Sleep Paralysis: Awake But Still Asleep
Submitted by SerendipUpdate on Mon, 01/07/2008 - 5:21pm.
Biology 202
2000 First Web Report
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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 Paralysis4)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
sleep paralysis
I have experienced sleep paralysis for most of my life, and would have to agree that when i am most anxious i am affected more by it. It is so terrifying,and my last attack this week the most terrifying yet. I believed that there was something small and evil in the room and felt it bite my arm. I Lay paralysed screaming but to no avail. Totally soundless efforts until finally i managed to get my husbands name out who was lying directly beside me. I have checked my arm thoroughly since which is free of any bite marks, but the reality of the experience is chilling me to the bone. I wish i could be strong and make light of it, but unfortunately this is not so. I am terrified of having another attack, and it prevents me from relaxing as i should for a good nights sleep when i go to bed. Im so glad that its not only me that experiences these attacks of sleep paralysis. Mo 24th Jan 2008
My name is Sabrina, I am 30
My name is Sabrina, I am 30 years old. I started having these awake nightmares when I was seven. I remember every detail, you know how scary they are, imagine being 7 and having one. I kept it to myself for years, dealing with the most terrifying hallucinations. I told my older sister about it, and found she too had what we call awake nightmares. We found a way to control them.
I took note of everything I was doing the day and night that I would have them. I'm sure everyones triggers are diffrent, mine seemed to occur when I was under extreme stress, and I noticed if I slept on my back I always seemed to have them. Sometimes still on my side not often though. I paid attention to what went one when they would start. Mine start with a soft music I can barely hear, it's calming and sways my to sleep, or better it traps me in that state of un-awakeness, because it starts to get into a nasty chanting, that scares the life out of me. I open my eyes to find I can't move, and there is always a scary visitor ready to get me. It took a few times to notice how they started but when I did I was able to control it. When I start to hear the music (it's hard to do but you can) I turn my body, I either touch my partner (it helps me feel safe, reminds me I'm ok) or flic on the TV. I have gotten better at it over the years and I start to have them, but now I know the soft music I hear is the start and I can pry myself awake. I also noticed that if I rearange my sleeping quarters sometimes I will start to have them, and I'm sure u understand, I will move everything again until I don't have them. It all sound crazy but so do awake nightmares so I'm sure you know. Good luck I hope I helped. I know how bad they are.
Sabrina E.
I am only 15 years old, and
I am only 15 years old, and i knoe im only a kid but i still think its evil spirits. i have been getting cuts on my arm lately for a year now. But thats not the scary part. The scary part is that im the ONLY one in my family that experience this, so called sleep paralyisis. Every time i tell my family they would always say "get used to it" or "its just your imagination". So im asking, since your comment is ghost related, how do you cope with these sleep paralyis?
i know this all to well
i am 33 now but this started for me when i was 12 so i know what your going through. i feel that they are evil spirits that science has to try to find an answer for. when i was younger i was a into mother earth , oils,and well the wiccan way of life (witchcraft done for good).when i was into that i would have demons by my bed every night, they wanted my soul i sware and people thought i was crazy . but i waould have marks on my body....and it was so scary noy being able to move out of this...as i got older i realized that bad spiris come to you if your depressed, or into some alternitive lifestyles....check to see if there is somthing you need to change,since i try to keep my life free of neg. it only happens 2 times a year. you will always be claravoint, but you should just learn to control it..good luck
Hey, I'm 36 years old and
Hey, I'm 36 years old and have been getting them all my life....I to did believe-maybe still do a bit-that there are spirits involved in these crazy nightmares. the best way that i found out to deal with them is to not be afraid...i was told to pretty much confront the evil entity-if you can call it that-by cursing at it...in Catholic religion the use of bad words to evil spirits makes them leave, and sometimes forever...So when I have one of these paralyzing dreams and start to feel someone is there and cant move to see them, I begin to curse at them and tell them to leave...the dream seems to finish faster and then I wake up fine, with no fear...Hope this helped!
SP sleep paralysis
heres something to think about. i have been going through
SP for some time now. and most of the time, when i went through it. i was a single male, living alone, but now. im married. and im sure everyone knows the things we hear or sense during these episodes, but heres the shocker, my wife is the one that hears things moving in our room. and senses a person moving about the room. while im experiencing my episode of trying to wake up. so scientifically. how do we explain someone else hearing and sensing what i should be hearing and so on. any thoughts, questions.
hi
I had my first experience when I was doing sit-ups. Suddenly I could not move. I don't know how, but I felt like I was bending back-wards. reaching for the door, too get out of my room for help. then things got normal. I finally was able to move. confuse I was. thinking what the hell.
More than a year later. The second time, 5:00 a.m. I was dreaming of a black human shaped thing( it was not human).Then I woke-up getting choked. I made a smile because I know Ju-jitsu and im very good at it. I heard a laugh. but it was weird. I can't feel myself move. but I saw myself move a little. I was able too see a face popping out of the wall. I prayed berlly. Feeling only wind of my voice coming out my mouth. Then things were back to normal. I was free.
A month later, I had it again after a dream of dead people(somehow). I can't move at all. BUT, i see myself sicking down to the ground. So, I prayed and fromthere i was free.
I happened a couple of times after. All i do is pray then it gone.
When I was back home. I had another nightmare of my mom. getting crumppled. then i woke up. looking for my mom. but i felt like something is grabbing me. but i still manige to move. I felt like i was flotting, then i went through walls, all the way to my moms room. she wasn't there. then I felt like i was getting pulled. all the way to my body. Now Im awake.
I ran to my moms room. and she really wasn't in her room. so i went to My younger brothers room. and she was there sleeping with my younger bro. I am very glad, both of them are safe. Then I went down stairs screaming very loudly, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU!! SHOW YOUR SELF!!" Im a hand to hand fighter so I want to fight. eventhough its impossible.
One of the last time. I saw someone dead at Iraq. a woman. the next morning. I woke up. someone was on my shoulder wespering at my ears. In arabic like she was crying too. I looked around and saw my friend. too bad i cant call him. I cannot move anything again. when i finally did. She was gone. And i saw my friend still doing what ever he is doing. That time it seemed like a spirit needs help. I cried. thought i was curse or something. but i really cared for the woman more. so i prayed for her. and prayed for answers.
sleep paralysis
I recently had an experiance of sleep paralysis, I dont think its the first time and believe I suffered from it a lot when I was younger (i'm now 20) but have only just realised I suffered from it.
This morning I awoke, had a few glasses of water then headed back to bed. I felt as if i was nodding off, my limbs became heavy and I was unable to move, my chest was tight and convulsing. My shoulder was twitching uncontrollably and I was unable to talk. I could hear voices outside my window discussing drowning somebody, and drying them selfs off. After a minute of struggling to awake I came to, believing I had a bad dream.
A few minutes later I began nodding off again. Same symptoms took over, I believed my mobile phone was ringing and I struggled to answer it (although I was aware that my arms were both parallel to my body, it felt as if I had my phone to my ear). A friend who unfortunatly passed away 2 years ago was on the other end, explaining to me who he was, and that his older brother needed me home for something, I struggled to say "hello," repeatedly but all I heard afterwards was crackling/static.
This is one of the most terrifying experiance I believe a person can have, I instantly typed the symptoms I had into a search engine and found this site, i'm happy to discover I'm not the only one! Although still knackered i'm going to stay up now and hope I get a good nights sleep tonight. Since awaking my chest still feels tight and i'm sneezing uncontrollably!
I have had it for quite a
I have had it for quite a while,i'll be 18 in a week. And this thing has been happening all the time now, and its only getting worse. the other night when it happened my heart was racing, and i could see a womanly figure strange because it's nomaly a young man. and it felt as though she was on top of me with her hand pressing hard against my heart. I have got to were i go to sleep at 2 with my light on, and night light and my door open, and i wake up for school at 5.
I can't keep doing this, i would like peace, when does it go away?
Sleep problems
I understand what you are going through. I prayed hard for the Lord to heal me from this and also give me peace. During one of those experiences I heard an inner voice inside of me cry out "Hossanna in the Heighest" and immediately I was set free. Hossanna in the highest is praising God and it also means save us now. Call out to Jesus or speak out inwardly if you can't say it out loud Hossanna in the Heighest. You too will also be set free. Also, if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. It would be a good time to open up your heart and invite Him to come in. All you have to do is tell Him that you are sorry for all your sins, invite Him to come and live inside your heart and be your Lord and Savior all the days of your life. You won't be sorry. He will fight all your battles, for He already did at the cross on calvary. God Bless You.
yep this made me believe in
yep this made me believe in God even more i now seek him for EVERYTHING and he makes me feel safe. i get really bad anxiety, and one day i was at my friends house and there were some other people there and i got it and started panicking i felt like i was going to faint and almost threw up i just kept swallowing it. i started talking to him and i felt better. i've had this i think about 3 times my dad said he has experienced the same thing when he was young (he said his house was haunted) and i think my mom had the same thing but she said no because her eyes were open and she would have demonic dreams , she said her house was haunted too. now i have it and hopefully this will work. how do you pronounce it? oh and when they moved out, it stopped. maybe it has something to do with where you are. (dad said hes had it once where we live now) ew i hope theyre not spirits and clinging on to me because i had it at my friends house too. and it grabbed me. but i just let it because it's all in my head isnt it? reply back please i want help. thank you
I'm 25 and this has been
I'm 25 and this has been happening to me since I was about 5. Sometimes it won't happen for a month or so and other times it is every time I try to go to sleep. If I have had a nap during the day and am not completely tired, it always happens. I have had the full out hallucinations to just getting the feeling of something very evil in the room. I have heard voices, been choked and sometimes even felt like I had come out of my body and was watching it all from a few feet in the air. At first I was able to "wake myself up" by moving a finger then a hand and by then I would be awake. Now it is much harder and I can sometimes almost vibrate my head until I wake up but can no longer move anything else. Normally I'm in bed trying to go to sleep, go to move and realise I can't, then panic sets in and horrible nightmares start, if I can't wake myself up very soon then the nightmares turn into horific hallucinations. Like the person who commented above, most nights I don't go to sleep until after midnight and leave the tv on. If anyone knows some way to prevent or stop this please let me know.
I THANK GOD I'AM NOT ALONE!!!
I WAS 6 YEARS OLD WHEN MY SLEEP PARALYSIS STARTED I'AM NOW 36 YEARS OLD AND JUST DISCOVERED WHAT MY PROBLEM WAS. I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT ALL MY EXPERINCES BEING PARALYSED IN MY SLEEP. I CAN SAY FOR YEARS I SEEKED TO FIND ANSWERS,AT ONE TIME I THOUGHT I WAS EXPERIENCING A TYPE OF SIEZURE DISOREDER IN MY SLEEP,I JUST DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS UNTIL NOW I REALY WAS TO EMARRASSED TO TALK TO ANYONE ABOUT MY PROBLEM BECOUS I THOUGHT OR THINK THAT PEOPLE MY THINK I WAS CRAZY THANK GOD I FIND THE ANSWER TO WHAT I HAVE BEEN SEARCHING FOR YEARS WITHOUT ASKING A DOCTER. WHEN I READ ABOUT THE SLEEP PARALYSIS EVERYTHING IT TALKS ABOUT FITS MY DESCRIPTION I BURST IN TEARS BECOUS IT IS A HAPPY DISCOVERY!!! FROM MY EXPERIENCE,HOW TO DEAL WITH THIS PROBLEM SOMTIMES BEFOR IGO TO SLEEP SAY A PRAYER LIGHT A WHITE CANDLE AND TELL THE SPIRIT TO LET MESLEEP SMTIMES IN THE SPIRIT WORLD SPIRITS WANT TO PLAY AND THEY DON'T REALIZE YOU IS TRYING SLEEP THE POINT IS YOU WOULD HAVE TO SAY IT FIRM NOT IN A ANGRY VOICE TO THE SPIRITS,SAY LET ME SLEEP PLEAS STAY ON THE OTHERSIDE IT MY NOT WORK FOR EVERYBODY I CAN SAY IT WORKS FOR ME!!! I THINK THE SLEEP PARALYSIS HAVE ALOT TO DO WITH A PERSON BEING ANXIOUS OR HAVE ALOT TO DO WITH WHAT A PERSON IS THINKING ABOUT BEFORE SLEEP. LIGHTING A CANDLE BEFORE SLEEPING RELAXES AND CALM THE MIND DRINKING SOOTHING WARM HERBAL CHMOLE TEA. SOMTIMES WHEN YOU GO TO SLEEP YOU CAN NOT ALWAYS DO THIS BUT IF YOU REALY WANT A GOOD NIGHT SLEEP GIVE MY ADVICE A TRY!!! SOMTIMES CALM RELAXING MUSIC HELPS!!!THANKS
Suffocation
I'm really glad I found this. Up until now I thought something strange was happening and some kind of crazy demon was trying to scare or kill me. I've only had the voices and suffocation twice but will always remember them.
The first time it occured I was about 17 years old, in excellent condition and not a worry in the world until the night my first sleep paralysis happened. It was really early morning, about 4am and my dad needed a ride to the airport which I agreed upon prior to wakeing up. Well I got back to the house at about 5am and nodded off to sleep. Well I remember wakeing up and hearing multiple voices in the back yard. It was in a language I've never heard but there were definetly more than 2. I tried to turn my head to look out the window but only my eyes would move and nothing else. The effort and strength I tried to use was absolutely useless and I now lay there looking as far as my eyes could go. The voices came to a halt but I still could not move at all. All of a sudden I heard a violent pounding at the front door, it lasted about 30 seconds. During this time period I was trying to scream my little brothers name. I managed a whisper but very faint at best. The front door went silent for about 10 seconds or so. All of a sudden the violent pounding continued but it now instead continued at my bedroom door. By this time I was absolutely horrified and trying to yell for help and move my body in some way. My bedroom door went quiet and again I yelled my brothers name but it came out as whisper. After that whisper I could no longer breath in. I really felt like I was suffocating and was on the virge of dying. My whole body felt that tingly needle feel all over, like when your leg falls asleep and gets that prickley feeling. It felt like I was close to death and I was begging God to save my life and help me with whatever is going on. Well I gasped for air and lived through it. I kept it to myself since knowone would believe me anyway.
I hate typing so I'm cutting it short. I had another very similar episode and told my mom. In a nice way she thought I was crazy and wanted me to get help for the voices I kept hearing. I didn't even get to the crazy part. So I just shut up about it and kept it to myself.
my two experiences
First, I am a 32 yr old female with no medical problems to my knowledge. My first experience was about 2 months ago. Midday...Me, my son (14yrs old) and boyfriend were in the living room watching TV and I fell asleep on the couch for about 1.5 hours and it happened. I was laying on my back and I thought I was just waking up, I could not open my eyes, could not move at all. I became terrified thinking I was dying. I started crying and trying to scream. This lasted about 2 minutes. I then could move and speak. I asked my son and boyfriend..."Did you hear anything?" They both laughed and said... I guess you were having a bad dream and were whimpering. I explained what I felt and they thought I was crazy. Well, I just had my second experience sunday morning (4 days ago). It was 7am and I thought I was waking up...again laying on my back. My boyfriend sleeping right next to me. I could not move a muscle, i beleive i was able to crack my eyes open (but not positive)I could barely breathe. I panicked. This was all too familiar. I tried to scream my boyfriends name.. I had a very strong sense that something dark was laying next to me (i believe I was hallucinating) I was trying to turn away but couldnt. I was scared and felt like my life was ending. Then.. i was able to move and talk. I was breathing fast and short breaths and was sweating alot. I am terrified to have this happen again. As a note... as a child i often had nightmares, sleepwalked and talked in my sleep (my twin sister was my witness to that).
Sleep Paralysis
I to get Sleep Paralysis. In mine I will be lying in my bed asleep, I can see everything around me like my bedroom curtains and my lampshade etc however, whenever I try to wake up I cannot open my eyes, this makes me panic, especially as I can see all the objects in my bedroom but still cannot open my eyes, I apparentely make loud murmurring noises (so my partner tells me)this carries on for whaalt feels like hours to me, eventually I wake myself up, part of me is in a state of fear and I am breathing heavy, the other part of me is in total relief. All my expereinces have been the same, that was untill yesterday when I expereinced something far far worse, and to be honest I hope I never experience again. In this dream I was asleep in my bedroom, and instead of trying to wake myself up by trying to open my eyes I felt my breathing getting more shallow and my eyes felt like they were falling deeper and deeper asleep, so much so, that something inside my head was telling me that I was soon going to take my last breath and was absoulutely convinced that i was going to die, I even visualised myself dead and in a coffin. Just then my breathing seemed to get back to normal and I woke myself up (thank god) I am now so scared that I dread going to sleep again
of all the things ive read
of all the things ive read yours seem to be the closest symtems to mine ive been having this for about 30 years , i dont no if this will help you but i have now learnt to just relax and i actually think things like here it comes again oh well no harm and i just seem to nod of to sleep , when i have tried to strugle in the past it just makes me feel bad when i wake , i think most people that get it only make it worse and because they dont no whats happening they think its evil
same stuff.
i wanna know if this could kill people. ive had this since i was young and i experience not being able to breathe for some time during the epdisodes. could i possibly die? or is the not being able to breathe thing also part of the hallucinations too?
About this...
I'm taking Psychology in high school right now, and we all got to choose a certain disorder or problem others have. Of course, I chose this (sleep paralysis), even though it wasn't on the sheet, because I've had personal experiences a few times with SP.
The first time it happened, I was majorly scared, because I've never heard of the term "sleep paralysis" before. And, like I've read about other people that have had it, I too have thought it was demonic-related. But the more time that passed by, I read more and more about the problem and saw that it's not that at all. (I was quite relieved~)
Anyways, I'm glad that there are a few good websites with lots of information available. I just wanted to thank whoever published this site, because I want to learn as much as I can about SP. And if I ever take college, it will be for some field in Psychology.
XieXie (17), Tuesday March 4.
I have had this a few times!
This al started about ayear ago! Its started as i was falling a sleep and sometimes i can hear people talking softely in the backround! So i think that it's the people talking next to my room! I don't see anything un-normal in my dreams and in my room! Like two nights ago it was so bad that i had to get out my room and sleep in the braai area! I was sleeping and the next minite there was something or someone pushing me down with a lot of force,I woke up but my body was frozing and i could not open my eyes or scream for help! I could feel my eyes moving and my heart was beating very fast! Some how i moved my hand to grip the edge of my bed to pull me out of what ever that was! I notice it only happens if i am sleeping on my stomach or no one is in the room with me! So i don't know what it is or if there is evil spirits! So if any one can help me please do! Thanks
sleep paralys
im only 10 & ive had it bout 27times i feel like im dead & see shadows walking around on my dresser it was scary
Hi guys, I have also
Hi guys,
I have also experienced this sleep paralysis for more than a decade. The episodes come and go, and they frighten me to death. I used to sleep with the TV on, and thought that there was a link between that and my sleep paralysis, because every time I dozed off with the TV on I would have the episodes. Sometimes the episodes feel like I can't breathe and I am going to die. Mostly it feels like my head is under a blanket and I need to move it but I can't and if I don't wake up soon I'm not going to make it.
Last night was the worst episode I've ever had. I had no television on and was up really late (about 3 in the morning) and I slowly drifted off to sleep...I can't explain it...everytime these episodes happen I feel myself sort of being forced (?) into a deep sleep and I try to open my eyes and regain consciousness but some invisible force is pulling me to a deep sleep...I don't know.
Anyways, back to last night, I was drifting off to sleep when I felt something grab me...I was not choking this time...but I felt like something was pinching my arms together, and the room was getting colder and colder and I could feel these tingles go up and down both arms. I could hear my heart beat crazy in my ears. I felt all around me evil spirits and the intensity of the sense of evil I experienced was so incredibly overwhelming..words can't describe it. I remember that if you cast demons out in Jesus' name then they would go away. I did this three times, and honestly, I felt like it was useless.
Another strange thing is that I prayed to God last night (after not doing so in a LONG time) and this happened.
reply to tina about sleep paralysis
i just wanted to say that i understand everything u are going through. i just had a sp episode about an hour ago. and it was the worst i have had yet. it scares me to death, when it happens. its like i have to force myself to wake up. and i try to tell my mom or husband or doctor and they just look at me like im retarded. i even printed out a page on sp and took it too my dr and he sent me through a sleep study. it came back saying normal. of course i didnt have a sleep paralysis episode during that study, so now my doctor thinks im full of crap. i just want it to stop. i have been lucky and i havent seen any "ghosts" or anything like that with it.....
crystal--
my experances !!! hope it helps
first of all thats my grandmas address i dont have my own yet but id like to hear from some more people with this problem. Well mine have been going on since i was a little kid (about 4 or 5 )im 25 now the ones i remember as a kid would be me falling asleep on the couch facing the couch and i would wake up and i wouldnt be able to move so i would try to yell for help but would end up just staring at the couch until i could move.after having it happen a bunch of times i figured out that if i focus on my hand and trying to move it usually i could move my body again. i remember one time when i was about 12 or 14 i woke up couldnt move but i could see my aunt going in and out of the room i was trying to get her to help me but i couldnt speak. she even said she was in and out of the room and she was trying to be quiet to not wake me up.lately i will have conversations with people but later those people would say it never happened. the most recent one was today i had two of them the first happened this morning and i felt like i couldnt breathe the 2nd one i was laying on my stomach and i thought someone was on top of me sort of suffacating me and i knew my eyes were open because i could see everything i thought i was going to die because it was lasting so long. its sooo scary im usually on my stomach when it happens ive never thought it was ghosts though. its so hard to go through no one ever believes me im so glad this site is here i could go on about other experances but ive probally said enough
I have been having what
I have been having what scientists call "Sleep Paralysis" for many years now and it wasn't until I heard someone else describe the same thing I felt that I decided to research it. I couldn't put a finger on what was going on with me. At times I though I was still dreaming and other times I thought I was experiencing some type of spiritual warfare activity. I started to believe that it was more spiritual than mental when I realized that the moment I stopped fighting it and prayed I would wake up. [But] when I read this article I began to think differently and realized this makes so much sense...until there was one thing off. You see in the artilce above it starts that NREM occurs for the first 80 mins of sleep than REM occurs for 10 mins and repeats this cycle a few times. It also states that Sleep Paralysis normally occurs during REM which is 80 minutes after NREM. These attacks that I get usually occur soon after sometimes as soon as 5 to 10 minutes after I fall asleep...which would be during the NREM period. I honestly believe that this a spirtual warfare and not just some mental thing. The only way to defeat it is by standing in authority...standing in Gods name.
"Sleep" Invasion while fully awake
I have been invaded many times in the past but was half asleep and so I didn’t really care much about it until April of 1991. This happened when I was alone in my apartment. I was about 4 months pregnant and my husband was out of town. I came home from work, finished my chores at about 8 pm, I went into my bedroom, turned on the radio right above my pillow. I laid down on my right side and just as I started thinking about ghost, I felt a presence walking down the hall way towards my bedroom, the hall way was behind my back and I left the door open and I had all the lights on. That very instant I thought to myself, oh my God, I’m going to die, should I look or not and then I felt the presence using its knees getting on the bed, I could feel the bed go down as it’s knees climbed and put pressure on it. I moved my eyes to the left and saw a shadow come over me and I felt like someone just injected me with anesthesia. I fell into a deep sleep and couldn’t move or shout and I started dreaming that I was trying to escape from the apartment complex, but wasn’t able to because there were gates, fences all over and couldn’t open them. Three hours later, I finally managed to come out of it and I phoned my parents, & told them what had happened. My mother (a deep traditional Asian) said that I was attacked by a ghost and for me to put a knife next to me and I did that. Just about 10 minutes later, it came back, but it went around the bed instead and not where I had put the knife. I then was knocked out for another 3 hours and woke up terrified. After our lease was over, we moved into a house and it happened only when I was alone and sometimes it imitated my husband, & my kids. Sometimes I felt like my kids would pull the blanket off of me and jump on the bed and on top of me. I could see my self gasping for air. I was so afraid to sleep alone even if I was so tired. After seeing movie the Bruce Lee’s Story, and I said to myself I have to fight this demon and conquer my fear otherwise it’s going to ruin my life and every time before I went to bed I said, “come on, you want to play? I’ll kill you and slice you into little pieces and I’m not afraid of you” I repeated this line for a very long time and now I finally have peace in my sleep. Another method of overcoming this was told to me by my late father-in-law, he told me to try and focus on moving your big toe. This helps you wake up and avoid the strange sleep invader(s).
Like everyone else I have
Like everyone else I have been having this strange sleep thing happen to me. It has been occuring alot more often lately. It is one of the most terrifying experiences. It scares me so much that now I am afraid to fall asleep, which used to be one of my favorite things. It really just makes me wonder...why does it always have to be something creepy that you see. It is never anything good. Sometimes I get so scared I feel like my heart is going to jump right out of my chest. I can actually feel my heart through out my entire body and its loud and I alawys hear some one to the left of me breathing loudly. I hate this, its too creepy. I do believe in God, or atleast that there is a higher being, but I have never really thought that anything supernatural or evil exists. Its weird though, because during the day, I think about it, and I think there really just has to be some scientific explanation, but when its happening...You really feel like there is someone with you, watching you, just waiting for you to fall back asleep so they can torture you some more.
Scary, but controllable.
I've been experiencing SP for over 10 years now. Sometimes they happen multiple times a night, one episode right after another, and other times I don't have an episode for almost a year. I've learned there's no point in being afraid of it. The anxiety caused by the fear of SP actually makes them worse. This is how I have dealt with it:
I always tell myself to remain calm. I recognize that I am experiencing SP, and that it will pass with no harm done to me.
To get my attention off the auditory and visual hallucinations, I concentrate on moving a part of my body. Usually a finger or toe. This will actually wake me up, once I achieve a movement in my toe or finger. At first it takes a long time and you easily get distracted by the hallucinations, but after practice you can get it down to only 10 seconds or so before you are able to make yourself wake up.
Also, I have practiced lucid dreaming and have successfully used SP as a jumping platform for intense, healing, and empowering lucid dreams.
Sleep Paralysis: Awake But Still Asleep
This has happened to me 3 times.
I was in my 20's, health, single, women.
Each episode was the exactly the same..
Wake up, I cant move
It feel's like something is laying over me, holding me down.
I try to move, But I cant
I try to scream, But I cant ..
I don't hear anything its dead silent.
But I can see the red digital clock on the dresser it read 3:00 AM
The paralysis last 2 min cause when I was able to move again
the clock read 3:02 AM.
So its was just sleep paralysis, Yippie its not the devil!! lol
It scared me.
Its been over twenty years but I recall it last if it was yesterday.
I did think something Wicked had found me.
Can you explain why each time it happened it's
Exactly 3:00 AM?
i have been wondering for a
i have been wondering for a long time about this strange phenomenon until i typed it in the search engine and saw this website come up. i am also shocked and relieved to know that there are other people out there who have had the same experiences as i have.
Occasionally if i am very tired and i start to drift off to sleep i begin to feel my head getting extremely dizzy, my body gets light and i feel the presence of someone or something in my room. i begin to get a stifling feeling like i am unable to breathe, i am also unable to scream or move my body. I remember one night while lying on my back i saw something like a black shadow, felt it lie on me and try to strangle me. I started to pray sayin the 23rd psalm and in my fright realisin i forgot the words to the prayer i started to call on the name 'JESUS'. I felt it eventually move away from me after a minute or two and i was able to get up. I sometimes wonder if this is not some sort of spiritual disturbance because each time it happens i relax myself and either say the 23rd psalm or call on the name 'JESUS' for relief. Has anyone ever died because of this?
...
Hi,
when I first saw this nightmare,I couldnt feel better for a long time.I tried to be not alone at home.I found that when I pray to God or say his name(Allah),I could open my eyes and move my body.hope I wont see again,but it never ends..
Confused and afraid to sleep
Hi, I've been having sleep paralysis since I was 9 years old...Now I'm 20...Well, it starts to decrease in the frequency of having it..*thank God...Most of the experiences were me hearing demonic woman laughter that gradually increasing into male voice, sounds(of gust wind, breezes, buzzing sounds and sea waves), a woman humming into tunes that are melodic but hell scary and sometimes singings in my native languages, seing scary things, but...the worst part was when I got short of breath and I could feel as if something was throttling me till my tongue comes out and it was weird that my upper body was "lifted" as if I did it myself...Last year, I felt as if part of me was been pulled through my toes twice, I felt uplifted and it shocked me to see my self sleeping behind me while it happened and all of the sudden I had been pulled into my physical body,..All of those mentioned happened during my sleep paralysis and I'm truly concious each time...Yeah, they might sound preposterous and I don't relate this to evil/demonic disturbances..The only temporary cure that I'm able to do is to let my mind/heart "say"(I was immobilized) "Bismillahirahmanirahim"...Basically I would wake up screaming...
Strange
I get this about 3-4 times a month & it is very strange. I see a lot of strange things, some scary some terrifying & i can't move or talk no matter what i do... for a few minutes. I tried to relax when it happened today but i couldn't after a while because i saw a strange face in my bed. That got me trying to scream & wake up.
I'm glad it happens to many people so i guess it's nothing to worry about. :)
Many many times!
I am 26, and have been experiencing SP on a regular basis. Infact so regular that at one point it was like a hobby of mine. It started when I was young, but then it was allright. It wasn't very frequent but come to think of it,as a child scared the living daylights out of me. Then a couple of years ago, it began again. It became so regular and I had multiple episodes in a single night. Unlike what others say, I never felt any evil presence or spirits around me. Just this once, a couple of days ago, while I was having another one of my famous episodes, I saw my late father sit next to me and hold my hand. I think he was re-assuring me and telling me not to be scared or something like that. Apart from that one time, it has always been smooth with my hallucinations or what I see vis a vis. Though difficult I always try and struggle to break free of the paralysis. If successful, then I feel so sedated that I fall right back to sleep thus spiraling a multiple episodic fuel. I guess it is better if you don't struggle and let it pass by. It had become so regular about 6 months ago, that I was kind of addicted to it. There was a point before going to sleep each night, I was kind of looking forward to it. What I found fun then was when you give up struggling and let yourself fall/fly into the depths while experiencing an episode. That was an adrenalin rush and gave me a high. But I was also scared that if I keep falling then I might end up too deep in it's clutches and never come back. Weird, I know but it actually happened with me. These days though, I hate it and wish I could just let it slip by. I was taking a nap in the afternoon when it happened again, I dreamt that I was trying to call my mother(who was in the next room). I saw that I was successful(my spirit) in getting up/getting out of my body and fetching her and what struck me(even while asleep) and scared me to death was that I would find my body on the bed when I returned to my room. My experiences have been wild, sometimes I find it hard to breathe and I just came across something called the Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS). Something I have yet to research on but will get to it right after this. Hope this helped.
Sleep Paralysis
I had the most terrible nightmares as a child, My parents said that I would walk and talk in my sleep, I remember many times waking up petrified with my heart feeling like it was going to beat it`s way out of my chest. This seemed to stop when i was about 12 with just occasional nightmares after that time. My first sleep paralysis happened just after the birth of my second child 17 years ago, He was a few weeks old when I awoke with a screaming sound in my ear with something pressing down heavy on my chest, I couldn`t move or speak I was terrified, I felt I was being attacked by something evil. I started to prey and it went away and I could move again. A year later I had my third child and had the same experience again. I have also suffered migraines on and off since then.
Very scary at the time and i am glad that it is not just me who has experienced this.
i had something similar to
i had something similar to this and has kept me from sleeping well for about 4-5 months. I've been reluctant to see a doctor or anyone about this due to fears of being put on some kind of perscription. If that makes any sense...? I've always had a problem falling asleep but lately its gotten worse and worse.
Anyway, my experience was pretty much the same but i was lying on my stomach, I think i had just fallen asleep when in my 'dream' i heard someone whispering the beginning of my name which is Mike/Michael. It started off VERY slowly and very quiet but I guess I ignored it at the time...? But almost immediately as it was STILL on the "mmmmmmmmmmm" it was as if whatever it was got instantly angry at me not acknowledging that it was there and went to an absolute scream. "mmmmmmmm(didn't effect me) to a.. mmMMMMMIKE!!!!!!!!!" where i INSTANTLY woke up. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I also had the feeling as though someone was in the room but visually there was no one.
I've been looking into this lately after one of my customers "heard" of this happening to other people... Any kind of feed back would be greatly appreciated
Scary
I am 19 years old and today i had an incident of sleep paralysis and it was the scariest thing i have ever encountered. I was laying asleep with a pillow over my head and as i was about to wake up it felt like my face was numb, and i heard a ringing in my ear. I also couldn't move and my hands shriveled up like i was having some kind of stroke. But i could see what was going on, and i could kind of see out from under the pillow. It felt like some evil presence was doing this to me and it was awful. But i started to research and i realized that i am under alot of stress and don't sleep. This also occurred during a nap, in which i saw that sleep paralysis happens alot. So i think with good rest and proper mind control that i can overcome this incident and make sure it doesn't happen again.
hallusinations
Hi guys! I am trying to figure out what sleep disorder I have..im not sure if it is SP but maybe someone can tell me exactly what they think it is. For as long as I can remember I, on occasion, wake up to seeing these webs scattering out across my bedroom ceiling. I freeze for a second and then run out of my room very freaked out..wait a few minutes..run back in and turn the light on only to realize that I was only hallusinating. That is the most common hallusination that iv awoken to but there have been other times when I woke up thinking that I saw a mouse or a ghost. It's very creepy and I have no idea where this is all coming from, what causes it, and what exactly I have. If anyone has an idea please reply! Thanks so much!
hi everybody... actualy i've
hi everybody... actualy i've been experiencing this what so cold as sleep paralysis quite a lots. It almost all the time can happen to me if i play computer game from about 7pm until 2am. It will occur if i feel my head is heavy and try to sleep. Later on as this frequently happened to me, i found out i could control this state. Of course it was a very scary experience at the first time but later i learned that this experience is exciting. There was one time like someone pulling out my leg and make me feel floating which all of my body parts totally off ground, suddenly my friend rushed up to my room as he hear strange noises from my room. He said he was shock that i was floating from the bed about a meter.. i woke up and i fell down. I belived that this phenomenon is related to pineal gland and worth for further study for better understanding.
I have too...
I have too been able to take control of this state oddly, I have never been able to work my whole body to move as far as floating but I can feel lightness within my upper body, (usually the 2nd or 3rd time I have had it back to back)I could feel a lift in my head, arms torso as if I was sitting up. I can't see and I can't fully feel the effect of lifting up as if I was awake because I feel so light when this happens. Considering that I can't see, I am not sure if the body is really moving or if it is an outer body experience. Since I have become older I rarely see strange things and the sounds that I may hear are just the t.v. in another room and/or speech but I never focus on listening.
I know when it's gonna happen.
I have experienced sleep paralysis for as long as I can remember. I used to be very afraid when it would happen and lay there screaming but no one could hear me. Sometimes my husband would be laying next to me and I can see him sleeping but I can not move. Recemtly it has been getting worse I always know when it's going to happen, when I close my eyes and feel myself falling a sleep, but I know it's going to happen because of the way it feels and the weird sounds that I hear, and the room looks different somehow. I want to know why I can tell when it's going to happen because I would often wake my self up right before I fall completely into a paralized state. But most times I would fall right back asleep and it would start. Sometimes I would tell my husband that it's going to happen as soon as I fall asleep and tell him to watch out for me, if I flinch my finger at all or make any abnormal breathing to wake me up. What happens in my sleep paralysis is almost always the same I would feel my self come out of my body and I would be able to look around the room look at who ever is in there weither they are awake or asleep, and sometimes I would see figures some times dark sometimes transparent and sometimes they would come at me or sometimes they would stand back and stare at me. I feel my self lifting off the bed and then like a vacum sucked slowly back into my body and I open my eyes and get up and wake my husband. I find all this very weird how am I able to see everything and persons in the room yet my body is in one place? I know I'm not dreaming because sometimes I fall back into my body with my eyes open and I get up fully awake the whole time. Can someone explain this please?
Scared
I can't believe it.. I've had it for about a year now.. and i have had EXACTLY the same experiences. The whole not being able to scream or move and..knowing when its about to happen and the fact that i feel myself being lifted off the bed... and being able to see everything.. but still being in the same position..
Its a completely frightening experience.
Sometimes I feel myself start to shake- as in have a fit and move uncontrollably.
You said: "I want to know why I can tell when it's going to happen because I would often wake my self up right before I fall completely into a paralized state." .. I just want to know how. How do you wake yourself up? Because everytime I try to wake myself up before I get completely paralyzed, it just gets worse..
Sorry for not answering any of your questions, but im hoping you can answer mine.
From Mira.
hi everybody...... i had
hi everybody......
i had sleep paralysis for 14 years and to be honest sometimes i don't want to go to sleep because simply i don't feel like going through that everytime...
i think i have these episodes at least more that 3 times i week and sometimes these episodes can twice in a row..because it seems that i get sotired that after the first episode i fall to sleep again so it keeps happening until i just get tired and decide to wake up because i get very frustrated. in my experiences i always feel like short of breath, and like someting crushing or hurting my limbs and body......it feel like i spirit is trying to pocess me or someting like horror movie only the difference is that you are the victim...i hope to find i cure...it horrible and i hope that none of ever experience somethnig like this!!
I hate sleep paralysis :(
Dear Whoever
I hate when this occurs especially just after I got out of one. I am 17 and these are becoming more frequent since I have become older. I find myself fearing to stay up past 2:30am because if I am not sleep by then, I will have some servre sleep paralysis. When I was younger, I would get the audio and visual hallucinations but now they are just even scarier when nothing happens and I having an attack for more than 30s. You darn right it's hereditary considering my brother and sister gets them, not sure if they still do. I find that I will only get them if I have stayed up really late at night and very tired. I'd rather sleep walk and talk then to deal with this crap.
PS: I have had around 2-4 a day back to back since I have been going to bed at time like 2:00am and 4:00am,I need a break.
Sleep Paralysis or Not
Sleep Paralysis or Not... I am now 21 years of age, and it seems to me that from what I've read it has become clear to me. (It just makes sense). When I was 7 years old I had an encounter with Sleep Paralysis, (I know that now) in this state of Rem Sleep I was indeed completely paralized, trying to scream, trying to move but I could not. It seemed to go on forever. As of to this day I do not now weather my eyes were open or closed at the time. I could see images of shadow spaces of people walking around in our living room. I tried not to turn my head but was unable to, I could hear whispers, but these whispers were not in english it sounded like some kind of indian tribe. I finally got enough strength to scream. My mother turns on the light. She said she tried to wake me, but I was still unable to lift one eyelid... I finaly woke, I looked above me and I saw my mother. To this day I have not idea why it happened. My mother said that on that night, when I finaly woke up, and looked up at her, I said "There comming, There on their way, There almost here!" I had sweat all over me, and was shivering. That was the my first time dealing with Sleep Paralysis. These events of Paralyses kept on happening throughout my life to this day at 21 years of age. Those who know me and have witnessed me in a Rem sleep state of full conchesness, all have said that I was murmuring words as if it were indian talk. There is still one thing aobut this subject that I do not understand, If I am indeed in a Rem like state, I have not yet found in answer to this. My question is , If my eyes are shut tight, Then why could I see my friends who were with me at the time? I asked them if my eyes were shut or open and every single one, at every time this happened all said that my eyelids were tightly shut. I cannot explain this but here it goes, During this state of Rem sleep where as I am fully conchess I could see my friends at the time who were with me when I awoke, and i explained what was happening and how I could see every thing they were doing all while my eyes were shut, and they were impressed but scared at the same time, and so was I.
Sleep paralysis
im 13 years old and i experienced it today and three years before but three years before i did not experience a hallucination and i coudlnt move my body but today when it occured i panicked i tried screaming and moving but nothing came out and by the time it stopped my heart was beating extremely fast can anyone tell me if i will experience this in the rest of my life?...
My boyfriend and I have been
My boyfriend and I have been having SP ever since he moved in at my house into his own room my dad built for him. He would have pressure and he would try to move his arms and yell but the only thing he could do is get a squeak out of his mouth. "Help!" I would have to wake him up. Now since I have done that I NOW have these problems where I cannot go anywhere and actually sleep normal. I have woke up to hearing a beautiful piano playing and me saying "Is'nt that beautiful and right when I would say that, the music would stop and it would go to static and then there was a LOUD SCREAMM!! When I finally woke up, I had chill bumps all over my arms. It made me freak out. I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. One time before that I had an episode where I felt it coming and I let it go, just wondering what it would really do, and it started to choke me and I had to say Jesus, Jesus!! And it finally stopped. I'm just scared that It's gonna keep happening. My boyfriend has even spoke to the devil and knows what he looks like and sounds like. I can't move, can't open my eyes, can't feel...I can only HEAR!! SOO scary. I try to move and its like im under water.
I like Sleep Paralysis! My Story
I don't know why, but just the feeling that you're experiencing something out of the ordinary that not MANY others experience-- its really cool! Not to mention I love being scared, the rush of adrenaline, it was horrifying last year at 15 years old when I first experienced sleep paralysis, and I wanted it to happen again.
I had fallen asleep on my back, arms straight by my sides, legs straight as well.. It felt like someone was holding down my arms and legs when I woke up from the voices I was hearing. It sounded like 15 people having a conversation at once but I couldn't make out ANYTHING anyone was saying... It was horrifying but I felt as if they were talking to me so I tried to listen but they just got louder and louder, it lasted probably a minute and a half and then it was over. I thought I had experienced some phenomenon, some extraterrestrial or spiritual occurrence!
The next night I went to bed around the same time in the same position and it didn't happen, to my disappointment.
Then a few months ago it started happening to me because I felt myself unable to move (and of course I enjoyed this, wanting desperately to know what they were saying or what was going on), and then it suddenly stopped before anything came of it :(
Will it ever happen to me again? Will it be just a once a year occasion? ...or is it like other people are saying, that its surrounded by stress, etc... But I don't believe I was under so much stress when it happened to me :\
?
You must be the only person who likes sp and wants it to happen again, shit is terrifying
sleep paralysis
My story... I was laying on my bed on my back looking at my celling for at least a few hours, completley bored out of my mind, the light was on and i was fully awake but i was getting pretty tired. I rolled my head over and looked at my wall then i closed my eyes and i think i started because i was suddley driving a car down a street and there was a street light and it was bright out. then it tured to night and i heard cars crashing, then people screaming, every once and a while one would blurt out one of my thoughts i couldnt say, when i would open my eyes i could look around my room. I then realized it was a dream but i couldn't move at all... i couldnt scream or anything. i actually liked it, it was so sureal almost like a bad acid trip... only had it a few times tho
Prayers During Sleep Paralysis
I am 14 years old and I have had SP (Sleep Paralysis) for over a year now and at a constant occurrence. About three times a week, sometimes more.
I usually experience SP, as stated by someone else on this page, when I fall asleep laying on my back, have had a stressful day, or fell asleep while worrying about something. Sometimes I have a nightmare before it happens, but usually I don't remember a thing. When I 'awake', I have the same symptoms as most others: I can't move, I can hardly breathe, I can't speak, and I have the over-whelming feeling of extreme terror and anxiety. However, I have never had any sort of hallucinations induced by the part of my brain that is still in the 'dream-state'. Nor have I heard any strange sounds or music like many others.
I didn't read every single post on this page, so I don't know if this is normal or not.
However, while I was reading this page and other pages, I noticed that many people said that they roused themselves from SP by praying. I would like to give my opinion on why this happens:
When you pray or engage in other thoughts that involves you using a good amount of mental activity to accomplish (such as remembering the order of the prehistoric time line, which is what I do), you are effectively 'waking up' your brain by using the self-induced mental stimulation caused by the high level of brain function it takes to think of a prayer or remember something complicated, and thus, freeing yourself from SP.
On a side note, there have also been cases where people freed themselves from SP by inducing an orgasm with their mind. But I personally wouldn't suggest putting it first on the list of 'How to Awake from Sleep Paralysis'. There are better (and not to mention easier and much cleaner ways) to induce a high level amount of though-process.
Please excuse me if I didn't use the correct terminology, it's quite difficult to explain this kind of thing and find the right words for it too.
creepy
i was asleep when i was awakend by unknwon weight on my chest. when i attempted to sit up i was immobiliszed and was told by an unknown male voice which said "your not getting up mother fucker". i felt like i was being choked, i panicked for awhile but then relaxed and was able to breath again, the figure squeezed on my throat harder and stopped my breathing all together, i attempted to shout but to no avail. during this experience which lasted one minute at the most was happening i was facing the wall and was unable too see what had a hold of me. before i was able to breath again i saw something bright from the corner of my eye leaving me and then returning before i was able to fully breath. thats my experience which happened on april 17, 2008 at around 8:30 in the morning iam not sure what it could be but after reading the article on sleep paralisis iam feeling more relaxed about the whole situation.......or ami???? iam 18 yo and single
questions
hi. i was just curious. there are times i have been having a hard time waking up, where i know i am concious but i cannot move any part of my body, nor can i speak. it happened a number of times already, this morning was the most recent. i tried to search it on the internet and this is the closest i could find. am i experiencing sleep paralysis?
i went to bed around 2 in the morning. i couldn't sleep right away. i think it was a good 10 minutes where i just lay in my bed trying to fall asleep. when i had already fallen asleep, it wasn't long when i became concious. but i couldn't move and i couldn't speak either. i know i was concious because i was already aware of what was happening, i saw my sister come in of the room. i couldn't move at all. i tried to call out to her but i also had a hard time moving my mouth. i struggled to bite my tongue to get me to move because everytime this happens to me, this is what i do so i can move again. when i am finally able to move, i just go back to sleep. but after a while, it happens all over again. i think it happened four times. i finally stood up after my fourth struggle. i was so scared. there were even times i thought i was talking to my sister but when i asked her, she said we didn't. but i am sure i was concious, it's just that i couldn't move. so after i stood up, i tried to calm myself then went back to sleep again. then i was finally able to sleep well.is this sleep paralysis? what will happen if i give up? i mean, are there any dangers that might happen if i do not struggle to wake up?because there was one time when i almost gave up. and why does it occur repeatedly just like what happened this morning. please do answer my questions. if it is possible, please also email me more about sleep paralysis. i am interested about it. how i can prevent it from happening again. and can it cause death
pressure in the head
i have head this sleep paralisis thing for about 5 years now actually i have been trying to figure out what was happening to me for five years until i found out about it online , sleep paralisis seems like the likely suspect in my case i have all the symptoms of it to the T , but i also have epilepsy wether the two conditons are related in anyway i dont no , but the thing that gets me about haveing sleep paralisis and a seziure disorder is telling the two apart , i have read all the syptoms of sleep paralisis but i didnt find anyone else that experineced an intense pressure on in there brain , every time i try to break free from the paralisis , if i try to move at all the prssure in my head gets unbearable , now adays the last few episodes i have had , it felt as if i was gonna stroke out , sleep paralisis is some bad ju ju , i have seen stuff my self had the haluciantions , heard the noises , i dont belive in sprits , or the church or god , but when your laying in your bed paralized at 3 am and the only thing you see is the shawdow of something that looks like a demaon in your room , then it disappears outside of my 4 story apartment bedroom window , why couldnt it have been an angel or a playboy bunny , i am not religious i dont have anything agaist church god , or ghost there not important to my everyday life , so its kinda strange for one to just show up in my room one night , it at natural , i can see how a person would take it as a sign , hell i prayed after that epidode got me a 3 foot cross too and put it under my bed
Sleep paralysis and alien abductions?
I am a 39 year old female
I am a 39 year old female and have some VERY frightning experiences during sleep. Well...I'm not asleep. I begin to fall asleep and suddenly feel as though an evil being is taking over me. I am completely awake but cannot move or speak. I try to scream out my boyfriends name who is laying beside me, but nothing comes out. I am able to move part of an arm or just my toes...so the first time it happened I moved my toes up against my boyfriend and tried digging my nails into his leg to wake him. He finnaly woke and shook me until I was able to come completely too. Needless to say I began to cry hysterically because it is the most frightning thing I have ever experienced in my life. I thought evil entities were after me, but after researching this I now know it is possible sleep paralysis. I am still unsure exactly what it is. My first experience was about 1 year ago. This has happened to me about 10 times since. I am a Christian woman and now sleep with a cross under my pillow. Just thought I would share my experience.
scared to sleep
Hi, so this has been happening to me for yrs it started after my boyfriend commited suicide.I still remember the first time it happened it was 3 days after his death, there was a women in a dress with a mist around her reading from a book in a different language standing over me , as she was reading I could see my tv playing the same show I was watching before I fell asleep after this took place I was never the same. Recently it's been happening more often maybe once or twice every other month since I moved into this house. When I lived at my fathers I don't think it happened more than twice over 5 yrs. Now I think it's getting worst I'm scared to sleep, lastweek I was asleep next thing I was paralyzed then felt myself sit up where I seen a black figure couldn't make out a face standing at the foot of my bed I screamed " What the F*&k do you want?" or atleast I thought I was screaming then I thought it said something then I was just sitting there it was gone and I was freaked out.Usually when it happens I would just feel paralyzed, can't speak and feel like someone or something is holding me down. Lastnight it happened again and it seems before I go to sleep if I think about it, it happens. I don't understand whats happening to me all these yrs I thought it was a evil spirit.
Its happening again
This feels good to hear that it has been experience by a lot of people, I thought it was only happening to me. I thought I had some kind of a weird disease that only happens when I am asleep. I had been experiencing this SP since when I was a kid and has frequently been back again. But last night was the worst, it happened 5-6 times and I was scared to go back to sleep because it was draining my enery to get out from SP. After SP episodes I would always feel sort of muddiness in the head or foggy thinking. I also suffer from anxiety due to stress and I think it is contributing to this SP. True, I sometimes would see weird black shadows or figures looking at me and sometimes sitting beside me. I would also pray to God to get me out and would try to move a body part just to awake myself, but sometimes its really a struggle especially that it goes from one episode to another eipsode. Sometimes I would feel that I couldn't come from it. But sometimes if I don't fight the SP, I would still come out it without even knowing it. So I guess its like a panic attack, only this time you are asleep. I too suffer panic attacks, it would happen to me in the middle of the night with an unexplained uncontrollable disturing thoughts. I am pretty sure that anxiety disorders and worrying too much really affects my sleep pattern and would cause my SP. But I still would recommend praying every night before you sleep to assure myself that everything will be ok. I am still searching for ways to eliminate this SP, maybe reducing stressful situations or changing your lifestyle too, or don't go to bed after eating a large meal or dinner. Any suggestions or help is greatly appreciated.
What do I do when it happens!!
I am 17, My first one was...about 3 months ago I had fallen asleep on the couch and then I come to find out that I am awake. I could hear my parents talking to each other about dinner I think... I wanted to get up but I couldn't, i thought if i could just open my eyes or cry out for some one to wake me up i could i dont remember how i finaly woke up but it was scary... < I had not seen or heard anything like people talking or seeing dark figures until NOW.. I stayed home from school one day.. but the night before there was this crazy guy that tryed to come in our house at like 3:30Am on a school night so everyone was asleep but my mom anyway i feel asleep on the couch again and the couch is by our back door i got the sp again i was laying there and i herd the back door open i knew for sure that it wasent any of my family because before it hapend i opend my eyes and it was like 12:30Pm but i herd the door open and someone walking around the room, it sounded like he went into the kitchen and starded opening cabanet doors then i herd boords squeking up stairs it sound like he was in my room, not even a second later i couldn't breath and i felt something breathing over my face and like there was a hand over my mouth and he was wispering something i couldn't make it out i was to scared then the back door sudenly slamed shut and i cant remember what hapened after that... It hapend to me one time at school but this last time just realy freaked me out... its just geting worse and worse.... there got to be some way to avoid this... What do i do when it happens?
I am having it too
Like everybody else in this blog, i have been experiencing this similar problem for the past 5 yrs....i was quite surprised to know that almost everybody who had SP, went thru the same kind of experience..like the darkness, someone after u......
But after having it for the past 5 yrs, i have kind of got used to it....i know now when it would start...and once i understand that it would happen immediately i get ready mentally for SP knowing that it wud last for some mins only...
Another thing quite like SP happens to me...it is just when i fall asleep, my body shakes violently and wake me up...that is also quite scary..
Is there any treatment or something?? Can it lead to death??
I HAVE IT TOO
Mine started at around age 12. I am now 40. Last year, I had the SP when I would awake from sleep...sometimes in the morning...sometimes in the middle of the night. Prior to that, it would only be at the onset of sleep. It usually happens when I am pretty tired and have stayed up late. Usually a few seconds before it happens, my head feels heavy and I can hear a sound in my head. It's like a pre-cursor to the episode. At times, I can abate it by getting up really quickly. Other times, I just cant.
Here are something to note:
1. Do you notice sleeping in a particular position brings it on? For me, it's lying flat on my back. Some research says lying on one's side lessens the possibility of it happening.
2. When the SP hits, try to relax and tell yourself it'll pass. For me, the more I fight it, the worse it is.
3. I've heard to try to move the small muscles in your body like your toes, fingers, tongue and eyes vs. the larger muscles to get it to stop.
4. Almost all of us have the experience of something "evil" or a "presence" in the room with us. It's a hallucination - it's not real, but it sure does feel as though it's real!
5. This is a physical/neurological condition.
6. Praying certainly helps.
7. Relax.
You're not alone. This thing just sucks.
SP Science or Spiritual
I guess it is much easier to explain that these occurrences are caused in the brain rather than some evil spirit. I have had what everyone calls SP since the age of 5 yr. old I am now 32 yr. old. I've managed to control and break the state of this so called "sleep Paralysis", by praying the "our father", I am not a religious fanatic, nor do I go to church, so can someone explain to me how I manage to get out of this state of SP by praying. I think there is much more to this, I do not tell myself that this is scientific and say, "oh well that explains it, it's all better". No, It is in my opinion that this is more spiritual then scientific. I have experienced other phenomenon other than this, out of body due to being in a coma for three days. I was lucky to have come back.
I have this sleep paralysis
I have this sleep paralysis since I was 15. I am 31 years old now and have been experiencing this SP for 4 or 5 times every night non-stop. I don't know how can I stop this from happening. I cant take this anymore. I don't know if it's because I'm very stressful lately. But what I do not understand why every time I have SP there is always have all kinds of evil presence around me, demons,scary loud voices, can't breathe, I couldn't speak, there's someone tickling all over my entire body to death, can't move. But then I can see the entire room. I can even see my cousin walk by, my husband beside laying besides me, the TV that was on and I am very aware of everything around me. I know for a fact tonight I will experienced this again. Like what I've said 4 or 5 times every night non stop. And I hate it. I hope somebody will help me:-( HELP ! !! !! ! !
feedback
A member of my family described the very same examples listed here and I thought about doing some research on it. I've, too, experienced them when I was little, quite a lot, and just like some of you, never bothered to check it out until now. When I was a child, it was almost a certain fact that if I'll sleep on my back I'll have that 'blocking feeling' while sleeping. I never was courageous enough, like others I've seen here, to explore it further once it started, I immediately jolted my body out of it. I don't recall trying to move my arms or legs, only tried to shout but when I realized that doesn't work, I used to jolt my chest. That was the only way for me to wake up from it. It does feel like the longer I wait, the much, much harder it is (or the bigger the effort) in order to move and eventually wake up.
It happened only once in the last 15 or so years (am 29 years old), a couple of months ago. What was different that day is the fact that I was sleeping on my left side for the first time in years - which I think was the most important factor of all. Was lightly stressed, had few hours of sleep during previous night, slept in an environmentally cold room and most likely not hydrated enough.
I only sleep on my back and seems that even after nights of very little hours of sleep, it doesn't seem to trigger it. At first I thought this to be the reason: the biological clock was 'misfiring'. Since every episode occurred at about the exact same time, I compared it to the way I used to wake up every morning for school, waking up naturally without an alarm clock, at precisely the same time. I initially thought having little hours of sleep, bio-clock was over-stressed or something and started to do its thing without the rest of the brain's approval.
Not certain at all about why or what is causing this, probably a combination of some factors.. I truly hope this input will help someone:
- While sleeping at night, don't alternate between sleeping positions, let your body get used to a single sleep position. Note your 'magnetic' sleeping position as well (head towards East or West and so on). It probably might be useful when noddin' in another room or re-locating?.
- Be well hydrated during the day and especially drink water before going to sleep. Careful not to drink so that you'll wake in the middle of the night. Depending on each persons' needs, in my case half of glass will do without waking up for #2. I'm not very fond of caffeine based drinks or coffee. Also avoiding large meals couple of hours before sleep, though, once or twice a week I break this rule and it doesn't seem to trigger it.
- If previous night' sleep was less than 7 hours of sleep (or how much one requires for a normal rest), I'll try to fight it by not nodding off during the day - I remember that if I slept during the day, the occurance was almost certain to happen during the next night.
- Try to sleep in a temperature friendly room. I've heard people not able to sleep well in warmer rooms and vice versa.
- Being spiritual... depends from person to person. I, for one, do pray before going to sleep.
- Get some light, moderate exercise during the day. Melatonin or Vitamin D3 might help too, but Sun exposure should be moderated and not during peak hours (even during cloudy days, if weather permits, one can be exposed to direct natural light in a t-shirt or shorts, it might be enough).
If I'll recall other changes I've done in the past years due to SP I'll try to add them later on, I've added this link as a bookmark.