Sleep paralysis

S

Streamline

0
Sleep paralysis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .......i'll sum it up for those who can't be bothered reading it (probably most of you :p)

Basically it's where your body is in a state of paralysis shortly after waking up or falling asleep. So, in other words, your eyes are open and you are aware of your surroundings but unable to move your body.

I had my first episode just over a year ago and remember thinking that it must have been a dream but it's become quite constant since then. I actually think it's a pretty frightening experience when it happens, also, according to wikipedia, it's relatviely easy to enter a lucid dream state after experiencing this.

I assume that while it's happening you have to fall back to sleep again before you wake up. In other words, close your eyes while it's happening...From my experiences, it's pretty frightening and try to get out of the state ASAP while it's happening (i usually just move my eyes as fast as i can - it's all that you're physically able to do)...I would be interested to know if anyone else gets this?
 
Yes! I get it. It's nice to meet someone else who has it. I had my first encounter with it when I was 14. I was so frightened that I stayed up all night. I was too afraid to go back to sleep. I get mine as I'm falling asleep. My mom gets it too. She gets it more when she's waking up.

The only muscle that I can move when I'm experiencing is my jaw. I can't open my eyes or anything. I generally get it more when I haven't slept well the night before or if I've had a stressful day. I almost always get it when I take a mid day nap. Also, sleeping on your back is supposed to make it worse.

I used to be scared to death of it. I was able to cope with it a little by realizing it's benefits more than it's drawbacks. Basically, your mind is in it's conscious state while you body still thinks you are in REM sleep (or dreaming). Like you said, you can enter a lucid state where you actually control your dreams. I've had crazy stuff happen where I think my eyes are open, and I'm looking around my room and I see a strange person there, then I realize that my eyes weren't really open and I open them and the person is gone. It's a bit scary, but entertaining since its basically your mind playing tricks on you. You really think it's reality because you ARE awake, but your brain still thinks you are dreaming. It's basically hallucination. I only get auditory and visual hallucinations. Some actually get olfactory ones, meaning that they smell things that aren't really there. Weird.

I remember, I took a mid day nap a couple of weeks ago. I got sleep paralysis, and instead of panicking and trying to get out of it, I just relaxed and let it happen. I was dreaming, and my eyes were closed, but it felt like they were open, and I was looking out into the living room where I was asleep. I imagined this beautiful music, and it sounded so real. It got louder and more intense the more I relaxed. It was actually a pleasant experience.

It took me a few years and a lot of practice to get to where I could relax, but the most important thing is not to panic. If you panic and have negative thoughts, you will dream about scary things like aliens abducting you or demons sitting on your chest (both are common dreams in sleep paralysis). If you try to get out of it, you will just tire yourself out and stress yourself out and make it more difficult to get back to sleep.

Sleep paralysis is an interesting condition. They don't really know what causes it, but it has something to do with the thing in your brain that paralyzes you in your sleep so you don't act out your dreams. For some reason it doesn't turn your muscle brain connection back on when you wake up. Coping with it is also very interesting. You can see it as a negative and try to fight it, but if you were born with it you can't really get rid of it. Having a regular sleep schedule helps, but you will always get it occasionally no matter how well you sleep. The best way to deal with it, what has worked for me, is to learn to accept it when it comes. I turn it into a positive or relaxing experience. There is something enlightening about being in a total state of physical immobility while your mind is free to roam and invent strange dreams and experiences.

I could go on with my philosophy about it all night, but I need to sleep now.

Basically, learning to deal with it took many years of practice and adjustment. I went from being deathly afraid of it to actually enjoying some of my experiences with it. I would say, just try to relax as much as possible at this point. Don't worry about that fancy dream control stuff yet. It will come once you've learned to relax.
 
spicypumpkin said:
I get mine as I'm falling asleep. My mom gets it too. She gets it more when she's waking up.
Click to expand...

i usually get mine as i'm falling asleep as well and sometimes wake up completely (body and mind), fall back asleep and then experience it again. It's kinda wierd because i can actually feel it happening before it actually happens. If that makes sense.

spicypumpkin said:
I've had crazy stuff happen where I think my eyes are open, and I'm looking around my room and I see a strange person there, then I realize that my eyes weren't really open and I open them and the person is gone. It's a bit scary, but entertaining since its basically your mind playing tricks on you. You really think it's reality because you ARE awake, but your brain still thinks you are dreaming.
Click to expand...

I think i've only fallen back to sleep once after an episode and it was incredibly wierd. I started to dream that i woke up and i could hear noises coming from outside my room (sounded like the TV was turned up really loud) and i walkt out of my room and it was completley quiet and lights were off...To make matters even scarier when i turned around to step back into my room (i only took about two steps out) i couldn't see a thing...My vision was completely f'd up and all i could see was like black and white pixels. Just think of a TV that hasn't been tuned and has no channels. You know how the screen is just black and white pixels? That's what my vision was like and i think i just woke up after that.

spicypumpkin said:
It took me a few years and a lot of practice to get to where I could relax, but the most important thing is not to panic. If you panic and have negative thoughts, you will dream about scary things like aliens abducting you or demons sitting on your chest (both are common dreams in sleep paralysis). If you try to get out of it, you will just tire yourself out and stress yourself out and make it more difficult to get back to sleep.
Click to expand...

I usually do panic, that's the thing. In every case, i wake up completely for a few seconds then just go back to sleep. I always feel very insecure when experiencing it so i try to wake up ASAP.

Basically, learning to deal with it took many years of practice and adjustment. I went from being deathly afraid of it to actually enjoying some of my experiences with it. I would say, just try to relax as much as possible at this point. Don't worry about that fancy dream control stuff yet. It will come once you've learned to relax.[/QUOTE]

I havn't yet learnt to relax, i'll definitely try though.
 
Streamline said:
i usually get mine as i'm falling asleep as well and sometimes wake up completely (body and mind), fall back asleep and then experience it again. It's kinda wierd because i can actually feel it happening before it actually happens. If that makes sense.
Click to expand...

That happens for me too. I feel a strange tingling sensation, and then I fall into it.


Streamline said:
I think i've only fallen back to sleep once after an episode and it was incredibly wierd. I started to dream that i woke up and i could hear noises coming from outside my room (sounded like the TV was turned up really loud) and i walkt out of my room and it was completley quiet and lights were off...To make matters even scarier when i turned around to step back into my room (i only took about two steps out) i couldn't see a thing...My vision was completely f'd up and all i could see was like black and white pixels. Just think of a TV that hasn't been tuned and has no channels. You know how the screen is just black and white pixels? That's what my vision was like and i think i just woke up after that.
Click to expand...

Stuff like that is pretty normal. Just don't internalize it. If you think of it as just a dream, it will freak you out less. I know it feels incredibly real, but if you try to make it positive, like I did withe the nice music, you can make it an enjoyable experience.


Streamline said:
I usually do panic, that's the thing. In every case, i wake up completely for a few seconds then just go back to sleep. I always feel very insecure when experiencing it so i try to wake up ASAP.
Click to expand...

I was this way for several years. When I first got it I got extremely intense auditory hallucinations. It sounded like a tractor or some other piece of heavy equipment was sitting on top of me. It was because I was trying to fight it so much. As soon as I started relaxing the sounds started to get less intense, and not some of them are actually pleasant.


Streamline said:
I havn't yet learnt to relax, i'll definitely try though.
Click to expand...

Its really all about letting go. Instead of trying to move your body when you are physically incapable, just accept it. It's kind of hard to describe. But, just don't try to get out of it. You will stress yourself out. You body is doing what it is SUPPOSED to do when you are asleep, it's just doing it at the wrong time. The biological process happens for everyone, except for those with the opposite problem where their body acts out their dreams, everyone's body becomes paralyzed in their sleep. They just aren't awake to know it. Those with sleep paralysis are.



Well good luck. I'm curious to know if anyone else here gets it.
 
I use to get these all the time before I fixed up my sleep schedule. Basically its like being awake but you can't move anything. usually when its over, I would take a big breath its like I couldn't breath.
 
I think it's more common than people think. On the wikipedia thing, it said that most people will experience it one or two times in their life.

I think people who get it frequently get it from genetics. My mom gets it, and her dad gets it.
 
Last edited:
I found a good site on sleep paralysis (SP)



It has some neat stories of different experiences people with SP have had. I found some things I had in common with some of their stories. Maybe reading about other's experiences could help you cope with your own SP. Just a thought.

Ha! I just realized. SP could stand for Sleep Paralysis, OR it could stand for SpicyPumpkin!:)
 
Yes, I've experienced one as well.

Laying in bed I woke up, tried to get up and it didn't work. I could move my eyes and make a very soft whine/rasp noise with my throat, and that was it. I wasn't even controlling my breathing which really scared the crap out of me. Went back to sleep and woke up fine.
Scary stuff, hope I never have it again honestly.
 
Spicy, that's ****ing creepy with the guy standing there. My friend and I have been loosely keeping track of our sleep experiences, although he is the experimentor with paralysis and self-induced lucidity.

I've had maybe a dozen or more paralysis experiences. Most happened when I was having a weird sleep schedule and was sleep deprived. I find that there are different magnitudes of SP. Sometimes I can force myself awake with my will, and other times I will wake up paralyzed, struggle, fall back asleep, wake up paralyzed again, and fight some more.

I usually control my breath in order to wake myself up. What I'll do is often just hold my breath and try to shock myself awake. Sometimes it's a guessing game though, as I don't even know if I'm inhaling, or if I'm just dreaming I am...

I hate the helpless feeling I get when I experience SP, so I always fight to regain control. I've had several ominous feeling experiences, like if I didn't get myself awake, something bad was going to happen. Shortly after these ominous feelings, I remind myself that if I think something bad will happen, it will, so I make like Batman and will often remind myself that "Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot. I am neither."

I've had several out of body experiences. The most notable was probably more like a dream-- I was sleeping in my car between classes, which is common. I experienced floating out of my car and conversing with others who had their astral forms floating above the cars they were sleeping in.

I remember the first time I got (low magnitude)SP. I was fell asleep watching TV, and a REALLY annoying commercial came on that I love to make fun of. I remember being able to watch the commercial because my eyes and breath were the only things I could control, so I watched it and kind of lamely made fun of it with my weak breath. It was like this "sttpddddd fffffffffukkkk"...Then I held my breath until I woke up and made fun of the commercial properly.
 
Last edited:
Wow, you've had lots of neat experiences with SP. That's cool.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top