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 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
YES i felt the same only while i was goto bed too late
thank you for your wonderful descriptions about sleeping paralysis,i have same for past 7 years..now i understood what is exactly
thank you
i really had no idea that
i really had no idea that what i was experiencing was a medical condition, which in a way makes me feel better; although my condition got so bad tonight i thought i was gonna die. I as well as many other decided to research it in the middle of the night due to a bad episode. What really makes me wonder is if its related to my anxity disorder i suffer from?... well im going to research more sites to find out, as well as if this condition is deadly.
happening for 1 yr now
the first time i expierenced sp was when i was a having a dream about something exploding and then smoke was everywhere at i couldn't breathe, then it felt like i was choking and then i felt like i woke up and couldn't move and tried to scream but i started moving my fingers to wake my self up and when i finally woke up i reliazed my neclace was choking me! The worst expierece was while i was dreaming of something that i cant remember but the thing was that i woke up in my dream thinking it was real life but as soon as i tried to wake my boyfriend up next to me he turned around and started talking like a demon or monster, that was the scariest. i still have these expierences like once a month but ive learned to start moving my fingers to wake up, because if you just lay there its gona keep happening, like somethings forcing you to go back to sleep. just called out jesus name and he will help you
Worst Experience Ever
I was asleep in my bed
when i woke but was still
asleep i couldnt move at all
then i began to feel my self levitate
i began to see the other side of myroom which i began to levitate too.When i got to the other side i began
to go through my door when something behind me that
looked like a ghost/alien and made me rise higher
off the ground and began to pull me towards it but, i couldnt scream! I opened my mouth but no words came out.I thought i was being abducted so i tried to relax and think
of happy thoughts then i woke up scarred as helll!
And never want to experience that again.
I'm starting to think I'm crazy!
A few minutes ago, I woke up and turned looking into the darkness of my bedroom, and floating across the room was a ghost like image of a man with a pumpkin like head. I screamed at the top of my lungs and in the process woke up my girlfriend who is used to m bad dreams and night visions. I used to have similar images pop up as I'm just waking up during the night. I always knew it was in my head but, now this thought of SP scares me. I don't really hear voice or body paralysis, so what the hell could it be?
I only have vision of the person
I've had visions of a dark shadow person standing at the corner or feet of my bed. A day later after the incident someone close or related to my family has died. I've only told my brothers about this and they think its just was a coincidence. Than people have followed the same experience. I'm truly concerned cause it won't quit happening. I feel there is an evil that wants me to convert to satanism. i'm fully happy to learn about other believes. I now want an explanation but i feel as of this moment it is too late.
Never been so scared
Hi let me start by saying that I'm a 17 year old female. I experienced this for the first time lastnight in my entire life I have never been soo scared. I could feel the evil presence and even see the shadow of a figure. I tried to scream but no words came out and I could not move. I'm both releived and frightened at the same time by this article I'm glad to know I'm not crazy and that there's a scientific explinatiin behind this but in all actuality it doesn't feel scientific At all. I never want to experience it again and in horrified that I will.
SP while awake
After reading Mitchel Henderson's 2007 posting i felt compelled to write this. I began having episodes of SP when I was a teenager (am now 24). The first attack was very traumatic, and most attacks since have followed a similar pattern. Most often they are accompanied by the sounds of loud static, high and low pitched buzzing, a rhythmic steady beating, occasionally voices whispering my name or even a full speaking voice. Sometimes the voice is one i don't recognize, other times it mimics friends or family members. In addition, i experience visual hallicinations of shadow people but also of a fully fleshed person, most often a dark-haired female who either stands near the foot or side of the bed, but she has also laid in bed next to me and stared at me. She is frightening, but she doesn't seem threatening. The experience is always accompanied by a sense of being in the presence of evil, and feeling that i am being preyed upon. But here is the kicker: in every attack i've had (and for at least a year i was experience SP multiple times a week) the SP has occured BEFORE I fall asleep. Usually it happens as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep at night, but it has also occurred during the day if i'm lying in bed, and once it happened while i was in the bathtub (potentially dangerous eh?). As a result, i am fully aware and awake when the episode begins, and it is a very gradual process. It begins with a sudden extreme physical drowsiness, almost like being drugged. Because of this it takes a moment to realize what is happening, and by then it may be too late, but it is possible to fight it off by force of will. Typically, however, if auditory, visual, or tactile hallucination begin you are probably already in to deep to force it back. The key things that i've found helpful in avoiding an attack are:
1. DON'T SLEEP ON YOUR BACK - On occasion i've actually but a tennis ball or wadded towel behind my back to prevent this.
2. DON'T DEPRIVE YOURSELF OF SLEEP - It is far more likely to have an occurence of SP if you are exhausted from sleep deprivation.
3. HAVE A ROUTINE - Small things like always washing your face, putting on a scented lotion, or listening to a particular song every time you go get ready to sleep helps establish a pattern.
4. REMEMBER THAT SP IS MORE LIKELY IF YOU SLEEP IN A NEW ENVIRONMENT - Sleeping at a friend's home, at a hotel, or anywhere other than your own bed while also increase the likelihood of an SP attack. Sleeping at a strange time can also trigger an attack.
I hope this will be helpful to someone out there. Take Care.
-Meghan
Sleep Paralysis
I have had this phenomenon for as long as I can remember. I agree that it's spiritual in nature and not just scientific. I've seen the figures, felt the presences, and sometimes could feel the mattress indentation (as if someone was getting in the bed). Although this was very frightening, I learned to control my breathing until my mind caught up with my body. After Jesus Christ saved me, the episodes virtually vanished.
I have also experienced sleep paralysis while awake. I would start to doze off, but my body would become frozen before I would fall asleep. I also noticed that it used to happen when I was extremely fatigued.
In closing I'd like to say that while there are scientific explanations to certain components of this condition, do not overlook the fact that this is more of a spiritual issue.
sleep Paralsis
I have had this happen to me for the last 10 years off and on. I usually am good for a few per month. I don’t see ghost or hear noises but I do get a felling of mortal fear like no other fear I have ever felt in my life and I think I cannot breath with a huge pressure on my chest. I have had this so much that I do not get very scarred by it anymore. When it first started I would be so scared I would be freaking out in my mind with a frozen body. It always happens, as I am falling asleep and only when I am laying on my back never when I am on my stomach. Some times I can feel it starting as I drift start to drift off and I can fight it of If I think very hard and tell my self move my hand over and over and over. I then pop out of it and roller over on my stomach and fall asleep with no issues.
If it happens to you just stay calm and concentrate really hard to move and you will wake up.
Thankful,
I'm very happy to hear that i'm not the only one going through things like this. But, it just scares me because i will lay in bed, Awake, and it will feel as if my eyelids are being pushed my something, Like it wants me to sleep, And i'm not able to re-open them once they close. I feel my self panic as this happens.
Living with it.
Hi,
My name is Danielle and I am 32 years old. I have suffered from some type of Sleep Paralysis for a long time. The only difference now is I know what triggers it.
I will be in what I believe is a deep sleep. My head will feel really fuzzy and I start to fall into a dream that I don’t like. I try to fight it and open my eyes and so starts what seems a lifetime of trying to come out of it.
I will hear noises around me and think I am awake.
I literally fall in and out of the dream and each time my head just feels so fuzzy very strange. This might only happen for a few minutes but it seems like hours. Eventually I manage to open my eyes with my hand and I sit up forcing myself to wake up. I have to be fully wake up or it will just happen again.
It doesn’t happen so much now because being 32 I don’t go out like I used too. Lol
But if I do go out or I just have lack of sleep then 9 times out of 10 the next night it will happen., especially if the next day I fall asleep for an hour or so in the afternoon. That’s why I never have power naps they say that they can be good for you but for me definitely not.
Lately and this might be again because I don’t go out that as much anymore, if I have a hangover then the next night as soon as I close my eyes I see random scary images.
The only explanation I can think of is that I need my eight hours sleep, but I am one of those people who never fall asleep straight away. I am always thinking and I love writing so my brain is always being creative.
Don’t you just hate people who sleep peacefully every night? lol..........
SP for a long time
Ive always experienced sp for as long as i can remember. But just in the past few months it has happended more frequently like 4 or 5 times a week. When it does happen i wake up and go back to sleep, then it happens again about 3 more times until i finally cant sleep anymore. in the past i remember just that one time when i was little feeling like im floating out of my body also. It happened last night and i couldnt go back to sleep.I took a nap in the afternoon because of my lack of sleep and it happened again. this time it was more of a dream. so when sp was occuring i could slightly open my eyes but i saw the pattern of my blanket, (i was laying on my stomach so it was under me, but the weird thing was when i fully woke up my blanket was on the other side of my bed at the edge. i saw a bright light, and i heard a song playing that i liked and it wasnt playing when i fully woke up so thats why it was more like a dream, but Every single time Sp occurs it scares me and i always wiggle my feet for at least 30 seconds so i can wake up and it feels like im using all the strength i have just to wiggle my feet. i havent experienced paranormal activities or weird sounds just music and sometimes my surroundings, i cant always open my eyes. but i panic when i cant move.
is there a medicine to help with sp or anything i can do to make it less frequent
MY experience
HI every1,
MY NAME IS AMIT ,AND BY REGION I AM INDIAN
i am sharing my experience about sleep paralysis attack,i am not sure that it was or something else,
I am a studnet ,and my age is 25 years,i have my exams next week so i slept today morning at 6.20 am,
i was half sleep and at 7.05 am.
actually i was laying down on my bed,in opposite direction ,i felt as some1 is pressing me from my back towards the mattress
and when i tried to shout as i felt it sm1 else,i couldn't,i tried shouting twice,but i couldn't.
I am in Indian and i am in australia from last one year,i was always told the same by boys who r living with me,it happened with 2 of them 3 times, and they were thinking of ghost or something.................but i denied what ever they said,,,,#
But as it happened with me i was shocked and same time i opened my laptop and did a research ,and found sleep paralysis......
BUT I WANT TO KNOW ONE THING.......ONE MORE THING I FELT THAT LOOKS STRANGE,AS I FELT,AS SM1 WAS LIFTING UP MY BED FROM THE RIGHT SIDE AND I FELT I WAS GOING TO FELL DOWN ON FLOOR AS I WAS SLIDING FROM BED.....................PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF SM1 ELSE FELT THIS ASWELL........
Something was trying to penetrate me from behind
I am under zero stress in my life right now and this is the second time to experience this. The first time I was in my 20's and it was unusual but not frightening. This time however I woke laying on my side about 3:30 am and something was trying to penetrate me from behind. I could feel something hard poking me just above the anus and it hurt. I tried to wake up and couldn't. I became angry and tried to move my arm but couldn't. I began yelling and could only hear murmers coming from my mouth. I was angry and scared but I was determined to fight. It was a real mental struggle to wake up and when I did I was still in fight mode. I had to get up and wake up on that one!
Well Hot Patootie!
I must say I laughed at my ignorance after the wave of relief overwhelmed me due to this paper. It's nice to know that others are experiencing exactly what I am, however, some at a higher degree. I was a bit skeptical at first because of the evil presence I felt, why would I feel a large dominating being was choking me, but the hallucinations explained it. I can now with ease erase my three suspicions
1)I was being attacked by a demon
2) My brain was being taken over by an evil psychic
3) I was chosen as a specimen for an aliens observance and each time it occurred they were downloading information of my daily life....
Talk about an overactive Imagination, huh? x3 Fortunately I can abandon these ideas, however besides the presence exuding evil and inability to move has anyone experienced a form of pain whil experiencin SP? It's not "LIKE OHMIGAWDE, SOMEBODY JUST HACKED OFF MY ARM!!!" kinda pain,but a bit more placid. I guess it would be more closely related to an intense pressure. The white noise is a good way to describe the noise(Although it more so reminded me of the sound effect in pokemon when Alakazam uses the move "psychic", but again, overactive imagination) but as my attempts to move increas so does the intense pressure in my head. I think that is also what frightened me.
Besides pressure does anyone experience somewhat of an out-of-body experience? It drifts back and forth between me having my eyes open(If my eyes are truly open or if I'm just dreaming that they're open, I can not tell) and myself viewing me with the struggle, it's both at the same time if that's possible or make any sense >_>;;
Anywho, a reply or comment if you share the neither feeling would be appreciated, thankies~~~ =^-^=
I'm really scared.
I'm 11 and I'm looking after my little sister for the night. I'm scared of ghosts and every time I go in my bed I hear buzzing sounds and beeps. Every five minutes I hear something, and I think it might be because we have a semi detached house. I sleep on my belly, and I can hear too much! It scares me and sometimes I hide under my covers because I'm so terrorized.
My little sister is asleep, and so is my dog. My big sister is coming very late, and I'm arleady thinking that I'll stay downstairs with my dog and wait for my sister as I'm too scared!
Please tell me how I can control this. I'm really scared and I keep hearing creeping. I'm in the UK and it's 19:53. PLEASE HELP ME, IM REALLY SCARED!!!
Every night I hear someone banging on the window and the wall, and it's really freaky! Please help me, I'm really scared and I can't breathe sometimes. I've been unconsious two times because of this and I get scared very easily.
Also, if my mum goes out or something I nearly die, because I'm home alone and everyone is asleep and I know I'm alone because I hear things and see things.
My mums boyfriend says because I have a 7b in English I have a wide imagination and therefore see things that are not really there. I don't drink at all during the day because my teeth go all cold and shivery, and now I'm scared to death. I don't eat before I go to bed and I don't want to be awake at midnight because midnight scares me. I don't know why, but I want help and I'm crying atm. I'm watching Michael Jackson Private Home Movies, and my friends on MSN are all trying to scare me!
Solution in the UK for what ailes you
First I want to put forth I am not a religious freak and actually in all respect being religious will not assist you in this issue. However what will is if you call upon the name of the Lord Jesus. Honestly I am saved a christian and I do not know your faith however I can say it works well for me.
I have been attacked in the night in very bad ways and everytime even when I can barely murmur the name of Jesus Christ is always very affective. Praying before you sleep asking for Angels to watch over you and praying the blood of Jesus his sacrifice over your bed will from my perspective remove this dreams completely. I hope this helps.
James
Try these three things
Try these three things
1)Keep a knife under your pillow
2)Turn your pillow (below part up and upside part down)
3)Try moving your toes
Hope that will work.
awakening in the dream
i have these symptoms for a very long time. every time is scary but i let the fear overtake me so i can learn to control this. this state of mind is very energy consuming.
i had experience that i could get up from my bed and explore around me but it was like seeing thru a mist, i cant open my eyes all the way.
why is this scary for me.
well its scary because you are awake in a second but you know that you are still/trapped in the sleep.
in the beginning i would do almost everything. pinch, slap, scream, bite my self so i could wake up and when i did wake up i couldnt keep my eyes open for a long time, they where just to havy.
i know one thing that i never tried and that was to ignore this state of mind.
i know if i let go i will die its simple as that and thats why im fighting every single time.
today my control is better than first time.
when im awakening i recognize situation immideatly
and i focus all my energy on eyes so i can open them.
it takes up to 5 sec for me to do that but i manage to open them after all.
now this happened to me 2-3 night ago.
i tried to open my eyes but it was fake. i was still in the dream state of mind. so i just panic and tried even harder.
thats why im saying its energy consuming.
that day i give up the fight depending on life situation and just ignore this like saying what the hell i dont care any more im tired of this bs.
that day i will die because i think that body will fell in sleep and you mind will be disconnect forever from your will.
ps. i did have up to now 3 awakening in one dream.
and its not that scary as it sounds.
you wake up from normal dream but in the second dream you just think that you where just dreaming you are still not aware of how complex this is. now this second dream is not so long you wake up from it very shortly,
now the 3th dream you are aware of that you had all those dream in one dream but you are paralyzed and the fight for survival beginns.
awakening in the dream part 2
by the way i almost forgot to tell you that there is much more scarier then sleep paralysis
and its when you are choked in your sleep.
you wake up immediately and you cant breathe.
now you struggle to take a breath and you cough for 15-20 min
just to normalized situation.
im not fat or something like that and i do have cardio, strenght training.
i did discover that it was the food (stomach acid) that was the problem. i did eat in wrong time and the food was running backwords causing me to choked, especially food like yogurt based food, pancakes, cinnamon buns. i cant eat past 6-7pm just to avoid this because this is very dangerous.
MY SP EXPERIENCE
My experience with SP started happening after I saw Paranormal Activity (haha). Being scared caused me to loose a lot of sleep. I've been kicked out of my parents room about twice now because they're tired of me sneaking into their bed lol! I'm 19 yrs old and I need to conquer this SP because its getting really annoying. I've had this happen to me maybe twice in the past but its becoming more frequent now. The first time it happened I did see a shadow and heard a voice saying "Abadubaduba." (don't ask because Idk lol) The most recent one was just a couple of days ago. I was sleeping on my back (that's a no no) and there was this pressure on my chest (not harmful, but freaky) and I was of coursed paralyzed and terrified. I started saying a prayer and it went away and I was able to move again. It was like 1:30am. I couldn't go back to sleep of course and since I google every life crisis the first article I read had a picture of a demon sitting on a girl's chest. My immediate thought was GREAT!!! This obviously was not helping me. As I read more, I found that it is a sleeping disorder and I do believe that your mind is extremely powerful and can cause you to hallucinate if your fearful. What I'm attempting to do is get back into my regular sleeping pattern, no more panicking, less stress, more exercising, etc... I understand that there is a chain reaction to all of this. Paranormal Activity caused me to loose sleep, the following weekend was Holloween Horror Nights and then Holloween. Lots of partying and no sleepy time can cause stress and anxiety. I refuse to let this run my life!! Out of sight out of mind, I've learned you have to keep positive. Anyone else who suffers from this you have to keep yourself strong and remember that it is ALL in your head! It is not harmful, regardless of all the other stories you have read everyone's lifestyle is different and may interpret their SP experience from a totally different point of view (including what they hallucinate.) I'm going to try the path of aggression and maybe go into F you mode if it happens again lol. It gives me a relief to know that there are other people that have this problem. I got this and you've got this too!
My SP also happened after I
My SP also happened after I saw Paranormal Activity. I'm 18 and the whole partying, halloween, stress deal sounds very similar to what is going on with me too and I think that in combination with me being scared of the movie caused this. I was also sleeping on my back when it happened. I woke up and couldn't move, only my feet and fingers could but felt very heavy. Then I felt as if I was sliding down my bed but I don't think I actually moved. I was convinced that I had a deamon and had to sleep at my boyfriends house every night but now that I have read this I have a little bit of releif. FEWWW!
After i watched Paranormal Activity
So I watched Paranormal Activity last week and it scared the shit out of me. A few problems sleeping, but as I share a bed with my partner things weren't too bad. Then she goes to work the night shift last night, and I'm sleeping alone. I wake up,open my eyes and find myself unable to move, unable to speak and I have this intense pressure on my chest. It felt like something was sitting on my chest, with their hands on the sides of my chest digging into my skin deep.
Needless to say I was terrified. To be honest, I cant say that I seen anything, but I do know that at the end of the paralysis, the duvet was pulled away from me down to my legs. This really scared the hell out of me, I'm thinking now after reading this article that it was myself that pulled the covers down and didn't realize.
I feel a lot better after reading this, but I'm worried this is going to happen again. I'm 19 btw, very active imagination.
Maybe not such a bad thing??
Sooo I have been getting these around 3-4 times a week...and sometimes multiple times a session before and ONLY before I go to bed...never as I am actually waking up from a full night of sleep.. But its only been happening since i have started looking up and practicing different things about lucid dreaming and out of body experiences...so I am wondering if by any chance this might be the first stage of something like that?? Like maybe since My body is asleep and my mind isnt..I can kind of lead my mind into whatever I want to happen as I actually go into a deep sleep and the SP stops.. the only problem with that is I can never get that to happen.. i always have to wake back up first..and then go to sleep normally..and sometimes it does it again and again before I actually go to bed...never really scary at all, I get the ringing noise and I cant move or talk..but my breathing is always normal and today is the first time I "saw" something or "felt" a negative presence.. but the mind is pretty powerful..I guess fear got the best of me this time.. but yeah..does anyone know how to go to sleep after being in a state of Sleep Paralysis or do you guys always have to wake up first too, and then go back to sleep? Any help would be greatly appreciated..thanks :)
My experience
Here is a pre-warning that this is a bit of an essay, and my experiences aren't as far out or interesting as some. But I feel like I have to get this out. Btw I am a 20 year old male.
Just had one of these. Not the first time I've had one and gone online looking it up straight afterwards, but the first time I've posted my own experience. Usually when it happens I just go back to sleep, sometimes I get it 2 or 3 more times sometimes I don't.
Typically for me, the paralysis occurs without any other disturbance. No sound, no feeling of an evil presence or anything. This is how it was for the first 2 or 3 years that I experienced it (from about 16 onwards). I would simply be paralysed, not at all afraid but frustrated that I couldn't move.
Since reading about it online, and this leads me to believe that it may be in my head, I have started to have more negative experiences with it. Nonetheless, I have had nothing near as bad as what most people here post.
Typically when I'm experiencing it, I have about 2-3 seconds warning that its going to happen. Usually its as I'm laying in bed going to sleep, suddenly I'll feel the buzzing of my skin and in my ears and usually I'm too slow to get up. A second later I can't move and the paralysis gets consistently stronger. If I fight it, sometimes I can win and move, but these days I don't bother. Especially because the harder I fight it, the louder the noise in my ears gets. Its a kind of white noise, very high pitched buzzing, and when I struggle it can become so loud it scares me and causes me to back off.
Usually when I open my eyes I can't see anything out of the normal in my room. The exception is when I think someone is nearby (family/friend not spirit) and I try to call for help, and I don't know if it comes out at all or if I imagine it. But sometimes I think someone is near me and I call out, and later when the SP wears off no one is there. I can't be sure why I think someone is there, I just do.
Once I have seen something while paralysed, and this was my most bizarre experience. It occured while I was laying on my back, and I woke into the state. I had been having a dream where I was mucking around and had wrapped myself in a sheet, but suddenly the sheet had covered my face and I was suffocating. By the time I realised this, I was too weak to take the sheet off my face and I thought I was going to die. I then woke into a state of paralysis where I found it was very difficult to breath, which is not normal for me, but I had read about it. I focused on my breathing, small breaths, and I managed to become calm. I was curious because I had read about the demon on the chest, so I dared to open my eyes. The room was quite dark and there was a shadow or haziness above me, and I looked at it and heard a white noise like screaming sound in my head. I immediately felt my face turn into an uncontrollable grimace, I was truly terrified. I closed my eyes and calmed myself by focusing on my breathing again. Then I decided that whatever it was couldn't harm me (how I arrived at such conclusion in such an irrational state I don't know ;p) and so I started laughing at it in my head, and I told it that it was pathetic. Pretty much immediately I was back in control, and I sat up awake with everything as normal.
This was not the only scary experience I have had, but the only one which truly terrified me (not including non-SP related nightmares). I just had one which was not so terrifying while I was having the experience, but more scary after I had woken up.
I was dreaming, and at some point I had become partially awake. I felt myself suddenly becoming paralysed, and didn't even bother to struggle because it was too late. Suddenly I felt as though something was forcing me into my bed and holding me paralysed, though I didn't feel a physical force on me. The white noise in my ears became very loud and I heard very distinctly, screamed inside my head, "I wish you people would talk with me more". As I wanted the situation to end I thought aloud "I'm being silent" about 3 times, which at first made the noise go down but then it returned. So, I actually went silent. Then I felt it was trying to retaliate by shaking me and I could hear whooshing, and so I i tried to relax by imagining I was in a jet flying through the sky.
I ended up forgetting about the experience, and instead had a bizarre dream. Various events involving real life characters unfolded, mostly regarding recent issues such as university commitments. But after about a minute in any given dream, I would return to some room which had people I know circulating around it, as well as some bizarre characters and most notably 5 girls, all around the age of 13, casually sitting around the place. They were seemingly the only characters of interest, and when I spoke to them I knew I was dreaming, unlike when I spoke to other characters whereby I fell into another dream to return shortly after. After returning to this room for probably the 5th time I realised they were always there and I said to them "I have noticed that all of you are always there in the same spots. This is a really boring dream." Shortly afterwards, one of them grabbed my foot as I walked past and I was paralysed. She said to me "I'm going to put you in that machine there" and pointed to something which I didn't see clearly but looked like a table. She asked "Do you know why?", to which I responded "A foot massage?" and she said "No, not really". I experienced barely an instant of terror before I was awake. Suddenly I recalled the SP incident and somehow the 5 girls in the room and the voice in my head seemed connected. But hey, it could just be in my head. I haven't had a real nightmare for at least 5 years excluding SP, and haven't had an SP episode for at least 6 months, which is why I felt the two were connected.
Sorry not all of that is relevant, I really rambled on. But, like many others, I felt the need to get it out. I'll close by offering some advice on what has worked for me (some of which others have already suggested).
I find it rapidly gets worse for me if I fight it (noises get louder, sense of violence increases), and so I don't. Rather than escape by waking up, I choose to escape to unconscious dreaming. So I just relax and think about my breathing. Either I will fall asleep as planned, or I will lie there relaxed for ages and realise that it is over.
If I feel I am being truly attacked, aggression seems to help. I have found that acting(ie. thinking) aggressively usually results in increased violence from whatever it is "attacking" me, but getting angry greatly reduces my fear. The screaming in my ears gets louder as I go, but once I start on this course I have never backed down, and it is usually fairly rapid that the sensation goes away. I find that strangely in this dream-like state I can articulate my feelings towards this thing much more quickly and potently than I could ever towards a person while awake. I am usually too afraid to start on this course because I know it gets worse before it gets better, but once I start cursing out whatever it is and insulting it, it always goes away.
Ultimately the more panicky you get the worse the experience gets. So unless you are taking the path of aggression, you should relax and as someone else said go with the flow rather than fight. Midpoints lead to more terrifying experiences.
Getting Rid of SP
Thanks for your post, it really helped. My experience with SP started happening after I saw Paranormal Activity (haha). Being scared caused me to loose a lot of sleep. I've been kicked out of my parents room about twice now because they're tired of me sneaking into their bed lol! I'm 19 yrs old and I need to conquer this SP because its getting really annoying. I've had this happen to me maybe twice in the past but its becoming more frequent now. The first time it happened I did see a shadow and heard a voice saying "Abadubaduba." (don't ask because Idk lol) The most recent one was just a couple of days ago. I was sleeping on my back (that's a no no) and there was this pressure on my chest (not harmful, but freaky) and I was of coursed paralyzed and terrified. I started saying a prayer and it went away and I was able to move again. It was like 1:30am. I couldn't go back to sleep of course and since I google every life crisis the first article I read had a picture of a demon sitting on a girl's chest. My immediate thought was GREAT!!! This obviously was not helping me. As I read more, I found that it is a sleeping disorder and I do believe that your mind is extremely powerful and can cause you to hallucinate if your fearful. What I'm attempting to do is get back into my regular sleeping pattern, no more panicking, less stress, more exercising, etc... I understand that there is a chain reaction to all of this. Paranormal Activity caused me to loose sleep, the following weekend was Holloween Horror Nights and then Holloween. Lots of partying and no sleepy time can cause stress and anxiety. I refuse to let this run my life!! Out of sight out of mind, I've learned you have to keep positive. Anyone else who suffers from this you have to keep yourself strong and remember that it is ALL in your head! It is not harmful, regardless of all the other stories you have read everyone's lifestyle is different and may interpret their SP experience from a totally different point of view (including what they hallucinate.) I'm going to try the path of aggression and maybe go into F you mode if it happens again lol. It gives me a relief to know that there are other people that have this problem. I got this :)
hey!! i guess this whole
hey!! i guess this whole episode of yabbadabbadoo(whatever the demon whispered in your ears) is all because of lack of sleep..infact i suffer from panic disorder and i have read that a recent study confirms that this whole sleep paralysis is very common with anxiety patients and those(like me) who have odd sleeping hours( courtesy:movies like paranormal activity)..dont worry if it intensifies go visit a doctor and not a demonologist(just a joke)..i hear antidepressants(my staple) cause these activities to decrease substantially.. if you feel you need any more help..add me on gtalk (lockheed128)
This used to happen to me all the time
I've had this happen plenty of times, but I've never seen or heard anything once I had woken up out of my nightmare... it always happened after nightmares! I just remember being very scared, but never had a clear reason why.
Im 29 yrs old. But I
Im 29 yrs old. But I distinctly remember all my sleeping paralysis experiences since I was 12 yrs old.
I still get them but now a rarity. Just this morning after my workout I went off to sleep with the blanket all over myself, covering even my face. In about 20 minutes after the nap I started feeling breathless, thinking that the blanket probably was choking me and soo i tried to remove it but could not even move my hand and infact saw another face pressing mine very hard. i tried to communicate with it but the sounds remained in my brain (which sounded rather robotic!).
Then i opened my eyes and saw a black crow sitting on the ceiling fan, seeing it i went to my maid who was standing on the terrace. i realised that the sky had become very cloudy and dark. I asked her to shoo away the crow from my room. As she went in I saw a black cat n a dying black dog on the roof. I also saw my face covered with some mud and i tried to wash it. It all seemed so real but then i realised that i was still dreaming when i saw a diamond ring on my thumb which i had never seen or owned in real life.
I tried to open my eyes again but with the greatest effort and shuddering of my body I managed to get up.
I dont know what happens to me, Im thankful to this site for providing atleast a few answers to my sleep paralysis queries.
looking forward to hearing from you.
Warm wishes,
Ruchika
India
I was scared at first! But after a few....
Yeh first time as it did happen i was totally scared, especially when ur sorta conscious but i still thought it was a ghost or something. Even my friends said it was a ghost. I still believe it was - so after a few experiences i said in my head "FUCK YOU GHOST, BACK THE FUCK OFF, WHAT I DO TO YOU" when it was currently happening. Now when i think about it its funny. Thanks for this article I'm feeling less scared.
tu nguyen, from australia. 2009
SP Keeps on happening
I started having them when I was 17. I am 27 now and still have them. They told me in a dream when I was having SP it wasnt my time to go. they made me leave far away because they wanted to take me. I woke up durring this dream and heard footsteps far away aproching closer to the door but when they got to the door there was no one there. I woke up. Also durring that same dream I heard my little boy laughing and playing with my ferits. He was far down the hall way and as his laughing got closer he reached the door but there was no one. He made it to the foot of the bed, he jumped on the bed I felt his hand on my foot and it went away. That happened Augest 18th.
It follows me everywhere from AZ to TX to diffrent houses. Sometimes they stair me in the eyes 5in from my face and sometimes they touch me. But they made it clear Aug 18th that they wanted me to go with them.
Anyone that can explain this to me a lot clearer please do because I am getting a bit concerned about it.
Anyone that belives you enter a diffrent reality when you experiance SP please contact me because I do.
Sleep Paralysis at age 14
YES FINALLY!! I always tried to explain this feeling to my mom but she would never really understand. It happened to me after I became 14 years old. People say that it doesn't occur often but it has happened to me at least 3 times a week. And whenever I have these horror attacks, it happens to me at least 5 times before I can fall asleep. It is truely a terrifying feeling. I have never really noticed any ghosts or any paranormal activity, but I have always felt suffocated. The first time this happened to me I thought I was gonna die. Then after it happened to me for a while I try to relax but I still have trouble breathing. Oh, how I wish somebody can stop this horrifying experience. Thank you for your time for those who read this, and thank you for making this article about Sleep Paralysis.
P.S.
I really hated that when I tried so hard to wake up and just struggle to move any part of my body, nothing would move. I remember the last time this happened, I managed to open my eyes a little and I could see in front of me and just saw my mom using the computer. Oh, how much I wanted to scream and shout for my life, just to wake up. Please someone reply to me if you have any tips or ways to help stop this feeling. Thank you.
sp at age 14
I am 14 tto and have sleep paralysis. I finally found someone with the exact same problem at me but i still see and here things that arnt there. It happened to me just this morning when i tried to wake up. I woke the first time and found every one awake but i still was sleepy so i went back to sleep. And when i tried to wake up again i was stuck and i couldnt move. so i tried moving the little parts of my body like my eyes , but my eyelids just viberated. then i tried moving my fingers and hands but they didnt move one bit. then i tried moving my feet and i woke up. I saw my little brother on the computer. As soon as i saw that every one else was okay i went back to sleep. After a few minutes it happened again. I was awake but i was stuck this time i couldnt move anything i was completely frozen. Then my eyes did something funny. It felt like my eyes zoomed up on something or like i was sleep walking. I saw my grandma about to go get some pizza for lunch. Then after a few minutes of seeing that i woke up again and heard her in her room talking to my other little brother. So i was STILL really tired and after two times in one day i didnt expect it to happen again so i just went to sleep. Then when i tried to wake up for the third time i noticed i still was stuck in my sleep. I was awake but my body was still sleeping. Then i started to hear a voice. I couldnt make out what it was saying. So i just relaxed, not even bothering to try to get up because i knew it wouldnt work, i lay there for a few minutes, longer than usually,and i tried to hear what the voice was saying. Then i was getting realy scared and started to THINK out jesus name for help. Then the voice stopped and i woke up. Three times in one day was stressful and frightening so i decided not to go back to sleep.
The first time it ever happened to me was the scariest. I was 12 years old and i was laying in my grandmas bed. I had no clue that this can happen to anyone i didnt know what this was. and immediatly i though it had something to do with spirits. i tried to scream out for help but it only came out a humm. I also heard a buzzing sound. And i thought i was going to DIE!! So i tried calling for Jesus to wake me up, and i did.
The first few times it happened to me i was at my grandmas house. It seemed that it only happened to me at her house so i thought there was some king of spirit there. until i was at own house and it happened to me. It is still frightening to this day because i never know when its going to happen and its always something new. I think it might be a sign that when i die it will be in my sleep. And im so glad i found this website. I accually cryed a little when i read what might have caused this to happen to me. It was everything i expected it to be..
start trying to move your
start trying to move your toes first to alert your body that you are awake. Remember to stay calm,eventually you will wake up.
IT DiDN'T W0RK
replying back t0 the c0mment bel0w me, I did try m0ving my t0es, bcuz i was t0ld if y0ur t0es are the 0nly thing that y0u can m0ve during SP then there's a gh0st/spirit 0n t0p 0f y0u, but i c0uldn't even m0ve them. My wh0le b0dy was just fr0zen. I felt like i c0uld m0ve in the inside 0f my b0dy, but n0t my physical b0dy. Weird.
I have had SP for about 20
I have had SP for about 20 yrs, although the intensity & frequency have decreased substantially as I've gotten older. I always have that same feeling you do of being able to move my "inside" body but not my actual body. Every time I need to free myself of SP, I try to connect those 2 bodies (if that makes sense). I move the inside body around while trying to "catch" my physical body with it. Once the 2 connect, I'm out of the SP episode. Hope this helps... As odd as it sounds.
Okay if you have the
Okay if you have the heaviness on your chest,that is a different occurence and if you are seeing things. Are you a believer in Jesus Christ?
THiS JUST HAPPENED T0 ME RiGHT N0W!
0h my gosh! this just happened to me about 20 min ago f0r the very first time! I was s0 scared! I was ready for bed, I prayed then after about a minute I fell asleep but at the same time I still felt awake inside. I heard a buzzing noise that was getting louder and louder. But I thought it was just the heater noise. My body felt paralyzed. I could not move at all. I was just in anatomical position, frozen. I felt so scared. I wanted to yell my room mate's name but no sound was coming out of me because my lips couldn't move. In my mind I just kept yelling her name because I wanted to wake up, or get up. After about a minute I started hearing me yell her name inside my head. Then I slowly could move my right shoulder then the rest of my body followed. After that experience, I called my room mate right away and asked if she could sleep with me tonight. And now here I am typing this experience on her laptop in her room. I'm just glad I didn't see any shadowy figures or felt like something was attacking me like the other people described. That must be much more scary. I would probably cry if I experienced that also. I just hope I don't experience this again. It's scary!
There's saying tht you have to move your toe when SP is happenin
Hi my name is Tenzin and I'm from Tibet. My parents told me tht wheneva they experience such things, they spit on the face of tht dark figure and tell thm to go away. I did it too but it was useless. At hostel, we were told to move your toe and pray and i don't know if it's helpin or not. I was frightened as shit whenva it happens. So I'm like used to it but fear is alwaz there. Thesedays, I give them my cutie smile whenva I meet those figures. Tryin to be friendly though it's giving me heck of fear. Lol. I want to suggest my friends here tht you shoul be fine. Everything is normal, only difference is we all are dreaming different dream coz your dream belongs only to you. Haf a gudnite everyone!
This is bizare, as I had an
This is bizare, as I had an episode of this last night and have been for the past 3-4 years, of which I can remember. However, every time I try discussing this with a friend, "I wake up sometimes and can't move it's a horrible feeling, like you're still asleep. Have you ever experienced it?" And they would reply, "yeah like you're asleep and then you jump." And I always used to think no not like that, but was so confused by it all that I just linked the two.
In addition to the timing patterns stated above mine differs as I have NREM sleep where I wake up semi-conscious and start to sleep walk (i.e last night I was turning the light on and off, and sitting up in bed.) I can always vaguely remember these, then when I'm back in bed I fall back to sleep (probably to REM rest, I don't know as I'm no expert!) but find my self waking up 10-20 minutes later (it seems) completely paralyzed.
The usual thing which I experience is awareness and I find my self trying to fight it by telling myself to wake up. I can sometimes see the whole room, sometimes I just see blackness. I also get a horrible tingly stabbing sensation throughout my body, almost as though it could be shaking.
One of my experiences was very unusual, I felt out of body and it felt as though my body was spinning all around the room. Whether it was the feeling of the tingling causing me to hallucinate I do not know, but what I do know is that it was absolutely terrifying.
Another experience is I was asleep next to my mum in bed, and I was trying to call her for help for minutes, which seemed like hours! But no matter how hard I tried to scream it just seemed like a little murmur and no matter how hard I tried I could not scream, talk or get her attention. Finally when my body decided to function I woke my mum up and asked if she could hear me calling her. She said no, so I just assumed that I was dreaming.
Most episodes feel like they last from around a minute to several minutes. I probably get them 2-3 times a week, mostly after not long from being awake/sleep walking. Also I tend to find that I get them more if I eat before I go to bed, or I get them during naps in the day, or if I'm under alot of stress. I always wake up in the morning feeling rough with a bad headache if I do get SP. It is become a daily nightmare as I always feel exhausted!
I was talking to someone in
I was talking to someone in my dream, although not aware I was dreaming and a terrible feeling came over me. I felt a profoundly terrible feeling from my chest as if my life force was being sucked out of me. I saw though my dream and could see a black face with no eyes and the face of the person in my dream was like a mask covering the reality. The person was trying to keep my attention but i could see the evil grin of the true figure I looked down and could see its hands reaching into my chest... and that truelly terrifying feeling I dont know how to quite describe... intense fear, with a draining helplessness as if your very essence is being pulled out of you quite painfully x100. I became very angry the charcter was still talking to me and I yelled "F@@k you Liar get off me" and I pushed the figure. As I was pushing I awoke as I completed the "off me" portion of my sentance. I could still see the figure but more clearly now and was completely awake as anger replaced the fear the figure lost control and got up to leave. I was paralyzed but managed to break through it and Say "Im going to beat your a$$" as I sat up pulling away the covers. Just as I was getting to my feet the figure reached the door and dissapeared, its clothes had amazing detail it wore a fedora and a trenchcoat and I was left standing awake in my room with everthing just as it was while I could still see the figure a moment earlier.
When I awoke the figure was in the exact position as portrayed in the drawings on other sites.
I have had other times where I has woken from dreams paralized but it was not scary but those times were occompanied in the dream with dealing with some sort of entity. The first time was when in a nightmare I became lucid and demanded the presense chasing me stop and give me a gift... I awoke paralyzed to beautiful music. The second time I had a dream of watching a presence go to wherever bad things were occuring in some village i was looking down on the i went on some sort of car ride with someone who I identified as not being a regular dream character then all of a sudden I was on a sort of white astral plane with the figure that looked quite like the demon except for white but it had a good feeling to it and it gave me some advice on how to master fear saying "dont fight the waves of the ocean go with flow. Now comes the hard part." I awoke paralyzed to the sound of the tides of a beach in my bedroom.
i know is a spirit
At night when im asleep everything is quiete and suddenly i hear a voice more like an evil voice i can really hear what it is it said something to mei couldnt really make out what it was but it wanted to talk to me so i started waking my husband up but only i couldnt because i couldnt move i was being help by this spirit i felt like it was next to me in bed ..1 thing for sure i know it was a male spirit i just felt it because the voice was deep ..i sometimes freak out when im going to bed because im afraid this will continue..sometimes i try to fight it off by not being scared so i get up from my bed only i see my self lying down while im still in the air..THIS IS TRUE..ITS LIKE IM FLYING AROUND THE HOUSE OR SOMETHING IT WANTED ME TO COME OUT THE WINDOW SO I GOT SCARED AND STARTED PRAYING...WHEN I STARTED PRAYING IT WAS LIKE MY SOUL GOT CLOSED TO MY BODY IN BED AND I WOKE UP...what ever it is is trying to get to me and i dont know what to do..i want it to go away...sorry for rambling so much i needed to talk to someone .
Wow, the descriptions here
Wow, the descriptions here are very vivid and validate what I have experienced for more than 20 years. I am now 41. REading the descriptions especially about the choking feelings brings back my anxiety and almost a flashback experience. I know my grandmother had this and was also terrified by it, but she died when I was pretty young. My sister once told me just to stay alseep if I can't wake up and I could never quite explain how frightening it is. The "hallucinations" of someone being in the room or even doing something to me are also very similar to the ones described. My husband is supportive and knows to shake me if I make any type of moan in my sleep but often I can't or think I am but don't make a sound.
What helps
Always have a glass of water handy. If I wake up I sit up fast before I go back to sleep so it doesn't recur and drink the whole glass of water. This helps prevent the dry throat/ choking if it recurs. I need to really wake up before I can go back to sleep. If my husband is there I'll get him to push me up quick before I can go back to sleep.
Try never to nap and have very regular sleep hours. I had way more problems when my babies were little. I love naps but regret them when this occurs either during the nap or when I sleep that night and am not as tired.
I do better if I sleep 6-7 hours at night not more. I am not religious or superstitious so I only blame this on bad luck/genes. I have also tried to relax and wait but it is absolutely terrifying almost every time. Next time I am going to remember that you all wake up eventually every time as well!
am not sure.
I think I have sleep paralysis as well many times most of the time I cannot move but I test my tongue to make sure I am awake usually I can move my tongue but when I scream nothing will come out. Also there have been times when I'm not asleep and it happens. Once I was in bed and someone kept texting me I was awake I was going to text them back later because I didn't feel like it at the time. All of a sudden I felt this pressure on my body and I could feel something there I knew it was about to happen again. I started feeling more pressure on me and than my eye vison got blurry for a little and my eyelids kept trying to flicker shut but I was fighting to keep them open. I saw a black shadow go from one corner to the next. and than my vison was not blurry anymore and I was able to move. am I alone here and this isn't the worse case. sometimes I'm awake and my heart beat starts to race and my ears pop and I know it's about to happen. if you have an idea what you think it might be could you email
may be helpful for readers
if everyone would please google 'sleep paralysis' and 'astral projection' it might answer alot of your questions! your experiences feel very real because they ARE very real, but please note that when you bridge between the waking and sleeping worlds, your mind will still interpret and manifest things symbolically, and so if the idea of paralysis is frightening to you, your mind will still interpret your feelings into a somewhat frightening physical manifestation. i have myself had numerous experiences with the "some one sitting on my chest thing" and it was very confusing until my friend explained to me from a metaphysical standpoint what it's all about. so rest assured that yes, these experiences are more than dreams, but no, they are certaintly NOT demonic in nature. sleep paralysis is harmless, and is associated with the pressure placed on your chest when your soul returns into your body at night after projection. HOPE THAT HELPED!
hello
my name is keshia and i'm a 21 year old girl trying to get to the bottom of a lot of experiences i've had in my life. hallucinatory sleep paralysis had to have been by far the worst.i have read countless books and websites and am very curious as to why most scientists are not seeming to realize the demonic pattern in these occurances. many people around the world, of different ethnic, religious and spiritual backgrounds are having the very same experiences. it is not something our subconcious minds are making up.we are very awake, very concious and very scared when this happens. i myself have had many paranormal experiences in my life, angelic experiences (:D), i can see auara's and am very sensitive to energy. i've already decided to devote my life to trying to understand these phenomenons and how to help others going through them. we all KNOW intuitivly that what we feel when this happens is not the average nightmare. and so far, our science cannot explain this. hehe, anyways, i would really like to talk to more people about this, so maybe oneday in life, i can be someone who will help solve these nightmares so we can all have a sound sleep with peace and love in our hearts all the time. xoxo.
sleep paralysis
Hi, my name is tracie and i am also 21. I am writing you not on my account but on my cousin amanda's. She has experienced something similar to this. She said she saw scary visions and she said it felt like the bed was being shaken and she didn't move or make any noise during this because i was in the same room and slept through all of it. And my friend pointed out that it was around 3 when this happened. I wondered if that was a coincedence like on Amnityville Horror, when the guy wakes up at 3 and goes crazy and sees crazy things.
Hmm, thats a very interesting
Hmm, thats a very interesting idea. Usually things like that start happening at 3:15. I will tell you one thing though, to help someone who's terrified you must turn them back to a positive state. Negative presences are weak against an even powerfuller positive feeling, so whatever she does (pray, fight back, start thinking about who protects you) anything positive will work but she has to be more stronger then the negative presence. This is coming from a young person who's not even 20 yet and I've also wondered why things start to stur up at 3AM.
P.S. "Stay Strong, be strong."
WOW this sight is very
WOW this sight is very interesting, i have been experiencing these episodes for a while now but tonight it really scared me. I feel like im being raped and im not sleep at all, i get the sleep paralysis when i wake up after a dream and im just lying in bed. Right now it is 5:51 am and i cannot go back to bed because im to scared. Sometimes i can feel a person touching me inappropriatley and even trying to kiss me and other times somethings just holding my neck down but i can see a dark shadow above me, i try to just close my eyes so i cant see and relax until its over but its really scary and i wish there was something i could do.
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