I occasionally have SP, but when I used to sleep at my ex's (she slept in a pitch black room btw) I would get SP much more often, accompanied by nightmares.
Same here
Same thing happened to me and it only happened at my bedroom in my current apartment.
I'd never experienced anything like this before in my entire life until the beginning of this year, after I'd moved into this apartment. It's been happening every week or every other week and I got really tired afterward. But it never occurred when I slept in my bf's place.
Moving out now and never come back.
sleep paralysis
wow! So glad i just looked this up! Ive been having this happen to me for ages its been getting worse like every night! I just woke up from one n thought riight need to know whats going on so jumped straight on the net on my phone.. I usually see a dark shadowy body n hear it moving around me sometimes itl throw me around the room or drag me around and i tryy so hard to wake up then when i think im awake i try sit up and i cant move then what ever it is comes back.. I can even feel the pain or pressure sometimes of where its grabbed me when i actually wake up.. N sometimes cant breathe.. Im starting to become scared of going to bed! Is there anything that can help it?
I hate it
First of all I'm so relieved to have found this page. I had an episode this morning that really and utterly freaked me out and I decided when I finally made myself get up that I'd research what it was.
I've never experienced any evilness or spirituality when I've had my episode, just straight paralysis and a feeling of panic and anxiety sweeping over me. The one I had this morning was different though because I really thought I was awake but when I tried moving I couldn't. In my mind I wasn't to scared b/c I've had these before so I just do what I always do which is try really really hard to move my limbs and wake myself up. I had finally gotten my arm to raise up and I remember waving my hand in front of my face and there was nothing..like it was invisible... that's when I started to panic and I just kept waving it back and forth even though it wasn't there. I looked down and saw my arm was right by my side, not in front of me like I thought. So I tried another approach which was to call my boyfriends name and I recall saying it over and over but of course nothing happened because I am sure I wasn't actually saying anything. Finally I remember shaking my head and I woke up and was relieved because I THOUGHT i was awake but then i tried to move again and i couldn't! finally i just struggled and struggled and actually woke up my heart racing and my whole body just shivering.
This stuff sucks to have but I' m glad to know I'm not alone.
Maybe an outer body experience
I have the same thing! I never new what it was, I spoke to a spiritual counselor and was told that I may be having a outer body experience. I started having this when I was little, like around 6 or 7 and I would wake up every night screaming for my mom. It went on every night for about 6 months, my mother kept a note book and documented it. It stopped than came back in my teen years every now and than. I'm 29 now, I kind of thought everyone had it. Anyway it always feels like I'm awake like my brain is and I can see my own body and I keep telling myself to wake up and I can't then I would go into like a panic mode and almost start crying in fear! I try to yell for help, or move and I can't. Last night I had one but I saw my body sleeping and I saw a man with his hand on my leg shaking me and saying "honey wake up" I thought it was my husband. I some how woke up and sat up quick and no one was in the room. So weird!!! I've had them before and felt like I was falling but this is the first one I can remember feeling like someone was touching me.
Having similar problems please help
I,Have been having this since a baby,But I dont think its scientific,When I go to sleep...I feel that im falling,But Im not! Yes I read articles about it too,Other problem (MAIN PROBLEM) is when Im dreaming all of a sudden...I feel like my spirit is leaving my body,And its not 10 times that has happened,HUNDREDS OF TIMES,I stop my spirit from leaving my body,So I return to my body,I cant see anything,I have asked myself though,What would happen if I just let my body just go? Will I die? And its no demonic thing,No because sometimes...it happens randomly,In RANDOM dreams....Please help me....I need help...its been 17 years..And Im worried....
That used to happen to me
I know how you feel, when i was in 6th grade i used to go to sleep and it would feel like my spirit is being sucked out or leaving my body and it would be so scary. My heart would be beating really fast and i would have anxiety attacks. The feeling was like being on a roller coaster ride but worse. No one had any answers, but then i remembered i had the Bible. I started reading the Bible and i found answers to all of my questions and everything that i read related to me and what i was doing with my life and why stuff was happening to me. God promises to encourage you in your darkest hour. If you will seek Him with all your heart, He will come to you. He will show you the path that leads out of your situation. He will conduct a holy pep rally just for you. He will wipe away your tears. He will carry your heavy load. He is much better at this than you are, so let Him take it from here. Climb up into his strong arms. Lay your head down. And rest.
A lot of this happened because of stress an anxiety but reading the Bible and praying helped me and now this never happens to me. I hope this helps you.
-Jacob If you have questions or anything here's my email nizeekio@yahoo.com
reply
dude thank you so much for bringing this up. ive had the sleep paralyse and sometimes cant breath so i would like wiggle my fingers and smack my self lol to wake up.
but the main reason i am replying is because i had a simalar experience to you many times. i would feel like im falling then everything turns black , and suddently i see my body like just, laying there! like im leaving my body! its wierd cuz it happens many times , and dreams dont ussually occur more than once to me. im worried also
I understand
Hey Juan, I experience the same things. It has been happening to me for years. It happens randomly to me too. The first time it happened I was on a bunk-bed, I was on top and I flew down to grab a piece of paper, I couldn't and then tried to get back to my body. I don't understand how it happened, it just happened. It was hard for me to get back because my body was paralyzed. It happens often and if I don't control it and be close to my body I can go deeper. It kinda feels like a force can push you to go deeper. When I let this force take me, I loose more and more control and it becomes scary and the image of my room disappears and I feel forces moving me. For a long time when it happened I stayed close to my body, but it is said that your soul is connected to your body by a cord that is connected by your head and your body's head so you will never die. I felt the same fear as you, for a while I didn't want to go to sleep. I have visited scary places wondering with my soul, but if I have also witnessed so much peace! More peace than I can find on this earth. Everyone is different so I don't know how your experiences are but don't be afraid. You have a very strong soul, it might want to teach you things. The first time it happened i was 13 maybe 14 and i'm 21 now. It is really easy to get in back to my body, but at the beginning it was harder. earthwatermelon@hotmail.com I cannot say everything here. you can email me if you wanna talk, i'd be glad to. but i don't know everything! I just share my experiences.
Sleep
Wow finally I feel like someone I can talk to about this I just almost don't know what to think I don't sleep properly because I'm scared of this sleep paralysis occuring it had been happening for the past three years but recently happens almost 2-3times a week I just want to know how to understand it or get rid of because I just want a night of peaceful sleep
happen only when i alone
I am glad that i'm not alone on this case. For me, it's really strange because it only happen when i'm alone and in the day time when there no one but me. If i know that someone is in the house. Then it never happens. I have experienced all the writer wrote, hear and see thing. I am still scare to take nap in the day if i alone. When i was younger i have to save a friend from drowning and i almost drown myself to save him. Also, when i was younger my parent always watch horror movies. Could this possibly traumatized me to have these sleep paralysis? I don't know what to do. Please help
I've been experiencing this
I've been experiencing this since I was 14, I'm 29 now, and I know its more to it. One time I was pulled out of my bed and I woke up in pain. another Instance was me wrestling with whatever it was and it was trying to pull down my pants.... I can go on and on... its to the point now that it happens as soon as I doze off... I don't have to be sleep
Same problem
I have the same issue sometimes, It all started after I saw the movie "Passion of the Christ" years ago. I happens when I am trying to fall asleep at night, and also if I ever try to nap during the day. I can not nap anymore because of this issue. It doesn't happen that often anymore but it does still happen to me probably once a month. I can not move, talk or anything. It does not happen when I am sleeping with my girlfriend though, which is odd, only when I am alone. It literally scares the crap out of me, Im getting chills just thinking about it. I am glad that there are other people who have the same issue.
I most often experience SP
I most often experience SP during naps, I often try and wake myself and pull the covers off of me only to find that everything is blurry and moving in slow motion. After a few seconds I think that I have moved the blanket off, only to wake up and find out that I am in the exact same position I was in before. I also recently started to have night terrors where I thought somebody was whispering in my ear, and I try and wake up and scream, I feel as if my eyes are open and I can see everything vividly except I can't yell or move...and oddly this only happens when I am staying in a hotel. I'm not very observant however, and haven't been able to attribute my periods of SP to anything specific (except for the night terrors in hotels).
sleep paralysis or something else...........
The first episode i ever had was when i was about 15-16 (im 33 now) i was lay in bed and i was awake but i couldnt move all i could do was slightly move my head an my eyes, at this point i wasnt afraid just a bit panicky, then i heard a loud buzzing noise so i turned to the door and all i saw was this huge black shadowy figure float around the corner on the landing and start to come towards me as it got closer and closer i was trying to scream for my mum or basically anyone in the house to hear me and wake me up, although i was trying no words were coming out of my mouth, as the spirit got to my bedroom door i managed to scream as loud as i could and violently shake myself awake, my mum came running in and i was wet through and petrified obviously i was a little nervous about going back to sleep but eventually i tried but as i was about to nod off i heard the strange whining noise again and knew it was going to happen again and it did. Since then i have had hundreds of these episodes too many to count and all as scary as the first time, nowadays though i can actually move my hand to tap,nudge or pinch my wife to wake me up i can also speak now and tell my wife to wake me up which as long as i havent pissed her off she does lol. The reason i am writing on here today though is about 2 hours ago i have had yet another episode this one completley different though i fell asleep on the sofa watching tv i woke up but as i woke i could hera chanting the same thing being said over and over again it wasn't a word it was just a noise it was like someone sayin charcharcharcharcharcharchar constantly, i could also see some black jet black smoke coming out of my left eye i was scared. I could see my son in front of the tv but i was unable to speak but i could hear what was on on the tv, so i tries to wake myself up by trying to shake myself,this didn't work, so i tried with all my might (about 5 mins) then eventually i was able to say to my son wake me up he turned round and looked at me but looked away probably thinking i was just talking in my sleep, so i said it again as he walked towards me i heard my wife say leave your dad alone he's asleep, so my son said ok but my dad asked me to wake him up, so my wife knowing about my episodes told him to wake me up quickly which he did, i then told my wife everything i just heard on the tv exaclty what she had said and exactly where my son was stood. To me this seems like its to easy for people to give a scientific explanation i know when i am going to have one of these episode usually because of the groaning noise i hear and i can usually wake myself up, it doesnt matter weather im on my back, on my stomach, sat on the sofa these happen to me all the time. Has anyone else experienced these episodes like mine because they are really begining to get to me now.
thanks
me i have experience the same
mines was alittle different i was under the spell sleeping paralysis and i roll my eyes to where my feet are and i see a little girl in a white dress but i couldnt see her face at all and her face hands looked pitch black she was walking towards me and i was so scared i tried screaming with all my might but failed my cat came and hssst at it and the girl disapeared and my cat just layed down and quickly went to sleep and i snaped out of being frozen. tht was the scarist moment of my life its nice 2 kno tht some1 faced the same thing as me
I have the same thing.
I know exactly how you feel I have these experiences every night at least 3 times a night. I warn my husband to wake me if I start moaning because thats the only noise I can get out of my mouth my whole body is just stuck and stiff and find I even breathe very quickly and and faintly. It's got alot worse since being pregnant now 5 1/2 months. I've had sleep paralysis for years now but only ever on and off lately it's a nightly accurance. It's very frightening and at times I feel like someones watching me and even see a dark shadow move across the room. I just tell myself that it's just me seeing things and it's not actually there. I've even heard this aweful voice talk to me like it was standing next to my bed. I am a strong believer and practising Christian so naturally I thought they were spiritual dreams in which I was being attacked by the enemy. I also have researched the more clinical side of all the causes and symptoms. I often wake from these episodes and in my head pray out to God and find I can instantly move again and then quickly ask my husband to hold me because I am still frightened and in shock. I find when I try and talk the words are very slurred and faint like nothing is coming out at all. I've found that sleeping on my right side reduces these episodes and sleeping on my back encourages it so if that is the cure for these horrible accurances I'll do anything! I hope that someday we both can rid this aweful condition and see the back of it! God bless and your not alone!
This is the same kind of
This is the same kind of stuff that would happen to me, only I knew I was asleep and as I was in bed I could see(despite the fact I knew I was asleep) my sister and my mom in the living room, I tried to shake myself awake but I felt like if I was drifting, like if if someone didn't wake me I would die, and at the same time I saw my sister coming towards the room, and luckly she shook me awake, I felt like I should have told her but was too shocked for the rest of the day to talk.
vibrating chest
hi, im 12 yrs old and i just experienced this 2day. my chest was vibrating violently! i could hardly twitch my finger. i thought i was dying.
I wish it would stop cuz I feel as if it don't I might die
Sp has happen 2 me like 4 times already but this mornin was different,it's like I kept tellin myself that I'm sleepin but each time I truer to move I could,I tryed to speak and I could,the only thing I could do was open my eyes,so I decided to close my eyes and try to sleep, and so I did when I try to move the second time I couldn't try talkin and still could when I look on my wall I seen something on top of me I was soooo scared that I kept prayin in my head and tryin to ask 4 help finally I was able to scream out loud and my friend woke up.....it hurts to know I can't sleep when I want to I pray to God it stop be4 it turns to the point where I pass away in my sleep I'm only 18 and would like this to stop
Me, too...
I recently discovered this sleep paralysis, it began about when I was 16, I am now 19. I rarely have it, but it has became more frequent to at least once a month, if not, twice. Sometimes I am able to move, sometimes I am not..but I always try. It seems that I have this "entity" in whatever room I am in that has a mirror..and it seems like me starring back but I know it isn't..and it's evil or something. But I just had an episode just a few hours ago (I have a horrible sleeping pattern, I wake up many times during the night) I decided to go sleep on the couch and I wanted to wake up to see what time it was because I knew I had to go to school soon. So, here I am laying on the couch facing the cushions ..but low and behold..I cannot move, so I push myself and keep pushing to wake myself up I roll over slightly ..and i'm back to facing the cushion. Finally after failed attempts I fall off of the couch and I feel free..I run into the bedroom and jump on my boyfriend on the bed. And then I ACTUALLY woke up on the couch. I felt really drowsy ..like I still might be sleeping and headed into the room, and there my boyfriend was...sleeping on the bed. He wasn't sleeping when I left so it's weird that I somehow knew..at least there wasn't a dark entity in this one..I still do not like being paralyzed.
Glad to know I'm not alone!
The first time this had happened to me was about 10 years ago, during my first year of college. I remember it very vividly still to this day. I was asleep in my bed, then the phone started to ring (in my dream I believe), but I noticed when I tried to roll over to pick up the phone, I would get half way through rolling over, and it would all of the suddenly reset me back to the original position I was in. This continued, and each time it seemed like I could get a little further away from the original position, but again, it would always reset, and I'd be back on my side facing the wall in my bed. It even got to the point where (in my dream), my roomate would walk into my room and talk to me, yet I wouldn't be able to see him. I even asked him where he was, and he insisted he was standing right in front of my face.
Since then I have had a few episodes, similar to this. But last nights was pretty bad. I was in bed (of course), and it had felt like I had woken up. I remember being able to somewhat peer around the room, and I can say, it was like everything was in it's right place, the dressers, night stands, even the computer screen, were all in the exact spots they were supposed to be in. It was ultra-realistic. Therefore I had no clue I was actually asleep. Until I tried moving. I remember trying to roll over to my other side, and it felt utterly impossible. So I kept trying harder and harder, I remember my breathing being very labored. Eventually, I tried hard enough to the point that I could feel my arm moving, but when it passed in front of my face, there was nothing. So I could feel the movement of my arm, but could also see that it was still down by my side and not moving at all. This is when I started to panic. I remember because my arms were down by my side, trying to pinch my leg as hard as possible, so I'm assuming by this time I realized somewhat, that I was asleep and not awake. But, to no avail, I couldn't even pinch myself awake. I think this started to confuse me a bit, because I've always believed that in a dream if you realize you're dreaming, you should be able to pinch yourself back into reality. At this point I was trying to do weird things, like I noticed my mouse for my computer sitting on the nightstand, so I would work hard to get my hand close enough to reach the mouse, and when I finally did, I was looking on the computer screen to see if the cursor would move, but it wasn't. I then saw a couple of lighters on my nightstand, and tried to pick them up and throw them at my door to attract attention and hear some noise, but I couldn't throw them hard enough.
But this is when it got really disturbing. I was laying on my right side. I started to notice sounds coming from behind me, where the window in my room was. I had concluded that these noises were somebody trying to get into my bedroom through the window. So of course what did I want to do? I wanted to roll over, but again, it seemed impossible. I remember grabbing the headboard of my bed and trying with all of my might to hoist myself around to the other side to see what the noises were, but I couldn't. Every effort that I made just made me more and more terrified. This went on for what seemed like an infinite period of time.
I can honestly say, I don't know if I've ever experienced this feeling of pure fear and terror, in real life or in a dreamlike state. But, as with all dreams, I eventually woke up. My body felt exhausted, I got up to use the restroom and the first thing I did was checked the ground for the lighters that I had tried to throw, but of course, they weren't there. My legs felt like jello, and I swear my heart was still racing extremely fast. When I got back into bed, I was still shaking and was almost too frightened to go back to sleep. But I did eventually fall back asleep and had some extremely vivid dreams.
This is the first time I've tried to research what is going on here, and God bless the internet, it took 2 seconds to realize it's sleep paralysis. I talked to my mom about it and she said "those aren't nightmares, I had the same thing all my life, but I don't remember what it's called" (crazy little korean woman, lol) And sure enough come to find out, it's hereditary.. Thanks a lot moms!
Its happening too frequently now!
So like many others have posted, I've had this happen to me when I was younger. I would feel a presence enter my body and throw me around the room. I felt like the 'spirit' or whatever was doing that for its pleasure and not because I had done something wrong. I think its interesting that as a child you are not yet familiar with the work of spirits or demons so how are you able to dream something like that?
Lately though over the past 3 months, I have been experiencing different kinds of paralysis at least once a week. This week it happened two nights (I just had one then hence why I am researching the issue). These are the different types I've had recently...there have been more though (luckily they each last a few minutes rather than 3 hours like I've read on other sites) I never have another one occur straight after though, like once it happens thats it for the night. PHEW.
1) Once something whispered my name in my ear, then went under my sheets, I saw my sheets rise and then immediately woke up. I think thats cause I recently watched paranormal acvitity and my brain is playing with me though. Haha.
2) Once I felt something come inside of me so I ran downstairs to find my brother, tried to tell him, he ignored me and I started to float above him and then I felt sucked back into my body and woke up.
3) Last night I felt something choking me in my bed, then it pushed me out of my bed and I was like, fuck this! So I got up and proceeded to move from the area of paralysis, but something kept pulling me back to my room, but I finally got a grip of the door, went to my brother's bedroom, turned on the light, but it was still dark for me (however he could see the light) and tried to tell him what happened and then I immediately woke up
4) Tonight (just then) I felt kind of like something was having its way with me (sexually), which I've also read can happen where you feel sexual sensations. I knew straightaway I was having another sleep paralysis episode and mum recommended yesterday that I chant a prayer when it happens, so I did but I felt like whatever was in me was growing and got worse. Then I woke up again.
Based on what I've read and experienced, it seems like most of this all in your brain. Lately my sleeping pattern has changed dramatically because I've been out of a job, so I sleep in heaps and have a lot of day naps. Apparently the more sleep you have the more likely you are to have it. Also it seems to occur more when I've just fallen asleep downstairs and I come to bed really really drowsy to the point where I can feel my head pounding or have a migraine. I also read on another website that antidepressants can help minimise the episodes, that isn't true... I've been on them lately and they have occurred just the same.
If I was to take the spiritual side of the argument, I'd say this is happening because I've recently started to "seek out God" or try and discover what spirituality means to me. Thats probably why I keep trying to find my brother during paralysis because we talk about the topic alot. But I really don't think its that. Your brain plays all these tricks on you depending on what you believe in.
Dunno really. Its all messed up. I think if I started sleeping regularly again and actually got a job all this would go away. Maybe I'll give an update in a few month's time and see if thats what cures it (for people who are also having irregular sleep patterns and the same kind of episodes).
hey i would like to talk to
hey i would like to talk to you so PLEASE contact me by e-mail and maby we can talk more about this cause I dont think its all in my head...strange things have been happining to me all my life and continue to happen...
sleep paralysis
i have done this every since i was 18 i was in labor and they gave me something to help me sleep and i jumped so hard to wake up i almost fell out of the bed.im 37 and still do it.it happens every time i take a nap.and about twice a week at night i take alot of sleeping pills to help is there anything i can do so i can sleep without ithinking im going to die. i se things and here things people talking to me and nobodys there when i finally come out of it.
omg
my names yvette and i have sp i didnt know what it was until now ive been having these problems since i was like 15 im 17 now and it still wont stop its pretty scary i dont like it i wish it would stop i hate the feeling of it and not being able to move....... when i told my mom this was happening to me she thought i was getting possesed or something lol but i guess this i will have to learn to deal with ugh bummer.......
okay. I am 19 years old. i
okay. I am 19 years old. i have been experiencing this since i was 4. its gotten worse over the years. its weird because it rarely happens when im sleeping next to someone. My boyfriend went outta town for a few days, and for the first time in over 3 months it happened to me again. Im scared to fall asleep. I know something has to be there because i see things and i felt someone standing on the blanket wrapped around my feet last night. And i have seen so many things that are too scary for me to write but yeah. last night also was scary because when it would happen and i opened my eyes which when it starts it goes away if i open them in time i would hear the tv entertainment center in front of my bed settling and making noises. I felt pressure on my bed often and i couldnt even move so its not like i was moving. I am 3 months pregnant with my second child. im afraid this sleep thing will harm my unborn baby. At the most i get 4 hours of sleep. I start to fall asleep and it happens. it feels like something is diving into me.. i cant talk, feels like i cant breathe, i cant move, and when i try to scream for help i try but i cant move my mouth atall. the only thing i can move is my eyes. sometimes i cant even do that. And every time i have been able to move my eyes i see a figure without a face, dark things (idk what they are) or its very foggy. its scary. i wake up and my heart is pounding very fast and i feel a presence in the room. And sometimes it happens only one time. most of the time though it goes on all night until around 5:00. call me crazy, but since last night im scared to go to bed. i researched what im going through and found this site. thank you all for reading this. i would love to hear more stories about this kind of stuff. Its a good feeling to know that i am not the only one that is experiencing these things. My closest friends and family call me crazy and attention seeking. im not. this is a real thing. please feel free to email me. thank you so much.....
Do you have a dog to sleep with?
I know what you mean by not wanting to sleep alone, Usually just having my dog lay beside me helps but the last time me and the dog slept alone together I had a SP dream. It feels as though if you are alone they or it really starts to play with you. I don't know if our fear of being alone triggers it or not. Get a big German Shepherd to sleep with, maybe just having someone else there in the room with you will help. The dog may even wake you up if it sees you having trouble. I really feel for you, I remember how it was to be pregnant and getting only a few hours of sleep at night and having to work the next day.
sleep paralysis: multiple stories in one brain
The paper which triggered the rich conversation here was written after a lecture I gave on sleep and sleep paralysis, including the idea that it results from becoming partially conscious while one's nervous system is still inhibiting motoneuron activity (hence the paralysis).
I was interested in the phenomenon in part because I myself have had brief episodes of sleep paralysis for as long as I can remember. And these days, I am more or less "aware" during the episodes that they can be accounted for that way. Despite that, it takes me a while to be able to move and often my brain creates a parallel story about what is going on. Last night, for example, there were some bat like demons above my bed. Its interesting that having one explanation for things doesn't preclude having also another explanation, even in the same brain.
Paul, It's a fascinating
Paul,
It's a fascinating phenomenon; thank you so much for posting about it. I think I experienced this some as a child, without hallucinations. At first I felt not panic but a sincere urge to take action. I soon learned to try to wiggle my foot, eventually would, then rock my leg, then fully wake. 30 years later it almost never happens. I did at least once have the opposite experience of physically acting out my dream. I dreamed I was about to fall out of bed, moved around to avoid it, and fell out of bed! Hah!
I wonder if a different experience I still rarely have might be related. Usually when it's too hot I have trouble sleeping. Infrequently, when it's hot, I semi-wake, want to stay awake and get up, but am unable. I have trouble staying conscious long enough to fully wake. My muscles, arm and leg, feel odd (a bit as if they're made of loosely-packed wet sand) and extremely weak. I may manage to wake up by flopping my arm or I may fail. If I wake and rise, the odd weak muscle feeling stays for some time, and the muscles are weak, as if overly exercised. Once I really wake I have no trouble staying awake.
Have you comments and have you heard anything about this sort of thing?
-Gretchen
Mmm. . . I see. Last night i
Mmm. . . I see. Last night i also had another "episode" but it didn't last because some how i forced my way out of it. Once again i was sleeping on my back,being held down, & wasn't able to speak. I really would love to experience much more of this but a little uneasy about what would occur.
Sleep Paralisis
Hi, I'm a 14 year old male and this just happened to me, although I don't experience any ghost like things. It is very frustrating and i notice the difference is that when my head throbs i can't wake up and when it doesn't i wake up fine.
i have the same problem
I have the same problem, i am fourteen yrs old. I have experienced sleep paralisis many times. i dont experience any ghost like features just the state of being awake but cant move or talk. it is very scary and i havent figured out what it was until i went to this website. i havent had this problem in a while.
night terrors
I have the prob of waking in my dream,unable to move but can see in front of me.It feels like i'm inside my head(a mini me)and to wake i have to take a hard run and hit the inside of my head to wake.it is frightning as i'm aware of the fact that i cannot move and cannot wake.this happens to me alot,and has happened from as early in my life as i can remember.
Finally I have found some
Finally I have found some answers (sort of) my problem and glad to know I am not alone. I used to get this "Sleep Paralysis" very frequently, and especially when I nap during the day time.
I used to be overweight and thought that was the reason.
While I sleep, my mind would wakeup and I would want to get up, but I would find my whole body paralysed. Most of the time I could feel discomfort in breathing too, and I would panic and try all my energy to wake my body. I would try hard to shake my leg or hand or squeeze out a moan out of my throat to wake me up. Sometimes my wife runs and wakes me up. It is the scariest feeling, kind of close to death.
For the last few years, I worked out regularly, lost weight and became very fit. Now I don't have this issue that frequently, for the last 3 years may be twice. But yesterday night I had it and my wife woke me up after hearing my screams. Then today I went on internet to find out what the heck this is.
while am awake my girl sees whats going on to me
am typing this because it happens to me just 10 mints ago
i see i feel ,cant move or talk trying to wake my girlfriend
while my hands or body cant move at all ,its been 15 years or more that happens ,dont know what it is but i also see someone there while it happens,my girlfriend sees it then moves me then am able to speak and move ,she feels a bad thing around me then it leaves the room ,im scare dont know what it is or why she sees it too so i know am not asleep
i would like some info on this i know ya talk as if this is a
sleep issue on me i dont think so,i thougth it was my doing
i also died once on a car crash ,but came back alive so i dont know if thats the casue of this would like some good sleep .
Facing Your Sleeping Nightmares
I have been have these things happing to me since i was a little girl and now I am 36 years old and I am still afriad to get cozy with my sleeping when I am alone. this morning when my husband went to work it happened again. I was sleeping and I physically felt something getting onto the bed and i thought to myself oh no! not again. I saw a dark spirit cross over my body and my spirit jumped out of the bed. I picked up the phone to call me husband and it was not working of course!! I got so angry and i decided to face it head on. i started yelling "God" where are you!! the more I yelled the stronger the spirit got.
So, I decided to pray and I took my arms and made a cross formation to ward off this thing. I noticed the more I prayed and walked towards this dark spirit, the color began to fade from dark to a brighter color eventually turning white with the hood off the head and the more i prayed and approached. the visible this spirit became and when I finshed, I realized that this spirit was me!
How could I have been fighting myself all of these years....is this my inner being trying to tell me something.
I was shocked to learn the true ID of the evil dark spirit.
first experience
I had my first experience last night. I woke up around 4am and I heard a sharp high white noise. Instantly upon hearing that I began to feel sharp pains in my head. Afterwards I couldn't move my body or speak. I tried really hard to move my legs and say something to wake someone up so they can help me but all that came out was some hard grumbles and very slow movements of the arm. I did hear some footsteps walking around my carpeted bedroom and I tried to look around by opening my eyes and saw glimpses of nothing. I must have passed out because I woke up again around 6am. The whole overall experience was very unsettling. Just plain wierd and creepy. So now after I read this article it does make a little sense now. I could see how misfires of the neurons can cause temporary paralysis, so the auditory sounds must have been a hallucination. I don't know, I still feel as something unexplainable has happened.
Dis is freeky
This has only happened to me once.I am only 11 and i had a weird dream when i was 10.
I woke up(or thought i did)in the middle of the night. i saw this weird creatcher staring at me from across the room all i could see were its eyes glowing in a dark corner.My eye twiched and the thing lunged at me and was holding me down by my shoulders(im not going to discrib what it looks like.then i saw this bright glow goming into my room. the creatcher sproughted bat wings and flew out of my bedroom. When the glowing died down i could see who it was. it was my great great grandmother. i rechenised her from a photo. She smiled at me. then i woke up. Prety freky right?
So happy to hear I am not the
So happy to hear I am not the only one. I have had SP since as long as I can remember and I am 20 years old. It often happens during short naps, or when I fall asleep in the car. I don't experience any ghost like spitits or demons. My mind is awake and I can sense my suroundings, even see a little, but I can't move or speak, only grunt if I try really really hard. I used to freak out but realized that only put tension on my heart So now when it happens I just close my eyes, breathe deeply and allow myself to go back to sleep and try to wake up fully a bit later.
Very Interesting
Unlike most accounts i've read I haven't seen any Evil spirits when i'm in a state of paralysis but always after i have had a dream that ends in me hearing white noise or feeling a sensation of being dragged and something directly trying to let me know i'm not welcome. I then wake and always see some spirit watching me from the corner of my room or on one occasion above my bed, i'm always able to move and immediately rush towards the spirit or try to grab at it as i always feel some one is in my room but as i do that they always disappear. However, on one occasion i did rush towards a spirit when i had the same thing happen and it did step back then disappeared which was freeky as i wasn't at home. I don't want to believe in ghosts or spirits but the things i see are so random and don't have any relevance in my everyday life its hard not to wonder.
Sleep Paralysis
I've had this a few times already. Thankfully, I didn't have any episode in the past months. The first time was really scary, but I think I had already heard about this on TV, so when I woke up, I didn't associate it to ghosts or abductions or anything like that.
The good thing is that when this happens I'm usually able to notice that I'm not really awaken. I can't move, can't talk so I assume I'm "half-awake" but still dreaming. When I realize that I'm dreaming, I'm able to force myself to wake up. I do this by trying really hard to raise my body, as if I was doing abdominals exercises.
That usually works, but once I felt to tired and went back to sleeping. Well, I usually go back to sleeping after I force myself to wake up anyway.
I'm really glad this has only happened a few times and I never saw ghosts, aliens or anything like that. I'm sure it would be terrifying. I wish good luck to everybody having problems like these.
sleep paralysis
I have suffered from this for my whole life--right back to my earliest memories that begin at the age of 4 0r 5 and I am now past 50. Frequency varies, as a grammar school child I'd have it happen 1 or 2 times a week, in High School and College and for about 5 years after it happened literally nightly--every single night--and occasionally re-occurred again in the same night.
Now a days it occurs more like 1 or occasionally 2 times a month. In HS and College I was often afraid to go to sleep at all because they were so scary and so certain to happen. I HATED to go to sleep back then, and I suppose that is, at least, a contributor to my adult sleep disorders. (I have alpha intrusion, among other things.) Now, I can't say I'm afraid to go to sleep; I take sleep medication to help ensure I do sleep, but I may have a day or two of "worry" that it'll happen again after an attack, thesee d
>.>
Erm... is it SP if i wake up but my eyes feel too heavy so i can't lift my eyelids HOWEVER i can move the rest of my body and can peel my eyelids apart? >.> Maybe my eyes are just very stubborn and don't want me waking up..
This usually only happens after a nightmare. Once when my twin sister was blind in my dream and i had to help her out, then i turned blind, and thats when i woke up but couldn't open my eyelids by themselves, but i could with my hands?