Freaky Sleep Paralysis: Being Awake in Your Nightmares

[Are_grits_groceries]

You wake up, but you can’t move a muscle. Lying in bed, you’re totally conscious, and you realize that strange things are happening. There’s a crushing weight on your chest that’s humanoid. And it’s evil.

You’ve awakened into the dream world.

This is not the conceit for a new horror movie starring a ragged middle-aged Freddie Prinze Jr., it’s a standard description of the experience of a real medical condition: sleep paralysis. It’s a strange phenomenon that seems to happen to about half the population at least once.

People who experience it find themselves awake in the dream world for anywhere from a few seconds to 10 minutes, often experiencing hallucinations with dark undertones. Cultures from everywhere from Newfoundland to the Caribbean to Japan have come up with spiritual explanations for the phenomenon. Now, a new article in The Psychologist suggests sleep researchers are finally figuring out the neurological basis of the condition.
<snip>

As David McCarty, a sleep researcher at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center’s Sleep Medicine Program, explained it, humans tend to think about the elements of the different stages of sleep as packaged nicely together. So, in REM sleep, you’re unconscious, experiencing a variety of sensory experiences, and almost all of your muscles are paralyzed (that’s called atonia).

“But in reality you can disassociate those elements,” McCarty said.

In sleep paralysis, two of the key REM sleep components are present, but you’re not unconscious.

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/sleep_paralys... /

This is one of the frickin' scariest things I have experienced. It has happened to me several times.

One time I felt like I was standing at an open window looking out into the night. Suddenly a dark, ominous figure was running towards me, and I couldn't move. I woke up right before he got there.

If I check out from a heart attack one night, it might just be from one of these episodes.

[Glorfindel]

1. I have experienced this weird phenomenon several times, too -

first as a child when I thought I was being attacked by lions (I guess I had watched too many Tarzan movies). What makes it especially horrifying is that you can't make a sound, either, to call for help.

[Wizard777]

16. I've experienced the inverse of this. Which is Dream Control.

This is where your conscious mind awakens in a dream just enough for you to realize your dreaming and begin controlling the dream. But it doesn't awaken enough to stop the dream. The subconscious is still dominant. But there is no sleep paralysis with this. You can also be aware that your arms, legs and body are moving. If you focus on this too much the dream will end as the conscious mind rises into dominance like the sun rises in the sky.

So this subconscious condition, to which the sleep paralysis is just one facet of, is the direct opposite of Dream Control. That creates a Paradox of Dream Control vs. Unrestrained Nightmare. The black and white of the gray scale between them is very interesting. Especially awaking from the Unrestrained Nightmare to find that you are indeed restrained and horrified. For people that have persistent problems with this. The best way to over come the problem is teach them Dream Control. A nightmare is nothing more than a dream in which you have no control. You are at the mercy of something more powerful than you. Once you catch yourself in the nightmare the next step is to establish Control. Not wake yourself up. You begin to bend the dream to your will. Paint a rainbow in the dark sky. Bid your demons to die. Pick your feet up off the ground and begin to fly. Begin to move around. Command the Sun to arise. To light the way into a new day. Your nightmare is now dream in which you are in complete control.

For those of you who will say, Wiz I don't understand the words and symbols of the videos. Your speaking in riddles. I say, understanding is function of the conscious mind. Don't worry yourself, your subconscious mind will understand exactly what I have said to you in this way. Pleasant Dreams.

[dysfunctional press]

19. i'v gotten to a point where i can generally realize what's happening...

i have sleep paralysis episodes every other month or so...it's definitely not as scary anymore, especially since i did a bunch of research on the topic. it's more like a thrill ride at an amusement park- you may not know what's coming, and it can still be kind of disconcerting- but you know you aren't going to get hurt.

[Wizard777]

24. Your facing your fears. Command the Sun to arise and Carpe Diem!

[The Stranger]

21. Fucking cool.

I can't wait to try this out.

Of course, how do we know that this isn't a dream, and the other conscious state is reality?

[Wizard777]

25. Rene' Descartes, "I think therefore I am." Get rational on your doubts.

Before you begin to fear the unknown they create.

[The Stranger]

70. Familiar with it.

But the question remains whether any one state of consciousness is more "am" than another.

[Wizard777]

75. I've had what they call a near death experience. But I was there. I crossed over.

What I can tell you from that is what we accept as reality is merely illusion. The Dream World of Morpheus is substantial. We spend 1/3 of our life there. Even if you live 1,000 years. You will spend far more time being dead than alive. The realities of life are just fleeting illusions.

[FatDave]

52. They say that dreams are real for as long as they exist.

But couldn't the same be said for life?

Taken directly from the Richard Linklater film Waking Life, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in this stuff.

[shadowknows69]

73. Yep, excellent movie.

[Wizard777]

76. Exactly! Also our perception of "reality" shifts. We claim to know what it is.

But we've only recently scratched it's surface. Until we have discovered the whole of reality and fully understand the simple nature of it's complexities. We all exist in varying degrees of psychosis. Not being entirely in touch with all reality.

[FatDave]

55. If you go experimenting with lucid dreaming...

which is a ton of fun by the way and I highly recommend it, you will probably experience sleep paralysis at some point, which is scary. I've been pinned to the bed, unable to move, hearing the rustling of unknown forces all around my bed. It's freaky as hell.

The upside, is that you do seem to have your rational brain with you while this goes on, and if you know about sleep paralysis, you can say "Ah, this is sleep paralysis. Man, this is fucked up." and not be as frightened. And it passes after a minute or two. The first time is the worst, but after a couple you'll recognize it for what it is.

[jberryhill]

65. Knowing what it is helps a little....

...but not a whole lot, for me, anyway. I think, "okay, it's one of those 'night terrors,'", but then I think that maybe this one is different and I'm really having a heart attack or something.

[Wizard777]

78. It also helps to understand the hermetic nature of the subconscious mind.

It's a frightened shape shifting creature hiding a dark cave. It can be a lamb. It can also be a lion. It is distracted from it's fears by all the things the conscious mind tosses into it's cave. It gathers them up, sorts through them and stores them in the cave upside down and backwards. It will also retrieve the things that it has previously stored in the cave and toss them out of the cave to the conscious mind. The conscious mind can them inspect those things and even alter them. Then it tosses it right back into the cave. The subconscious mind is usually subservient to the Conscious mind. But there can be times when it will rise up and strike out against the conscious mind. These are usually battles of integrity. Because the subconscious mind is incapable of lying and also will not tolerate the lies manufactured by the conscious mind. The Conscious mind is merely the lord of the Subconscious mind. It's true master is Truth. Truth also exist in that cave with the frightened shape shifting creature. The fear the creature feels is a fear of disserving it's Master. Who is always out of it's sight. This forces the creature to look for it's master, the truth, in all things that enter that cave. Anything that enters that cave that does not have it's Masters scent upon it. It will toss right back out of that cave as a lie. It both serves and guards it's master. The creature is shape shifter because it also acts as a liaison between it's Master, the Truth, and the conscious mind. The subconscious mind will change it form to please it's master. Because it know the Truth is unalterable. Because the truth is so adamantly unalterable. It compels all around it to change instead. In the end all shall conform to truth.

The Hermetic Nature Of The Subconscious Mind from The Parabel's Of Amathion Zartosht. Used with permission.

[NutmegYankee]

35. lucid dreams. I've had a few.

It's awesome when it happens!

[Wizard777]

38. The first one I ever had was after an all night party that went well into the next night.

About noon I was totally wasted and really tired. Some guys showed up with LSD. I figured that would definitely keep my party going. So I took a hit and wasn't feeling anything after an hour. So I figured it was a burn and quickly fell asleep. The LSD hit me while I was asleep. It was the most vivid technicolor dream I have ever had. I realized I was dreaming and was able to control the dream. So I flew and a lot of other really neat things. Then I went cliff diving. I dived off the cliff into the water and as I was coming up out of the the crystal blue water into the sunshine. I was sitting up and coming back into consciousness. For a brief second or two. These two worlds overlapped. As I was sitting up on the couch I could see and feel the water running off of me. It was one of the most awesome things I have ever experienced.

We dream in black and white. When the subconscious mind is making the dream it's in black and white. The conscious mind treats the black and white images like a coloring book. It adds the color after you're awake as you're remembering the dream. But not that dream. That dream was made in color.

[NutmegYankee]

51. I just had a noise stir me semi-awake. nt

[timtom]

81. I had experienced sleep paralysis many times

during my acid days.

But, falling asleep before coming on never happened to me.

I've often said, if I'm ever diagnosed as terminal, I will request a large bag of mushrooms or psilocybin and an equally large bag of top grade mota (or even some primo hash -- do they still make that?)

I would accept uncut, pure lsd, by the way.

[Wizard777]

83. Sleep deprivation was part of the formula that produced that effect.

You must be able to go to sleep very quickly or have a buffer on the LSD to provide a time delayed release. With my experience I think it was a lil of both. Because the LSD didn't hit me in the normal amount of time. Usually 15 to 45 minutes. I wasn't feeling anything after an hour. Because of the sleep deprivation, marijuana and alcohol consumption. I fell into a deep sleep within in minutes. I can't honestly say if the LSD was buffered or if the buffering was due to the Marijuana and alcohol consumption. I'll have to check and see if LSD utilizes the cannabinoid receptors in any way. If it does the LSD would have to wait for the THC to detach from the Cannabinoid receptors before it could bond to them. This could explain the delayed reaction. It had to stand in line and wait for receptors to become available.

[Odin2005]

95. No, that's a myth, we don't dream in black and white.

I don't know where that take came from but there is no truth to it.

[Wizard777]

104. No it's not myth. I do know where it came from. Study of brain functions.

The Subconscious doesn't deal with color. Color is kinda useless in a dark cave. We have the conscious function of color recognition. But we have no memory of color. This is why we need swatches and paint chips. The conscious mind knows green when it sees it. The subconscious can use it's memory of black and white to tell the conscious if it's a darker (black)shade like forrest green or a lighter (white) shade like lime green. But the subconscious mind has no idea what green is. To the subconscious mind green is just a word.

The Conscious mind looks at that smiley and says, = Yellow. The subconscious looks at it and says that's a lot of white with a lil black. It will also recognize the shape and patterns. Like the circle and it will matrix to see the face. But it has no idea what yellow is. Out of 100% of the information your senses gather. At absolute best only 20% of that information reaches the conscious mind. So there is a possibility that the Subconscious may be able see colors on a micro level and recognize them as black and white pixel patterns.

If you chemically defeat your brains filtration system with something like LSD. The color Yellow could actually make it into the cave. The the subconscious mind will freak out. It's something that doesn't belong there. So the subconscious mind will grab a smell and the word yellow. It will put the word yellow on the smell and toss it out of the cave with the yellow. The conscious mind says, it smells like yellow. You now have an olfactory hallucination. Color just frightens the shape shifting creature in the dark cave.

[Odin2005]

108. Sorry, but that's nonsense with no basis in neuroscience.

Color vision is a core feature of primate vision and there is no reason that dreams should not be in color. The "the mind just fills it in after the fact" claim is by definition unfalsifiable and so is mere unjustifiable assertion, not science.

[Wizard777]

112. Except that you don't view dreams with your eyes. It's all in your mind.

[Odin2005]

114. The brain activity still involves the visual cortex, including the color areas.

[chrisa]

46. I've experienced this dozens of times too.

The first time being when I was very young. I remember it being a true "wtf?" feeling, to say the least, but it caused me to become absolutely fascinated with dreams.

However, I really didn't know what lucid dreaming was until a year and a half ago, but have had 150+ since.

[BlooInBloo]

47. I've done that. It's pretty fun.

[xultar]

50. I've been able to do it only once when I was 9. I was running in my grandmas

house in my dream.
When I realized it was a dream and I was going nowhere I decided to sit down and let the scene run past me.

It was freaky cool. Scary though...I haven't been able to do it again.

[Wizard777]

64. Do you still remember your dreams in detail? If not start trying to remember your dreams.

Dream Control is not very far from there.

[TuxedoKat]

109. It's pretty easy to train your mind to do this

fairly regularly if you're interested. Check out the books on Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge.

The main thing is to keep a dream journal right next to your bed so when you wake up you can write down
your dreams right away. That starts a process that tells your unconscious mind that dreams are important
that will help you to remember them better too.

He has quite a few other tips too, to use in conjunction with that.

[xultar]

111. I'm gonna try. Sometimes my dreams are so real they feel like they aren't a

dream.

It's been a while and I've been stressed but it looks like I'm starting to have that clarity again. I have started the process of collecting information on lucid dreaming and I'm gonna check out the author you mentioned.

[TuxedoKat]

113. Here's a link

to his wikipedia page which lists all of his works. Looks like the latest is a paperback with a CD.
LaBerge has done scientific studies on lucid dreaming. There are some devices you can use to try and
induce lucid dreaming too. I've never tried them, just the techniques he writes about in his first
two books. Within a month, I'd say, I was having lucid dreams 2-4 times a week. I don't have them
regularly now because I stopped keeping a dream journal (got too busy with kids and all). Sometimes
just writing about lucid dreaming though will trigger one later that same night! -- It's like I sparked
something in my subconscious by writing about it.

I've had sleep paralysis too, but not very often. The first time it happened I didn't know what it
was and it scared the heck out of me. Fortunately, I heard about the phenomenon shortly after that
so it didn't scare me when it happened again. I never noticed lucid dreaming triggering sleep paralysis.
I think it was most likely erratic sleep patterns in my case. When it happened to me I was working a
variety of different shifts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_LaBerge

[Ilsa]

58. I can take charge of dreams without them being nightmares.

I'll dream about routine life events that go haywire and I have to make adjustments and fix things by consciously directing the dream. Unfortunately, problem solving can be tiresome when my brain needs to be resting.

[Wizard777]

63. True, But teaching Dream control techniques could help those with this sleep disorder.

It's not always nightmares. Sometimes it happens during erotic dreams. This is the most rational explanation from the medieval phenomenon of Incubus and Succubus. They are male and female demons that sex with people in their dreams. Necrophilia is another explanation. In this instance Necrophilia refers to someone having sex with a person that is asleep. Not dead. The ancient greeks that coined the words saw little or no difference between sleep and death.

[DKRC]

84. Taught this to my daughter when she was little

She was having terrible nightmares so I told her to look at her hands, realize she was dreaming, then take control of her dreams. From that point on she had fewer nightmares as she did silly things to her monsters (pink tutus, squishing their tiny heads, etc) until she banished them altogether.

[Wizard777]

85. Well good for her! If I had to wear a pink tutu. I wouldn't come around anymore either.

[omega minimo]

92. Rec this post ++++++++

[Odin2005]

94. I've accidentally entered lucid dreaming states several times.

Oddly, most of my dreams that I can remember are not really fantastical but for a large part mundane things that could happen in my daily life (may have something to do with my Asperger's Syndrome), and when I would pick up a book or try to read some text that is not memorized the text looked like garbled glyphs, that that is what usually triggered my lucid dreaming, Really freaky.

[Wizard777]

105. I used to have a recurring dream about a book. I wrote a poem about.

I called the Poem. The Book Of Ancient Wisdom. The opening stanzas go like this.

I have seen a book within my dreams.
On a stand in the light surrounded by screams.
I know nothing, I'm a fool, I was wrong. I was wrong!
Echoed through the darkness that sadly sardonic song.

It was a weird dream. I could approach the book. I could turn it's pages. I could see the letter upon the pages. But no matter how hard I tried I couldn't read the words they formed. The dream haunted me. It taunted me. I would always awake from it thoroughly frustrated. Then one night I went to sleep and had the dream about The Book Of Ancient Wisdom. Except this time I was able to read the tome. When I had finished the book tore it's own binding. One half entered through my right eye the other half through my left eye. The book became a part of me. When I awoke I discovered that I had been asleep for three days. I'm now writing that book. But I will not allow it to be published until after my death.

[trumad]

2. Happens to me every once in a while

I trick my mind into thinking it's pretty cool.

Its happened to my wife and she takes it the opposite way---she screams her ass off---- hence starting a chain reaction ---- I start screaming because she scares the shit out of me. That woman is going to give me a heart attack one night.

[Lorax7844]

13. also known as the Bush years

[Maru Kitteh]

41. If she's screaming - then sleep paralysis is not what is happening to her

Think more along the lines of people who suffer an incident where they are aware during surgery.

[MuseRider]

3. Horrible scary things.

This happens to me quite often and it is terrifying. It is part of the syndrome of narcolepsy so I will most likely always have it periodically. Always scary, I have never had a good one. I have clawed my hands up thinking they were the hands of another person because I could not feel the touch, could only move them slowly and each hand felt like it was not mine and mine at the same time. I hate it. The worst happen when I am first asleep but they most often happen towards morning. Narcolepsy screws with normal sleep patterns even on meds, at least for me so I doubt I will ever be rid of them.

I wish I could tell you that at some point you would realize what was happening but I never have been able to.

Off to read the article, thanks.

[rucky]

4. It's nice to know I'm not crazy.

doesn't happen very often, but scares the hell out of me every time.

[Echo In Light]

5. Experienced it several times as a child. Conversely, not enough of ....

...whichever brain chemical it is that prevents one from acting out what they're thinking/dreaming as they're unconscious can lead to sleepwalking. Too much of it can result in the sleep paralysis phenomenon. At least that's how it was explained to me many yrs ago.

[FreakinDJ]

6. It used to happen to me with regularity - at least once a month

since I was a little kid maybe 8 years old up to my mid 30s

Gawd I hated it

[Heidi]

7. I'm glad that's never happened to me. When I dream, it's kinda like goin' to the movies,

never frightening, always interesting. Hard to explain, but I believe I learn things and/or work things out in my dreams.

[rateyes]

8. OMG. This happened to me about 3 times in the last 2 months.

I didn't know what the fuck was happening. Scared me shitless for about 10 seconds. Thanks for posting. Now, I know. And, as the article says, hopefully it is over with or will be soon.

[warrior1]

9. it explains

the alien abductions stories.

[mopinko]

53. and many other "crazes" throughout history- witches

people testified in witch trials about being "hag ridden". same thing. this is old news, tho.

[FatDave]

56. Partially.

It scares people into trying to figure out what happened, but it takes some hack practicing shoddy hypnosis to implant the details.

[IDemo]

10. This has happened numerous times over my life

When I recognize that I am experiencing a lucid dream, I'm often able to go for a short float around the house.

[Tulio]

14. That's Direct Experience

Lucid dreaming can be used very powerfully. I know there are people here that don't accept the idea that we are more than our physical body. But direct experience expands awareness...instantly.

Not to get all, you know, metaphysical and such.

~Tulio

[dysfunctional press]

20. lucid dreaming does not require us to be more than our physical bodies...

it all happens inside our individual craniums- which as it happens, are part of our physical bodies.

[Tulio]

22. Well..that settles that! (nt)

[dysfunctional press]

23. glad to help.

that's what we're here for.

[FatDave]

57. Exactly right.

It's a cool trick of the brain, and nothing more. Of course, a lot of it's fans are new age kooks who like to link it to astral projection and all sorts of silly crap.

[Maru Kitteh]

42. Sleep paralysis does not equal lucid dreaming. Not the same thing.

So, no - you haven't.

[FatDave]

59. True, but if you go intentionally playing with your dreams...

...trying to learn to trigger lucidity and whatnot, you will probably run into sleep paralysis. What you're learning is to be aware of things you're not generally aware of, and that includes the "not quite awake yet" states.

To me though, no sleep paralysis has been as freaky as the false awakenings three dreams deep I've had.

[Maru Kitteh]

71. I have experienced all of the states you describe including the waking three deep thing.

It's impossible to convey to anyone how complete and horrifying SP is. Think more along the lines of people who suffer an incident where they are aware during surgery.

[Odin2005]

97. I have false awakenings a lot, they will often trigger a lucid dream.

I'll log on to DU and realize that the text is all garbled nonsense!

[Wizard777]

77. But it is part of the paradigm. Lucid dreaming is the opposing pole of the paradox -

that creates the paradigm.

[Island Blue]

11. It's happened to me a couple of times.

The most vivid time, I felt like I was being lifted towards the ceiling by some evil force. (Just for the record, I don't normally even believe in such things while awake.) I tried to turn on a light, or at least I thought I did, and the light wouldn't turn on. I was shouting "No, no, no." One of the scariest things that I've ever experienced.

[madokie]

12. Some dreams I can seem to take control of

but some are just plain ass nightmares. I've been trying for years to get a handle on my dreams and sometimes I seem to be able to steer them to not being so scary. Is that possible I ask?

[noel711]

15. Absolutely true...

And knowing there is scientific basis for this disables the 'fear factor.'

There've been many studies on this, particularly in sleep labratories;
it usually occurs either right before the deep REM sleep, or right after.
AND... usually occurs when the sleeper is sleeping on his/her back.
This rarely occurs in belly or side sleepers...

There is an ancient folklore that associates this with the devil
coming in the bedroom, and sitting on the sleeper's chest,
robbing him/her of air, and "inhaling the sleeper's soul."
Of course, knowing the science behind this phenomena removes
the power of this superstition.

As a child I experience this several times...
But after I learned the science behind it,
when I found myself in this scary dreamscape
I lucidly willed myself out of the experience.
I rarely sleep on my back anymore...

But it can be terrifying.

[dysfunctional press]

17. there's a theory that 'alien abduction' stories actually come from sleep paralysis episodes.

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/06/science/alien-abducti...

Alien Abduction? Science Calls It Sleep Paralysis
...Called sleep paralysis, this disorder -- the result of a disconnect between brain and body as a person is on the fringe of sleep -- is turning out to be increasingly common, affecting nearly half of all people at least once. Moreover, a growing number of scholars believe that sleep paralysis may help explain many ancient reports of attacks by witches and modern claims of abduction by space aliens.

''I think it can explain claims of witchcraft and alien abduction,'' said Kazuhiko Fukuda, a psychologist at Fukushima University in Japan and a leading expert on sleep paralysis. Research in Japan has had a headstart because sleep paralysis is well-known to most Japanese, who call it kanashibari, while it is little-known and less studied in the West.

''We have a framework for it, but in North America there's no concept for people to understand what has happened to them,'' Professor Fukuda said. ''So if Americans have the experience and if they have heard of alien abductions, then they may think, 'Aha, it's alien abduction!' ''

Sleep paralysis was once thought to be very rare. But recent studies in Canada, Japan, China and the United States have suggested that it may strike at least 40 percent or 50 percent of all people at least once, and a study in Newfoundland, Canada, found that more than 60 percent had experienced it.

There, as in Japan, people have a name for the condition and some scholars believe that people are therefore more likely to identify it when it happens to them. In Newfoundland, it is called ''old hag'' because it is associated with visions of an old witch sitting on the chest of a paralyzed sleeper, sometimes throttling the neck with her hands...

http://www.csicop.org/si/9805/abduction.html

If you believe one set of claims, nearly four million Americans have been abducted by aliens. This figure has been widely publicized and is often assumed to mean that millions of people have been visited by members of an alien species and, in some cases, physically taken from their beds, cars, or homes to an alien craft or planet.

Personal accounts of abduction by aliens have increased since the publication of Budd Hopkins's books Missing Time (1981) and Intruders (1987) and Whitley Strieber's Communion (1987). There is considerable variation among the accounts, but many fit a common pattern. Wright (1994) summarized 317 transcripts of hypnosis sessions and interviews from 95 separate cases and concluded, "Numerous entity types have been visiting our planet with some regularity" (Part 2, p. 6). However, the "gray" is clearly the most common alien and over the years a typical account has emerged (see, e.g., Mack 1994; Schnabel 1994; Thompson 1993).

The experience begins most often when the person is at home in bed (Wright 1994) and most often at night (Spanos, Cross, Dickson, and DuBreuil 1993), though sometimes abductions occur from a car or outdoors. There is an intense blue or white light, a buzzing or humming sound, anxiety or fear, and the sense of an unexplained presence. A craft with flashing lights is seen and the person is transported or "floated" into it. Once inside the craft, the person may be subjected to various medical procedures, often involving the removal of eggs or sperm and the implantation of a small object in the nose or elsewhere. Communication with the aliens is usually by telepathy. The abductee feels helpless and is often restrained, or partially or completely paralyzed.

The "gray" is about four feet high, with a slender body and neck, a large head, and huge, black, slanted, almond-shaped eyes. Grays usually have no hair and often only three fingers on each hand. Rarer aliens include green or blue types, the taller fair-haired Nordics, and human types who are sometimes seen working with the grays...

[liberalmuse]

18. I've had that happen a lot...

along with seeing hypnagogic imagery right after I awaken. It happened all the time just before the election, so I'm convinced I brought on the phenomena with my own stress, though I'm not saying that is the case with anyone else. The mind is a powerful thing.

[Avalux]

26. This has happened to me many times and it's scary as hell.

I think I'm awake but know I'm not - I want to wake up. I try to open my eyes, move my body, yell - but I can't. I am trapped, paralyzed, struggling to move but nothing happens. When I do actually wake up I feel a great sense of relief.

[NikRik]

27. Sleep Apnea and simular exprience !

With sleep apnea a condition where you stop breathing in your sleep untill your brain wakes you up and tells you to breath. Someone who has this condition is always tired becasue this happens thru out the night causing them to get broken sleep . Also a person with sleep apnea will snore very loud!Well I was found to have this condition after a night at a sleep clinic ,while I had sleep apnea I would have these dreams of not being able to move and felt like I was unble to breath (which I was) I could not speak and remember in the nightmare of trying to call out for help however unable to speak . I now have a machine called a CPAP that blows positive airflow into your nasal passage keeping your airway open,it works great and completley stopped the snoring and the sleep apnea ! Sleep Apnea going untreated can cause stroke or heart attack,and most certaily will cause you to die a a younger age. Not to mention the loud snoring that makes your wife leave to room in order to sleep.I suggest anyone with a suspicion that they have some kind of sleep disorder go to their health care provider for a refural to the sleep clinic ! Usally it consist of only one night in the clini9c where your sleep is monitored.In some instances they have a small machine with contacts that they show you how to use and you can go home and bring it back the next day !
Good Luck To All
Nick

[a la izquierda]

28. Yikes!

I go through episodes where every dream I have is absolutely terrifying. Then, I won't dream, or I won't have scary dreams. Or, I'll have dreams that are so bizarre that I spend all day figuring them out.

If I ever had one of those scary sleep paralysis things, I'd probably have a heart attack.

[RandySF]

29. I've been through this

You try to call out to someone but you can't even speak.

[Deja Q]

30. I've had it since middle~high school.

Nowhere near as often nowadays, thankfully.

[susanr516]

31. This has happened to me many times over the years

Especially if I nap during the day. It only happens 3 or 4 nights per year, but on those particular nights I will have multiple episodes unless I wake myself up completely. I get out of bed for 15-30 minutes--it's like I have to completely reset my sleep cycle. It's always the same feeling. There's an evil presence pressing down on me, suffocating me. I can't even open my eyes to see what it is. Can't scream, can't move, can't breathe. Scary, indeed.

[Pharlo]

32. I can't say what you have described here has ever happened to me,

but I have woken up unable to move, totally conscious with a crushing weight on my chest that is canine.

The truly challenging part of this awakening is timing your gasping "Get OFF ME you Lummox!!" with the tongue licking your face, or it winds up in your mouth. Then, you wind up spitting, gasping, swearing....And the dog just sits there - licking your face, tail beginning to wag because you're awake now.

Thankfully, this doesn't happen too often, but when it does, it's truly a memorable experience. Not on a par with a waking nightmare, but definitely memorable.

[Hekate]

33. I hate when that happens; it's very scary -- can't breathe, can't move. nt

[Are_grits_groceries]

34. When I taught school, one of my kids

came in all het up about this. He had had this experience, but he said that a "haint" had gotten him. The only way to escape the haint was if somehow he could touch a Bible. His Mama had put a Bible by his hand, and he was released.

I didn't laugh because that was as good as any reason I had ever heard.

I can still get chills about one or two episodes.

[NutmegYankee]

36. I really really hate those. The worst is when a fan is blowing on you.

You feel the waves of air smacking against your body, with this ominous crushing feeling, and there is nothing you can do about it.

[juno jones]

37. The weight on the chest is classic.

[shellgame26]

68. Goya knew it well

[Maru Kitteh]

39. Been there done that freaky, freaky, scary-assed shit.

The sheer terror cannot be described adequately.

[helderheid]

40. I've experienced this several times. Terrifying.

[chrisa]

43. The best thing to do is not try to struggle out of it,

and instead just focus on wiggling your toes. Don't open your eyes, and ignore anything that happens if it scares you. Close your eyes. The more attention you give what's going on in the room, the worse it gets. The best thing to do is relax, and lay back, and not try to force or rush the waking up process, imo.

Of course, I try to get into sleep paralysis purposely, but that's a whole different matter.

[havocmom]

44. ever read books by Hank Wesselman?

Start by looking at Vision Seekers. Interesting stuff to contemplate. I take his tales (he says it happened) as a possible tap into the collective unconscious via dream states. Have had similar experiences with his descriptions of flashing geometric patterns and 'shadow being'

Yes, have had sleep paralysis also. Very frightening the first couple of times, then just a bit disconcerting, but then, I am generally a lucid dreamer and most often aware, maybe it helps me deal with weird shit while 'asleep'.

Havocdad has had experiences quite the opposite of sleep paralysis; he has experienced the sensation of traveling around without his body. He says: astral projection. I'm from Missouri and am a hard sell; since he can't 'show me' I remain skeptical that him waking up when his 'nose' bumped the ceiling actually happened. I figure it was most likely a weird sleep experience or some bad 'shrooms. But I also do not dismiss the possibility of his theory outright. We don't know everything, maybe some stuff really happens.


edited for typo

[RagAss]

45. It's a form of epilepsy. They knew this in the 1940's.

[Libertas1776]

48. As far as I know

it isn't a form of epilepsy and its real, down to the atom scientific causes remain a bit of a mystery, although scientific consensus is that it is basically your mind waking up before your body or your body going to sleep before your mind kind of thing. Your body usually goes into paralysis when a sleep to prevent you from acting out you dreams and such. I have had a number of these episodes, but I never experience the supposedly awesome trip like images, but also neither the more frightening shadows and pressure on chest things, thankfully. Mine usually just involves me not being able to move, until I can manage to shake myself out of it. The only way around it, I have found, is to simply sleep on my stomach. Apparently sleeping on your back contributes to it, that and bad eating habits, little sleep or bad sleeping habits, etc. It is a real pain in the ass.

[RagAss]

49. I agree it's very real. But it is also an electical storm in the brain.

[mopinko]

54. as are dreams. np

[Wizard777]

79. It's actually a dysfunction of a natural process.

This should happen every time you go to sleep. The dysfunction is that it doesn't stop or turn off before you awake. At the opposite end on the dysfunction spectrum is it not turning on or deactivating before you're awake. This results in sleep walking and acting out of dreams. But it's not epilepsy. That tend to be a circuit overload. This is more of a short circuit. It's not being flooded with energy. It's merely clicking off like a blown fuse or actually blown insulator. Because it doesn't facilitate the flow of energy. It prevents it's flow. But I can understand why they would look at it in terms of being epilepsy.

[Vidar]

60. AKA "night terrors". .I experienced only twice that I remember, but truly terrifying.

[proteus_lives]

61. Happens to me.

It fucking sucks! They are very good dreams!

[unblock]

62. i've had just the atonia. consciousness and normal sensory awareness, but no muscle control

full paralysis of all voluntary muscles, except the eyes.

i could not control my breathing, which was stuck at a sleep-like pace. it seemed insufficient to me for being otherwise conscious, an that scared the crap out of me.

i leared early on that someone touching me would fully wake me, but there was nothing i could really do to make that happen. one time my cat seemed to know something was wrong and started sniffing my face. gentle as a cat might be, it's rather terrifying when you're paralyzed and there's an animal a quarter inch from your eyes. when he finally touched my nose i woke with a start.

another time my mother came into my room to put the laundry away. i remembered every detail but she did her chores and left before i awoke. when i finally did, i told here everything and she was amazed because, of course, she heard me breathing like i was asleep.

i haven't had this in a number of years, and while it's "cool" on some level, i die happy if it never happened again.

[shellgame26]

66. I have experienced this several times

usually if I'm napping during the day.

[glitch]

67. Fascinating thread, thanks for posting. nt

[StarryNite]

69. Exploding Head Syndrome

I've never experienced sleep paralysis but I have experienced Exploding Head Syndrome a few times. It's a pretty scary thing. At first I wondered how everybody else in the house just slept through that loud bang! Then I realized it was all in my head and that was even more frightening until I researched it and found out it wasn't brain tumor or anything dangerous causing it.

Exploding Head Syndrome

Exploding head syndrome is a rare and relatively undocumented parasomnia event in which the subject experiences a loud bang in their head similar to a bomb exploding, a gun going off, a clash of cymbals or any other form of loud, indecipherable noise that seems to originate from inside the head. Contrary to the name, exploding head syndrome has no elements of pain, swelling or any other physical trait associated with it. They may be perceived as having bright flashes of light accompanying them, or result in shortness of breath, though this is likely caused by the increased heart rate of the subject after experiencing it. It most often occurs just before deep sleep, and sometimes upon coming out of deep sleep.

Attacks can increase or decrease with time, and can disappear for long stretches at a time, or entirely, of their own volition. Subjects often feel fear or distress after the incident.

People over the age of 50 are most likely to experience exploding head syndrome. Women are at a higher rate of experiencing it than men. It has been reported in people as young as 10 years old.

Exploding head syndrome is thought to be highly connected with stress and extreme fatigue in most individuals. What actually causes the sensation in individuals is still unknown, though speculation of possible sources includes minor seizures affecting the temporal lobe, or sudden shifts in middle ear components.

http://www.sleepassociation.org/index.php?p=explodinghe...

[G_j]

100. wow, what a strange phenomena

sounds very disconcerting, startled by a loud internal noise while sleeping.

[wininboy]

72. Some believe it's associated with anxiety disorders

[Wizard777]

80. Anxiety is the frightened creature in the cave striking out at the conscious mind.

See post #78. Anxiety involves perceptual problems. It's the subconscious minds way of telling the Conscious Mind to quit tossing lies into it's cave. Anxiety is the consequence the subconscious provides to the conscious mind for tossing lies into it's cave.

[Blue_Tires]

74. i always wondered if there was a name or more info about this

not only that, but scientist are now researching it? cool!

[Wizard777]

82. Right now the better part of the research being done on this is being done in Japan.

So much like "Tsunami" it has a Japanese name. This is due to their leading research in the field. I think it's called Kanashibari. The Japanese name for it literally translates to "bands of steel" but it is also translated as Sleep Paralysis.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

86. Thanks for this post, I enjoyed reading all the comments. Many years ago,

I had a dream I died. In the dream, the first I was aware of was that I was on the ground, the upper half of my body on the pavement, the lower on the gravel off the edge of the road. I could hear the ambulance coming, and had an "awareness" that I would not live to be helped by them. Next I was out of my body, just an "awareness" looking down as the ambulance pulled up. I watched to driver go to my body and the other guy get out and go to the rear of the ambulance to get the gurney, as he was pulling it out the driver said "we don't need that, this one goes to the mortuary". Next I was watching my parents being told I had died. Then I was looking down at the backs of everyone's heads at my own funeral with the casket and flowers up front. Then I woke up and was alive. Sure glad too, and I became a better driver after that.

[a kennedy]

87. I dreamed last night that there were two dogs in a car with the windows

closed and their eyes were starting to turn milky in color and bulging out of their sockets.....

[frogmarch]

88. Jesus tried to remove my brain

against my will. Glad that was just another one of my sleep paralysis episodes. I really hate them. Whenever I try to talk, all that comes out is "uhnnnwuhbuh uhnn uhh" and things like that. And trying to get out of bed? Forget it.

[marketcrazy1]

89. lucid dreams are cool

I learned to have lucid dreams after reading Castaneda back in the eighties. through lucid dreaming i have been able to control the content of my dreams, I never have nightmares any more!. I used to have this recurring nightmare in witch i was being chased down a grassy slope by a huge mob of angry people. I had no idea why they were chasing me but i was terrified of them catching me!.... the last time i had this dream was after i learned lucid dreaming, i knew i was dreaming and i knew i was in control so i turned to face the running mob and said ( in my dream ) stop chasing me this is my dream!! and they stopped!! just like that! they all just stared at me with blank looks on their faces and the dream shifted to something else, I never had that nightmare again in fact i have not had a nightmare since then, whenever a dream starts getting scary i simply stop it or change it.

[frogmarch]

91. I've heard of Castaneda and

wondered if the method worked. I decided to start telling myself before going to sleep that I won't have nightmares. Whenever I emphatically order myself not to, I don't. But sleep paralysis hallucinations aren't covered by the plan. They happen periodically regardless, and even though I know what they are when they're occurring (for example, I'm an atheist, so I knew right away the Jesus figure wasn't Jesus, even though the figure said that's who he was), they don't stop. I have to drift into a deep sleep (I usually faint from fright over being paralyzed) and reawaken in order for the visions to leave.

Your dream sounds terrifying, and I am glad you found a way to triumph!

[marketcrazy1]

93. I have had this experience

myself ( sleep paralysis ) and it not the same as lucid dreaming. in the SP state i know i am dreaming but i feel as though i am awake. this happens periodically however i never hallucinate. there is fear, but mostly it would come from the fact that i could not move. now that i know what it is about i simply allow myself to awaken. the fear is gone as i now understand that there is no reason to be afraid, i am asleep and so i am unable to move my body so there is nothing to be afraid of........

[andym]

90. When I was boy, I could take over the dream and stop the nightmare, but

as I fell into deeper sleep the nightmare would often come back. So it was anti-paralysis.

[slackmaster]

96. When that happens to me, usually it turns out to be cats sleeping on my legs

So I can't move them easily.

[Odin2005]

98. Sleep paralysis gave me a horrible panic attack one, not fun!

[Butch350]

99. Your all alien abductees (sp).

[Kaleva]

101. This happened to me quite often for many years until....

I decided to take on the black creature who was in my room watching me although it had no face or eyes I could see. While I could not move or speak, I was aware and would think "F*ck You!" and "Kiss my a$$ mother f*cker!". Once I did that, the episodes stopped and it's been about 10 years since the last one. I was a young kid when they first started and they used to scare the bejesus out of me.

[Quantess]

102. Interesting thread.

I have had disturbing experiences trying to awaken, and not being able to move or speak. It's like I know I'm supposed to be awakening, but I'm paralyzed. I try to scream but I can't open my mouth and I can't make a sound.

[Douglas Carpenter]

103. try relaxing and allowing yourself to feel weightless and allow the sensation of floating out of

your body. It's 'REALLY cool...

[Vinca]

106. A long time ago I took a concoction from the natural foods store

that was supposed to help you sleep and it produced a similar reaction. I think it contained valerian root, but I don't know if that's connected. In any case, I never took it again and have never experienced anything like that again. It was frightening.

[Blue Diadem]

107. I've experienced it once, quite a few years ago. Another time I could hear myself shrieking

but was in a partial awareness. I can remember hearing my family talk to me but I could not respond and I couldn't see.

The sleep paralysis I experienced wasn't associated with a nightmare at all. I only remember waking up and I couldn't move no matter how I tried and I couldn't talk to call out for help.

Our granddaughter suffered from night terrors for years. Those are the opposite of sleep paralysis. The Dr. told us they usually stop by the age of 8 and I think her last one was around 8 1/2. She and her Mom live with us, so I began to stay awake because she'd take off running through the house, shrieking at the top of her lungs. I found her standing on her bed looking out her window one night. After that, she moved back in her Mom's room. She never remembered any of them, although as she got older we did discuss it with her.

It's very strange to see someone talking and even occasionally responding to questions and moving around, running, jumping up and down, flapping their arms, standing on a bed etc., eyes open but you can clearly see they are asleep. A few times she woke up mid terror and would ask us what was going on. Even after those times of awaking, she would not remember it the next day.

We learned last year that our other granddaughter was having night terrors too.

Our family is full of sleep disorders, from sleep walking/talking to night terrors to sleep apnea. My husband has sleep apnea, talks and occasionally acts out his nightmares while still laying down. Several years ago, he actually punched me during one of his fights with a monster and kicked me on more than one occasion. One son's wife and my daughter's ex have sleep disorders in their family too.

[CoffinEd]

110. Welcome to my nightmare

I suppose what "they" say about "misery loving company" is true because I'm happy to see that other people have experienced this freaky and frightening sleep paralysis. It's happened to me several (at least 4-5 times over the past 20 years) times and I could never quite explain it to the uninitiated (so to speak).

Oddly, I've always been alone and *sleeping on my back* (I mostly sleep on my side) when this has happened. And during my paralysis, I thought I could hear someone walking up and down the stairs, always stopping short of actually entering my bedroom.

As for the creature with obvious bad intentions standing just outside my peripheral vision, yep...I've experienced that feeling too. Not to mention the overwhelming dread and fear of not being able to protect myself if attacked.

However, there is a bright side, at least for me. After the first couple of times of panicking big time, I learned to realize what was taking place, not to panic, and talk myself into going back to sleep. I usually wake up as normal a few minutes later.

Or, I'll try to move a limb (as mentioned in the article), all the while trying to remain as calm as possible, until I regain full consciousness. This works too.

But the experience is still freaky and one that I wouldn't wish on anybody, well...maybe with the exception of birthers, teabaggers, and deathers.

Thanks for posting the link to the article.