Have you ever had sleep paralysis?

[Untitled Goose Q 5,137]

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.

It is an easy mistake to make, don't worry. I note the topic change

 

And yes, it can be scary. But if it is happening often, you may want to see a doctor.

[K.K. Slider 391]

I have intentionally induced sleep paralysis a couple of times. It was indeed scary the first time, but only because it was incredibly surreal. I had more success on my second go, hearing loud, vague noises and feeling a presence in the bedroom. At a point it felt like something was jumping on my bed and finally had felt like I was being dragged by the arm around the room. It wasn't painful, it simply felt like I was moving around. Opened my eyes and I was lying in the exact same position I went into paralysis in. Very interesting stuff if you're into playing around with consciousness.

[ePONYmous 215]

Sorry, sleep.exe has encountered a serious problem and must close.

 

paralysis.exe is still running.

 

FUUUU!

 

Oddly enough, that may be how it works... sorta. I've experienced this myself and after looking into it found out that when you enter a deep sleep your brain paralyzes your body so you don't act out your dreams. However, there are times that you may wake, or be awoken, so suddenly that even though you are awake, your body isn't... yet.

 

I first encountered this when I was about 12. I was having a bad dream, but a loud noise woke me up suddenly. When I woke up I was aware I was awake, in my dimly-lit bedroom, but I couldn't move my body except for my eyes. Which makes sense when you think about it. What part of your body moves when you enter REM sleep? Your eyes, of course.

 

Here's a short video about it:

 

 

I still experience sleep paralysis today, but I'm not scared of it anymore. It doesn't occur frequently, but enough. I'd say on average once or twice a month, but that can vary. I can go 2 or 3 months without it, and then one month with it happening once each week. Today when it happens I know what it is and just stay calm and think, "Oh... this again. Okay, body. Time for you to wake up now." Then after about what seems like 10 seconds, my body jerks awake.

 

The common denominator for when this happens to me is if I'm suddenly awoken from a deep sleep, which I could've been or may not have been dreaming. Although, once in a while it may happen if I'm in a shallow sleep. At the point when I doze off, but I wake up just as my body begins sleep paralysis. Then it wakes up again. It's just a thing I'm used to happening these days.

 

There are two notable incidents for me, though:

 

One time I felt the sensation of a finger running down my back, which was weird. My body awoke once it stopped though. I think that was just a product of my body still being in a dream-state. I was alone at the time. This has never happened since.

 

And this one, which is the weirdest for me. It happened about a week after I had to put my cat to sleep. I woke up in the middle of the night in sleep paralysis, but I figured it was just the usual as always. Then suddenly I felt something jump off the window sill onto my bed and walk along my bed and gently rub against me. That's what my cat used to do. Then I felt her jump over me and onto the floor. I even heard the thud. That's when my body awoke and I turned on the lights only to see nothing was there.

 

Not sure if my body was in a dream-state or not, only because I did some online research to find that this experience isn't unique for owners of recently-passed pets. According to them, at least, it's your pet accepting death and saying their final farewell. I won't delve into this much further here, but I'm only mentioning it because it may have been just a product of sleep paralysis, as well.

[ReverseFaller 2,483]

This has only happened to me once. I remember waking up and I had tunnel vision. My hearing was also muffled, and I remember my mom was watching Netflix in the living room after I went to bed, and I could hear it, but as I said it was muffled. I couldn't move either. Thank god I didn't "feel a presence" in my room. That would've scared the crap out of me.

[GhostPony750 959]

It happened to me for a small time, two years ago. It happens when only one side of the brain fall asleep, one side cannot receive information to the other side anymore, so it will create its own false information.

 

Well, I usually sleep the face in the pillow, so I couldn't see anything. What happened is that my eyes would go reversed, awfully painfull and panicking. It lasted around 2 to 5 seconds (So no time to feel a "presence"), and sometimes 5 times in one night. I feared to go to sleep, even.

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

Has anyone ever woken up in sleep paralysis before? It can be quite frightening. It's a natural sleep state, where your brain has shut off all motor reflex to the body, so you can't willfully move while you're in it. Generally you're asleep when it happens, but I've woken up while in it, and it feels like I'm paralyzed. I can't even move my fingers or anything for a while. The first time it happened I thought I was dead and trapped inside my body, needless to say I freaked out a little bit.

 

Anyone else have this problem?

[Appleloosa 90]

Dude, thats so weird since I just experienced that last night and just saw this post. I generally get that when I sleep late. Not while im asleep, but in the process of falling asleep, my mind will like wake up but I wont be able to move. Its the scariest thing ever since Im fully conscious yet I cant move even though Im trying. Then my scumbag mind tells me im paralyzed or thinks of something nightmarish until I am finally able to move (usually a few fingers then the rest of me) so yea. I know that struggle bro

[Hive King 2,001]

Never had it, but I've heard of people who had and it is scary. The "and I must scream" trope really applies here, especially if you have the time-span of a fly

[MelancholicMemory 2,025]

I've been in this state while trying to induce lucid dreams. I can understand how terrible and scary it must seem if it happens without warning.

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

I've been in this state while trying to induce lucid dreams. I can understand how terrible and scary it must seem if it happens without warning.

I love lucid dreaming, and I think this is actually one of the stages you have to reach while conscious in order to do it properly. But that said, it is pretty freaky. First time it happened, I slipped into it feeling like I was going to sleep, then I realized I couldn't move at all. No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't move anything. It was more of a will power struggle to wake up than anything, that eventually got my brain back into awake mode and I could move a finger, then I regained full control. But that first couple of moments was pretty scary, I thought I was dying, and my body had stopped functioning.

Edited November 12, 2013 by Midnight Scribbler

[Hive King 2,001]

I never managed to lucid dream Oh well, have fun with reality warping your dream world at will. If I could do that, I'd turn the world into candy bar for lolz and then do other random stuff

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

I never managed to lucid dream Oh well, have fun with reality warping your dream world at will. If I could do that, I'd turn the world into candy bar for lolz and then do other random stuff

Anyone can do it, man. You just have to practice it. The trick I used was, every time something feels weird, or doesn't seem right. Ask yourself if you're dreaming. You'll begin to make a habbit of it, and when you dream, you'll ask it. If you do this, you'll realize you're dreaming, and that's when you have control.

[Ac3xAssasin 453]

I have not experienced it myself, but my mom has and from what I heard from her I would never want to experience it for myself.  

[Zygen 6,066]

no, and frankly i never heard of the term until now, so i guess its pretty obvious i haven't to me.

 

but i would be kinda freaked out if such a thing happened, thankfully it hasn't to my knowledge happened to me.

[Obsolete 681]

I had it once, but thankfully my subconscious was considerate enough not to assault me with any terrifying hallucinations.

 

...which isn't to say there weren't any. I hallucinated that my mattress was on top of me rather than below me. That's it. I laughed about it in retrospect.