Have you ever had sleep paralysis?

[Gekoncze 327]

I think I had this once a few years ago, but it only lasted for about 5 or 10 seconds. I was lying in bed and falling asleep and when I wanted to get up...

[Tol'Satha 163]

I dont think so, but i've experienced something similar (could have just been some strange form of sleep paralysis).

 

Ussualy, whenever i go to sleep, i just lay down, and loose all memory, simply waking up in the morning.

 

This one time however, i was fully consciouss as i fell asleep and i remembered every bit of it.

I felt all my muscles getting weak and i couldnt feel or move anything, and few seconds later, my eyes closed and i felt into some sort of trance (I remember thinking "what the hell is going on" at this point). The whole thing lasted maybe ten seconds, after which i woke up in the morning completely confused about the previous night.

[AnonyPoni 564]

I've had it several times. Uh, It normally happens in the middle of the night for me. For some reason, I'll randomly wake up and find that I cant move D: it's pretty scary when it happens.

 

From what I remember, I think the cause of this is you brain "paralyzing" your muscles in your sleep, so you don't act out your dreams and hurt yourself. Sometimes, if you are waken up suddenly, you brain doesn't shut off that paralysis, thus, giving you sleep paralysis.

 

My dad says really the only way to fix it is to fall asleep again Hard, conisidering you are gennerally freaking out when this happens.

[Cosmic Charlie 129]

I've only had it a few times. Two I can remember and both were awful for different reasons.

 

One time I woke up and had the hallucination that a bare human skeleton was standing above me with its hand on my forehead, pressing my head into the pillow and staring at me with its empty sockets. Not cool.

 

Another time was scary for a different reason. I didn't see anything, but my brain was waking up and yet my body was still asleep, so my breathing was slow and shallow, and no matter what I did I couldn't move a muscle or make myself breath heavier, and I started to panic, thinking I couldn't breathe at all. It didn't help that I was lying on my stomach with my face in the pillow. I thought I was gonna die for a few seconds, which is really all it takes. Also not cool.

[termenchecks 146]

i dont know, but people said they have heard horrible things when they were under sleep paralysis and stuff so i think i might have something similiar sometimes.

it happens when i go to sleep and right before i'm falling asleep. i hear this really LOUD and reverbed scream or noise like "aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!" and they i wake up.

[~Sugar Sprinkles~ 638]

I have had that before, then later on through I feel like total crap and so sore and stiff @_@ It annoys me a lotttttt, I have always been numb too

[Mephala 2,633]

My sleeping problems have led me to a lot of "night terrors", and sleep paralysis is the most common. Especially the "Old Hag" phenomenon.

http://paranormal.about.com/od/humanenigmas/a/Old-Hag-Syndrome.htm

[Gone Airbourne 21,977]

That is messed up! I have slept walked before but never had sleep paralysis. It sounds really creepy not being able to move your body yet you are conscious of what is happening around you. Is it like when someone wakes up from anesthesia in the middle of a surgery and they can see what is happening?!

[Planty 1,053]

it was really weird,

 

my mum came into my room shouting to me to wake up, and I was awake and could here it all but i couldn't move at all.

 

It kind of felt like i was floating above myself in bed, I thought it was a bit scared while it was happening and thought i would never wake up but looking back it waspritty cool at the time tbh

[Boxxi The Brony 119]

I don't know if this counts but one day I tried to scream because of a bad dream and I couldn't hear anything coming out of my mouth so that made me more scared

[PonyEcho 1,610]

well i have never experienced that, however one of two things happen to me 1. my arm goes compleatly numb because i fell a sleep on it and 2 my right calf muscle cramps

[Jokuc 8,173]

Yeah. Many times. It is just.. weird. I was like WTF I CAN NOT MOVE?! It is not very funny :C ..Hahah It's pretty funny afterwards though.

[Circadian 1,273]

My freshmen year of college, I started out in the dorms with a random roommate. I was pretty introvert, and didn’t have much in common with him. It was awkward most of the time, and we were always way too polite to each other. I imagine seeing us interact would be similar to watching those two Looney Toons gophers arguing with each other. There were exceptions to this, though. He was a partier and would often come back to the dorm completely wasted. I’d take care of him because I thought there was a chance he would choke in his sleep.

 

I eventually managed to snag a single dorm from someone who had dropped out just before the end of the semester. It was about two thirds the size of my old room, but I was still the envy of everybody else living on that floor. [picture] (There were only single dorms on the ends; everything else was doubles)  The best part was that when I got home after class I no longer had to worry about things like wearing clothes when I slept. It was glorious.

 

It’s after the first week when things started to get strange.

 

I started waking up in the middle of the night, unable to move, but completely conscious. It was horrible. The worst part about these episodes was that I’d often perceive something unspeakable hovering over me. The first time I felt it in the room I was struck by a deep sense of terror, like the thing was death incarnate. An impenetrable void that felt like the end of everything. When I peered into it, I knew I was dreaming but had no way to wake up, and would moan or scream, overcome by the feeling of helpless oblivion.

 

As it turns out, I discovered after a quick search on the internet that I was experiencing what was called sleep paralysis, and that it is actually fairly common. As difficult as it was, I started training myself not to panic when the episodes occured. Eventually I was able to calm myself down enough to fall back asleep without waking my body up. That’s when I found out about lucid dreaming.

 

My first experience occurred during an episode of sleep paralysis where I didn't try to force myself to wake up. The unspeakable horror gradually faded away, and my entire room dissolved into an incredibly vivid and shifting watercolor painting. I don’t know how long the dream lasted, but after what felt like hours the painting began to brighten and resolve itself back into the solid and familiar shape of my dorm. I had transitioned from sleep to awake with no break in consciousness.

 

It was beautiful.

 

My entire existence became devoted toward pursuing this state of mind. I found that by drastically making changes to my sleep cycle I could help trigger these episodes. I began to gain the ability to take more control over my dreams. One night I was swept up by the wind; able to remain aloft simply by willpower. The next I was able to effortlessly leap trees and buildings. I was free.

 

There have been some consequences to this though. My school work has suffered, my eating habits are sporadic, but sleep has became something incredibly special to me. Occasionally I see things out of the corner of my eye during the day; mistake things for a person that isn't really there.

 

I keep seeing this figure outside my window. I know I'm just seeing things because I'm tired, but it's creepy as hell.

Edited April 25, 2013 by Circadian

[Aeon Of Dreams 115]

I used to get them daily, but will still get them from time to time, I got used to it through that. I have heard of people who see weird things when they wake up, it only happened to me two times from what I remember (seeing something that is) but they both put me in a more positive state of mind, rather then doing or showing anything one might consider horrific.

[NightOwl 912]

Really interesting to read. 

 

I have had some sleep paralysis experiences but I've not had any scary ones. 

 

The only thing I really experience during sleep paralysis is a loud buzzing sound and of course not being able to move until I realize what's going on. 

[THE WILD HUNT 213]

I've occasionally have had sleep paralysis, but it wasn't as severe as yours. I could feel myself awake but unable to move, and with the first few episodes I did feel slightly scared because I would hear noises and sometimes see figures (this was extremely brief and rare, the one time I actually did see a full figure was when I thought I was seeing my dad ). Eventually though I just started becoming annoyed and would basically just let myself feel the sensation without struggling to fall back asleep.

About Lucid Dreaming, I have had some short dreams (most have been after these episodes) where I would move about, somewhat hindered like from the numbness of SP, and do stuff like get on the computer and even sleep in my dreams. I'd... I'd recommend you stop lucid dreaming if it is starting to take a toll on your life and mental state. Though you may be asleep it could be that your brain is still somewhat awake, thus contributing to your tiredness and blur between reality and dreams.

 

Just remember this: "All things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial."- 1 Corinthians 10:23.

[WingMcCallister 368]

I've had this happen a lot of times. I call them Threshold Experiences. I normally hear a roar that I cannot really describe adequately. For me, they essentially indicate that I'm about to enter a lucid dreaming state, so there is less terror and more epic happiness because some good stuff is about to go down.

 

I know it's addictive, but it is not good to trigger them a lot. It's my opinion that we have this separation built into us for a reason. I've fiddled around with trying to use this state like a multiprocessor to work out problems from reality; it led to disastrous effects that I'd rather not experience again. 

[Glaci 119]

Has anybody ever had sleep paralysis before?

 

I used to get them often when I was younger and they still happen a bit today as well. It's either like a dream that's extremely realistic, or when you're actually awake and can look around, but your body can't move and you can picture scary things coming towards you or happening to you. 

 

I had one when I was just laying in bed and I couldn't move and was freaking out and then I started being choked, but no one was there.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Star Streak

[Malinter 3,064]

Don't think I've ever had a night terror, have dreamed of stuff coming towards me but it looked wierd I wasn't scared. almost like it was trying too hard. xD

 

Kinda weird that for all my poor sleep, I never get nightmares.

[*Rarity 123]

I rarely have nightmares like that, and I don't remember having anything like you described, mostly because what I just said. I can't remember the last time I had a nightmare about monsters or something, I avoid all kinds of horror games/movies (excluding gore/zombies, it's not scary...) to make sure it stays that way.

It's unfortunate that you have to experience those things

[uml4mj4m 134]

Well.

 

I had this one dream where I couldn't swim, my teacher had pushed me in a giant lake, she turned the water into Orange Juice, put a jug over my head, froze the lake, and for some reason, I had the troll face.

 

When I had woken up, It was very dark outside, and I didn't remember that I was on a bed, so I stood up on my bed, walked off of it, and fell on my face. I later fell asleep in that spot.

 

 

But I did almost die laughing that morning.

 

[Smarts 1,622]

Use to have nightmares quite often as a kid. Nowadays, I rarely have nightmares that wake me up in a hurry. Most of my dreams are very tame or sometimes great.

[Hansel 1,512]

 

Has anybody ever had a night terror before?

 

I used to get them often when I was younger and they still happen a bit today as well. It's either like a dream that's extremely realistic, or when you're actually awake and can look around, but your body can't move and you can picture scary things coming towards you or happening to you. 

 

I had one when I was just laying in bed and I couldn't move and was freaking out and then I started being choked, but no one was there.

 

 

Sounds like what you're describing is sleep paralysis, not a night terror. The usually occur as you're waking up or falling asleep. The body is paralyzed, but you can often open your eyes and look around your room, sometimes seeing unpleasant things

 

I get this a lot, and I despise it. I've learnt to control some of the stuff I see, which helps a lot, but I'm not that good. I once saw my dad leaning over me with a knife. That was fun.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Hansel

[Untitled Goose Q 5,137]

Has anybody ever had a night terror before?

 

I used to get them often when I was younger and they still happen a bit today as well. It's either like a dream that's extremely realistic, or when you're actually awake and can look around, but your body can't move and you can picture scary things coming towards you or happening to you. 

 

I had one when I was just laying in bed and I couldn't move and was freaking out and then I started being choked, but no one was there.

Actually... what you are describing is not a night terror. A night terror is effectively a really bad nightmare that causes you to wake up and feel absolutely terrified and can prevent you getting back to sleep. I used to have these.

 

What you are describing is Sleep Paralysis, which is where the "switch" that prevents movement whilst dreaming has malfunctioned, preventing movement whilst being aware of the surroundings. This also causes the brain to generate visions of something that usually prevents the movement, and it is that which is the probable cause of the alien abduction reports. In the past, this would have been witches/demons etc. I have also experienced this.

Edited October 24, 2013 by Questioner

[Glaci 119]

 

 

 

 

Sounds like what you're describing is sleep paralysis, not a night terror. The usually occur as you're waking up or falling asleep. The body is paralyzed, but you can often open your eyes and look around your room, sometimes seeing unpleasant things

 

I get this a lot, and I despise it. I've learnt to control some of the stuff I see, which helps a lot, but I'm not that good. I once saw my dad leaning over me with a knife. That was fun.

 

Oops, well it's a sleep paralysis then. I hate them, and they happen to me often actually. It can get pretty scary, but I've just gotten used to it.