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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
Sleep Paralysis and noise?
I can relate to most of you, however one night, I woke up paralyzed and it felt like an eternaty as I struggled to get out of the cocoon of paralyis. When I finally popped out of it, I heard a zooming/sucking noise and two litle red dots zoomed away from me and disappeared. I stayed up the rest of the night thinking I was losing my mind...?
Slim
2 different types of sleep paralysis
hey guys im 24 and I have had 2 different types of sleep paralysis experiences. The first time it happened to me i was about 21 and i felt this dark evil presence squeezing the life out of me i was so scared i cried out "jesus help me!" and it instantly went away. This totally freaked me out and the fact that it stopped when i called out to jesus i was even more scared believing that it must be some sort of evil spirit or demon. I did not tell anybody about it for years until my dad told me that this had happend to him before as well. It seems like it would happen to me at least once a month and sometimes more. It felt as though the sheets on my bed were pressing down on me and i would be paralyzed and felt like i was being strangled. Usually happens when I sleep on my back but has also happened on my stomach. The second type that i have had happen is the more common one of waking up in the morning and with my eyes open but being completely paralyzed and unable to move. This was terrifying to me as well the first time it happend i thought i was dying and it felt like it lasted an hour but in reality was probably only a minute or so. I should mention that the second type happens to me more frequently and sometimes occurs every night for a week or so. After being so disturbed from all this i decided to start researching it. i typed in my symptoms on google and it led me to an article on sleep paralysis which gave me alot more comfort knowing i wasnt being attacked by a demon. i should also mention that i suffer from panic disorder and have severe anxiety and panic attacks. i read some where that they think this may somehow be related to sleep paralysis. it was also interesting to me that when i started taking an anti depressent for my anxiety the sleep paralysis went away temporarily although i have recently gotten off the medication for other reasons, and have noticed that the episodes of sleep paralysis have returned. so im wondering how many other people who get sleep paralysis also suffer from anxiety or panic attacks. if anyone has had similar experiences please let me know- scott
I have anxiety issues too
Hi,
I also have anxiety/panick attack issues and have had this sleep paralysis happen to me twice. Both were a little bit different.
Both i think happend when i was in a high amount of internal anixety on that day. Also i think both happend when i had woken up and then gone back to sleep Both had a sinister quality, the first one I had saw dead people in the dream, and then proceeded to run into a house and try to get to my roomate, but i coudnt, and i felt like i was being smothered. I was concious but I coudlnt wake myself up. I started screaming for my roomate and kept saying " please let me wake up, please let me wake up" then i finally pulled myself out of the dream, and when i woke up i could barely move my hands and jaw like i was clenching them while i was asleep, litereally trying to pry myself out.
The second one happend last night, after i had woken up, gone to the washroom and went back to sleep. The dream encorporated things that were on my mind, it was very realistic, i thought i was late for work, i was talking to someone on my computer, but then my dad and brother were there ( i live with roomates) and my dad told me that my brother was sleep walking earlier and thats why he had left things in my room, i then for some reason told my dad that my brother was trying to do an excorsism. Then thigns just went white and started to shake a little, its hard to explain, it happend for a second, i then said to my dad , SEE, then i woke up. i think i either became concious in the dream, got scared, and tried pulling myself out OR i just woke up but what i saw was just hazy but then i could make out the stripes on my blanket so i knew i was awake. But i coudnnt move at all. I was paralyzed, but this only happend for a few seconds. And then i snapped out. After this one i suprisingly wasnt that frightened
Both dreams definitly had a very sinister quality to them.
Now what i think is causing this is either... I get a nightmere ( which i rarely get) and then get so scared in them that i try and wake myself up, but my body, being in a deep sleep, isnt ready to get up. So it has to catch up with my mind. So i'm thinking that if i do get nightmeres that i should, just let what happen happen in it, isntead of tryign to force myself awake.
Its either that, or if there ARE evil spirtis doing this, it makes sense they would go after people with anxiety, cause why try and scare someone your not going to scare right?
Either way i think having less anxiety is the key.
I have had trouble sleeping
I have had trouble sleeping my entire life. I just recently started having the sleep paralization. It is the most terrifying feeling. I also suffer from panic attacks and anxiety and am prescribed to Xanax, which I read can be involved. I always have had the hallucinations but just recently started actually feeling something holding me down. But with my episodes there is a very good feeling first like someone tickling my arms or my dog nuzzeling my neck and it is soooo real, I can feel someone touching me and then I realize it's not real and feel someone hold me down violently, I try to scream and fight but once I get the scream out I snap out of it. The scariest part is that I don't feel asleep because my eyes are opened. I have been afraid to go to sleep for a few months thinking I would soon need an old priest and a young priest but after reading articles and other people's stories I feel much better...I may even turn a few lights off tonite?? Thanks.
Hi, I'm 17
I started having this awake dreams probably at 6 or 7 and I've been having a lot of them still today. The 2 that scared me the most was both when i was 7 i woke up my face on the pillow where i barely was able to breathe and felt as if some one was pushing me down trying to suffocate me, and the other was when a little figure bit my arm and i my arm spas' ed out. i learned how to get my right arm to move staggeringly to where i want it my be to swing at where the figure was or turn on a light, but today just now i had multiple awake dreams in less then 4 hours, and that kinda scared me because I've had them a lot just not like that in a day. I learned that if i sleep on my stomach i tend to get em or my side, so now i try just fall asleep on my back only, but that still hasn't stopped them from occurring. I gets pretty lame now days... When i wake up... cant move... all poo here it goes again... my heartbeat doesn't race any more as it use to now i guess I'm kinda use to it.. bad thing is each time it happens different things happen. I say no harm in it just don't get to scared eh you'll be fine i guess. and i did find out... both my parents went through this as well so it might be it is hereditary. so you should ask you parents or siblings if ya got 'em.
more on sleep paralysis, brain, culture
Omg I cant do it
I have had odd dreams about my lizard rapidly jumping in and out of its cage every time I attempt to enter sleep paralysis.I can't do it! help me...
first time
I'm 17 years old and last night this occurred for the first time, i felt as though my body was floating and i had a tingling sensation throughout my body, i then heard very loud noises that sounded like many people all talking very fast at once, the feeling is horrible and i just want it to go away, i would hear very loud noises and try to wake up but i couldn't, i felt the presence of something around me and felt heat around my head that felt like a hair dryer was being blown onto me, i tried very hard to wake up and when i finally thought i had, i wasnt actually awake and then woke up again until i was properly awake, i tried to move and couldnt at first but after trying very hard was able to move my body, i had goose bumps all over my body and was very tired when i woke up in the morning as i felt as though i missed out on a lot of sleep because of it..
Misinterpreting Cause and Effect
I read this article for I wanted to see what my son thinks about himself experiencing the phenomenon. I am 48 now and remember that I have had such experience only once in 14.
As I have been reading this article, I found that the author has not described the cause of sleep paralysis. He only described how the brain acts or doesn't act to produce such state. I couldn't find from the article why brain should do in this way. Why brain of some people acts like this and brain of others doesn't. May be it is not problem with brain, may be we should seek somewhere else.
Modern science tries to replicate the real world in theory to find solution to the problem already articulated in a theoretical set. Is it possbile to throw away or disregard some important data (not presented or presentable as scientific facts)through the process of this replicating? May be science is right in this matter, as it is said science is right as it can predict what is to happen next. But what if this prediction is also a misjudgement, as have had many example in modern sciene for this misjudgement (for simple example of this misjudgement think of new medicines that goes absolete when it is explored that study of medical effects of the drug has not been conducted in well manner, so new medicine!) let go closer to the problem and see it from other side of story.
To my experience, this phonomenon is quite common among sensitive and spiritual people. you can justify this idea with considering people around you. Let me introduce you a new idea for sleep, modern science gives a description for sleep as a state for relaxation and inner data processing of brain. But give a look to ancient notion of the problem, especially in eastern countries, people in many eastern cultures think that sleep is state that every human touches other world to get his/her battery charged. Look sleep in this way, then think of sleep paralysis, it seems that two contradictory process conflict and produce this event as a result.
I have another related experience that has lasted for 30 years, and it is that I wake after each NREM-REM cycle in the night, especially I wake after first cycle walking, studying, eating, sitting till next round starts! nice experience? To human scale, I sleep half of a normal person, but I work more than many other people, may be 18 hours a day, but mostly types of work that charged my spirit through day!
I am 26 as I writing this
I am 26 as I writing this comment,I don't think that it is a matter which just science have answer for it.Science and scientist just dealing with materials , and this is the kind of problems that we should look at them from spiritual aspect.How it could be possible to be just a disorder! read this to find out what I say: During my experince of this thing we called disorder, the only way that I can get rid of it, is to move my body, it is really hard, but, after 12-3 years I can do that,last time, that this disorder happend, I was sleeping in my cousin bed, and she was slept along side of me, and her dog was sleeping near the bed. I felt something dark but transparent was sitting on my chest !and I tried hard to move, so in the dream I threw my self out of bed, and that thing fall on the poor dog.the dog woke up and ran and barked,(I saw this when I was in that dream)you dont believe it, becuz right after the thing that I saw in the disorder dream,I can say right after 1 milisec , the dog start to run and bark, and he woke up us. I'm sure that it is becuz of me.so is this just scientific?
Stay calm
Im 24, had sleep paralalysis about 6 times, maybe more as a child, when i 'wake up' breathing is difficult, body paralysed, eyes closed. The best way to deal with this is to stay calm, accept the lack of oxygen, DO NOT try and change your breathing pattern it is under a set pattern. Just appreciate it will be all over very soon. Willing your self awake with physical activity will make it worse and will result with increase panic/breathing problems. Just Will your self awake with your mind. Make sure you are aware you are awake, dont give up! WILL your self awake.
My story
I've read quite a few of these messages, and I'm intrigued by all the different things that people experience. I understand fully the fear of Sleep Paralysis. I have it quite often, and the "presence" is always the same figure. A tall, dark figure with a skeletal face, long black hair, and a hand reaching out of his cloak towards me. If there is a closet in the room in which the SP takes place, he usually comes out of it. If not, he is right next to my bed, watching me. The worst part about it, is that it feels like the first time, every time it happens, so I can't talk myself into waking up. I have the paralysis, the heightened senses, the inability to call out. The figure speaks sometimes, but I can't understand him. I think the scariest part is when I realize that the figure knows that I'm watching him, and even though I can't see his eyes, I can "feel" them. I was just curious about the different things that you people see during SP.
sleep paralysis
I am dealing with sleep paralysis since I am a little girl. One time I thought I saw and heard the devil. I saw that evil thing in dreams as well. It was terrifying. Even now as an adult and mother I suffer under sleep paralysis. I don't just see/hear things & creatures, sometimes I am also in a completely different location. My room is gone and one time I was coming down something which looked like a well. I could see the rocks on all sides and touch them. A good friend of mine which had stayed over one night told me that she woke up by me screaming, sitting straight up and speaking fluid latin. I know when 'it' is coming and especially when I am really tired I just toss and turn to 'shake it off'. Sometimes I am too exhausted and just 'sink'. I always pray for protection.
Prayer has never failed to help when it got really bad.
Hello my name is ashlee I'm
Hello my name is ashlee I'm 19 I've been having this so called sleep paralysis once in a while myy grandpa calls it frightmares. He's also had them in the past.. he has told me that its because I eat late at night but I think its something evil. My grandma has told me when I have bad dreams to say jesus and I will wake up! Well when I'm experiencing whatever this is I can't seem to say his name or even think of it.. and finally when I do I wake up instantly it is the scariest thing. I never seem to see anything evil but I can sense it around me.
Happened Twice: One with and without Demon
As fas as I can remember moving into my house like 5 years ago I have always felt my room was haunted and could see and feel scary things. But I can remember about three times with this, twice I saw demonic images and the last one nothing. The first I couldn't breathe, move or talk and felt a lot of tingling, and of course this ghost slowly coming down closer to me, before I woke up. The second time I was on my top bunk and saw that Saw Guy and he was punching me as I lay there paralyzed. And the third time just happened this Sunday, but it wasn't even at my HOUSE! I was at a friends and spent the night and woke up like an hour later to paralysis. This time I was mad and kept saying in my head that I wasn't scared and that satan and his demons were nothing but cowards and stuff like that. My paralysis lasted the longest of any other I've experienced and I couldn't move at all or talk, but I did not feel suffocated nor did I see a demonic figure.
I think whether you believe its supernatural or natural, the important thing is to be strong, confident and determined to get out of the paralsis and back to sleep. Push it off.
The experience that convinced me of a PARANORMAL factor
I am a 27 yr old male, who has been experiencing sleep paralysis since I was age 6. Last night, as I was falling asleep, I slipped into a sleep paralysis episode. It may have been my scariest one ever, which led me to do some more research, therefore finding this forum. I have always thought there is a scientific explanation for these experiences. However, I am NOW CONVINCED that these experiences MUST BE PARANORMAL.
Here is what happened. I was falling asleep on my stomach when it began. Something got on top of my back, digging their knee into my back between my shoulder blades. At the same time, what felt like a hand wrapped around my neck exerting extreme pressure. My eyes were wide open, and I was looking directly at the mirror. I could see in the mirror that there was something on top of my back, and there was also another figure moving around in the background of my bedroom. As the grip tightened on my neck, I heard a voice in my ear, and felt the breath on my ear as well. This thing was speaking directly into my ear. What it said was very clear..
"I AM CLOSER TO YOU THAN I AM TO DEATH." And it then said something in an unknown language, which at the time sounded like "Corpus Dilecte". I was then able to shake myself out of it, and I immediately got out of bed and stood up, completely freaked out of my mind, sweating, with tears in my eyes. The first thing I did was write down what I heard in my ear. In the morning, I researched common latin phrases, and found the expression "Corpus Delicti". It was immediately obvious that this is the expression I heard in my ear. I do not know any latin at all, nor am I familiar with even the most well known latin phrases. The translation of the phrase "Corpus Delicti" is: "the facts of a crime". However, after doing more research, I found this term is most commonly used in legal circles, and it refers to the dead body in a murder case. For example, a lawyer would say, "We cannot convict without the corpus delicti".. meaning that there must be a dead body to convict.
Now... how amazingly frightening is THAT!!?? I don't know any latin, and I have never heard that term before anywhere. I am sure of it. How is it possible that my brain could have made that up on its own? And what about the other expression, "I am closer to you than I am to death." What does that even mean? I don't know.. but it scares the shit out of me. This has turned my life upside down. I am afraid of my own bedroom now. I don't know what to do. I have read all the other posts, and there seems to be a lot of people sharing similar experiences which involve hearing voices speaking in other languages. Has anyone else had an experience similar to mine?
sleep paralysis or what?
I have been having the same things happen to me recently. I need to mention before I go any further that I am Native American and with this, a very spiritual person. I don't believe in the scientific way of analyzing something and especially not believing that things like this happen not because of spirits, etc. I do believe in spirits and such.
I too, heard a voice the other night speak to me in my left ear. It was a male and said, "Tell me when." I forced myself to wake up. All I kept thinking about was that I should smudge my bed, but my body was so tired from being forced open that I just wanted to go back to sleep.
I have been having them more frequently lately. Just this past week has been three times so far.
I know that when this happens, it feels as though my body is real tense and kind of shaky and I have to MAKE my body move so that I wake up. I am scared that if I do not wake myself up, I am going to die. So when I do get up, sometimes my eyes will already be half open and I can hear the sounds of everything in my room the same when I was trying to force myself awake. There are times that I will hear other things, and I do believe it is my spirit struggling from where it wanted to go during my sleep to getting back into my body. I just don't understand why I am having problems with allowing my spirit back before waking.
Possibly I will have to do some smudging in my room and of myself...
Honestly, there is more out there than "scientific formulas" as to why things happen, but those scientists live by "it either fits in the box, and if it doesn't, then it isn't true." But, sorry, I do believe in the spiritual thing...
OMG I'm not alone
Hi, it happenes to me 2-3 times a mouth. Most of the time I'm sleeping on my back, but to day I was taken a nap and it happened to me I was getting chocked so I started to fight back and I thought I was going to die. I told my grandma about it and now I sleep with a red shirt, red pillow ect… My grandma told my mom to take me to a voodoo lady a.k.a baabaa 2 get somethings for my room. I'm so happy I'm not the only one this happenes to cause everyonr else I tell this to thinks I'm crazy.
I'm 14 years old and i just
I'm 14 years old and i just had what i believe was a sleep paralysis 2 nights ago, what had happened was i fell asleep, but it was like my body was sleeping and my mind was awake. i didn't experience any hallucinations that i remember but i felt like i was slowly sitting up, and i couldn't open my eyes, or move anything. i remember the feeling of tipping off my bed, and i could see myself in the mirror, but i couldn't wake up. there would be a few times where i would wake up and i couldn't see anything. i remember looking for the light of my alarm clock but the image was moving around and i couldn't tell where it was. This lasted for maybe an hour before i actually fell asleep and had one of the craziest dreams i've ever had in my life. I remember every detail of it which i normally don't do. Since i hadn't experienced hallucinations so far, my conclusion is that it's just my brain playing tricks on me. But if it ever happens where i do hallucinate, i'll probably be more open to sleep paralysis possibly being spiritual
Scared to sleep
I can't believe what I'm reading on this site. I'm gad I'm not the only one this happens to. I'm 26 and my episodes started when my mom was first hospitalized when I was 18. They were really bad then. I wouldn't see anything,I would hear and feel my husband at the time, or the tv..I could literally hear what was really on, or what he was saying. I could feel my body laying there paralized like and I could feel myself so relaxed in deep sleep, yet my mind would be awake. My mom passed and it happened more. The past couple years it had toned down, but lately it's happening again and I know it's due to stress. I don't believe it's anything evil at all. Our minds like playing tricks on us that's all it is. I usually can wake myself up from them but it takes a few tries. Sometimes it feels like I can't breathe. Sometimes I'll feel like I woke up but I'm still in it. The worse is once I awake from one, I can't sleep again for a while because I'll fall back into another episode. My fiance takes it lightly and I know my friends think I'm nuts. It's 12:43 am right now. I have no one to talk to and am horrified of going to bed. Isn't there a cure for this????
I experience exactly the
I experience exactly the same symtoms, its normal. I usually struggle for 5-10 minutes, and then i struggle my way awake, but feel extremely tired, and sometimes fall back to sleep, and the episode continues until i struggle awake again. I usually hear or know the things that happen around me, which actually do happen, but i cant move my body, it feels strange and annoying
all i can say is this
all i can say is this happened to me and in the quran it says this happens and it is jin(evil spirits), but they are not powerful. if you've tried everything i suggest you go to a local mosque and you dont really have to do much they will help you very much.
Recently went off Antidepressants - SP Returns...
I noticed that I experienced SP much more as a child. As I grew older, the episodes were less frequent. When I got on Citropram (Celexa/Lexapro), I hardly had any and if I did it was when I accidentally missed a dose. I recently (within the last 3 weeks) discontinued my antidepressants after 6 years. I am starting to have SP again more regularly (but I'm also 6 months pregnant, so that may be a factor).
I am wondering if SP responds well to SSRI's, as documented, SP is sometimes stress-related, as documented then SP has to be some sort of chemical imbalance. I'm sure that it could be spiritually-related as well. Praying and calling on Jesus does seem to help, even though my experiences usually aren't frightening, but more annoying than anything.
The episodes do usually happen when I'm laying supine, napping (or sleeping in), but not always. I also noticed today when it happened that the room was warmer than comfortable.
I wondered if anyone else had "triggers". I'd like to start a list so I can avoid these ANNOYING incidents. So far I've read:
The list I've read for things that help "snap out" of an episode are:
Obviously, as a born-again Christian, I totally believe that prayer and the name of "Jesus" is the most-powerful tool, but there has to be a scientific explanation as well that can make it easier to deal with too.
Just don't know what to believe?
Up into this point in my life I have kept what has happened to me to myself, I thought for the longest time that this was only happening to me, I've been afraid to tell anyone because I felt I would only be looked down upon and just be told I am a liar because so many times in my life terrible things have happened that no one would believe. I am what you would call damaged goods. I've been through so many things in my short time here on earth only 29 years now, and already I've endured more crap than most people would in a life time, most likely several life times. I am the product of what society has made me, a complete and utter sinner. I am a drug addict, a manipulator, and totally emotionally detached person, but one thing I am not is an idiot, my IQ is over 130, which puts me in the 6th percential so I am still a man of reason. Through the years my beliefs have changed and I once was a christan but now I believe more in the science explanation of life, but the more I research this the more I become confussed, I want to believe in the the science of Sleep paralysis but my experience was so real my better judgement won't let me believe it. I will only tell you of my first experience, because it was the worst and I remember the most about this one. I was asleep, and when I awoke, and I know I awoke, staring right back down at me was some kind of spirit, he had long hair and a beard, and was dressed in white, unlike others saying it was a dark figure, I thought maybe I was dead, he kind of looked like Jesus, but this was no jesus, I stared at him for a couple of seconds as he stared back, he started to rise higher above me and that's when I became scared, because I relized I was awake and I was not dreaming I was aware of everything in the room he then began to throw something at me, it was a pulse, a pulse of white light of some kind, and when it hit me I felt so many different emotions and feelings it's hard to explain, I felt, hate, anger, depression, loneliness, fear, anxiety, dreed, and miseary, and after the first one hit me I tried to get up and move and I was paralized, he just kept throwing them at me, and I still tried to continued to move, I tried to scream out for help with no success and this carried on for a minute or two untill I was finally able to budge from my position and when I was about to get up, he seemed to pin me back to the bed, at last I was able to get up and I noticed the alarm clock because I knocked it of the table when I got up, and I knocked it onto the floor but the time was 11:34 and when it landed on the floor it was upside down and 11:34 up side down spells HELL and that's what made me remember it so well. I finally was able to run out of the room, and I've never spoke of it untill now, because it's happening again. Now I know I'm doomed, I just figured it wouldn't happen untill I was dead.
This is getting worse
This so called sleep paralysis is i guess nice to know that so many people have it and that the demon in my dream is really not going to kill me? I have been having this dream since i was 5, I am now 21 and this is only getting worse for me. Yesterday I tried just letting go in my dream I already knew i was going under so I let myself go and said the most violent things I could to my so called demon, I told him to go away he had no right to keep haunting me and when I did for the first time he talked to me more like laughed at me and said there would be hell to pay and that I would die, laughing at me i became freightend and tried screaming my moms name and fighting against it tried picking my arms from my bed it litteraly paralyzed me more then ever normally i can move my head a little or so I think, when I awoke from my dream my cat was still laying on my chest which makes me think Im not moving what so ever. About a month ago I dreamt not only of this demon but that I myself had come into some kind of higher power I had a vision of myself putting on my glasses as if i were looking in the mirror clapped my hands together and said, "WAKE UP." I jumped from my bed terrified and still half in my sleep ran upstairs and sat down. I thought I taught myself how to wake myself up since then I have had the dream at least 5 differnt times and i dont know what to do, does anyone have any kind of way that this can go away for good?? Please it's gettting worse.
spiritual entitie
Sporadically Throughout my life I was paid visits in the middle of the night by a spiritual entity. These experiences in the middle of the night were quite terrifying. This is what happened. My bed was located so that when I slept my head was positioned next to the exterior wall of my room. As I slept a spiritual entity would reach through the wall grabbing my head with its hands. It would place me in what is known as sleep paralysis. I would feel numb all over and couldn’t move. I would say the Lord’s Prayer over and over again and then at last I would wake up terrified, but the demonic entity would be gone. When I woke up in the morning I wouldn’t remember the attack that happened the night before. It was as if my mind was erased. I will call it a demonic attack. Prior to the gulf war in 1991 I discovered a underworld secret society of Satanism / the NWO. This is when spiritual warfare became sever in my life. After the unmasking of the NWO, this spiritual entity that had came in the middle of the night returned frequently. It happened so frequent that, when I awoke, I wasn’t forgetting the experience. In fact one night when this entity came back the spirit in me manifested the entity to me. I saw the demonic spirit through the eyes of the spirit in me. It was an unholy spiritual entity. It was +- 8’ in height. It stood out side my exterior wall, reaching through the wall with its hands grabbing my head. To this day I’m unsure why it did this, and I’m not sure if I want to no. This was only one of the many experiences that I was having with the spirit realm after discovering the NWO and how it is run by witchcraft! This is what I did. I went to a very old Catholic church in the town were I live. I took a small bottle filling it with Holy water. I proceeded to bless the house on the interior and exterior walls in the shape of a cross. I did this to all the walls around the entire home, including the roof and floor. This spiritual entity returned shortly there after. I guess he wasn’t all seeing! He returned in the middle of the night as usual. This giant of an entity tried to reach through the wall of my room when he discovered a young man who was waiting for him. As his hands touched the wall, which I had blessed with Holy water, he discovered what pain was! There was a spiritual explosion. It was so loud. Blamo!!! It sounded as if the wall was going to shatter into pieces. This entity let out scream that I will never forget! I must have smiled from ear to ear that night! Praise the LORD JESUS CHRIST! To the best of my knowledge this spiritual entity has never returned. Graciously yours baptized by fire / the witness!
If your mind erased the
If your mind erased the experience each time as a child, how do you remember them now?
IDK WHAT TO DO!!!
Hii
im 15 and ever since i could remember ive been getting this Sleep Paralysis thing
ive spoke to my mom about it and she told me that shes had it to. one day i was having a dream that i was being kidnapped and in this dream i had caught the sleep paralysis and i couldnt move. i beacame very scared and i kept trying to move. when my sister came in the room i tried to shout her name but it only came out as a very,very low whisper. then today my sister told me that i woke her up in the middle of the night saying that i was hot and i thought i was sleep through the whole night. So now i guess im sleep walking i really dont know what i should do because this whole sleep paralysis thing scares me.
pls never again!!
my most terrifying experience of sleep paralysis was when I was taking a nap on the couch one afternoon. I was alone in the house. then, after god knows how many minutes, I woke up to the sounds of a baby crying right next to my right ear. I tried to turn to the sound but couldn’t move an inch. then to my horror, I saw ‘someone’ with a tall, lean figure wearing blue, move slowing across the living room. It walked passed me with its back to me all the time, and continued to walk until it reached the corner of the dining room. it was crystal clear. and all the time, I was unable to move or speak, let alone scream or make a run for the door! when I was finally able to move, I was still undecided whether it was a dream or a scary encounter with the unknown! I told my friends about it, who replied, ‘it was just probably your recently deceased grandfather coming back to pay you a last visit.’ that scared the crap outta me!!
Tickling Sensation
It is incredibly comforting to know that I'm not alone!
I began having this sleep paralysis as a child. I would have a nightmare in which I was "being tickled". It was not a pleasant sensation and I could actually feel the "tickling". I would awake and look around my room. I too experienced the sensation that there was something evil there. I guess this is where i differ from other postings. I would literally look around my room at my surroundings. I would try to call out with great effort, but my jaw wouldn't move and I was only capable of making very very quiet sounds, all of which took great effort. The rest of my body was paralyzed as well. I was really awake. I wasn't sleeping. I could see that i left my light on. I remember trying to call out to my mother, to no avail. I definitely awoke from mine.
After years of this, I realized it was triggered by sleeping with my arms over my head. I clearly tried to avoid this in the future. I told myself once (when I was 12) that I would sleep with my arms over my head, knowing that it would trigger the paralysis and nightmare. I also told myself that I was volunteering to subject myself to this because it was the last time I was going to have the dream. Ironically, I never had a "tickling" dream again.
Sadly, I'm an adult now and still experience a variation of this dream. I no longer have paralysis... but I awake with the definite sensation that there is evil in the room. A definite presence. It's as though it can be felt. I was telling a friend about it... I was kinda ashamed to admit that I felt the evil presence... not wanting to seem like a religious freak. But there is no other way to describe it. As many others have stated, to think about it brings chills or even tears to my eyes... it's that uncomfortable.
Regardless, I don't have the dreams very often, and I'm grateful for that. I understand the whole scientific take on it in regards to paralysis... but how do you account for the sensation of EVIL?
this happens to me too
I feel better knowing that I'm not the only one who has this sleep disorder. I've been having this problem since I was 12 years old and I am now 30, and had it more frequently (almost weekly) when I was in my teen years, possibly due to stress or whatever. I've had so many strange and scary experiences with this sleep disorder often times hearing voices or seeing some figure in the distance. One time I heard a group of people talking all at once as if they were chanting something evil and I could not move...and they were standing next to my bed. One of them tried to choke me and then suddenly the other entity stop it and removed its hands from my neck and I was able to breath again. I know this sounds ridiculous... Sometimes it feels like an entity is sitting next to me or floating above my bed or my chest. I find it hard to breath and the more I try to scream or move...the more exhausted I feel and I just give up and let it takes its course and then it goes away. If had this even happend when my parents or other people are in the room with me, I try to scream for help in hopes that they will wake me up. From my experience with this sleep paralysis, I notice that if you simply ignore it when it happens and not fight it, it goes aways. I can't explain it...but it seems like if this "thing" or evil spirit is trying to intimidate you but if you ignore it all together it simply goes away. In my culture we believe that the reason why this happens is because the evil spirits are trying to enter your body but fails too and eventually goes away. I really dont know what to believe, I dont really beleive in ghost and spirits, and it makes me feel better knowing that there is a scientific explanation for this...but how come when this happens there is always a negative or evil entity present?
Anyways, to help you folks out there experiencing this, you can snap yourself out of this before it happens when you hear a ringing noise in your ear and wake up before it happens and then it usually goes away. Second, if it does happen, close your eyes because if you try to open them you'll see more weird and crazy stuff. Third when you sleep try sleeping on your side, if you sleep on you back avoid sleeping with your hands on you chest or over you head (I think the pressure from you arm being on your chest causes this to happen and make it more difficult for you to breath) again I have no idea how this relate but I'm just speaking from my experience and now I get them less frequently.
When this happens to me I dont get scared anymore like I use to when I was younger. I just tell myself oh here we go again. Oh and one more thing that I do when this happens and if it gets really bad, I start to pray over and over and say Gods name, and then it goes aways. How do you explian that? is there really a scientitic explanation or is there really more to it and we still have alot more to learn about this unexplained phenomenon?
sleep problem
Hi,
I have still that problems while I am sleeping, just I fell unconcious and it happening while I am sleeping with the possition in which my face is to up or I lay down on left sid, and it never happened when I am slepping on right side. It really suffuring me, what should I do, the very bad things is that it begining at the first time when I am getting bed, the more bothering is I hearing very bad sounds it comes to my mind like falshing. I don't know what should I do.
Please give me an advice what should I do?
Thanks
Feel strong
FELT SOMEWHAT RELIEVED TO SEE SOO MANY PEOPLE GO THROUGH THE SAME FEELING I HAVE.IT USED TO HAPPEN TO ME ALMOST EVERYDAY CONSTANTLY FOR 3/4 YEARS.IT WAS THE WORST TIME EVER.THIS SLEEP PARALYSIS CAUSED SOO MUCH TROUBLE THAT I HARDLY EVER SLEPT,VERY SURE IT OCCURED BECAUSE OF SOME SORT OF EVIL SPIRIT WHICH SCARED THE HELL OUT OF ME.IT TALKED TO ME, SHOWED IT'S APPEARANCE AND PRESENCE,AND WHAT NOT.IM AM 21 YEARS OLD NOW.IM GETTING BETTER NOW,AS I DID A LOT OF RESEARCH ABOUT IT.FROM MY EXPERIENCE,I CAN TELL THAT THESE EVIL SPIRITS ARE EVERYWHERE AND WANT ATTENTION FROM YOU, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOUR GOING THROUGH SOME DEPRESSION, FEELING ILL,YOU ARE STRESSFUL, ISOLATED..THESE EVILS SPIRITS WANT ATTENTION AND CAN GET IT SOMETIMES BY SHOWING YOU NIGHTMARES,BY SHOWING SOMETHING BAD HAPPENING TO YOU IN NYOUR DREAMS AND ONCE YOU GET AFRAID, IT WILL GET YOU AND YOU WILL FEEL UNABLE TO MOVE. WHAT THEY WANT FROM YOU IS TO MAKE YOU THINK ABOUT THEM. THESE EVILS THINGS CAN SEE YOUR AURA(THE LIGHT AROUND YOU) AND WHEN THAT AURA OF YOURS IS GETTING WEAKER (WHEN YOU'R AFRAID,ILL,EMOTIONALY UPSET/DEPRESSED,ISOLATED) THEN THEY ATTACK YOU.THEY KNOW WHAT YOU'R THINKING AND FEELING.ALSO WHEN YOUR SEE HORROR MOVIES OR THINK MORE ABOUT THESE EVIL THINGS YOU'R OPENNING DOORS FOR THEM TO ENTER,IN A WAY INVITING THEM OVER.THESE THINGS ARE BAD SPIRITS WHO HAD LIVED MISERABLE LIVES OR DIED IN SUCH A WAY,OR BECAUSE THEY DONT WANT TO MOVE AWAY FROM THIS WORLD TO A MORE HIGH SPRITUAL PLANE.THEY ARE NOT DEMONS JUST BAD SPIRITS.THEY ARE HERE TO DISTRACT YOU AND LET YOU KNOW THEY'R HERE..DONT GIVE THEM ATTENTION AND THEY WILL NEVER BOTHER YOU.
I KNOW IT FEELS REALLY HORRIFYING BUT ONCE YOU START TAKING STEPS TO HELP YOURSELF GET OVER IT YOU WILL SUCCEED.I HAVE DONE SO ALREADY.I HAD SO GOTTEN USED TO IT THAT I NO LONGER AM AFRAID OF IT.HAVE FAITH THAT THE EVIL CANNNOT DO ANY HARM TO YOU! GET OVER THAT STRESS.ALSO, IMAGINE THAT A WHITE LIGHT IS AROUND YOU (THAT YOUR AURA IS STRONG) AND WILL PROTECT YOU WHILE YOUR SLEEPING..DO NOT BE AFRAID,FEEL STRONG. WE HUMANS HAVE MORE POWER THAT ANY OTHER TYPE OF LIVING BEINGS ON THIS PLANET,OVERCOME THAT FEAR,THINK THAT YOU ARE NOT AFRAID OF THAT THING ANYMORE,AND BELIEVE ME THIS WILL SCARE IT.DONT LET ANY SORT OF NEGATIVE THOUGHTS COME TO YOUR,ALWAYS TRY TO HAVE POSITIVE THOUGHTS.WHENEVER YOU FELL NEGATIVE,THINK ABOUT THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE.BELIEVE ME,THIS WILL GET LESS FREQUENT AND EVENTUALLY IT'LL END.
YOU ARE POWERFUL!
HOPE THIS HELPS
Yes It's the only way. Some
Yes It's the only way. Some people might not believe us because it sounds so "simple' yet hard to do at the same time. It really does help and I didn't let those spirits win and now I'm happy and done with all that...It's a thing of the past. I totally agree with you. Always positive no matter what. I'm 22 yrs. old and It feels so good know that It's over and now I can live the rest of my life with out these spirits in my life.
beyond Sleep Paralysis..HELP
Hi,
I am having a starnge experience in my dream and now it is almost like a condition. Firstly some of the background checks..
1. I sleep 4-5 hrs every day.
2. I smoke 3-4 cigs every day
3. I drink about 400ml of whisky every week, but evenly distributed over the week.
4. I smoke cannabis but very very very rarely.
Now this strange thing mostly happens when I am into 60-90 mins into my sleep(I guess..case how can one be sure). I start having very strange dreams and then I pop out of it. I can see the room very clealry and then I want to get up for a glass of water or a cig. Before I was not able to get up, something like a sleep/dream paralysis, which I later realise was also a dream(me seeing the room and wanting to get up) and pop out of it in a very anxiety mode all sweating over.. This, I guess is quite normal.
But now, its got worse somehow.. My dream is fooling me. I have lost control over it. I dont know how thats possible but after a strange dream, when I want to pop out of it, I get fooled by my brain that I am not in sleep paralysis and I am wide awake roaming about the room, drinking water..Once I switched on the TV too..Once I remember vaguely I was lighting a cig. Starngest of all, Once in woke up and it was 6am(I saw the time) and I went out to collect the newspaper and saw the date on it.
After sometime I finally pop out of it and I can remember everything very clearly. I got really scared yesterday when I wanted to pee, and in my dream, I got up and went to pee and came back all relaxed and went back to sleep. After soemtime I woke up my urge to pee was up the roof.. Luckily i did not wet the bed..
I thought i might be dream walking but thats not the case as my partner , who was once up all night told me i was fast asleep all the time. this was the case when i lighted a cig.
Is this a serious sleep disorder. its getting stronger every time. Should I consult someone. Cause I think if it continues, I might consult someone in my dream, like call take an appointment and drive to the doctor.
PS: sorry for my english, may not be very correct.
Thanks in advance.
I have episodes of sleep
I have episodes of sleep paralysis 5 years ago, i remember that the SP will come when i have try going to rest (sleep) when i have sleep already before. So what i want to say is that you try to sleep when you actually need to sleep (when You are really tired) . It has worked to me maybe it works for You!
I am 27 and I had sp since i
I am 27 and I had sp since i was about 15 yrs old. I used to here wierd drums playing and here noises (never saw any figures though) to get out of it I pray and try to rock my body, sometimes it works and i come out of it, but when I wake up I feel so frightned that I turn the lamp on my night stantd on. The funny thing is that when the light is on it never happens. So whenever I want to avoid it I simply leave the light on (it's hard to sleep with the light on but once you get used to it, you just fall asleep fast).
have i had one
i am 17, last night i had the most unusual experience for the first time, i woke up into what felt like my dream, my eyes were locked shut and i knew my body was laid straight in bed, i could see my room around me in this 'dream' and i felt aware. i didn't see anything scary like lots of you have mentioned but the experience did scare me and i panicked and began to try and wake myself up. suddenly i felt a really strong force pulling me downwards, so forceful it felt like my cheeks were moving and my arms were sucked to my sides, i then woke up after 5 seconds or so abruptly to see myself dead straight in the centre of my bed. i felt my cheeks and they felt normal but it was such a weird experience. initially i thought it was maybe what poeple call an outer body experience as i saw myself in the dream but after reading this page im wondering if its this? please help?
That sounds like a lucid
That sounds like a lucid dream. just now. I woke up from a dream..I was in a burning house, then I breathed in some flames.my breathing suddenly felt very repressed. Then I realized that I was feeling this. I woke up and saw nothing. As if I was blind. I tried to move but couldent. I was completely conscious and aware an I was panicing. It felt as if my entire had gone numb. I could feel myself trying to move. But nothing happend. This is my first experience like this so naturally I'm terrified. My head I killing me and I'm afraid to go sleep. It's 4:10 am. So I turned on the tv and I'm going to try to go back to sleep. I'm hoping I won't go In to a deep enough sleep plus th tv will give me somthing to "lock on to" on to happends again.
Sleep Paralysis
Iam glad to know that Iam not the only one out there with this. My very first memory of this happening was when I was about 6 or 7 and I awoke to a strange image in the doorway of my brother and mines room. I began to pray and it left. I am 37 now and I still have the on a weekly basis somtimes 2 to 3 time a night. the only difference with me is that sometimes Iam fully aware of my surrounding and can hear other people in other rooms and even down stairs. I can tell them what was on tv or what they were talking about. Iam sometimes able to move parts of my to make myself wake up, like move my hand to bite it or make my leg move off the bed to let my body think Iam about to fall off the bed. But I have always had complete control over my mouth,voice and eyes. If someone is in the bed with me or in a nearby room I start to call their name and they can hear me and they either ask me what I want, cause they see that my eyes are open and they think Iam awake, so I tell them to either shake me or hit me so I can wake up. But when thet is not an option I just start to calm down and relax and most importantly I begen to Pray to GOD and HIS SON JESUS. This always helps. I believe in evil spirits and aliens and sometime think that they are involved with this also. Sometimes it is just your mind and your over stressed body but far to many time its not. Just remember that GOD did not give you the spirit of fear, but of LOVE and a SOUND MIND. Nothing can take your free will away, you have absolute control of your mind, body, and spirit, USE IT. And this is not to say that there is not a scienctific explanation as well, the things we do and eat play a major role in how our bodies react to external and internal influences. Just remember that you have control, USE IT!!!!!
Odd Sleep paralysis progression
Hi,
My name is Dan and I am 21 years old. I started having sleep paralysis when I started taking naps during the day in college (my classes were dispersed throughout the day). These only occur when I have naps and specifically when I lay on my back. They started as everyone described with the paralysis and the hallucinations, but have recently progressed into something a bit more odd. Lately, I will feel myself having odd sensations throughout my entire body like waves of pleasure and numbness (hard to explain), I still feel the evil presence but consequently i have been being paralyzed with my eyes closed. I know exactly where I am and what is going on, but cannot open my eyes. This last one i tried desperately to open my eyes with my hands but couldn't. I may have been thinking i was forcing my eyes open but no vision occurred. I got one blurry eye open but the other stayed asleep as well as the entire side of that body. It has been a progression away from sleep paralysis in the conventional sense, and more towards my mind waking up and body not doing so (completely). I feel like I am trapped asleep trying to yell but unable to. Anyone else experiencing this?
Worst Night Sleep On The Record
Hello all. I am 22 years old and had my first SP episode last night and pray that it will be the last. Its terrible that this has happened to so many of you and to all of those that will experience this in the future. I came here hoping to find a cure or treatment but alas, there is none.
While reading about Sleep Paralysis I found that some have associated it with drinking alcohol or eating a lot of carbohydrates before bed. I personally drank in excess last night and ate 3 plates of spaghetti before going to bed... (I was really freakin hungry). Using wikipedia I found that almost 24.1 % of people will experience a SP episode at least once in there lifetime. In many cultures its commonly associated with demons or evil spirits sitting on your chest trying to suffocating you. It may be related stress and anxiety, which sucks because now I am stressed and anxious about it.
My experience seem different from all the ones I've read on this site though. My eyes remained closed and I had the incredibly loud buzzing in my head, but the most alarming part of the episode was that I felt waves running through my body. Almost as if I was being electrocuted. I was awake in mind but not body. I tried moving my fingers and when it finally worked I was able to wake up shortly after. I rolled over and fell back asleep. It happened again. I woke up. Fell back asleep and it happened AGAIN! Rinse and repeat till morning. It happened about 7 times in total.
I pray this never happens again to me or to any of you. Good luck.
Wow, I feel the same
Wow, I feel the same sensation passing through my body that eventually increases and tightens my entire body, starting first from the center of my forehead then through out the rest of my body... All you can do while this is happening is say a pray you know...
I have had these for about three years
I remember i was about 18 when I had my first one, I remember evil demon-like creatures walking out of the closet and getting right in my face. There must have been like 5 or 6 of them. I remember hearing myself trying to scream myself awake, but couldn't wake up or move. My friend was in the room and I could actually hear his obnoxiously loud snoring, while I was in this state. That was my worst one, but since then i've probably had at least one a month, usually more if i'm extra stressed out or anxious. I don't usually see anything, but just have an intense feeling of fear and hear noises. I usually don't remember the noises I heard though, once I wake up. Right before one happens I actually know it is going to happen, But by then it's too late and I can't move, I just try not to panic and let it pass. They usually last about 4-5 minutes in real time at least that's what I think. If you know of any medications or help for this bizarre phenomenon, please let me know. E-mail: Rodneymullensktr@sbcglobal.net
HOW To ENDTHIS
Dis is my 3rd time,im 20yrs..it scary..anifeel if icls emyeyes,id die....the 1stt ime i felt like my eyes was closing an i was trying hard to open it,,, the2nd timeidreamt sumthing kinda wired but evil,thistime i dot kno what happen buti kno iwas awake...but couldnt move myeyes closing down, an anoying sound like a ,screeching microphone poundinginm ears for 3 secs or more then stopping and coming back...i praed but it seemed likeit lasted for 20minslikeit wasnt gointo end. imm crying right now...i tried callin my brother i could c the room but ifelt likeiwasshouting air.. until ifinaly was released ijumped out of bed wit a force,,,imscared
I'm 13 almost 14 and this
I'm 13 almost 14 and this happens to me often. The first time it happened I thought it was just a bad dream and didn't think anything of it. But lately I've been scared to go to sleep because the other night I thought I was going to stop breathing (this was when I was still asleep...kind of) then a few seconds later I thought someone had their hands around my neck. That was defiantly the scariest thing EVER! Actually I was telling my dad about this incident when my brother told me what it could be. I was SO relieved when he told me not to worry about it to much and just look it up on the internet....and come to think about it I think I saw an episode of 'House' where a little boy had it and thought he was getting abducted by aliens.
sleep paralysis
i know how this feels. i've been having it since i was little. to me, it feels like my soul wakes up before my body has a chance to wake up first. i see everything around but i cant move or speak. then i try to shout Jesus but all that comes out is mumbling. anyways, after a few tries, i say it properly and then i'm free. it used to happen only when i sleep on my back but now it happens even when i sleep on my tummy. i never sleep on my back anymore. even when i'm tired, i wake up in a hurry to change position. its very scary. it mostly happens to me when i'm backsliding in my christain life.
QUESTION.
thank God i found you at long last..same experience with you guys..awake but still asleep..i only see dead hands during my episodes aiming to cover my nose..this happens all the time..but i always struggle to move my toes,,get up and drink water..then pray..but sometimes it's hard to move my body..my question..what if i wont move and just trip out.. will i die? just like the others.sudden unexplained death?
I had one this morning
I only just realised that this scary experience has a name after suffering this morning. I have been suffereing from SP for about 4 years, however I always know when it will happen. My husband works shifts and when he works a day shift he gets up earlier than myself. I like to stay in bed for a bit longer but these days I get up two hours earlier to avoid this SP. I f I stay in bed this is what happens...
I feel as if I am awake but can't wake myself up, then I hear footsteps in the bedroom (often think my husband has returned)then sometimes feel like someone is touching me.
Today was the worst ever same as above but seen woman walk along past the bottom of my bed and a huge spider crawl across the ceiling!!!! at the same time I kept trying to wake myself up but took me what felt like ages!!!
Huge spider crawl across
Huge spider crawl across ceiling?! i saw that one too! it was brown. Ok off topic, but when i was young i went out with my uncle. We need to go downstairs and we saw this HUGE i mean SUPPA SIZE green caterpillar on the stairs! WE BOTH saw it! he stepped on it and boom it burst. The 2nd one when i was in high school. i went upstairs to go to my class, then a saw this huge brown spider crawling on the wall. It was huge like as if it just came out form a scary monster movie. I knew there were students before me who just went upstairs. I was like, are they blind or something? Since i'd seen the giant caterpillar when i was young, i tried to stay calm and walked pass by that giant spider. when i went upstairs to look down, it was still there. By the way, i was awake when these things happened.
Ok for SP, i did get it when i was young, like 15 to 16 yrs old. Never did see anything evil or dark figures. I always got it in the morning. it started with a loud buzzing noise. sometimes i heard people talking so loud as if they were shouting. i could see my bedroom but couldnt seem to move. The atmosphere was very tense though nothing was there. I knew at that time i need to quickly WAKE UP! for some reason, i cant and suddenly my brain started to slow down and i doze off. But it didnt stop there, it starts again and i doze off again. like a cycle. When i woke up my brain felt like as if too much info got forced inside it.
sorry for my poor english..>_<