View Full Version : [OT] Do you experience sleep paralysis?
Many of you will be familiar with this. You wake up in the middle of the night, but you can't move. You may see or hear things in the room with you - you can even open your eyes, but no matter how hard you try, you can't move. Sometimes you may feel like you are moving but there's something not right about it.
There is oh so much more I could go into about this but lets see what happens first.
That would rule if someone in your family had it.
Oh, the fun you could have with them...
How weird... and I thought it was just me who had this? I've been getting this fairly regularly (maybe once or twice a week) for perhaps the last 9/10 months now, and haven't heard of anyone else who has had it... until now. Not quite sure what causes it, but for me it quite often (not always) ties in with the same kind of dream. Can any of you guys shed some light on this? I'd love to be able to stop it happening :-)
-= Jimi =-
I sometimes get this if i'm tired & fall asleep during the day, last time i got it was when i was watching the TV in my room & fell asleep, i started dreaming but at some point, dont know after how long i realised i could still hear the TV and knew i was asleep yet i couldnt move and it felt kinda like my eyelids were glued shut.
I have once tried shouting when this happened and it lasted a while but all i could manage was breathing out real fast.
http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html
Reading that site posted above reminded me of one of these "experiences" about a year ago where i could see the black shadow of a person, no features just a shadow against the orange glow from the street lamps outside but it was like it was kneeling at the bottom of my bed & slightly turned to the side facing the window.
I remember looking at it for a few seconds then trying to get out of the bed to get to the door but not being able to move, so i closed my eyes for a while (if they were even open in the 1st place im not sure) hoping it would be gone when i re-opened them but it was still there, as i took a breath to shout i was able to move again and i went straight for the light switch.
That actually kept me awake the night after.
eric-the-ded
24-07-04, 05:59
i've never had it but i've always wanted to.
even tho it's just some mundane sleep disorder it's always interested me. from all the stories i've read it seems to trigger some crazy semi-awake dreams. the crazier my dreams are, the more i like em. they usually inspire me to make some demented picture that none understands but me.
confusing the masses is always fun.
Everyone experiences it every night while they are asleep.
Your body releases a chemical that paralises you temporarily so that you don't injur yourself in your dreams.
It's very scary when you wake up though and you can't move. It's happened to me a number of times.
TheGreatMilenko
24-07-04, 07:23
iv never had stuff like that onlything iv had is scared paralization was when i was around 10 tho shadows are scary somtimes
You have 2 bodys one is the physical and the other is the Astral body the Astral body is like the self the life force. Everynight when you goto sleep your Astral body floats slighty out of the physical body :) and if your mind becomes awake during that time. You will feel wierd yes and like your floating in mid air you might not be able to feel your arms or legs, its because your not in your physical body and just have not relised it. Don't beleave it if you want but when I was young I once had a full outer body just befor I wokeup I remember being in my room 1 min and the next I was in my school o_O
i know 2 people who experience this myself, doesnt sound very pleasent.
My problem is insomnia, personally, If I'm not careful and I stay awake for more than 24 hours, it happens a lot, I'm screwed for 4 or 5 days..
It's easy, too..wake up too early, like 6:00am, do my stuff, clean up the place, go to work at 6:00pm, get home at 2:00 or 3:00am on a bad night...have supper, smoke a doob, 5:00am now..log on NC to see what's happening, oh, my friends are there, end up online til about noon...aw shit..I forgot, cant go to sleep, my kid's mom has an appointment and needs me to pick up my daughter from the daycare.
Second wind arrives automatically when my little girl is there, she comes first before all....pretty much running on instinct/adrenaline at this point...
Drop her off at Mom's at 10:00pm, dont have to work for a few days, not much to do until the weekend..might as well log on again until I'm tired enough to sleep..and then 3 or 4 days have passed.
Shut the PC off, warm milk, fat joint, alcohol, nuthin' helps, not even sex.
Problem is, I'm stuck in one of these right now..out of the ordinary, had to work at 5:00am the other day, thursday i think it was, after that, promised a bro I'd babysit for him, etc....
My liitle girl wakes up in 4 hours for her breakfast, and I cant close my eyes. Wheee!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sleep deprivation is funny at first, but then it's like bad acid that just never wears off.
when i do sleep (which is rarely) and wake up the only reason i dont move is because i cant be arsed.
Reading that site posted above reminded me of one of these "experiences" about a year ago where i could see the black shadow of a person, no features just a shadow against the orange glow from the street lamps outside but it was like it was kneeling at the bottom of my bed & slightly turned to the side facing the window.
I remember looking at it for a few seconds then trying to get out of the bed to get to the door but not being able to move, so i closed my eyes for a while (if they were even open in the 1st place im not sure) hoping it would be gone when i re-opened them but it was still there, as i took a breath to shout i was able to move again and i went straight for the light switch.
That actually kept me awake the night after.
Man that story freaks me out. I got shivers when reading that. I`ve seen something of the same, though the person-shadow was standing in front of my closet. I wasn`t paralyzed though. Lights on and in attack mode. I kept the lights on as well hehe.
Q`alooaith
24-07-04, 09:57
I've never suffered from this condition, but I have been under a general anathetic that failed to put me under, now that is scary, they put a muscle relaxant into it so you don't thrash about while they are cutting, drilling and sawing, too little anasthetic though and you don't go to sleep so your wide awake and unable to move.
More common in the US though as the training requirements are, ahem, diffrent.
Richard Slade
24-07-04, 10:41
You people sleep...
At night..? o_O
Two times when i was little. Couldnt open my eyes or move - i knew i was asleep, i could hear myself breathe.
hmm I"ve woken up and been frozen with fear . . . when I was a kid. But other than that I haven't had any problems with Incubus.
omg ima gonna have nightmares... HMMM GOOD POST IDEA SCARY EXPERIENCES
I don't think this happens to me but then I'm told that I've had entire conversations with people while still in bed - and I have no recollection of it at all 8|
I could be a sleep walking, all singing, all dancing serial killer and I wouldn't have the first idea about it. Always feel awake during the day though :)
When I was little I had a really bad nightmare and I knew I was dreaming and didnt like it and tried to wake up so I hitmyself in the face with my both hands to wake up from the dream, it did the trick :D
But if you wake up and cant move, that's because your body is still sleeping but your brain is awake or vice versa. I think it's a pretty common, most people that say they get alien abducted is usually suffering from this and dreamed it all while in this state.
EDIT: You should be glad you are having nightmare at least, I've not had any nightmares for MANY MANY years, maybe 7-10. Or I'm not afraid anymore :rolleyes:
Q`alooaith
24-07-04, 13:44
It's when your body think's your still sleeping, it ignores everything you tell it to do when dreaming..
The sudden rush of adrenalin probably woke you up more than the slap in the face..
What's it like to dream anyway, sound's quite interseting.
This is slightly to do with the same thing.. you can be lying in bed.. semi-concious.. and it feels like your bed has dropped beneth you and then you land on it again!?
ill try and clarify this, its as if the bed has moved from beneth you and then you land on it again.. and no im not 'dropping of to sleep' :lol:
anyone else ever get that feeling?
The only weird feeling I cant get is if I go to sleep with the lights on and suddenly it feels like someone just pulled my arm or body and I wake up.
greendonkeyuk
24-07-04, 15:09
im the opposite of this i think, ive been told im more active when im asleep sometimes than when im awake. i fidget like anythin in bed, to the point where i have to sleep star-shaped sometimes so as not to move about. i also talk and walk in my sleep as well which isnt good.
Yeah you can do some crazy stuff while asleep. I've been told I talk, sometimes quite coherently in my sleep, but I'm pretty sure loads of people suffer from that. The whole sleep paralysis thing tho is just in a different league to a weird dream, or bad nightmare. When I've realised I can't move, I usually try shaking as hard as I can from side to side to wake myself up, but it seems to have no real effect (as in I'm not moving at all) until suddenly I can move freely again and am fully awake. It's probably one of the weirdest feelings I've experienced.
And Ascention, yeah I've had that too, where your lying there and suddenly you wake up because it felt like you just fell five feet onto your bed... Also very weird... :-(
-= Jimi =-
I suffer from Night Terror disorder.
Any sleep disorder sounds funky to people who don't really suffer from them but those who have to put up with it tend not to think they are that funky.
I tend not to sleep much partially because of my problem, the doctors don't know much about the brain and can't do anything about it except help you change your diet incase that is inflaming the problem. I sleep so little now that it is not un-normal for me to stay awake for 48 hours easily. I sleep on average around 3 hours a night.
I feel bad for my girlfriend too as it's always disturbing her sleep :(
What's it like to dream anyway, sound's quite interseting.
Hmm..by most studies I've read..everybody dreams, whether they remember it or not...
Interesting..
(Not a flame or whatever, by the way, just curious) :)
I suffer from Night Terror disorder.
Any sleep disorder sounds funky to people who don't really suffer from them but those who have to put up with it tend not to think they are that funky.
I tend not to sleep much partially because of my problem, the doctors don't know much about the brain and can't do anything about it except help you change your diet incase that is inflaming the problem. I sleep so little now that it is not un-normal for me to stay awake for 48 hours easily. I sleep on average around 3 hours a night.
I feel bad for my girlfriend too as it's always disturbing her sleep :(
My sympathies..my cousin had that, still not sure how that worked out.
(Maybe I'm not addicted to NC, I'm just scared. Sure, I could quit anytime..)
This crap happens to me more than I'd like normally when I'm really tierd first I start to dream as I'm drifting off to sleep. Then its like my whole body just disapears and I'm aware of this happening first the legs then the arms then it happens so fast I feel like I shrink into a small ball. I can't even feel my self breathing 8| but I can still hear my self breathing and the shock of this wakes me right up and it feels like a massive electric shock or falling back onto the bed from a great high its not that nice of an experince kind of feels like I could die :eek:
This crap happens to me more than I'd like normally when I'm really tierd first I start to dream as I'm drifting off to sleep. Then its like my whole body just disapears and I'm aware of this happening first the legs then the arms then it happens so fast I feel like I shrink into a small ball. I can't even feel my self breathing 8| but I can still hear my self breathing and the shock of this wakes me right up and it feels like a massive electric shock or falling back onto the bed from a great high its not that nice of an experince kind of feels like I could die :eek:
mines kinda different ...tho it doesnt happen as much anymore but i sometimes wake up in the middle of the night as if i have jus fallen back into bed and it is worrying, i also used to suffer from night terrors when i used to live in the house previous to the one i live in now, when i was 8 - 11 i lived in an old town house and at 11pm garanteed i would wake up screaming and not remember it in the morning, my parents could set the clock to it that it would happen and they would jus wait for it, tho i suddenly stoped doing it when i moved into my current house :wtf: .... the doctor said i would grow out if it but it was weird when it jus stoped when i moved house
This crap happens to me more than I'd like normally when I'm really tierd first I start to dream as I'm drifting off to sleep. Then its like my whole body just disapears and I'm aware of this happening first the legs then the arms then it happens so fast I feel like I shrink into a small ball. I can't even feel my self breathing 8| but I can still hear my self breathing and the shock of this wakes me right up and it feels like a massive electric shock or falling back onto the bed from a great high its not that nice of an experince kind of feels like I could die :eek:
Yeah that's the way it feels for me when I go to bed with the lights on, a shocky feeling. I dont fall down on the bed though, it just feels like someone pushed me and I get scared and wake up. Happened a couple of times, but the feeling that occurs shocks me, but it definitively doesnt hurt in any way, it just scares you.
This is slightly to do with the same thing.. you can be lying in bed.. semi-concious.. and it feels like your bed has dropped beneth you and then you land on it again!?
ill try and clarify this, its as if the bed has moved from beneth you and then you land on it again.. and no im not 'dropping of to sleep'
anyone else ever get that feeling?
And Ascention, yeah I've had that too, where your lying there and suddenly you wake up because it felt like you just fell five feet onto your bed... Also very weird... :-(
-= Jimi =-You can experince the same thing in Neocron! You'll be walking around CRP or those areas and all of a sudden you're falling through the map .. . then Ploop! you're back on the regular ground as if you never fell at all. :D Heh, used to happen alot in beta and I think it was supposed to have been fixed for the most part but I guess there are still kinks with it around.
But yea the falling off bed in sleep is funky and usually results in the lil gnomes in your head going into panic and saying "O'Shit! Push all buttons!" and then you wake up and swing all your limbs funky. :p
Then you feel like such a dumbass and hope someone wasn't recording you sleeping ^^;;
.... the doctor said i would grow out if it but it was weird when it jus stoped when i moved house naughty spirits 8|
Some interesting responses.
I've been studying this phenoma for years - here is some simplified info that I have learned:
For you to be in REM sleep, there is a chemical switch that is flipped in your body which paralyses you from the neck down.
The absence of this chemical means that memories cannot be formed - this is why you do not rememeber your dreams.
If you are woken up during a dream, (i.e. due to a noise) then you will remember what you were dreaming about as during wake up, the memory forming chemical is present again meaning your memories work, however they can fade fast. You can have fun experimenting with this by setting an alarm at various points during the night. Keep a pen and paper handy by the bed and write down your dreams. It's amazing to read back through in the future and realise just how much you forget.
Due to the chemical switch, it works both ways - if your body cannot move then you ARE in REM sleep. Your upper brain is awake, lower brain asleep.
It is the exact opposite of Somnabulism, or sleep walking. (Upper brain asleep, lower brain awake).
People sleepwalking are NOT acting out their dreams. They are normally trying to find a loo...
You CAN open your eyes as they are not paralysed, however it can be difficult, and also weird as you can see things you "expect" to see - i.e. if you are convinced there is a monster in the cupboard or someone in the room with you, then you may very well see a manifestation of this.
During Sleep Paralysis, you are literally concious during dreaming sleep. This means that anything you think about you will experience
You may be familiar with the story about the "old hag" that sits on your chest and steals your breath - this is an attempt to rationalise the experience. The breath stealing I attribute to a condition known as sleep apnea that can happen during sleep, but can also happen while you are "concious" during sleep paralysis and is a condition where you cannot breathe properly. (Its happened to me on several occasions during SP)
If you keep calm during the experience, you can learn to control it
Anything you think about you WILL experience. i.e. if you are predisposed to belief in the supernatural or aliens, you may see some seriously weird shit.
I believe that many "alien abductions" are simply the modern version of "faerie abductions" which I believe are all the result of sleep paralysis.
It can be brought on by being over tired or sometimes diet. Personally if I stay up until around 5am (When I would normally go to sleep 12-1am) then there is a high probability that I will get it. If I "induce" it during this time, then I will almost certainly experience it.
Do not fear it. Being afraid of the experience is the worst thing you can do as your brain will learn to associate the experience with fear.
It is possible to have some very very nice experiences during sleep paralysis, including leaving your body and floating.
It is linked to lucid dreaming. You can turn a sleep paralysis episode into a lucid dream and vis versa.
If you can think on, when it happens, try to look at your hands. They melt(!)
Artistic people are more predisposed to experience sleep paralysis. Unfortunately, they are also more predisposed to believe in the supernatural, hence the experience can freak them out.
You can learn to induce it (took me eight months of practice but I learned how to do it). Controlling it is difficult however.
You WILL have some very weird experiences.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE! One guy I spoke to about this actually broke down in tears while I was telling him as he was terrified when it happened and didn't tell anyone because he thought he was going crazy.
If you want to avoid it completely, try to sleep regularly and dont let yourself get too tired. Experiments with diet can also help. If you become aware that you are in the experience and want to escape, concentrate on making a tiny movement such as your little finger. Keep concentrating on it and you will break out of it.
If you become aware that you are out of your body, this is actually very cool, however moving around is very difficult at first. Rather than trying to move your limbs (wont work - you are floating) try to focus on where you want to go and mentally "pull" yourself towards it. This also works for lucid dreams.
You may see a bright white light in the room with you - dont worry about it.
You may feel like an intensely evil presence is in the room with you, and you WILL feel afraid (cant control your emotions very well in this state). Not much I can suggest apart from try to break out as mentioned above.
I hope ppl find this useful.
S.
some reason the past couple weeks, no matter how much sleep i get ( could be 2 hrs, 3 hrs...12 hrs... ) i wake up at exactly 5:11 am... no clue why... no alarm in the house is set to anything even 2 hours away from it... and no one is awake in the house, nothing is even on in the house cept some fans and the air conditioner.
last year for like 3 months i kept waking up at 3:11 am exactly.
pretty weird O_o i mean i just wake straight up, not tired or nothing... usually when i wake up im still tired as hell and try to get in any extra minutes i can...
but when i woke up at those exact times without any alarm or anything i sat straight up, from laying down, felt completely rested yet not tired at all as if ive been up for hours O_o...
and i dont mean around 5:11am or 3:11am, i mean EXACTLY 3:11 and 5:11... not 12, not 10, but EXACTLY that time, every day.
pretty weird O_o
edit:
oh, and i think i did experience what the dude above said about sensing an evil presence and shit because 1 time i woke up in the middle of the night, cant really remember if i could move or anything, but i felt scared as fuckin hell and all the hair on my arms was stickin straight out and i had goose bumps all over and cold chills ( dunno if thats same thing tho since i could feel all that ), but i was close my eyes and went back to bed O_o
You say it can be induced?
How do you go about doing this?
Not that i want to try it coz i hope i never have this happen again, just interested, and mebbe it will give me a clue as to what NOT to do when i'm trying to get to sleep.
sanityislost
25-07-04, 04:46
dunno if ive had sleep paralysis, but i had people come in my room while im
sleeping and had long convo's with them, even walked downstairs got
something to eat and then went back in my bed while still sleeping.
then when i wake up i dunno if i dream all that stuff or if it was real :/
SiL ..:..
eric-the-ded
25-07-04, 05:23
tho i've never had sleep paralysis, i have had those dreams where you wake up.
you know.. when you dream that you just woke up from a dream and you're convinced that you're really awake. then you really do wake up but you're not sure if you're awake or just dreaming that you're awake.
i hate those just because of how confused you feel afterwards.
tho i've never had sleep paralysis, i have had those dreams where you wake up.
you know.. when you dream that you just woke up from a dream and you're convinced that you're really awake. then you really do wake up but you're not sure if you're awake or just dreaming that you're awake.
i hate those just because of how confused you feel afterwards.
i have that ALL THE TIME...
also i have a dream and it merges into another dream COMPLETELY unrelated...
ie: i was having a dream where i was at this hot asian chicks mansion then suddenly i was driving a tiny ass clown car through a street and there was my best friend in a mercedes on the side of the road sticking his thumb out as if hitch hiking... well i stopped and him ( along with the mercedes ) some how got in my clown car and i drove to the bank( no clue why ). well then suddenly i was at my grandmas living room during chrismas with my clown car and the mercedes with my best friend in it.
we got out and went outside and it was snowing as hell and i woke up...
was pure freaky O_o
Related question: Has anyone even figured out that
-"Hey, this got to be a dream, i can do what i want to do!!!"
Happened to me once. Was pretty cool.
Lucid Dream
25-07-04, 11:17
Related question: Has anyone even figured out that
-"Hey, this got to be a dream, i can do what i want to do!!!"
Happened to me once. Was pretty cool.
<<<<<
yeah, its a lucid dream.
When i was younger, i would have dreams where i was semi-awake, and i would see aliens and shit, and i would try to scream and not be able to, to this day, when i walk down a dark hallway (like the hallway to my room <_< and all of a sudden i think to myself 'what if all of a sudden, a fucking alien just showed up 4 or 5 yards in front of me, what would i do?' i then quickly walk into my room, slam the door, and i feel like i just ran 50 meters.
Related question: Has anyone even figured out that
-"Hey, this got to be a dream, i can do what i want to do!!!"
Happened to me once. Was pretty cool.
In almost all my dreams, i can do what i want because i no im dreaming...
So sometimes i rob a bank, or i do shit ^^
ill try and clarify this, its as if the bed has moved from beneth you and then you land on it again.. and no im not 'dropping of to sleep'
anyone else ever get that feeling?
That happens a lot to me
some reason the past couple weeks, no matter how much sleep i get ( could be 2 hrs, 3 hrs...12 hrs... ) i wake up at exactly 5:11 am... no clue why... no alarm in the house is set to anything even 2 hours away from it... and no one is awake in the house, nothing is even on in the house cept some fans and the air conditioner.
Sometimes, when i have to go to work and i forgot to set the alarm, i wake up exactly at the time the alarm should be... and thats not because i wake up every morning at the same time because i dont...
Did anyone dreamt that he was going to work without shoes ?
I dont no why, but that happens a lot to me and my family
<snip>
but when i woke up at those exact times without any alarm or anything i sat straight up, from laying down, felt completely rested yet not tired at all as if ive been up for hours O_o...
Sounds to me like your internal clock is doing it's thing - it's natural to wake up around the same time every day (although being precisely a .11 time is a bit strange!) however naturally waking up is great because its the end of your body's cycle meaning it's done sleeping for the night, and that's why you feel great. Its when you are woken by an alarm and your body isnt expecting it when you feel crap in the morning.
edit:
oh, and i think i did experience what the dude above said about sensing an evil presence and shit because 1 time i woke up in the middle of the night, cant really remember if i could move or anything, but i felt scared as fuckin hell and all the hair on my arms was stickin straight out and i had goose bumps all over and cold chills ( dunno if thats same thing tho since i could feel all that ), but i was close my eyes and went back to bed O_o
Sounds like sleep paralysis or night terrors to me - I think most people get it at least a couple of times in their life.
tho i've never had sleep paralysis, i have had those dreams where you wake up.
you know.. when you dream that you just woke up from a dream and you're convinced that you're really awake. then you really do wake up but you're not sure if you're awake or just dreaming that you're awake.
i hate those just because of how confused you feel afterwards.
That's called "False Awakening" - search Google for more info.
You say it can be induced?
How do you go about doing this?
Not that i want to try it coz i hope i never have this happen again, just interested, and mebbe it will give me a clue as to what NOT to do when i'm trying to get to sleep.
It takes a while to get it right, but essentially it involves lying on your back and performing a deep relaxation technique, then "charging your chakras" and performing some visualisation excercises.
It's difficult as deep rooted belief systems can get in the way - for example I don't believe in chakras par se and so on but it works. For me its kind of like having to suspend disbelief while watching a far fetched movie.
To induced an out of body experence lay down in your bed it don't have to be on your back just which ever way is most comfortable. Concentrate your thoughts just above the eyes in the center above the nose and keep it there and let your body goto to sleep. It is important not to actally let your mind fall asleep thats why you must keep focused at that very point and let your limbs relax. There are many things that will get in the way if you try too hard for instance or let your mind fall asleep while you were dreaming. If you do it right you feel like your starting to float and the sensation in your body fades out.
At that point you need to try and let it get stronger by continuing to concentrate your thoughts at your fore head like your minds eye ignore everything else. Then in a quick instant it will happen Too you will feel like all your sences just rushed into that one spot like you got as small as a football it is this that messes me up and scares the shit out of me. So I stoped doing it but I can lay down right now and go through that whole process but I freak out when I get close. Its not like something where you would go did I leave my body? its something where you know you have
eric-the-ded
25-07-04, 22:36
To induced an out of body experence lay down in your bed it don't have to be on your back just which ever way is most comfortable. Concentrate your thoughts just above the eyes in the center above the nose and keep it there and let your body goto to sleep. It is important not to actally let your mind fall asleep thats why you must keep focused at that very point and let your limbs relax. There are many things that will get in the way if you try too hard for instance or let your mind fall asleep while you were dreaming. If you do it right you feel like your starting to float and the sensation in your body fades out.
At that point you need to try and let it get stronger by continuing to concentrate your thoughts at your fore head like your minds eye ignore everything else. Then in a quick instant it will happen Too you will feel like all your sences just rushed into that one spot like you got as small as a football it is this that messes me up and scares the shit out of me. So I stoped doing it but I can lay down right now and go through that whole process but I freak out when I get close. Its not like something where you would go did I leave my body? its something where you know you have
did you read robert monroe's books or sumthin?
did you read robert monroe's books or sumthin?
hehe
I got an instrest in this stuff simply becuase of a wierd type of dream when I was little where I could not open my eyes or move and going to my school and shit. I slightly remember looking down at my self sleeping just befor I wokeup I was very young like 8 years old I told my mum and she told me it might have been an out of body. So I read some stuff on the internet :D
hehe
I got an instrest in this stuff simply becuase of a wierd type of dream when I was little where I could not open my eyes or move and going to my school and shit. I slightly remember looking down at my self sleeping just befor I wokeup I was very young like 8 years old I told my mum and she told me it might have been an out of body. So I read some stuff on the internet :D
ohh, so this happend a couple weeks ago? ( jk ;] just had to ;P )
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