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Sleep Paralysis: Awake But Still Asleep
Biology 202
2000 First Web Report
On Serendip
Sleep Paralysis: Awake But Still Asleep
Hiro Takahashi
A person may wake up and find himself unable to move or speak as if he is frozen. He also may hear footsteps, see a ghost-like creature, or feel someone sitting on his chest. Throughout the history, people considered this phenomenon as work done by evil spirits. However, the modern science can explain the terrifying event as a Sleep Paralysis.
A Sleep Paralysis is possibly a hereditary disorder in which one experiences very frightening seconds or minutes of total body paralysis with little respiration and eye movements (1). A victim in this state feels awake, but he cannot move or speak (2). In addition to the immobility, the common symptoms include feeling choked or suffocated, hearing strange noises like footsteps and voices, seeing beings or dark shadows, and feeling an existance of someone in the room (1). Although these symptoms often direct the victims to believe in ghosts, mistransmission of neural signals in the brain causes Sleep Paralysis. When a person sleeps, his brain sends signals to inhibit any muscle contraction (3). If he comes into consciousness before the brain sends signals to activate muscle contraction, he cannot move his body, and consequently, become "paralyzed"(2).
In order to understand how a body becomes paralyzed while the person is awake, it is necessary to understand sleep cycles. In a mammalian sleep, the brain activity undergoes two different states called non-REM (NREM) sleep and REM sleep, which differ very much from wakefulness (3). NREM and REM sleep alternate cyclically through the night; in human, about 80 minutes of NREM sleep starts a night of sleep, about 10 minutes of REM sleep follows, and this 90 minute cycle is repeated about 3 to 6 times during the night (3). During NREM sleep, a body produces few movement, but the body has capability of tossing about in bed and producing some other motor events, such as sleepwalking and sleeptalking (3). The cardiac-muscle contraction and breathing occur at a uniform rate, and the eyes move slowly (2). During REM sleep, on the other hand, heart rate, respiration rate, and blood pressure vary (3). The eyes move rapidly because most dreaming takes place in this period, and the sleeper probably "look" at the moving objects in a dream (2).
The brain's control over muscles during REM sleep points out that in this period, a body is normally in the state of total paralysis, called a "nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis" (3). Probably to prevent a person from "acting out" a dream, the brain sends signals to inhibit any muscle contractions (2). Although some peripheral muscles, such as the muscles of the fingers and face, still twitch, the large skeletal muscles become relaxed, or "paralyzed" as a result (3). Some evidence supports that the motor paralysis of REM sleep protect against the acting out of one's dreams. A patient who suffers from rare syndrome called REM Sleep Behavior Disorder lacks the normal nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis, and he acts out violent dreams during REM sleep, often with injurious consequences (4). For example, a 60-year-old surgeon dreamt that he was attacked "by criminals, terrorists, and monsters who always tried to kill [him]" and fighting against them in the nightmare, he was actually punching and kicking his wife who slept in the same bed (4).
A nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis during REM sleep is accomplished actively by postsynaptic inhibition of motorneurons (3). Although the exact process of motor inhibition is not clear, some neurotransmitters and hormones are known to generate the many components of REM sleep. Aministering physostigmine, an inhibitor of the catabolic enzyme, increases the concentration of acetylcholine within the neurons in the pons, making it possible to artificially generate and start REM sleep in the middle of NREM sleep (3). Carbachol, the cholinergic agonist, produces a period of REM sleep in cat when directly injected into the pontine tegmentum (3). The hormone melatonin, a "master hormone" (5) that mainly controls circadian rhythms, also seems to play an important role in enhancing the REM state; the level of melatonin secretion by the pineal gland reaches its lowest during REM sleep (5). Such neurotransmitters and hormones probably activate or inhibit the activity of second messengers, which then activate or inhibit the third messengers, and so on till the last messenger inhibit the synaptic transmission or cause hyperpolarization of the motorneurons. And if, for some reason, the nervous or endocrine system continues to release the neural inhibitors, a person may experience Sleep Paralysis as he enters awakefully into or awakens directly from REM period (2).
While the modern neuroscience can describe the state of Sleep Paralysis as some errors of the neural transmission in the brain during REM sleep, a person who has seen or heard ghost-like figures/voices may easily believe that eveil spirits fully controlled his entire body. However, the images or noises, which the victim believes that he has seen or heard, are most likely hallucinations; and hallucinations, too, can result from the brain activity. In the 1960's, the Canadian neurologist W. Penfield introduced that electrical stimulation of the temporal lobe can cause the auditory hallucinations in the wake state (5). The buzzing or ringing sounds in the ears and other auditory hallucinations are closely associated with the activity of the auditory cortex and involves the temporal lobe (5). During the early period of sleep paralysis, the activity of the temporal lobe increases significantly, sometimes inducing hallucinatory sense (5). Similarly, the visual cortex generates internal visual stimuli, causing the victim to "see" terrifying figures during the paralysis (5).
How an episode of Sleep Paralysis induces visual or auditory hallucinations is still not clear, but it seems to have a significant relationship with anxiety (5). For anxiety is a neurocognitive event closely related to both psychological and physical processes, the extreme anxiety or panic may cause the release of several different signal molecules that trigger all kinds of physical events (5). A person experiencing Sleep Paralysis feels mortal fear or extreme panic, and hence, the brain generates and releases internal visual or auditory stimuli, producing hallucinations.
Also, hallucinations during Sleep Paralysis may happen, for one keeps dreaming even after some parts of his brain wakes up directly from REM sleep. Since the nervous and endocrine systems continue to release the neural inhibitors which sustain the paralysis, it may be possible that those systems keep releasing the neural activators that stimulate dreaming. Thus, a person continues to "see" the images and "hear" the noises produced in the dream that he has just had in REM sleep from which he has awaken.
Understanding more neural concepts of Sleep Paralysis, some researchers now hypothesize that a very rare condition called Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS) may closely relate to Sleep Paralysis (1). Upon the death, a SUNDS victim produces no body movement even though he experiences a myocardial infarction and strong breathing difficulties and should straggle in agony (5). The death may be caused by the extreme muscle atonia during Sleep Paralysis, which is so severe that even the cardiac muscles and the diaghragm paralyze (5).
Until I started researching on this subject, I have believed that the total paralysis of a body is due to an evil taking absolute control over the body. However, the interactions between neurons in the brain can explain this seemingly mysterious phenomenon in a scientific way. Although the explanation is not complete yet, for there are many unclear processes about Sleep Paralysis, the current hypothesis appears to reject the possibility of ghosts on this matter. Of course, it is impossible to completely disprove the existence of "spirits", "minds", or "God" affecting one's behavior. Nevertheless, like Sleep Paralysis and SUNDS, many or the mysterious conditions and behaviors which are only explained in supernatural terms probably result from brain.
WWW Sources
1)The Evil's of Sleep Paralysis
4)REM Sleep Behavior Disorder: A Neurologic Dissociative Sleep Disorder
5)Recurrent Isolated Sleep Paralysis
Comments made prior to 2007
I have been trying to figure out what was going on in my sleep untill i read this.Now i am happy to know what my body was expeiencing. It's quite scary your first couple experiences of sleep paralysis but now i'm gonna stay calm when it is happening to me and try to get my own understanding of the experience ... Jeremy, 21 March 2006
I have had sleep paralyisis at least once per month for the last 8 years. I am 29 as of this writing. I just had the experience about 1 hour ago and thus has caused me to do reasearch about it on the net. I noticed that many Dr.'s contribute this to anxiety, stress and other factors. My question is ... why is there always an evil presence in that concious yet body is still asleep phase? Today I heard a loud static sound, and opened my eyes to a spider crawling all over my arm. When I prayed to God, or said His name (Jehovah) the spider would start to disappear. I finally went thru my mental prayer when I awoke. This leads me to believe that it is more of a spiritual occurence, because I never have positive images while in this paralized state. I know there are many things in which our ancestors thought it was demonic rather than scientific, only to find there was a scientific explanation. However, I think this is different and cannot be simply written off as "scientific". There is not enough proof to show that it is scientific.
About a month ago I had another episode of sleep paralysis and I saw a small presence in the room with me. It was dark, and I could not see it's face (I am getting chills typing about it right now). My question is, why is there always an evil presence not only associated with my episodes, but so many others I have read about? ... Abel, 24 August 2006
i was thinking it is evil who do that during night but now i find out why. I am suffering from sleep paralyze possibly every nigh spicily when i have dinar ... Salah Nasser, 28 January 2007
I used to have this sleeping disorder when I was a child. It has come back once or twice with adulthood, but otherwise, it is in the past. I used to, with great effort, move my hand to my face and pull an eye open, which would wake me up, but sometimes the struggle was too much and I would go on into a deeper sleep.
Since the brain can do this to me, can it also cause me to get migraines just as I am about to wake up?
It seems, as I have discovered, if I get less than 4 hours sleep a night, I do not get migraines. If I get 6 hours or more, it's about a 90% chance I will wake with a migraine. Later in the day, I get an hour or two nap and that is the routine as it works. Doctors just sort of treat the migraine and don't get into the sleep thing I have. I take MaxAult for the migraines when they do get me.
I woke one time, and just as I woke, I felt this white-hot needle going into my head... bingo. A migraine in 5 seconds. That is how they can occur. I wake with them otherwise. I figure it my brain doing things it shouldn't. I have a clean bill of health otherwise.
Thanks for your time. Have a good day ... Jay, 11 February 2007
I have a question, and hope someone out there has an answer, it has been months and I have thus far failed to find one. Has there ever been a record of anyone receiving the effects of sleep paralysis without having been asleep? The reason I ask this, is a while ago, having not slept in a few hours, I was sitting at my computer, and it seemed to have happened to me. Within seconds I was too tired to hold up my own head, and my breathing got very difficult. Then I began to feel a sort of dizziness as my limbs lost feeling, and dropped to my side. after this, the dizziness turned to near blindness. I could see, but nothing would focus, and everything I tried to look at seemed to dart around like a mosquito. By this time I had no feeling in my entire body, could move nothing without quite a bit of concentration, and I could barely breath. My mother heard me try and make out some kind of cry for help, and found me there spilled into my computer chair. She rolled me to my bed, and poured me into it. Within about 10-15 minutes I had regained everything I once had, but my sea legs did not ware off for another ten or so minutes. I went to the emergency soon after. I had an E.K.G. and a C.A.T. scan, with no results, and I piss less in a week then the amount of blood they took that night. After basically telling me I was lying, the doctor told me that my symptoms did not fit anything at all. What I do know, is I have been researching the issue ever since, and can only base my problem on Sleep Paralysis. All the symptoms match. And again, my question....Has there ever been a record of someone under the effects of sleep paralysis without ever having gone to sleep? I hope you can shed some sort of light on this subject, as it,...well, it freaked me the hell out, and no one has been able to answer me! Thank you for your time ... Mitchel Henderson, 7 December 2007
I used get this "evil paralysed me" feeling when i was paralysed and usually saw a ghost. i tried to shout or move but no sound escaped my mouth and couldn't move at all. it happened again yesterday and was almost convinced that ghosts/evil spirits were getting the better of me. But, me being a practical and logical guy, erjected this theory and started researching on this phenomenon. I came across this research paper on Sleep Paralysis. This greatly helped me in alleviating my fears. And next time i "see" a ghost during sleep paralyses, ill just laugh at it ;-) Thanks for the research ... Siddarth, 10 December 2007
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| This paper reflects the research and thoughts of a student at the time the paper was written for a course at Bryn Mawr College. Like other materials on Serendip, it is not intended to be "authoritative" but rather to help others further develop their own explorations. Web links were active as of the time the paper was posted but are not updated. |
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Comments
I have had sleep paralysis
I have had sleep paralysis since i was about 10, it is hereditory because a few of my brothers and sisters have it, i find that i won't have an episode for years and then when i get one it will be regular for a few weeks, i have never seen anything i just feel like there is a presence in the room with me and can hear a buzzing in my ears or a voice but can't quite understand what it is saying but i know that its not a friendly voice,occassionly i will hallucinate and see spiders in my bed etc and when i was younger i remember running into my mums bedroom histerical because i had just had an episode but when i looked at her bedroom carpet the pattern had changed to skulls and crossbones.when it happens to me i can't move my arms,legs or head its as though i am being pinned down i can move my eyes around and can see the room around me, i try to shout but can't and try to wake my boyfriend up, i can hear my own voice and i usually say to myself that i want to wake up the more i try to wake up i think it gets worse so eventually i give up and just relax and tell myself that it will be over in a minute,if i go straight back to sleep though it will happen again so i try to stay awake for a minute although i am terrified so i try to keep my boyfriend awake and tell him to cuddle me because i am scared, i haven't had it for about a year now, it usually only happens in bed but it did happen once in the day when i was led on the sofa watching tv and i got really tired i was trying to fight it as i was enjoying what was on tv and then next thing i know i was having an episode it was one of those times where i fell back to sleep and it happened again,i have also had it more often when i have been ill with flu,when i was younger sometimes i couldn't see anything it was just black but i was awake and i could feel something heavy on top of me but i was sexually abused by my father so it could have been him on those occassions although i couldn't wake myself up, all i know is that this sleep paralysis is horrible and i hope it doesn't happen again although i know it probably will i am 27 now and had an episode last year not long after having my first child she was asleep next to me in her crib and i was terrified that the presence i could feel would harm her.
Terrifiying
I suffer from occasional epsodes of sleep paralysis and they are always in the form of sort of a nightmare mixed with an out of body experience almost like my mind is seperated from my physical body. Its hard to explain I am fully conciously aware that I am paralyzed but in a dream state. I have no control and am not interacting with my physical body but I move around and do things like struggle and move my limbs but I feel like I'm near and outside of my body I suppose is the only way I can explain it. I say fully aware because there does not seem to be a normal transition from the dream state to an awakened state like when you normally wake up. I am aware that I cannot move physicaly but am moving and interacting in exzagerated ways in the dream state. Its like being stuck in between asleep and awake I guess would sum it up. For me every expirience is traumatic and terrifying there is always the feeling of a very evil and malevolent being very near by or touching me or the latest itteration pulling me out of my bed away from my body as I screamed and pulling me into pure darkness. Everytime these episodes happen I some how manage to struggle and wake my self up. I am a grown man and I'm not scared of many things but I'm very afraid of what may happen if I don't manage to wake myself up,that may not seem rational to someone who has not experienced this but these episodes cause so much fear in me that I can recount many of them in exact detail.I suffered from severe sleep apnia when I was a kid, I'm not sure if that has anything to do with this or not but the feeling of parayzed but aware was the same except with the apnia I would stop breathing. Although I wouldnt wish this on anyone its good to know that I'm not alone.
Sp
Hi CJ! The same thing happens to me. Its very scary it happens as im drifting off i feel awake but not sure if i am its really hard to explain my experience but ive been getting it for a few years now usually once or twice a month. It feels like im floating or something is pulling me away from my body, I am fully aware of it happening as if im awake, i often get it a few times on the same night, i try to move my legs arms ect to make it stop eventually it will but im afraid of it not stopping and what would happen.
Does someone also feel line ants are walking on your head
Does someone also feel line ants are walking on your head, because i also have the same problem with that i have soemthing to do with my brain and heart.... i could see hear stop my breathing and continue... but could not call for help or open my mouth or use my hands i felt like brain dead.. like something was pulling out my head... please someone reply...
frozen in my sleep
I have had this same issue only yesterday, Ive been on night shifts so haven't been sleeping until 8am. yesterday i was sleeping and I woke up but could not move at all, had goosebumps all over my body including my head. I could here a strange swooshing noise that would go away and come back again, I wonder if this will happen again
shaking, but noone seems to notice
It happens to me more often. I am 14 years old and i am sleeping in the same room as my parents. My dad was watching TV while sitting on sofa. I was laying in my bed, trying to fall asleep. Then, all of sudden, I just shaked. Like somebody tried to wake me up, I would look at my dad, he said nothing, he just continued watching TV. No, I do not believe in ghosts.
Shaking... This is called
Shaking...
This is called Vibrational State
It´s one of astral projection steps.
Vibrational States are very powerfull and if you focus your attention to it, it´s a very good and relaxing state.
For the extpert in astral projection the VS is also a defense system against things that maybe you don´t want it near from you when projected.
Best regards.
I'm 18 years old and i get
I'm 18 years old and i get this at least once every month or two. it scares the crap out of me and i hate when i happens. whenever it happens i want to yell for help for someone to wake me up but i just cant do it. i really hate it and it lasts for minutes sometimes
EXACT SAME THING HAPPENS TO
EXACT SAME THING HAPPENS TO ME!!!!!!!! it only happens once every month or so...and it lasts for about 2 minutes. it horrible!!!!
what about actual touch, not just sound and sight?!
I've had this happen to me plenty of times before, but sound was never involved. The dark shadow never sat on my chest or anything. When I had this as a child I just made it into a situation where I could control what I was dreaming. But thats not the point now, I have experienced this in my early teens, the shadow figure was violent. I could actually FEEL myself sliding off the bed being pulled by one ankle. Then after that, I beleive my mind would take over, because there was no more feeling when being raised up in the air above my bed, being slung across the floor into my wall and just slammed around like a rag doll. But the one thing that I feared the most was that I could actually feel myself sliding off my bed. It was so real, and that's usually how it always started.
I did try once as a teenager, to utilize my experience as an oppurtunity to control my dream, but it ended up with me floating around on my own free will through the high school I attended at the time. It was actually quite fun I have to admit, but strange none the less. Also, I do have a lot of weird reoccurring nightmires, they started when I was about 4 years old. Well, if you have any information that could somehow explain why my sleeplife is almost always evil and scary, please let me know. Thanks.
Sleep disorder
I'm 35 and I have been expericing sund since I was about 9 years old I use to be able to jump out of it - I would be awake but could not move are say anything but I knew if someone was in there with me but just could not talk well as I've gotton older and married and have been going through this for years I am able to momble my wife name and she knows to shake me until I say something to her I just hate when I feel like I'm suffacating and it takes me along time to jump out of it
sleep disorder
i feel the same way i use to be able to wake quickly but now it last a long time.this has me very nervous and i d on't have a clue as what to do?i wish i had more answers.do i tell someone & is there help for this?
I always get Sleep paralysis,
I always get Sleep paralysis, its horrible I only ever get it in my bed, it used to happen nearly every night to me. One time when it happend to me I couldnt move, shout or wake up, and I heard footsteps coming up the stairs walking into my room, and something stood next to me, and a really deep man voice said to me "Im gonna miss you" Weird, I all of a suddon awoke and was soo scared. Then another time my eyes were open but I couldnt move, I was trying to grab my phone next to me, then like a white dead hand was coming up the side of my bed trying to grab me but then I woke up again. Im only 18 ive been gettin it since I was about 16. Ive even put rosemary beads in my room and its only happened once since then. Ive had loads of things happen to me even when im awake, like I will hear banging, and ive seen a ghost at the end of my bed before, it woke me up by biting my foot, it was a little chinese boy with cuts on his face just staring at me.
I Dont get
y it always happens when no one is around me or if my girl is gone or in another room and im always seein somethin negative and when i pray it goes away can science explain the prayer part or come up it some manipulatin bs to sound like science is the answer to everything.
Sleeping with open eyes
I have experienced some strange things.One incident is that I was traveling in bus. I was trying to sleep. When my bus stop was about to come, i felt very sleepy. I rested my head on the front seat and looked down on the bus floor.I was able to see the floor. I was able to think that my bus stop will come in some time and I have to get up. I tried to move my hand and head but failed to do so. I was able to think that I am not able to move my hands. I was able to see the bus floor but was not able to close my eyes. I was just forcing myself to think that I have to move and wake up.I was able to hear some sounds(not vocal sound). Soon after some time I was able to move my hands and I sat straight preventing myself to sleep again.
Such things happened to me many times in different environment.
I cant figure out wat is it.Is it some kind of disorder? Please reply me if you know about my problem.
Almost felt real
This happened to me too! I had no idea until I stumbled upon an article about it. Now it fascinates me. In my dream, I was laying in bed on my side and suddenly this invisible dog jumped up on my bed. I could hear it growling and I felt it as it walked over me. I could see the impressions of where it was standing on the bed, but I couldn't actually see it. The dog hovered over me and started to viciously bite. I was terrified, and probably couldn't have moved even if it had dawned on me to try. The bites didn't hurt, but my whole side tingled, even after I woke up. All I could do in this state was pray, and I truly felt that the dog was an evil, malicious entity that was trying to harm me. It felt as though it had really happened, but I knew it had to be a dream.
IT'S HORRIBLE, JUST PRAY
the 1st time, i was 16. i stayed at my boyfriends house that was said to be haunted. when i woke up that morning everyone was eating breakfast in the kitchen. i could hear them. i couldnt move or scream. i struggled. when i was finally free, a dark shaddow moved along the wall away from my body & vanished. then next night i stayed home & slept in my moms bed, it happened again.
im 24 now. it just recently started happening again. about 3wks ago i "woke up" unable to move or scream. the covers began to rise in front of me. the figure under the cover had 2 horns on its head and the harder i fought it, the louder it growled at me. i called my fiance' home from work cuz i was so scared. i cried hysterically for hours.
its happened to me 3 times in the past week. each time it was this dark figure. my fiance' was with me last night when it happened. he said i never woke up...and that he pulled me to him cuz he sensed something was wrong.
i do believe in God and i do internally pray to him when this happens. perhaps it is sleep paralysis. i've been sleeping on the couch for a while. unless my fiance doesnt have to work. what i dont understand is why this only happens in my bed...only when im sleeping on my back (vulnerable). idk if i believe in ghost or spirits...whatever! but the morning after my 1st incident (when i was 16), i was driving home & felt something kicking the back of my seat. a couple days later, my mom seen this figure when she was wide awake. my brother even seen it once.
i feel like something evil followed me home from my ex's house. i may be completely psycho...but this feels real to me. im def gonna try staying calm next time instead of freaking out. im also gonna talk to my dr to see if this is somehow treatable so i can sleep in my bed and not on this uncomfortable couch. i really would like some feedback...so everyone please feel free to reply. its nice to know ur not the only one! in my opinion, i do think prayer helps. on the nights when i pray aloud before i go to sleep...i ask God to be with me in my dreams...on these nights, i sleep like a baby. whatever this is, i hope it stops. but after reading the article i cant help but fear SUNDS. if this is sleep paralysis, who's to say that one day while we are out of control, that we wont die in our sleep? i have 2 toddlers. i wanna be here to see my grandkids! i thought talking about it would help, but now im just anxious and paranoid! comments....please?????
Not Alone
I just learned of this "condition" today. I had a night terror last night that involved me "waking up". Once i was actually awake i was so horrified that i called my mother at 4am. Did I mention I'm 30 years old? With 4 children of my own. I've experienced this multiple times but thought somehow it was all a part of my dream. When i began researching night terrors on the web i discovered otherwise. So here i sit typing at 1am absolutely terrified to fall asleep. Again. And why is it that all these episodes surrounds evil? I wish I'd just left it at being a bad dream. This is too strange and vaguely explained.
RE: It's Horrible, just pray
Hi Melissa, after reading your post, I literally got chills. I had something similar happen to me. It started ever since I was 12, I drew what I saw the next morning and was scared seeing what I drew. It became worse when I got older, engulfing a big part of my life. It got so bad, I wanted to take my life. One last stitch effort, my aunt asked to pray for me with her, I figured there is nothing left to lose. After I said Amen, something happen to me. My body got chills, something inside of me was coming out, it started in my crotch and exited my mouth. I kept yelling and crying. I don't cry. Whatever it was left me. That was the first night in my life after 12 where I slept without waking up by something. A couple years later whatever it was will try to contact me again, I always say a prayer and say in Jesus's name and it will make the room brighter. Ask the lord to cleanse your mind and body from all that is evil, you should feel the holy spirit shining. Ever since the incident of me accepting Christ, I have cold and warm touches, when there is something "bad" nearby I get cold cold chills. When the holy spirit engulfs me I get warm chills--I know it may sound silly, but it's hard to explain, unless you feel it yourself. If you are still having trouble sleeping, and feel or see dark manifestations, I suggest reading Psalm 41. When I was younger I didn't believe in God, in fact I hated him because why would he make me gay and then say that he would send me to hell. But, he made me gay for a purpose, there is nothing wrong with me. When I had those terrible manifestations, my sister gave me a bible, after one horrible manifestation, I woke up crying and took the bible my sister gave me and opened to a random chapter Psalm 41. After reading it, I felt instant relief. After I accepted Christ, I learned the Psalm I read is an exorcism Psalm. God lead me to him and took away my darkness. I'm on here today because I wanted to find out if there others like me who have this problem. I didn't want to be the only one. I hope this helps Melissa.
We just read your post and we
We just read your post and we all really feel for you. Two of us have experienced this dark figure and 'DSP' as its apparently called. You must be susceptible to things like spirits and the sixth sense, but you are doing the right thing in turning to god and good, because it would be all too easy for you to turn towards the dark evil stuff that goes on. It may not feel like it but it sounds like you have a gift in a way, an ability to feel and be open to this other worldly stuff.
I tried crystal healing and praying and a move of house and it worked, creepy horrible stuff went on for years and no one believed me(this is Leila by the way)then it kind of faded away but i know now if i was to look for it, it would be back in a flash and i don't want that! i still don't sleep on my back, just like i said trust in the good, good people, religion, kind wholesome things and it will help.
?
Sleep Paralysis has started to become a regular occurance now and after reading most of the comments I feel have a better understandng, thxs
What does worry me is the fact that after you are awake (actually moving awake) from the experience and try to go back to sleep you instantly get that overwhelming feeling as soon as you close your eyes again? almost as if what ever is happening isn't finished.. realy hate it although I can force myself to out of it and move..
Put on a light and try and go
Put on a light and try and go to sleep with the light on after it happens that always helps me and I don't get that feeling. Also I have never expirienced sleep paralysis when there is a light on or tv on in the room I don't know why. Hope this helps
Sleep Paralysis for the past two years, how can i stop it!
my name is robyn escoffery and im 16 years old and i have the same thing every night at the same time! i wake up every night at the same time of 2.30am and cant get back to sleep. i am 100% sure i have Sleep Paralysis all the things that have been said in this artical have all happened to me! im really scared when it happens and is wondering if there is anything i could do about? i feel like i have suffered nearly two years with this and feel i cant handel it no more. its really getting to me, im so scared i cant even sleep on my own of a night. and my boyfriend gets freaked out and doesnt know what to do!
Same thing
I used to get this like 4/5 times a week in high school. I would have mai head resting on my open palm holding it up and I would just drift into sleep. I couldn't move anything at all. The only thing j had control of was my breathing. I could hear things around me, and thought I knew where I was( turns out i was Always wrong) But when I tried to move I got a horrible pain right in the middle of my forehead lido where ur 3rd eye is. Fucking weird, but very interesting nonetheless. Mybiology teacher told me it was aliens LOL
Guess it's not a superstitious sign.
First off, I'm 15 years old and I'm a girl. I'm sort of relieved to have found this. I've never had Sleep Paralysis before. Heck, I didn't even know they had a name for it. I just called it being half-awake/half-asleep. The first time I had it, it was the night before we got the news of my Uncle's death (R.I.P), and I was kinda shocked. Superstitiously, I thought of it as a sign of what was going to happen to my uncle. But it happened again, about a month or so ago. And yet again about two days ago. It scares the crap out of me. It usually always happens the same way. When I prepare myself to go to sleep I lie on my bed, my mind thinking on its own while I'm trying to sleep, and eventually I do. My eyes are closed and I know I just woke up from my dream. I open my eyes, and they only go halfway. They're so heavy I can barely open them all the way. I automatically know I'm in that half-asleep stage thing. And I'm yelling at myself in my mind to wake up... No one has ever said where they are when this happens, but I'm always on my bed. Just lying there staring at the wall in front of me. And everything's dark (of course), but theres this fuzzy-ness around my room (or the parts that my eyes can see). I know its not my eyes that the black-ness is creeping up on, but the walls of my room. It's freaky because I also feel like someone or something is there with me and is threatning my well being, or like an evil presence somewhere in the room with me. I'm not sure how to explain it but I do feel like somethings crushing me or theres just pressure coming down on me all together. I'm willing my legs and arms to move to wake myself up but nothing, they won't respond. The only movement I'm able to do is open and close my eyelids (albeit half-way and they feel like they weigh two tons). I kinda spaz out in my mind, freaking out cause I hate being in that vulnerable stage.
I never see anything scary, maybe shadows, but in my gut I know something evil and horrendously scary is near me. And I'm trying to open my mouth to tell myself to wake up so I can hide myself away from the presense, or maybe even yell, but nothing. I hear my voice but it's in my head, I'm 100% certain of it. The last time this happened to me, after I spazzed out (of course) I think I just closed my eyes and calmy told myself to wake up (or was it fall back asleep?) and suddenly, my eyes shot open. With no trouble, I moved my limbs and to my relief they moved. I always stare wide-eyed at my room and look around just to make sure I'm actually awake. But I'm always terrified to go back to sleep, afraid that it'll happen again. Or because that evil presense might come back, or it's just hiding somewhere in my room.
I'm actually hoping it happens once more to see if I can dispell it quicker and without spazing/freaking out (even if its in my mind). I was grinning and saying "YES!" when I read the symptoms others have, because they were exactly what I felt, yet couldn't explain. I'll be much calmer now the next time it happens. I'm actually thinking about letting it go on longer just to see what happens (I really do have a conscious state when this is happening... at least it feels like I do ._.). Anyway, thank you, and sorry for this VERY long comment. I just felt like venting and letting it out. :)
It happened to me last night.
It happened to me last night. But I was awake. I went to the bathroom, came back to bed and laid on my side. Suddenly I felt Like someone push my pillow folding it with my head in between. I was very scared, but after a few seconds I thought it was my husband that stretched his arm and caused the pillow to fold. Then it hapened again, so I turned to see if was him. It wasn't, because he was sleeping facing the other direction. So confused I laid facing up and wait to see if it happened again. It didn't. Instead my whole body got paralized. I couldn't move a finger or talk for about one minute. I was really scared, I tried realy, really hard to move or call my husband but I couldn't and I also struggled to keep my eyes open. When I finally got to move, I struggled to turn and hug my husband, then after a while I felt sleep. Now I am scared to go to bed.
Part of my life
i remember the first time I got sleep paralysis.
I was 11 years old. I remember suddenly waking up for no reason and noticing how dark the room was. Then right next to my bed was this dark, looming figure standing over me. I was totally paralyzed...I had trouble keeping my eyes open. I wanted to scream, but nothing was coming out. It was terrifying. Since then, I've been getting sleep paralysis sporadically, about once a month or so.
I used to think it was spiritual/religious, and demons were attempting to get at my soul. But being the more logical person that I am right now than my 11 year old self (I am now 20), I now know its nothing like that. Now, when I get episodes of sleep paralysis I have my own way of getting out of them. When the first "paralyzing effect" hits me, I think "Heh, here we go again, wanna dance motherf*cker?" I know it sounds stupid, but I get this "fight" mentality, like I'm going to fight the sleep paralysis. The most important thing in my opinion is to try to ignore your fear. I understand that many people get petrified when they feel like they suddenly cannot move and see a dark figure in their peripheral vision..but its key to actually forget about that and concentrate on MOVING YOUR BODY. Yes its hard, and yes its terrifying, but the only way to get out these experiences is to move your body, especially your upper body.
I also want to comment on how some people consider these experiences as spiritual/godlike. I'll just say that...you're open to your own opinions and interpretations, but I assure you this is nothing religious or spiritual. My father has been getting sleep paralysis since he was a young boy as well, which points to the fact that this is genetic (I'm curious to see how many religious fanatics are going to call my family cursed), and the so called "godlike" or "demonic" apparitions you see and hear, and the immediate onset of fear you experience are HALLUCINATIONS...which can be auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile and visual. Remember, the brain is the most mysterious part of your body, and it is capable of producing the most amazing things. Those who claim to have escaped the grasp of sleep paralysis by thinking aloud "Jesus help me" or any other religious jargon, you're simply utilizing the "fight" mentality that I have explained in the passage above to beat it out. Your WORDS THEMSELVES have NO effect on getting out of sleep paralysis. So there is no reason to scare some people sh*tless by claiming that the devil is out to get your soul when one is experiencing sleep paralysis. It is a totally natural phenomenon.
I've been dealing with this since I was a teenager
My dad used to suffer from sleep paralysis and as it appears to be a genetic condition, guess I got 'lucky' and inherited it from him.
My experience usually starts off with a loud buzzing or ringing in my ears, then I feel like I've just awoken, but I can't move. More often than not, I have the evil presence in the room with me and it varies from someone or something standing next to my bed looking down at me or holding me down, or the really terrifying presence that will shake me or actually run across the room and leap onto the bed with me (luckily that has happened only twice that I can remember!!)
I've found that if I try and struggle, it's scary and really hard to wake up and takes a while, but if I stay calm and relax after realising that I'm having one of these 'episodes', I usually wake up completely, fairly quickly.
sometimes it happens to me
last night it happened to me, i use to get it all the time a couple of years ago but it just stopped and then last night it happened again, i was on my side and could see my window but couldnt move, i knew what was happening because i have experianced it before but it doesnt make the experiance any easier or less frightening, anyway i was trying so hard to ask my boyfriend to wake me up and i could feel him on my little finger and i was trying soooooooooooooo hard to touch him to wake me up and then all of a sudden i woke up. In the past i could have at least 4 experiances in one night, so last night i just turned the telly on and watched that, really hope i dont get it tonight its so horrible. i have never seen any presence or any demons or nothing but i do feel like i cant breath.
mii 2
the same things happend to me im 12 and it started when i was 11 when i was on a trip with my mom brother and sister i was asleep and i couldnt move or speak all i could do was look around and a black figure was walking toward me it had on a long coat and a had its been happening from time to time but i just wish it would stop
I am not alone
I'm 48 years old and have had this syndrome since I was in highschool. I'd say it happens about once every month or two. Sometimes I feel like I can control the situation- am not scared- and can somewhat manipulate the environment- like getting up and walking to window and looking outside. Although when I try walking it's very difficult. When I do snap out of it and wake up, I realize that in reality I never did get up and walk.
Other times I'm simply frozen in bed and cannot move although I'm sure my eyes are open and I can look around. Quite often in this state, I cannot breathe and it feels like I am suffocating. I don't think I've ever thought that it felt like a "weight on my chest" though. It's just that I can't breathe... I think that I really am not breathing instead of it being just a perception. When this happens, I try to scream out or wiggle a digit or move a limb. And if I concentrate really, really hard I can eventually will myself to move-- usually brought out of the paralysis by a sudden jerk or shake and what feels like a huge gasp of air. It's weird stuff... and usually not too pleasant at all (to put it mildly)!
HOW I GET OUT OF IT
I've been experiencing sleep paralysis every once in a while for almost 10 years now, and the fastest way that I've found for getting out of it is to start by first trying to wiggle my fingers and toes. Eventually everything else follows and I snap out of it. Hope that helps.
REPLY: HOW I GET OUT OF IT
if it worked for you, it didnt work for me. trying so hard to move a finger/toe..ive already twisted my foot and still unable to wake myself up. i started to panic when i felt numbness in my chest. it was really hard to breathe. i thought i was goin to die so i panicked all the more. and then i recalled my sister who had SP a couple of times. she told me, the more you fight it, the more it gets hard to wake up. so just stay calm and let it go... somehow this helped. but sometimes, i cant tell if im already awake, cause the first thing i see is exactly the same spot in my room that i see while in my dreams. changing position sideways wont help me not go back into SP. i need to sit down a while and sleep on the other end of the bed instead.
thats what i have been doing
thats what i have been doing for the past two years!
i wiggle my fingers and toes and take a few deep breaths.
MY EXPERIENCE& MY ADVISE
Happy to know I am not alone lol..just happened to me a few hrs ago,always happens when i am taking random naps.its happen to me quite sometimes & i think especially when I am stressed..I see some1 especially who i think is in the house..rarely evil spirits or host(Thank God)& every time i try/think I am actually moving,i feel my body getting more restricted to movements.what i can advise to anyone is to try and RELAX and close your eyes and try & RE-SLEEP(weird but just try & sleep in your sleep) lol...because when you start to move or fight it you just feel like somebody is holding you more tighter & pressing your chest..I wish I knew how to Get rid o it..Sometimes I feel pain especially I move..
MAYBE WE HAVE 7TH SENSE HEHE!!
Unsure.
I am 15 years old.
Yesterday 2/24/10 I had gotten into a fight with a girl who came up to me out of no where when i was walking to my car and she hit me in the back of the head and i blacked out and woke up and knew something happened cause my nose was bleeding and some woman was asking me if i was okay so then i called the police. The police talked to me and i had injuries and other things going on so i was sure i had gotten beat up and i remember who it was cause it was the last thing i remember before my black out. However, a bunch of witnesses say they didn't see anything and that I tripped but that wouldn't explain my bruises on my legs and sides, The people at school are saying im crazy and im not sure whats going on people are saying its all in my head but im sure that it really happened the Police are still looking into it but the school closed the investigation because on the schools cameras they could see nothing because it was too dark, So i dont know whats wrong with me i am sticking to my story that I got beat up but what people are saying is kind of making me think of what really happened when i blacked out.
SOMEONE HELP OR GIVE ME SOME ADVICE PLEASE!
I'm no doctor but I have
I'm no doctor but I have heard of very similar expiriences when people have a seizure or epileptic episode. I'm positive it wasn't sleep paralysis because it doesn't happen when your awake. My advise is to see a doctor and have an M.R.I. you may have something else going on.
Scared?
I am 12 years old... My mommma has sleep paralysis and she talks bout it all the time. Me my dad and brothers will make fun of her kinda.. >.> Anyhoo!
I was going to the nurse and I finally fell asleep..
Im not sure if this is sleep paralysis because.. its a little different i think..
I woke up (kinda) and I could only barely open my eye.. and when I did I saw a HUGE thing in front of me... It was like... dark and HUGE!
I didnt hear anything..
but holy hell did it scare me!
I DO remember being able to move my fingertip a little...
So I am not sure if this is sleep paralysis...?
Hello, Rika. I was just
Hello, Rika.
I was just reading down this page, when I read your comment, and felt the need to post right away.
What you were experiencing was definetely, without-a-doubt slight Sleep Paralysis. You see, ever since I was eleven (I'm now fifteen) I have suffered from Sleep Paralysis. Sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night, and am unable to open my eyes. They feel extremely heavy, almost like I'm too tired to open them, and also, they usually feel extremely light sensitive. But this isn't just me not /wanting/ to open them, I literally can't. You see, I'm not actually awake when this is happening, but things around me seem to real, that it seems like I am awake. Seeing dark presences around you is never fun, but it comes with the package. My father also struggles with Sleep Paralysis, and also experiences what you and I have. This being said, I just want to make sure you know that there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. You will eventually fall back asleep, and when you wake up, everything will be fine. :)
only happend once
in had this just happen to me one time . i woke up couldnt nove or lift my head. i was laing on my stomach, then i looked back and i saw a black shadow sitting on me ...then i woke up. what was that?? oh yeah i was scared. lol and my house is not haunted been here for ten years.
My mom and I experience "sleep paralysis"
I just had a sleep paraylysis like 10 mins ago this time was different from all the others this time I felt like a nerve on my back was spasing and this rush of energy was going thru it and i heard like somone or something breathing or a real loud rush of wind and my eyes were fluttering like opening and closing and my legs arms head everything was stiff I couldnt speak but when I opened my mouth to scream for my mom my outh made nonoise and I couldnt close it but i could snap out of it when I tried to relax I try to be logic so when it stopped i grabbed my computer and I googled : my eyes flutter in my sleep and this came up
wierd enough I had one of these sleep paralysis with my own cousin in the bed so I wasnt scared but it was still cooky
I have had these for three years now it started in the 8th grade and I'm now in the 11th they happen every other week
my mom has also experienced this the same full body stiffness effect she cant open her eyes and cant speak so she told me that she thinks the lord's prayer in her head and it releases.
dream about geting run over and it is darkness
i had a dream about geting run over and it was completly dark and i steped and then i felt the car go thruw me and i woke up with a bad feeling it felt like it realy went thruw my hole body
last night was the worst
i had jus gotten back from phx visiting my boy friend i live in sierra vista so its a 3 hour drive. i got home about 2:00am really tired so i get ready for bed not even 30 mins into my sleep i hear this running noise in my roon sounded like a dog my eyes were open jus a lil i couldnt move could barley breath as the running came closer to my bed i could feel what ever it was lean on my bed breathing real hevily in my ear still unable to move so scared an freaked out i waited for it to leave when i could finally move i look around my room door shut nothing there the only sound was me breathing heavily all freaked out finally got the courge to get up an leave i am 17 yrs old have a 13 yr old sister so i slept with her for the night i never knew this was a disorder its happend befor not the first but nothing this scary readin some of the other stories i do feel a lil better sill not looking forward to tonight i really wanted to cry i thought i was goin to die it is the worst feeling ever an for all who experiences this horrible sleep paralysis i feel your pain:(
Just 30 mins ago...
This just happened to me 30 mins ago for like the billionth time. Ever since I was young I never knew what it was. I've never seen scary shit or felt like I couldn't breath, but I often found myself waking up paralysed, my entire body having the same sensation as an asleep foot or something. I hate it when it happens. I try so hard to move, by trying to throw my body in directions to snap out of it but I can even wiggle a finger. I just get scared because I can't move. Multiple times I have try saying my sisters name so she could nudge me or something to snap me out of it. It never works. Not one word leaves my lips. I just sit there unmoving, looking around and wishing I could move. Since I'm getting really tired of it I decided to check it out to see if it was an actual symptom of something. Thanks to this page I now know! Haha. I just wish there was something I could do about it to fix it. I seriously hate it.
When you are inside of it,
When you are inside of it, just relax and try to get out from your body, there´s nothing to fear about it, your extra-body is linked with your physical body and no one can do something wrong about it.
Ok, in the extra phisic place there are so many bad things, but if you see something weird, touch your hand in it (doesn´t matter what it is) and wish light, blessings, peace and love to it. Try to avoid thinking in bad things, relax and do your task (whatever it is) in this incredible "other side" place.
It´s a place where you can fly, it´s a place without date, without time, a place where you see people that you know from ages ago, even if waking up from it and didn´t recognize about those.
All you need to do is to relax and use this gift that we have.
It has happened to be since I
It has happened to be since I was about eight years old I would wake up and cannot move It would feel as though there is another 'being' there with me. each time it feels as though something is hold me down to eventually wake up i have to use all the energy i have and sometimes that is not enough... the second I regain control i hear aloud shuffl'ing sound.. and this might be just cause im still half asleep I also hear a loud roaring sound from outside .... like a very loud engine
i often have this experience,
i often have this experience, but i have never really been worried or scared by it. it seems to just be a physical symptom of being asleep, and usually i just end up slowly drifting out of a dream and into this state, and i dont find it too difficult to start moving after about 30 seconds (although dreaming apparently affects your perception of time so who knows).very surreal experience, and it seems to be a good way to get into a lucid dream
YAH!!! I AM ALSO ONE OF YOU!!! But I can control mine.
It happen to me often, and the worse of all, i am seeing different creature as i slightly open my eyes (Shadow of a girl/man/child, etc). But believe me I am not a horror fan, and I don't believe in ghost. When sleep paralysis is occurring, your mind is in the state of fear. So the way to wake and move my body easily is to think of the things that i want to do. Your consciousness is half awake and half sleep so imagination is like reality. Try to imagine having a sex when it occurs to you, believe me when I say to you, you can actually feel it. =)
Asleep or Awake????
so recently last night i was talking to my boyfriend until about 4 in the morning, i was getting sleepy but i kept talking to him, i was in my room and the only light was coming from the flashing dot on my mac computer. suddenly i think i fell asleep where i had this life-like dream about me laying in my bed..the weird thing about it is that i could feel the phone on my ear and everything looked exactly the same the computer my closet the heater...everything was the same..except now the room felt like it had a curtain of a dark eerie feeling. I wanted to wake up because i could feel a "evil" feeling come all over my body from my toes up to my neck. i felt like it was hard to breath and then i thought i was awake because i tried to tell my boyfriend what was happening, i tried screaming as hard as i could but nothing came out i couldnt even whisper. i tried moving my legs to get up but i couldnt, It felt like i was paralyzed i felt like someone was choking me and I wasnt sure if i was alseep or awake.the phone on my ear starting ringing and it was almost painful so i dropped it on my pillow but reached for it again. It felt like someone was in the room watching me and getting joy from watching me suffer. I dont even recall actually waking up i just found my voice again, told my boyfriend about it and i slowly started moving.I even remembered some key words he said during my "dream" i remembered hearing the word bench while i was paraylized. The atmosphere was still creepy to me and i felt paranoid. I felt like i never woke up and then as the night went on i was scared of falling asleep so i turned my light on and tried staying awake but it happened again the same thing..i remember feeling the evil and it was the worst feeling i could imagine, i wanted someone to help me, i wanted it to stop. So this morning i didn't think much of it but i was curious so i went online and googled and this website was what popped up. Im glad i found an explaination to this because im taking psychology and i know about the sleep cycle and Hiro knows what he's talking about. i was glad not to come across anything ridiciculous like evil spirits possessing you or something. Well i just felt like i wanted to share that.
hopefully i dont get much of this sleep paralysis again
Worst dream experience ever..id rather have nightmares of something i feel couldn't be real.
Sorry about that next time
Sorry about that next time when you realize your experience this sleep paralysis just try and relax close your eyes