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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
Two Occurences..
Let me tell you that I have never believed in anything supernatural, I'm a realist and I like to think that what you see is what you get, until about a month ago. I was watching TV with my girlfriend, laying down, about to fall asleep, I was in and out. I had an odd dream for about 2 minutes, nothing special, but it lead me back to my bed, watching TV with my girlfriend. I was then levitated to the ceiling, slowly. There was a loud buzzing and a vibrating feel to it. The sense I got in the room was pure evil, there's no other way to describe the feeling unless this has happened to you. And in my head, I KNEW the evil presence was lifting me, I couldn't move and it wouldn't stop. I began screaming and my girlfriend woke me up. I was freaked out, nonetheless, talked about it for a while with my girl, looked online about it for a little bit, went back to bed. A month later (Last night). I had another dream where me and my cousin were in a car, it was 5 AMish and it was in the parking lot of my apartment. I saw a black figure on the second 'tier' of the apartment start to walk down the steps. Not a bad dream, but I had the same fuzzy feeling I did from the other dream. And there was a totally pure evil presence again, and something told me that this was the 'entity' that had lifted me to the ceiling. He walked down the stairs and walked away from where I was. During my dream I said 'Did you see him?!' And apparently I said it to my girlfriend while I was still asleep. Something is making me think that I'm being haunted and I want to know if anyone else has had a similar encounter?? Please reply!
Tim from Maine
IVE HAD THIS EVERY SINCE I WAS A KID
OK THE ONLY PERSON WHO GET'S THIS BESIDES ME IS MY MOM MY MOM SAID SHE USEDA GET THEM ALL THE TIME !!!!!!....IM 23 YEARS OLD AND IVE BEEN EXPERIENCING THIS SINCE I WAS LIKE 7...THE 1ST TIME I GOT1 I COULDNT MOVE AND I WOULD HEAR THIS WEIRD LIKE VACUM CLEANERISH SOUND AND I PUT THIS ON EVERYTHING I LOVE MY EYES OPENED AND I SAW TO LITTLE ANGEL LIKE THINGS FLYING AROUND THE CORNER OF MY ROOM!!!!!!! I WOKE UP OUT OF IT AND TOLD MY MOM AND SHE SAID SHE HAS THOSE ALL THE TIME .....WELL I STILL HAVE THEM AND WHEN I PRAY TO GOD !!!!!! IT ALWAYS GOES AWAY SOMETIMES ISS LIKE THE DEVILS TRYNA PULL YOU ONE WAY AND IF U PRAY TO GOD DURING THE PROCESS YOU'LL COME OUT OF IT .....I STILL HEAR THAT LOUD VACUMING SOUND ALSO.....I JUST HAD 1 OF THESE EPISODES YESTERDAY AND I HADN'T HAD ONE N A LONG TIME AND SO I DECIDED TO GOOGLE IT!! ALL OF THE STORY'S ABOVE ARE SO RIGHT ON THE MONEY IT'S SCARY ..I THINK THIS SHOULD BE RESEARCHED MORE ..MINES NORMALLY OCCUR WHEN I SATY UP LATE WITHOUGHT NAPPING .NAPPING IS MANDATORY FOR ME SO I CAN KEEP MY BODY FROM DOING THIS TO ME.....I AM A NORMAL PERSON BUT THIS STUFF IM WRITING MAKES ME SOUND WEIRD !!!!!!
The Worst Feeling In The World...
Its haapend a few times to me in the past few months. Im in my early 20s...
Ive never had Hallucinations, just a terrorizing feeling...untill this morning...
I woke up, but could barely open my eyes, I struggled, but could move a thing...then, I felt like I was being dragged off the bed, head first and with my blured vision saw a shadow figure standing at the end of my bed, I remember desperately trying to scream but no noise came out. I finally snapped out of it, I was so fucking terrified that I couldnt go back to sleep...finally an hour later I got myself to doze off and as soon as I did, I was awoken by the same thing, only this time my leg felt like it was being pulled but I saw nothing...
Has anyone ever felt themselves being touched or pulled??? Please, I need to know I'm not alone...
Finally!!!
I don't think you understand how much it means to me to read your story, I'm almost in tears from relief. I have experienced this since 2006 and I am in my early 20's. The first incident happened in my dorm and I thought my roommate was pulling my comforter so I disregarded it. Then I saw a dark shadow of a tail wipe across my face and heard something running under my covers, at this point I'm freaked out and I try to scream and move but I was frozen. Its one thing to feel scared but much worse when you feel helpless. I knew I was having a supernatural demonic experience then. I continued to have a lot of weird things happen at night and was unable to sleep like normal until late last year. The worst experience I had was when I was in the paralyzed state and to evil shadows which were on the wall pulled me up from my bed by my neck. Before I went to sleep that night I felt a heaviness and uneasiness like i felt the presence beforehand. When I snapped out of the dream/paralyzed state I screamed and cried for hours. It is still hard to sleep by myself to this day but I am conquering it through prayer and not allowing this force to have the power. All I want to know is why does this happen to us??? What is the spiritual/supernatural reasons for this happening??? It happened a few hours ago and I had to research what has been happening to me and stumbled across this. I hope I brought you some comfort!!!
The worst feeling in the world..
Im 17 n this whole "sleep paralysis" happened to me for the first time a few nights ago. At about 4am. I just suddenly "knew" there was an evil spirit there and it was trying to kill me :/
I just got a black shadow floating above my bed with huge pressure all over my body i couldnt move. There was aalso deafening ringing/screaming in my ears. scary.
anyway on the night i got it, at about 12 am i was drifting off to sleep when something hit me on the hand. And it was so real. freaked me out. Your not alone
Sleep Paralysis
I have suffered from this most of my life, I first had it after the birth of my second daughter, I used to hear terrible noises, I could hear her cot banging but she was only a few weeks old, eventually I told my mother and she said it happened to her. I would try and shout and get my husband to wake me, but often I couldn't. I did discover the worst thing was to try and go back to sleep, so scary because ot would happen again.
It is worth researching on the internet, I did because I had a car accident and it came back with avengence.....so what I discovered is this, was that while it is happenening to keep telling myself I am safe, I am dreaming, it's that " thing " happening it will go, I keep telling myself and eventually i wake up, I have tried shouting but no sound comes out so after years of desperation I did find this way the best, it hasn't happened for 4 years now!!
Try not to go back to sleep after it has happened, but get up and do something,I hopw this helps
im 17 years old and
im 17 years old and i been expericing this for like 3 year now.... everysince i was 15 i use to be so scared to go to sleep.. i use to ask my sister to stay up with me at night and if she feel me trying to move wake me up quick. i use to be so scared. i use to ask my family what does it mean and why it only happens to me is it cuz i use to be bad. i use to her footsteps and voices once saying kill her. one night i went into a deep sleep and i dreamed of something that seem like judgement day and it got to this real crazy part and it felt like i got zapped in my heart ... i be goin through real emotional statements and.. i have dreams and they come true often sometimes i think im here for a serious purpose and when i looked up my name it said a very spirtual powelful women... idk but i cn tell you that i'm afrian american with a little bit of indain in me . and im not gone lie about nothing like this... i expericed other things if anybody got any more information email me . Because i thought i was the only one i knda feel better knoing thaT IM NOT THE ONLY ONE... MY FACEBOOK Tonika bad-biish mentallty williams
this crazy
im 17 years old and i been expericing this for like 3 year now.... everysince i was 15 i use to be so scared to go to sleep.. i use to ask my sister to stay up with me at night and if she feel me trying to move wake me up quick. i use to be so scared. i use to ask my family what does it mean and why it only happens to me is it cuz i use to be bad. i use to her footsteps and voices once saying kill her. one night i went into a deep sleep and i dreamed of something that seem like judgement day and it got to this real crazy part and it felt like i got zapped in my heart ... i be goin through real emotional statements and.. i have dreams and they come true often sometimes i think im here for a serious purpose and when i looked up my name it said a very spirtual powelful women... idk but i cn tell you that i'm afrian american with a little bit of indain in me . and im not gone lie about nothing like this... i expericed other things if anybody got any more information email me . Because i thought i was the only one i knda feel better knoing thaT IM NOT THE ONLY ONE...
everything everyone experienced i went and still go through.
I understand exactly what you are going through. it was like i found this site by accident because i was trying to figure out why i get so emotional and cannot focus, thinking i have adhd or some sort. i always had this sleeping problem when i was 5 years old, since i can remember. i been paralysised, cant speak, it happends to me when im coming out of sleep or feeling sleepy. i do get this when im a wake sometimes. its good to know im not alone, and yes my dreams come true sometimes as well. i find it really strange that i would have a dream five years ago and later it comes to life, like i can predict what is going to happen that day. its really strange to me.. and if you were to try to explain this to someone, they look at you like you are crazy or trying to get attention of some sort. i didnt recently come out with this to my family until it got really bad to the point where i was afraid to sleep. the research done so far makes a lot of sense, anxiety and stress plays a big role. i dont know what causes my anxiety, it seems like its everything around me that does. usually when im extremely stressed and have a lot of panic attacks, sleep paralysis begins to occur. i just think that we people have some sort of chemical fluid or unbalance that makes us different. but it is strange that it only happens to a few people. stress and anxiety do run in my family, but no one has every experienced the things that i have.
OP3 Tower worst night ever
OK so i had to research this myself, it's happened to me a total of 4 times one time being last night. I told someone about it and they thought i was crazy so im gonna share it with you cause last night was just crazy. I was pulling tower guard last night and i was sitting in my chair like usual. I don't remember ever falling asleep in fact i don't even think i was sleepin it was just unreal. Everything in my dream looked the exact same as before i crashed out. everything was in the right place just like usual even in my dream. I cold still feel the cold air. In my so called dream i was staring over at my buddy and he was sitting the exact same way in the exact same place as before this happened. All of a sudden i heard a sucking sound move over from him to me at that point i got chills as if something was going through my body as soon as the sound got to me it felt like i was being choked i couldent breath at all, i coulden't talk i tried saying stuff to my buddy to get him to look but the words just wasn't coming out of my mouth, I tried hitting the wall which i did but i was barely tapping it because i coulden't move. It felt like there was a force there that was trying to kill me or take over my body. This lasted for approximatly 10 sec and i freaked out and snapped to. It felt like i was awake the whole time, when i looked at my hand it was still tapping the wall and i felt a presence for a another 10 to 15 seconds when i snapped out of it! I really believe that it was more then a dream. It was the most freaked out i have ever been in my life. Everytime i think about it i get te chills!!! But i am convinced it wasn't a dream!!!
Sleep Paralysis
i thought i was going mad before i decided to google this shit. im 20 years old now and had been having those episodes since i was 14 years old. it varied when, the most recent was when i was 19. Now i dont know if some ppl are lieing on here but my experiences are real. Im awake but it feels like my body is still asleep, im telling my arms and legs to move but the just lay there feeling heavy. i cant open my eyes either. the 1st time it happened just as i regained movement and opened my eyes a dark shadow passed over me and i bolted upright and screamed. after that i would try and force myself awake by breathing faster trying to make noises, trying to make little movements like lifting a finger. i find once im able to do that in time the rest of my body becomes mobile. i try to take control of the situation. this paralysis is accompinied by a static sound and a sense of dread.
Sleep Paralysis no demons
I'm 32 and have had the paralysis since highschool. I'd say at least once a month though seems more frequent and I forget about more occurences then I remember. This is going to sound like a ramble, hopefully someone can relate, and maybe venting will be therapeautic for me. When it happens I know instantly...oh fuck...then go through a routine in no particular order....I try to control my breathing, focussing on every breath, in out, very scary. I feel like my arms way 1000 pounds. I try to raise my arm to my eyes and open them but can't. I feel like my girlfriend is right there with me and want her to help but can't communicate (even if she's not in the room). She has specefic instruction that if i am ever gasping or acting wierd to lift my head off pillow. When it happens, I hope and prey that she will wake me, lift my head, something to provide relief, snap me out of the fuckn trance. She doesn't do it much and the few times she has I have not been in paralyzed state. Obviously this is an unaffective system. I assume I appear normal while experiencing the terror. Moving on, I have to fight with all my might to wake myself up. When I finally do it is hard to stay awake, I usually fall right back asleep and go into the paralyzed state again, and reapeat above process. I'm ashamed that I havent seen a doctor about it since it is such a part of my life. My hope is that an apnea machine or some kind of medicine can curb the happenings. Will have to wait on that as I don't have health insurance now. R.I.P Reggie White.
Hello, I´m Brazilian, 26
Hello, I´m Brazilian, 26 years old, living at Sao Paulo, engineer and usualy a logical person, I try to not believe those bad things and always thinked about it as a dream that we can control. like a bad dream where you can choose the bad events just by thinking on them, and I refer to it as a dream due this last night (22/12/2009 about 1:30am):
It was different, I had just fall asleep (23:00) and then I woke up (about 1:30) and couldn´t move, only my arms with extreme concentration but very slow and when not concentrating my arm becomes heavier with no movement possible. In this same event I opened my eyes and looked to the ceiling but feeling something like an itch, irritation at my eyes and I realised that I was having a REM!!!! but I remember that I was looking to a single spot at the ceiling while feeling my eyes moving and not to other directions as a REM. So my body should be really in a deep dream stage and I was probably looking with "other eyes".
This was not enough, I listened to a windy sound, it´s funny to say but true, like a windy scary movie lol, and I saw or felt some dark smoke/shadow presence at my left and very near from my face. At this moment many would say "why don´t u looked at it to see its shape, to see if is it possible to communicate something" but the fear it´s enormous and the only thing I wanted is that thing away from me, and it was simple like that, I wished it strongly in the mind and woke up normaly after that.
I really think that the noises we listen to is the own environment but in slow motion, due the fact that one of theese days I had this "wake but not at all" experience and I could listen to my ceiling fan engine and it was like I could listen to every blade passing through, and when I was waking up the noise increased its frequency and becomes the engine sound itself!!!
PERHAPS!! we are all in slow motion for this "other side".
That´s it, I´m having these experiences since I was 22 I think. And I´m looking to help because I don´t know if is it means something good or bad :-S.
I have been expeirencing the same sleeping problems
this has happend around 3 or 4 times for the first time ever in the last 1 - 2 months. So basically i know im awake when this is happening, the first night it happend i woke up and i could not speak, yell or move except for my eyes and it felt like some one had like gotten on top of me putting the arms on my wrists and they knees on my thighs like they were pining me down after around 30 seconds or more i could move again and i got up thinkin what the FUCK, ino for a fact i was awake. Then the second time it happend i was in bed then i woke up with the same things happening to me could speak or move but i was fully concious but this time my quilt was pulled of me whilst i was in bed, i was for sure awake because when i was able to move again and looked around and seen for myself, i dont know weather to call it paranormal activity or not or what some people say it just science called "sleep paralysis" which they say you can see preminitions of ghostly activity and you cant move or talk etc... then the last time i remember i woke up and again still couldnt move or talk except just like little ting groans i know i was completly awake and this time is was like someone was sitting on top of me like making some noice i cant really remember what but it was some sought of noice that i know if i heard it again i would cringe and whatever it was was like slapping my face but i couldnt feel anythin except for wind and this went on for it felt like ages but would of only been a minute tops. When i could move again i got straight up and turned the light on and there was nothing there even though it felt like it came through my door. I dont know what to believe Science or spirits ??? i honestly dont know it could be abit of both who know, If anyone else is experiencing things like me let me know please . Heres my email () i would like to talk about this to someone who is going though the same things, thanks
something holding me down at night, can't move just make sounds!
I too, have been thru this ever since I could remember, but it seems to happen more when I;m in the bed alone, It's like something wakes me up and holds me down all I can do is make these horrible groaning sounds, I'm a single mother and I have a 21mth old and this happened to me twice, last night, he hears me moaning a wakes up in his crib and he starts freaking out and theres nothing I can do bout it, I know it only last 2 0r 3 mins but it seems forever and it is very scary to me and my child, when I finally am able to get up mt chest hurts all the next day, for some reason lastnight it felt like it was a man holding me down, but sometimes it's like I can't move just groan, I make these horrible sounds, It would freak my ex out and I got really mad at him one nite, cause he didn't help me, I could see him, he's a heavy sleeper n just thought I was having a nightmare cause the next day I asked him if he could hear me and why in the hell didn't he help me, neways, I'm single now live with my 21mth old it's happening more, I believe, it's something Evil, just don't know what, I even have Holy water above my bed. I hate sleeping alone or living alone due to this!!!
I get paralisis but no dark stuff...
I seem to have a similar problem to what everyone here is discribing, I had it last night, I was just laying in bed on my stomache, awake, with my head on one of my outstreched arms, when I noticed my arm was going dead I decided to move my head but I couldnt, my heart seemed to pound louder and my vision blured up, It was like I wanted to move but my body couldnt be arsed. After about ten seconds give or take I'd be able to move again. It happened 3 times in diffrent positions.
I don't think theres anything spiritual going on, I just kept clear headed and kept trying to move. It gets alittle bit scary when your breathing feels like is going to stop thought.
Sleep Paralysis
I had my first experience with sleep paralysis last night and found this website searching for answers. I am 30 and I have a psychology degree and have been aware of the studies of this phenomenon. I have to say that I always thought it was merely a trick of the brain until it happened to me. I was watching a show on the history channel about the amityiville horror earlier that night. The show featured a picture of what appeared to be a demon in the form of a child and it scared the crap out of me because it looked so real. I went to bed thinking about that image. I was restlessly tossing and turning when at about 3:00 I saw what appeared to be a human-like black shadow pass in front of my bed. I was fully awake. Then I realized I was completely paralized except for my eyes, they were open and looking around. I felt a crushing feeling on the left side of my body that felt like I was being held dowm. After laying there for about ten minutes completely helpless, I was able to moan and utter enough sounds to wake my boyfriend up who reached over. That seemed to snap me out of it. Until about 5 or 6 in the morning, fully awake, I could also hear what sounded like evil laughing. After praying and being cuddled by my boyfriend I managed to fall back asleep. I dreamed of evil things the rest of the early morning and I felt like I had been truly attacked by a demon or something. I am an extemely logical, scientific person and I always thought it was a sleep disorder until it happened to me. It truly felt like a religious experience and I am terrified it might happen again. Sometimes it may be just your brain, but sometimes I now believe it can be supernatural. It was comforting to read these accounts and realize there are other people out there that are as scared as I am right now. I just pray it never happens again and I am terrified to go to sleep tonight. I know watching scary things can trigger nightmares, but I honestly feel that the evil in my room was real and maybe my interest in the paranormal and my fear of demons may have opened a door or made me more succeptible. I don't know, but I am going to do a lot of praying because if I experience something that scary again I will be in therapy! And I think I'm going to lay off watching paranormal shows for a while...
sleep paralysis
my name is damien from windsor, ont. i have had about 4 of these experiences that i can recall.#1 was when i was about 14/15. lying in bed on my back i could see a shadow on my wall from my window on my porch. it was close to the window. i couldnt move frightened knowing it was looking at me.i tried to yell to my dad but nothing came out.#2 it was very vague. again on my back, passed out watchin tv with my gf.#3 again on my back lying in the dark, couldnt breathe, move or speak. then my door opened and someone was standing there. it looked like my grandpa and what he was wearing that day, but his face was blurry. i also witnessed the figure leave.it was early in the morning and my grandparents dont wake up til 7. i didnt try to scream this time i just stared at the figure.i didnt wake up either this time until later on that day say 3pm.#4 happened about an hour ago from posting this.i could barely move my arms and the breathing struggles. i tried to talk not even yell and still the faint air escaping from my mouth. this time there was a figure to the left of my bed. i couldnt make it out but it wasnt a "person" this time. every occurance includes breathing struggles and somewhat of background noise. it is comforting to know i am not the only one experiencing this. im curious to know if it is a disorder or just a random occurance.
SLEEP PARLUZIZ
I am 16 years old and i am a muslim.
in my religion i have to beleve in these evil spirts wheather i like it or not.
The first time this happned to i tought my mind was playing with me cause i heard other family memeber telling me the same way this hapns to them and i tought maybe cause im stressing ovver too much about what they said is the reason its happening to me.
is there any cure
i cant be asked to read all off this page
its far too long
Sleep paralysis
A few months ago i laid on my bed and had a quick nap and my mum and sister were home doing stuff around the house and we had a few worker men come to our house and start to work on our roof on the second floor which is the floor my room is on down the other end of the house. I had just woken up from my nap/ sleep and hadnt opened my eyes yet and i heard my door open and the sound of one of the workers walk into my room and i even heard the door get pushed back into the the nob on the wall, and felt like he was standing over me while i laid there. I couldnt move or open my eyes to see who was in my room. I laid there and kept thinking to myself what was going on and why was there someone in my room. I felt a huge weight over my eyes and thought if i only move my hands up to my face and open my eyes with them but i couldnt move. Then i thought i'll roll over but i couldnt do that either. I wasnt scared that there was someone in my room i was really calm about it but i started to panic to myself because i couldnt move. I suddenly sat straight up and screamed. My door hadnt been opened and noone was in my room.
Yesterday this same thing happened but i was dreaming and had woken up from my dream and hadnt opened my eyes yet, but a lady in my dream was trying to kill me and i was running, And i had woken up from my dream and still saw her in slow motion about to hit me while i was laying in bed and i was paralysed and couldnt move and kept persisting to move my body and then a few seconds later i sat up and screamed. Im not scared but aware... i want to know what is happening and why???
Attacked By The Shadow?
This is the 2nd time this has happend to me and I am not sure if it a scientific thing anymore or its something we all have based in common. (Psychic Connections?).
Anyways, the first time it happened (months back) I was on my back, and I felt this thing touch the structure of my face and when I wanted to get up to see who it was it quickly jumped upon my stoomach - holding me down, and I couldnt move a muscle,or barely even breathe. I was paralyzed.
All I could do was try to scream but nothing came out.
I did however 'see' the face of my attacker even though it was a shadowy figure.
Kinda like a spiderman suit without the web designs and without the eyes.
He then quickly vanished and left me in total shock, and also in the company of fear.
The second time was tonight (12/10/09).
I was laying in bed and I swear to God I had to be awake.
I was laying there and felt as if there was someone with me in the bed near me pushing me off the bed with its foot.
I got close to the edge of the bed and then it pulled me back (as if it was teasing me) and then jumped upon my back.
This time, I couldnt only feel it,I heard it.
I hear like a demonized growl of some sort and felt it blowing harshly upon my neck while holding me down as I was in a paralyzed state trying to get out of its grasp.
The same time (I swear I was awake during this) I was trying to cast it out by saying.."In Jesus Name" which was said close to maybe 7-8 times and at the same time, this thing was growloing even harder as if it was getting mad at me or something,and then when it finally left me I found myself in a cold sweat, a fast-beating heart, and also to say pain upon my back.
It felt so real...I am absolutly petrified.
And during this second attack I had to be awake because I was staring at the clock the entire time since I couldnt move any other part of my body but my neck.
I dont think there is a scientific proven fact for this at all. - I believe truly its some kind of strange ghostly phenomenon of some sort.
Attacked by a shadow
Hi Josh, I also go throught the same thing. You are the first person that hears the growling that I hear. I have always believed that it has to be demon. What if it is an alien? Serious. I am totally aware that there is a spirit world but what about aliens or the Nephilim?
ramin bidar
everything your saying has happend to me and is still happening. I just woke up an hour ago with the sleeping parlysis problem i just saw a demon face and laughing sounds in my ears. Scientific explanation is totally nonsense. Why should it all be evil? there is something out there that is enjoying our fear. Sleeping with your hollybook prevents this problem. when I do it never happens this time i din sleep next to it and it happened tonite. I hate this, its making me nervous. I can never sleep in the dark alone.
Only JESUS CHRIST can save
Only JESUS CHRIST can save you! I used to have this all the time, and I used to hear really loud voices in my ear-so painful. But I would immediatelely call the blood of Jesus, and it would dissapear. Because Jesus is the Son of God demons are scared of Him. Call on Jesus! He is mighty to save! Not only from Sleep Paralysis but also from your sin, and hell!
thats realy realy scary
thats realy realy scary ......... unless of course you made it all up
afraid to sleep
I have been going through something very new and strange to me while i'm trying to sleep. I think that someone or something is trying to kill me or take my breath from me. I will suddenly wake up after only sleeping for 10-20 minutes terrified and trying to breathe. I feel like there is someone or something sitting on top of my legs and i cannot move i can only faintly scream. I am scared to death. I will fall back asleep and the exact same thing will happen again. I run out of bed and close and lock my bedroom door thinking that there is someone coming to kill me. I do take seroquel as prescribed for sleep and I am wondering if this drug has anything to do with what is happening to my mind. I have been taking this medication for 3 years and all of this just began happening to me 9 days ago. Please help.I am wondering if I do have sleep paralysis. Thank you.
Sleep Paralysis has happened
Sleep Paralysis has happened to me on a few occasions. The hallucinations I have are not always bad. Sometimes they are scary. I have a really good intution and I have seen spirits when I have not been sleeping. When I was little I use to have night terrors. I don't remember anything about them except what my parents have told me. Are the two related?
strange things
hi everyone, i have been having sleep paralysis now for the last 10 years, i am 30 now, like everyone says, the 1st few times i was very scared but now i ve learn to deal with it, i have had mixed experiences, a lot of evil ones with people or ghostly things in my room but i have always managed to whisper my partners name whilst having them, she then manages to shake me and wake me up, it freaks her out. then there are the times i have them where good things are happening and i no i am dreaming but awake and can control the dream, if all were like this i would like one very night. the main thing from waht i have read though is that i am not the only one to get these and they do seem very common. thank heavens for that
Possible sleep
Possible sleep paralysis!!??
hi, i think i have been suffering form sleep paralysis, i am always terrified when its happening and i am always trying desperately to wake myself up, but it feels like i am moving my arms and legs but my head is still stuck to the pillow unable to move. i have always had someone in the room, sometimes someone i know like my mum, and i reach out to them to wake me up,
This once happened when i was asleep on a train, i was asleep in someone elses reserved seats. i heard them say "you are in our seats" and i tried to move but i could not, i must have moved my body though because i then heard them say "ok, it doesnt matter" as if there was something wrong with me, i woke up just as they were leaving to find another seat, and moved. i find it so scary that i cannot wake myself up!! and i have read sleep paralysis is linked to sudden unexplained nocturnal death syndrome. can someone help. is this sleep paralysis or just weird?
i can't breathe & body "faints" but i am already laying down
so it's always before i fall asleep. i feel like someone is there or watching me... usually from outside a window. but then i sorta just ignore it and move on mentally, and usually after about 10 or 15 minutes (i'm an insomniac, btw, so that is nothing for me in how long it takes to fall asleep)... it happens.
Where I can't move... but for me, it's not just not moving, it's NOT BREATHING... not able to talk, not able to move, not able to do anything, not even breath. try to move, used to only concentrate on saying "help".., somehow i think that if something from the real world would just touch me, that i could get control back. it's not gradual... it's one and then the other.
And i can't breathe, can't breathe, i feel dizzy and sorta scared, and then it all goes black, i wake up dazed and confused, but start putting pieces together pretty quickly when i still can't breathe. after about 10 seconds it just goes... no fading or anything, one second there, next second gone. Instantaneous. and i can breathe and move and everything again.
and btw, whenever i try to pray in that, it hurts too much to keep going. My sis thought it was a panic attack, so i tried calming myself down and all that... yeah, def not it, i tried, definitely not.
does this happen to anyone else too? or is it just me?
everyone saying the paralyzing thing, but i mean, the not breathing to the point of death, onlly a few seconds, but just the same; my heart stopped beating, brain stopped functioning, lungs stopped breathing. i'm pretty sure that qualifies as dead.
and for all you who say it's not harmful and we're flipping out about nothing... beleive me it's not nothing. it's something. and it's not just our imaginary little "anxieties" that have come out to play.
for me, i see a sort of man, somehow i'm looking down at him
he's sorta grabbing at me. he's never smiling, but always a smirk, a smug look. with yellow where white should be in the eyes, super pale face, black hair, shoulder length, red lips, and black eyes. scary. but even if this dude is just a hallucination, it should be driving me so crazy. i've never seen anyone like that before, ever.
hmm
This is excellent, to know other people experience this, I am currently only 14 but it is quite scary the first few times, whereas I sometimes wake up with my mouth covered by the pillow, but I'm guessing my bodies natural defences kick in and "wake" me up.
My name is Paige i am 18
My name is Paige i am 18 years old. I have had these experiences since I was little. at first they weren't soo bad and I was too young to understand them, but over time they have gotten worse && worse, scarier && scarier. when I was little, in the middle of sleeping it was just a force holding me down and I wasn't able to move or speak for just a few seconds, then I could just go back to sleep. over the years it would happen every now and then not very often at all to ever make me worry. but now, over the past 2 years especially, these experiences have become terrifying.. to the point where I have stayed up for 3 days straight with no sleep because I'm afraid it will happen again. last night I didn't fall asleep until around 1-1:20am. around 5:23am, i was dreaming like normal.. then within what felt like a split second, I awoke out of my dream, knew i was awake tried to open my eyes to look at the time, then felt an immediate force on my abdomen especially. not just a force holding me down, as i was laying down I felt that force push me even farther down into the bed, at this point I can't open my eyes I can't move && I can't speak, I can only contract my muscles && breath very heavily. since I was little everytime this would happen I would say in my head "in the name of Jesus Christ I command you to leave" over and over again as fast as I could then it would stop.. so i did that, it did stop, and fully woke up, (and I woke up extremely hot.) that is when I looked at the time. I turned on my light and forced myself to stay awake as long as I could with the music on my iphone right next to me. the last I remember seeing the time was around 5:50am. same thing happened but felt worse.. I just fell asleep, felt a presence, barely opened my eyelids enough to see the light on my side table, and heard my music. then it happened in a spilt second I felt an extreme amount of pressure on the left side of my body (was laying on my left side) and especially on my abdomen, enough to cause me pain. still could barely breath, couldn't move, couldn't speak. I again commanded the presance to leave over && over. it stopped. I again woke up extremely hot breathing very heavily as if I was almost holding my breath. I looked at the time and it was only 6:03am.. being exhausted having no sleep && having to go to work in a few hours, I just turned to my right side && fell back asleep again. and it happened AGAIN.. this time what woke me up out of my sleep was that i felt BREATHING on my left ear, && HEARD it. for ex: when it's extremely windy && your walking against the direction of the wind. yeah that. after that waking me out of my sleep, everything went black && immediate pressure on the left side of my abdomen, this time it was 10x worse then the last. this pain was imbarable, it almost felt like it was trying to get in me it hurt soo bad. I tried with everything in me to sit myself up felt the muscles in my arms contracting and ATTEMPTING to scream my best friends name (I live with her). I gave in, stopped fighting it. I relaxed && i could mumble, I said my dogs name && "baby" thinking of my boyfriend. wishing I had both of them in bed with me I was soo scared. It stopped and I woke up again very hot and breathing very heavily, around 6:50am. I called my boyfriend to tell him everything that happened, scared to death and confused, I started searching online on my phone right in bed, that's when I found this site.. it is now 8:14am. i am scared to death to go to sleep again. I need an answer. from anyone to be honest I don't care who some advice anything. I don't believe it is a sleeping condition at all. everything in me tells me otherwise.
the left side of my abdomen STILL hurts... please email me at p.reannan@hotmail.com, if you have any references to books or websites or something of the sort, some advice, if you have experienced something like that, ANYTHING.
thank you.
Hi Paige, I'm 30 and have
Hi Paige,
I'm 30 and have had sleep paralysis since I was a teenager. It got quite bad the other month and my doctor (she's a catholic) suggested I go to my local church, which I thought was odd coming form a doctor. I'm not really religious but I tried it anyway, the church actually had a sort of task force for hauntings and things like this! It was kind of weird, two vicars and a church women came to my house and prayed over me and blessed the house and it stopped. I guess it would be worth a try for you too. I found some books about it on Amazon too which were quite good, just type in sleep paralysis. Anyway I hope it stops! Chloe :-)
ive gone through alot of the same things
the same things have happend to me kinda worried what it is,
The sleep trouble
Hey, I read your story and I know that there are scientific explanations for these things but I strongly suggest that you pray to God for answers above all else. I am a Christian and although there are explanations out there for this kind of thing such as sleep paralysis I still advise that you seek God in this situation. I do not know what you believe in terms of God but of course I would encourage some soul searching as soon as possible as this is a disturbing experience. I have never experienced terrifying stuff like this in my life so I don't necessarily have experience to speak from, but I want to help. Of course you don't have to take this advise but I suggest that you pray to God for these situations to come to an end and seek out peace in His word. God will help if you seek him. You can go to the doctors for a check up but I believe that God can bring an end to your pain. Just remember that this will not happen over night, it may take a while for the problems to end so hang in there. I will be praying for you, oh and by the way my name is Zack.
Solution
I have been experiencing this phenomenon for years now. At first was terrified, the more I tried to come out the more harder it became. So this is what I do now, like most things in life , just enjoy the moment even though it is difficult
- I pray to god - always helps
- Start singing/imagining that I am singing
- Just keep saying relax and start telling myself to smile and laugh
- Eventually, come out, but not with a violent start that I used to come with before
Last night prompted me to write here, as I was sleeping on my stomach with one eye covered with the pillow, so when I got up in the dream I could just see by 1 eye, I imagined myself to be a pirate and started dancing/singing around my own room. Wen I woke up I was fine
Just try to act normally when you have these and DO NOT TRY TO FIGHT AND COME OUT of it , it only makes it worse
I've also recently had a
I've also recently had a Sleep Paralysis episode, about 2 or 3 nights ago. I just got around to looking up what I had. I slept over my friends house with my other friend and it was around 8am when we went to sleep (I know, really late). Anyways, We slept ~10 hours so we knew we had a good nights sleep, but I woke up about a couple hours before them with the Sleep Paralysis occurring. I guess the best way I can describe how it felt is when your foot becomes asleep, but much much more dull.
My friend woke up to me staring at him (probably creeped him out lol), but I was hallucinating and was hearing these voices, well, whispers, talking about killing me and really creepy stuff like that. I came out of it after like 5 minutes, however it felt like an eternity. Really creeped me out. Also had this happen quite a few times before but I always thought I was dreaming but I guess I wasn't.
Thankfully I found this and now I know what's been happening. I can't talk, I really try to and nothing comes out. The really dull needle feeling is there also. Really creeps me out.
Anyone else get those strange whispers/creep other people out with your SP?
-Nick
I had it too
So two days ago, I slept around 7am coz i am a computer addict. So, i slept. Then, I woke up. But, I couldn't move or open my eyelid. Tried to move my hands up to my face and open them but i can't. so i try forcing myself to get out of it. And I did. Then, I got tired and sleep again. It happen again. And again, I force myself awake and I'm ok. But seriously, It was creepy....
well I don't have any
well I don't have any "hallucinations" but I do get the numbing sensation. It feels like a surge of a low volt of electricity incapacitates me and I'm unable to move or talk. This happens for no longer than 30 seconds at a time, but it use to scare the hell out of me. When I come out of it my heart is racing. It usually helps to focus on moving your fingers, instead of everything at once. I do hear that hearing voices and footsteps are common though, so don't freak out about it.(:
-hope this helps!
Sleep paralysis
i believe its evil spirits or some kind of spirits. the same has happened to me before too and i get really scared. i can't move or talk and i always hear a faint static sound but it becomes very loud. sometimes i would hear the noises trains make over trantracks too. depending on how i sleep, i would feel as though there were someone holding me down or possibly even tying my hands together etc.
Scary
This has been happening to me often and I have "hallucinations" as you have word it. This scares the "SHIT!" OUT OF ME (Excuse my french) although I have read this I'm not feeling and more comfortable with it. I'm still rather disturbed.
What a relief
I don't know why I didn't research the web sooner. I just dealt with this and thought it was my brain not working properly.
My episodes almost always happen as I fall asleep, sometimes waking though. I feel intense fear and helplessness. I usually try yelling for help immediately, like I'm drifting out of conciousness into death and crying for someone to save me, but I don't actually make a sound. I can see things in the room. the T.V. that's on or a light coming from another room.
I know what's happening to me. I am aware. That's what's most terrifying; knowing that I'm not just dreaming... that it's something very different.
I have heard whispers or an evil presence. I have felt time speed up. I always wondered if my body was physically responding, but it did happen to me once as I was laying on the counch with my girlfriend, and she didn't give any indication that something had occured.
Getting "out" of it is tricky. I tell myself over and over to wake up. But, I have to make a strong effort to do so. Almost like a weight-lifter bench pressing the last rep. I really have to struggle to wake up. But I eventually do to a welcome relief.
Then I wonder what the hell just hppened. After so many episodes I tried to rationalize and figure out what was going on. Sort of studying myself.
It always happens when I'm stressed out or really tired and fatigued and sometimes when I watch a scary movie or get scared by a noise in the houde or something.
What is most intiguing to me is that as it's happening, I know it's happening, I know I have to "get out" of it, I'm aware of it, yet every time... EVERY time...
I'm filled with the most chilling mortal fear I've efer experienced in my life.
Now that I've read about people with the same thing, and this explanation, I'm excited to see how I will react when it happens again.
Thank you everyone.
Sleep Paralysis
I have also experienced most of the forms of these episodes. I am a 23 year old male and i have been having them since the age of 17, coincidentally? when i started to stay up later at night. For me they usually occur only when i stay up past 2:00 a.m. Are they purely scientific/spiritual? I don't know. The scientific explanation makes sense, but the very specific nature of the "hallucinations" is not so easily explained away, at least for me. To add to this i must say that i am not a religious or overly superstitious person but these incidents are unlike anything i have ever experienced. I have experienced the overwhelming fear others have mentioned, and occasionally have been able to will myself awake by moving a finger.
What disturbs me most is the sensation of an evil presence that seems to be a common factor for most of us. On several occasions it was a cloaked or hooded figure in a shadowy corner of my room. In other instances I simply felt a malevolent presence like many of you are saying. On one particular occassion, i felt a light pressure on my shoulders while "sleeping" on my back. I at first interpreted this as some kind of sexual fantasy (hahaha) but immediately became terrified when this light pressure turned into a sensation comparable to someone pinning me down with their full strength.
Joe, in response to your comment about time speeding up, my most recent incident was more surreal than terrifying (but still unquestionably a dark or negative experience). I was paralyzed but looking around my room i noticed that my curtains were drawn open and the full moon and night sky were perfectly visible. What was so creepy was the fact that the clouds were speeding by incredibly fast, like you see in some movies. Just really disturbing stuff. Well I just wanted to put in my own experiences and good luck to everyone struggling with this you're not alone.
I had the same problem for
I had the same problem for many years as well, I didn't know who to turn too........I told my mother, she told me to put the bible underneath my pilow and pray... this will fight the evil that is around ...... let me tell you ........I was so scared to a point that I thought I am going to die....or I thought I was dead.....but things have changed for me .........that was the best solution and trust me it will work for you as well....as long you do that from your heart........
Best of luck....
sleep paralysis
Hi my name is Regina, I have experienced sleep apnea for most of my life, on a regular basis. I am happy to know that scientific research is starting to leak its way though the cyber system as it has been quite tricky looking for info on the topic.
For me I think that sleep paralyses may be caused by a little stress and anxiety, however even having it as a small child with a relatively average up bringing i dont see how stress could be the main factor of it. It has occured to me, when I eat too close to bedtime, big heavy meals full of carbohydrates and dairy products, mostly heavy creams or decadent cheeses ie. bluevain cheese, I am setting my self up for Sleep paralysis. This may be due to high blood sugar in the body, insulance inbalance?
I have found that taking homeopathics has helped me in the past, however one needs to find a really well experienced homeopath for correct remedies that suport the whole constitution of a person.
Other than that, the only ways I can think of getting out of it, are as discussed in the article....
try and relax into it, even though its absolutley impossible sometimes
calmly start moving a small body part, toes etc try and roll onto the side etc.
I liked one girls article about praying to Jehovah, that helps. The use of his name seems to dispel all sorts of fears.
this juss happened to me yesterday ..HELP!
man oh man..some one please tell me that im not buqqin out or sumthanq..im 14 years old i juss saw paranormal activity like 2 or 3 weeks aqo.....now the day i saw iht i was scaredd buth i got over iht...now yesterday i took a nap from 5 to 10 at nite i havent done that in a while.THen im uhp til about 10 to 1 to 2..they i turn on my side and i fell like 3 sumo wrestlers were on my side i cud talk move nothinq i cudnt even see the time i juss noe i was scared hopinq i wudnt piss my pants or worst. so they after like 20 to 30 mins my eye sight goes gray i cudnt see in color then thats when i started to freak out...then all ov a sudden i feel FREE..i get up i run to the bathroom trying to put the pieces togetheir ov waht the hell jus happenedd...tonite imma a little afraid to go to sleep....shudd i ??? helpp nd ive been uhp sine 330 inn the mornin might be uhp for moree byee
when is this going to stop
ok let start at the beginning about 2years ago i think it was in october i went to work on a case and in this person house there was some noise in the apt even though it was only the 2 of us there we would hear noise somewhere else in the house but of course either of us spoke a word about it.this person husband died a few years ago
the same day i return home took a shower, ate and went to bed and around 19:00hours i average i was awoke. (ever since i was young if i was awake i would keep my eyes shut lying there it's a habit)
so from 19:00 - 19:20 hours i stared to feel my room getting
cooler until it felt like i was in a walk in fridge and this happens like within a minute then i felt paralyse then it felt like some was standing over my head looking at me and i felt like pressure while i could hear watching tv in the living room which my mom was watching
after this i stared feeling like i needed air and start breathing loudly. around 19:20hours i finally got the strength into hurriedly run out of my bed into the living room like i was some madwoman shaking like crazy.also @ 19:20 the room got back to the normal temp
the reason i knew what time it was because i had checked it a few minutes after the ordeal
after that happen i was online that night then i remember about a star of david that i had bought so i put it on and went to bed @4 in the morning
after that it did not happen for a long time
we moved from that apt to this new one and it has been happening like crazy esp on Monday's in the night note today is a fucking monday just turn tuesday.
ok these new occurrences happen like this either i was trying to sleep of had slept like about 30minutes and each time my folks was in the living room talking
i would be awake but i have my eyes closed and it will star to feel cold and then i would feel a cat and u heard right a motherfucking cat would walk on my bed and circle me while i so much can't move a hair once one of my hand was at my side and i was trying to get my hand to touch my side but it never happen it was just frozen
i was paralysed until the ordeal finish and today was a little different
i was trying to sleep but my chain was bothering me go as usual i pull it to set it but it felt like u know a paper cut and yes i felt the pain and i even fixed my pillows which was falling. i was asleep for like 30minutes and then i think i was dreaming about fighting someone online on a game the person name start with a e but i don't know this name and also in my dream i was trying to find this person to beat her in the game then i was awake when the same thing with the cat happen i even try to move but could not but this time it walk on top of me except it felt heavier like almost over 100lbs and i was paralysed
note this period i heard some muffled voices in the dream about the game
only my sis was awake
afterwards i rush out of my room and ask my sister some things about everyone and told her about the noise and she said my parents went to bed around 10:30 and i ask if i was going crazy then i went in the bathroom to check my neck but there was no cut then a few tears came down then i spoke to her about my neck not having a cut
ok on 9/28/2009 i remember seeing an anime called ghost hunt where there was a priest in it doing exorcism with John 1 (New International Version)1 so i made a copy and put it in my pillow since then nothing happen until today 12/01/09
i know some people will think that i am crazy but i am not and this is not a make believe story
Hello, now im scared!
Hello to everybody here, my name is John, im from england, 29 years old and im suffering from "Sleep paralysis" too. Im really unsure if it is a medical condition or whether we are really expieriencing supernatural activity. Im pleased to have found this as we can all discuss our expiernces without feeling silly and people judging us as strange. The most frequent thing that happens to me is just waking up from a bad dream desperatley trying to shout go away or swearing f-off but always unable to speak. This has happened over 20 times now and as recent as last night. On two occasions however real strange things happened, the first i woke up to see my now wife sleeping next to me but also sat on the end of the bed, this appartion stayed untill i managed to wake her then disappeared. The second occasion we were on our honeymoon in majorca and woke up and in the mirror saw two sets of legs walking around the bed but no upper body. I have once seen a spirit while driving my car fully awake and now do regular ghost investigations with a local group and the waking up thing is happening more regulary now, dispite all this im not a religous person but finding all this a bit of a co-incidence, from tonight onwards im going to sleep imagineing a protective ball of white light over and passing through me for spirit protection, we do this in our seyances during ghost investigations. Im sure we can all keep in touch on here and help each other as im sure your all good, normal people with jobs and familys like myself, thanks for reading, please leave comments and ask questions we could be discovering something huge here.
Hi my name is Tamika I am 17
Hi my name is Tamika I am 17 years old from Miami. I suffer from this sleeping disorder called Sleep paralysis. I think its way deeper than what researchers make it to be. You can only understand it if you experienced it. See it’s not like I’m some ordinary teenager, I’m a child of god and I’m aware that the enemy would try to mess with you and do all types of things to pull me away from him. But it’s sort of impossible due to the fact that I’m a strong believer. I’m not trying to turn my story into a religion thing but I think it is significant that I portray that in this sorry. Well about this thing called “Sleep paralysis” I always had it since I was little. It would be like every other night or week I go to sleep and feel like something was holding me down. It is so scary but I learned to live with it but the thing is so random that I never understood it. It’s not just a house thing because I experienced it almost everywhere and anywhere. Sometime it will happen when I’m not really sleepy at all. As I grew older this thing got worst, I prayed so much and so hard. There was a time in my life where it stops. But last night it came back it was so scary. I was on the phone with my boyfriend and he was talking about life as usual and I became sleepy. He prayed like we do every night and then I’m off to sleep. It started instantly usually I feel its presence when it is about to happen but not this time. First I had a bad dream or vision that my aunt friend was going to get in a car accident from driving drunk. That night I went to the sports bar with my aunt and friends but I didn’t have any alcohol but they drank a little so that explains the dream. But when I tried to wake up I couldn’t I tried to fight it like all the time but I wasn’t sure If it was happening because it felt different I tried to move my hands and I thought I did because I saw it but everything was moving slow. Next thing you know I can feel hands place on my shoulders on each side because I was lying on my back. Then I can feel myself shaking from side to side and laughing really hard and then it stop. Suddenly I began to pray and the hands that was on my shoulders I felt press down really hard and it happen again. When it stop, my brother was calling my name because he wasn’t sure if I was asleep because he said I looked weird. And I told my boyfriend what happen and he prayed for me. He experienced this too sometime so he knows how I feel when I tell him about it. I cried so hard because I didn’t know what I did to let this sprit come back. I read stories from people that have the same problem but much worse. They said people would actually whisper in their ear. This is not normal there is spirits out there who mess with people while there sleeping. It’s something more than Sleep paralysis. It happens again when I woke up this morning but not as worst as last night. I would continue to pray and help others to do the same because it can go away but this sprit is very strong but never stronger than God so I put this in his hand and try not to worry because it is hard. If you have any questions feel free to email me or leave comments. Thank you!
Sleep paralysis
Hello Tamika,
My Name is John and im 29, i live in boston uk and also now suffreing from "Sleep paralysis" but it is becoming more regular, in fact last night was rather scary as it happened again and i remember waking up trying to shout go away and f**k off but unable to speak, this has happened 20+ times before. its 2.15 am now and im hoping it doesnt happen again tonight. I also get it more regularly while im out on holidays or in different beds. I have woken up to see my wife asleep next to me but also sat on the end of the bed, when we were abroad on honeymoon i woke to see two sets of legs in the mirror walking around the bed. I'm not religious but do believe in ghosts and spirits and regulary do ghost investigations at different locations. before going back to sleep last night i did imagine a ball of white light passing over and through my body for spirit protection what we do on our ghost investigations. try this each night and see if it helps, please keep in touch with me we might be able to help each other.