Sleep Paralysis

[Dr. Caligari]

Has anyone ever experienced it? I should probably elaborate for those who aren't already familiar with what it is...

Basically it's when you wake up and find yourself unable to move any of your limbs or scream. This occurs when your mind is awake but your body is still asleep because it has been shut down so you don't act out on your dreams. Even though it only lasts for a maximum of about two or three minutes, it's pretty terrifying, especially when you begin to hallucinate. Once you overcome the fear of it however, you can control your dreams through some conditioning or astral project. Of course, everything that occurs during this period is generated by your imagination and not happening simultaneously in reality, no matter how realistic everything seems.

[Jezebel]

I've never experienced this before. I have experienced lucid dreaming before and was able to control my dreams through that though.

[Arioch]

I've never experienced this before. I have experienced lucid dreaming before and was able to control my dreams through that though.

Ditto. I love lucid dreaming. Wish I had another one of those. Or knew how to make them happen more often (except for example sleeping more).

I do wonder wether I shall one day think I'm dreaming but I'm not and I'll do something... unseemly...

[Birdsnest]

There is an excellent book called "Lucid dreaming" by Steven Laberge, a sleep researcher that worked at Stanford. I know one of the participants that was in the sleep study, he also went to Stanford. I learned to Lucid dream, and we actually met each other in our dreams and could tell each other the same dream setting. The book can help teach how to cultivate them so they happen more. I love lucid dreaming.

I know some people who have sleep paralysis, and some with Sleep apnea. I get a weird feeling if I sleep on my back, so I prefer sleeping on my side.

[Groty]

I've experienced sleep paralysis, but not in a long time. It was quite terrifying the first few times. I do remember being completely comfortable with it after a while.

I haven't had a lucid dream since college. Used to practice, but I never really got very good at it.

[s]

I have had sleep paralysis numerous times. One time, I actually (ok, I was not high) heard voices while in this state. It was terrifying.

Lucid dreaming I do all the time and always have.

[Ponderous]

No to the sleep paralysis thing. I have had lucid dreams.


There is an excellent book called "Lucid dreaming" by Steven Laberge, a sleep researcher that worked at Stanford. I know one of the participants that was in the sleep study, he also went to Stanford. I learned to Lucid dream, and we actually met each other in our dreams and could tell each other the same dream setting.

Did you plan to meet in a common setting beforehand? Or are you saying that you had a shared dream experience?

[Melody]

There was one time where I felt paralyzed for a few seconds. It sucked because I was trying very hard to move but I couldn't.

Lucid dreams kick ass, especially because most of the ones I have are rampantly sexual. ^_^

[Dr. Caligari]

I hate it when I'm having an episode of sleep paralysis and my nose begins to itch.


I have had sleep paralysis numerous times. One time, I actually (ok, I was not high) heard voices while in this state. It was terrifying.

I definitely do hear noises too, but not exactly voices. They're more like distorted wails.

[Aryan]

I have experienced sleep paralysis a lot.
many times when i was unable to scream or run in my dreams.

nowadays i don't dream much (don't know why?)
but i think i have developed my mind to control my dreams, so that i can dream whatever i like.

Is it true that you don't see colors while dreaming and only when you recall those dreams while staying awake that your mind makes up colors for those dreams ?

[Birdsnest]

I believe it was a shared dream experience. We did meet at the top of the granite mountain, but in his dream, afterwards, he got into his car and drove off after reaching the top,while I actually went to the other side, and found greek style or roman style bath houses, and a concert.

[spirilis]

hm. I'm trying to imagine what this is, so maybe I haven't experienced it. The closest I've ever come is where I'm partially awake, but my eyes aren't open, and I'm not moving for no particular reason... but I didn't think it was frightening. If anything, I wanted to go back to sleep. That, and I don't believe I was truly "paralyzed," since I could probably move if I wanted to.

[Melody]

nowadays i don't dream much (don't know why?)
Do you mean you do not wake up during dreams nowadays? I am quite sure everyone dreams every night or every time they fall asleep long enough. They just cannot remember any dreams if they do not wake up during one since dreams seem to rely on volatile RAM.

And...it might be the case that we are constantly dreaming; as a form of neural noise that is translated when sleeping.

[Nindy]

I have experienced sleep paralysis for about three times as I recall. Quite frightening.
Lucid dreaming only occurs when my mind is not as full of thoughts as it usually is. Lately it's been very rare for me not to remember my dreams, or actually nightmares and vague mixes of the two. Seems I'm obsessed with empowerment.

[Vicideus]

I experience sleep paralysis regularly if I screw with my circadian rythm; usually by not getting enough sleep on night and taking a nap the next day.

Statistically, most of the population will experience sleep paralysis atleast once, usually during puberty, but not when they're older.

[cjs55]

I so rarely dream, or at least remember my dreams...its sad. I can extremely vaguely remember a dream maybe once a month, and remember dreams fairly well maybe once a year.

I've never had sleep paralysis, and haven't ever heard of it before this thread. Weirdness.

[Postblank]

Oh, I had thought that was just depression. Yeah, I had that a couple of times at my first college.

[Oblivious]

I've never experienced sleep paralisis or lucid dreaming. Sometimes I wake up gasping for breath, though... anyone experienced that?

[Odyssey]

"Sometimes I wake up gasping for breath"

O_O Important! This is a symptom - if not THE obvious symptom - of sleep apnea. Do you feel tired when you wake up? If so, your body's not getting enough oxygen because you'll occasionally stop breathing when you sleep... for some people with sleep apnea, they don't breathe for up to a minute or longer. (This is unhealthy, and often needs to be remedied with an oxygen-mask apparatus.)

~Odyssey

----

Anyway, I've experienced sleep paralysis a couple of times. It feels like I'm psychologically clawing my way out of a grave just to will myself into movement. I only remember it happening with my eyes shut...

~Odyssey

[Melody]

Yeah, that's pretty serious shebang. One of my professors has that and he had to use a machine thingie.

If you go get tested, they'll have you sleep for a time. :D

[adamaw11]

I have had sleep paralysis numerous times. One time, I actually (ok, I was not high) heard voices while in this state. It was terrifying.

Lucid dreaming I do all the time and always have.

Do you mean like full on voices, like whole sentences that you can hear clearly? That sure would have been scary, but wierd and interesting at the same time.

Lately in the last week or two, when just trying to get to sleep, I've been hearing a few "voices" but very limited, like only two or three words at a time, but they seem really involuntary. Its similar to deliberate thoughts, but words that I didn't intend to "say" in my mind. Sometimes they're words or phrases that are relevant to what I'm thinking and sometimes totally irrelevant. Sometimes they are pretty much just phrases that people have said to me recently. They definately are most audible when I'm just lying in bed, thinking over things while trying to go to sleep.

I've even heard these a couple of times at work lately. I'm not really worried by it, but its just interesting, kinda cool I suppose. I just wonder if its anything like the kind of "voices" people are actually beleived to hear.

[sleepynobowling]

ive had sp for a few years now and it pretty much only happens when im sleeping alone. right now since i dont have a boyfriend and my roommate moved out, i share my bed with my guinea pig. he has his own blanket but sometimes he sneaks into mine and cuddles my feet.

one time i had it and my roomate was there (i dont remember it), and she told me that i just opened my eyes and starred at her for a bit and so she was like wtf and woke me up and i just rolled over and fell back asleep

the one i rmember was recently another friend was playing on my computer while i napped and i slipped into sp for some reason. i knew he was there but i wasnt facing him so i couldnt see waht he was doing and tried the whole screaming thing which never works anyways til he finally woke me up.
when i asked him what took so long he said he jsut wanted to see waht i would do cuz the whole time i thought i was screaming outward and jsut not making noise, he said i was gasping inward. *shrug*

ooh and i had a few reallly painful ones
like everything in my skull was sizzling
and i could hear it (on top of the normal humming and body buzz)
argh i hate painful dreams that you cant get out of

eh ill stop now cuz almost every single time is different

[holarchon]

I have sleep paralysis episodes at least a few times a month. Once in a while, I will have many episodes a night for a few weeks. Usually these occur during stressful periods in my life. Luckily for me I was fairly experienced in using lucid dreaming techniques before I ever experienced sleep paralysis and I believe this helped me to recognize it for what it is, if not why. I have seen some weird things during these episodes and have on occasion gone from sleep paralysis straight into a lucid dreaming state. If you suffer from sleep paralysis and have learned to consciously recognize when you are having an episode try to drop into a lucid dream state from there - it is very interesting.

[holarchon]

I am not sure if anyone mentioned this, but one great technique for waking from a sleep paralysis state is to try moving a toe or a finger. This usually works for me when I try, but now I usually just drop back to sleep for sp.

[coffeezombie]

No sleep paralysis, but I've killed people while sleeping before.

Just kidding. I have no sleep disabilities except occasional insomnia. Take Ambien but don't abuse it. :P

[LuridLemur]

Interesting stuff, I've never even heard of sleep paralysis before this.

[aether]

Basically it's when you wake up and find yourself unable to move any of your limbs or scream. This occurs when your mind is awake but your body is still asleep because it has been shut down so you don't act out on your dreams. Even though it only lasts for a maximum of about two or three minutes, it's pretty terrifying, especially when you begin to hallucinate. Once you overcome the fear of it however, you can control your dreams through some conditioning or astral project. Of course, everything that occurs during this period is generated by your imagination and not happening simultaneously in reality, no matter how realistic everything seems.

I've had milder versions of this phenomena happen to me. In fact, it happens to me whenever I want to force myself to wake up at a certain time but can't. Afterwards it is difficult for me to accept the reality of being awake.

[PiccoloNamek]

I've experienced sleep paralysis a few times. Luckily, nothing bad happened during any of the episodes.

[Bugeater]

I so rarely dream, or at least remember my dreams...its sad. I can extremely vaguely remember a dream maybe once a month, and remember dreams fairly well maybe once a year.
Same here. And now that I've gone and read about lucid dreaming, it seems that most of the dreams I do remember are lucid or semi-lucid.

[kuranes]

I lucid dream sometimes. Not as often as I did when younger. I often awaken while flying, as though my subconscious is somewhat aware of the unlikelihood of this.

Sometimes I have dreams that are only PARTLY lucid, and in some of these my dream self is paralyzed, or believes that it is sleeping or half asleep. It's then that I have heard the voices you speak of. I met some scary characters while doing this, at times, but I'm half conscious of the fact that it's me creating these fearful things for myself, which is a weird feeling. No one can scare me like Kuranes does, if he's a mind to. Ha Ha.

Am I paralyzed in real life while asleep? How would I know, if I'm asleep? Perhaps what I just described ( partial lucidity ) is what you mean by sleep paralysis.

I've had nightmares that were so sudden and intense that they startled me like an electroshock out of apnea non-breathing. These are not like a normal nightmare. Nearly indescribeable. You "zoom in" on an entity that is dying, which seems so familiar as to maybe be your own self, or someone you know that you care about very much. You go beyond extreme close-up views to the kind of "tunneling inwards" that you see on cop shows when they show the path the bullet takes through organs. Right into the brain, with a simultaneous feeling that you are BECOMING this entity. But since you know that it's dying, part of you wishes to retreat from this. Yet you are drawn in like the eyes of a person driving by the scene of a horrendous accident. You cannot retreat! I sometimes wonder what it will be like if I ever just continue not breathing. How my mind will translate this in the dream. Not something I look forward to. And yet when people hear the saying "he died in his sleep" it is always passed off as peaceful.

Strangest lucid dream. Taking a hit of acid in a dream, and having a dream trip. I'm not speaking of waking up to a real trip from sleep, which is another kettle of fish. A dream trip is completely different from a real trip. The anticipation of it is the really intense part. The visuals are not that different from an ordinary weird dream, but the sense of time is different, and you may get the "partial lucidity" flashes.

[PiccoloNamek]

Perhaps what I just described ( partial lucidity ) is what you mean by sleep paralysis.

No, what we mean is being conscious but paralyzed. It's not really SLEEP paralysis per se, it's just called that. I suppose a better term would be awareness during sleep paralysis.

[nonsequitur]

Have experienced that before, it was very terrifying. Though it never lasted for more than a few minutes, it's pretty scary if you don't know what's going on. I have lucid dreams very often, but that's mostly because I have massive sleep problems, with insomnia and the like.

[Architectonic]

I can't say I've ever had sleep paralysis.

Does lucid dreaming usually occur (when possible) during the REM sleep phase, or?

[jimore]

I have only had one episode of sleep paralysis. I woke up in a Mexican motel and could not move or speak. Tthe episode lasted at least ten or fifteen minutes, if was pretty disconcerting. I am pretty sure the event was caused by the massive amount of rot gut Tequila I had the night before.

[jimore]

I have only had one episode of sleep paralysis. I woke up in a Mexican motel and could not move or speak. Tthe episode lasted at least ten or fifteen minutes, if was pretty disconcerting. I am pretty sure the event was caused by the massive amount of rot gut Tequila I had the night before.

[kuranes]

Strange. I just woke up in a Mexican motel also, paralyzed for the first time.

[kuranes]

Strange. I just woke up in a Mexican motel also, paralyzed for the first time . . . or is it deja vu?