Sleep paralysis

Yeah happens to me all the time. Freaks me out. I always feel like if I don't wake up I'm going to die or something and I sort of struggle to wake myself up like dragging myself through quicksand.

I think it has something to do with my Anxiety Disorders but that's only a guess.

 

Not sure. I've had situations where I feel as if I am 'paralysed' during sleep - usually after someone has died - and I feel their presence. Not sure if this is real or imaginary - but it certainly feels as if I genuinely have some sort of psychic connection....

 

wow i can't even imagine that...it sounds really terrifying, but i'm so curious about it right now i wouldn't mind experiencing it at least once...but sorry i don't know nothing abou that

 

Yeah, it happens to me all the time... It's such a horrifying feeling.
The first time it happened to me I actually thought I was dying. From what I've read, it happens when you wake up during a REM (Rapid eye movement) cycle, which is when you dream; The brain paralyzes the body during REM cycles so you can't hurt yourself while you dream. When you wake up abruptly, the brain thinks you're still asleep, and the paralysis continues, but only for a few seconds. It can also happen when you're falling asleep.

 

Nowadays it's not that common for me, although there was a time when I got it almost every night.
It happens either when I'm tired enough to fall asleep on my back, or when I wake up from a bad dream. Usually the dream starts out as neutral, then it turns into a nightmare, and then I get sleep paralysis. Most of the time I try to turn on the lights, realize they don't work and creep out -> SP
Never had any hallucinations though, I mean like imagery, only voices, like a deep, demonic voice speaking a weird language, or the sound of the wind howling. Kinda creepy but interesting.
I sometimes try to turn it into a lucid dream, but I haven't ever succeded, sadly.

 

As a lucid dreamer, I often go out of the way to try and induce sleep paralysis! When you're aware of what happens and why it happens, it's not a terrifying experience at all. In fact, it's all rather interesting.

If you want to try and induce sleep paralysis, the trick is to lay down and set a firm intention that you will notice when you begin to fall asleep. It's very hard; nine times out of ten you will fail. But once you know you're in it, you can sort of "roll" into a lucid dream easily at that point.

 

I read, its like an out of body exprience, like astral projection!

I would love to exprience it

A lot of the pictures of sleep paralysis, theres a "demon" sorta thing sitting on top of the bed.

 

yes, but honestly for me it's not 'scary'.

 

that demon isn't sitting on the bed, it's sitting on her. Also, it's nothing like an astral projection. It's like being completely paralized and having someone scary do thigns to you. It makes you feel extremely vulnerable.

Sleep Paralysis was one of the factors that played into the Salem Witch Trials. When people experienced Sleep Paralysis, they often dreamed of witches coming and sitting on them, or putting holding them down in some way. People thought it was a witch trying to hurt you or something.

I used to get sleep paralysis all the time when I lived in the dorms. It's since stopped, thankfully. That stuff is scary! You always feel like you're dieing right before you wake up. it's like you can't move at all and almost can't even feel yourself breathe. I used to always dream of some shrouded figure coming into my room and pulling me off my bed by the ankles. When I hit the ground, I would wake up. It's so scary because It feels so absolutely real.

 

I know what you mean when I actually fall asleep. Weird thing is I wake right up. Its like my body only needs 2 hours sleep.

 

I have sleep paralysis on a semi-regular basis. It tends to occur more when I'm napping or when I sleep on my back. Basically, I wake up from sleep and can't move anything except my eyes. I've had it last as long as half an hour and as short as a couple minutes. I've also had some "hallucinations"/dreams while I'm trying to move. I've researched many ways to break free of it, but they tend to work randomly and not with any regularity. Also, if I don't physically get out of bed as soon as I am able to move, then I will quickly fall back into sleep paralysis.

Basically it annoys me a lot and I'm worried I'm gonna be late for class one day.

 

This used to happen to me quite frequently, but not as much lately. There's a term for the state between sleep and wakefulness - hypnagogia - which is when the brain can still be creating dreams (and hence releasing a paralyzing hormone so you don't flail about in your sleep), but you are awake enough to be aware of your surroundings. For me, it used to manifest as very realistic sensory hallucinations - I could clearly hear music or people talking, feel hands touching me, etc. It used to scare the piss out of me but I've gotten used to it.

 

A lot of what you all are mentioning has happened to me before, for example, sometimes i'll be trying to fall asleep, and right when I'm finally about to, someone comes and jolts me awake, and I cant move for a few seconds right away, which is terrifying. Also, ivhave really vivid dreams, sometimes they're so realistic that I get them so ingrained into my brain that i think they are memories. I have some things that may or may not have happened in reality permanently etched into my brain, and the said thing is that I don't think that i'll ever be able to find out if those things ever happened

 

I think I had a bit of this a while back.

I would be awake, but I felt like I couldn't move my leg or sometimes my whole body to get comfortable. It would require forcing myself to violently shake to get rid of the immobility and return to normal.

It's very strange and definitely freaky. Haven't had it in a long time though thankfully.