Sleep Paralysis: have you experienced it?

[Deicide]

I've experienced it several times about 3 years ago. It was fucking shit scary, I couldn't move, shout, or do anything, and worst of all, there was a massive black figure, with red demonic eyes, in the corner of my room slowly approaching me. :laugh:

[Stalin Ate My Homework]

Bloody hell that's terrifying. Hope it never happens to me!

[GPDP]

I get it all the fucking time. It's become more of an annoyance than anything actually scary, however. Most of the time when it happens, I'm just like "aw hell here we go again," and promptly attempt to snap myself out of it. I usually take a page out of Kill Bill and wiggle my big toe until I somehow regain full motor function and wake up.

It can definitely lead to some... interesting hallucinations, however. I don't actually see shadow people or anything scary like that, but I do kind of have half-dreams, where all of a sudden I'm somewhere else, and sometimes it becomes so real I start to think I'm actually awake, but eventually I realize I'm not and just snap out of it.

[Tenka]

I've experienced it twice.
The first time was on the night of my 12th birthday. I had eaten strawberry-flavoured cake before bed. I had strange, vivid dreams about the trailer wherein I then resided being also the red interior of some great beast, but from this I woke up in the middle of the night with uncontrollable shudders and hearing the voices of many children(!) who, of course, were not there. I couldn't move, and I fell back asleep to a dream of waking up in the late morning on the sofa where I sometimes also slept, and staring at the white noise on the television diagonally across from my feet.
But I woke up again, in my bed, in the middle of the night, to the voices and shuddering, unable to move. Shortly I fell back asleep and dreamt of the mirror in the other room. I don't remember the exact order of these dreams.

The second time I had sleep paralysis, years later, I had picked up a stupid book about Voodoo from the library and set it on the floor next to the two-seater sofa upon which I slept (ugh...) at the time. When I woke up on my side in the dark, shuddering, unable to move, I expected to hear something, and I covered my ears; but I don't remember if I actually heard anything this time. In my strange and overall unsettling state of awareness at the time I could not help but connect this to the book on Voodoo. Of course, that's nonsense (what was it the first time? the cake? well...).

Sleep paralysis is a very frightening phenomenon and I'm just glad that my hallucinations were only aural, and not visual (I actually remember trying NOT to open my eyes on these occasions, for fear of visual hallucinations).

[Deicide]

One of the other times I experienced SP, I heard demonic laughter. It was fucking creepy.

@GPDP I can totally relate to the ''oh its this shit again''. I experienced it around 7 times, after the 3rd time, I was totally aware of what it was.

Did any of you experience a ringing or buzzing sound, before it happened?

[Deicide]

I noticed SP only happened to me when I slept on my back. I stopped sleeping on my back and it has not happened since. I wonder what is the cause of SP.

[Rowan Duffy]

I haven't had it in years but I used to get it fairly often. Usually I'm wizzing through some highly geometric tunnel at a rate of speed that is decidedly uncomfortable. Sometimes I have mixed halucinations and reality simultaneously near the end of the experience.

[Tenka]

I noticed SP only happened to me when I slept on my back. I stopped sleeping on my back and it has not happened since. I wonder what is the cause of SP.

I've heard that it's more common with people sleeping on their backs.
Anyway, I believe Sleep Paralysis occurs when one wakes before the natural paralysis that prevents people (except sleep walkers) acting out their dreams has worn off.

[Deicide]

I've also had an ''out of body experience'' after getting extremely drunk at a party. I was floating in my room, and my body was still on the bed. It was fucking awesome, I could go through walls and fly around. Obviously, my ''soul'' didn't leave my body, that's utter nonsense. It was a lucid dream.

[Goblin]

This is what those people who claim to have had contact with aliens go through.

[Deicide]

Anyway, I believe Sleep Paralysis occurs when one wakes before the natural paralysis that prevents people (except sleep walkers) acting out their dreams has worn off.

That's the scientific explanation and I agree. However, I haven't seen an explanation for what causes you to wake up before the bodies natural paralysis fades away. Although I haven't exactly spent much time looking.

[Nox]

I haven't had any episodes of Sleep Paralysis, because I can't sleep on my back. But, I've had several very vivid and lifelike hallucinations before, caused by the medication I was on for my epilepsy.

[Leonid Brozhnev]

Once or twice, it usually doesn't last that long. Last time I had it I woke up in a pitch black room but somehow I could see everything, the room was spinning with colours and I only broke out of it because I thought I was going to fall out of bed and hit the ceiling :lol:

[wsg1991]

hello in sleep there is 2 major part
(Non-rapid eye movement sleep): which composed of 4 parts
Rapid eye movement sleep : it's the step when you loses all your Muscle tone , that's means you can't move any muscle + an intense brain activity , this is the part when you get dreams

sleep paralysis happens when you wake up in Rapid eye movement sleep without getting back your motor function

beyond that i know nothing .

[wsg1991]

I've heard that it's more common with people sleeping on their backs.
Anyway, I believe Sleep Paralysis occurs when one wakes before the natural paralysis that prevents people (except sleep walkers) acting out their dreams has worn off.

sleep walker require muscle tone , so he can walk . sleep walking cannot happens in rapid eye movement sleep , the part of sleep were you get sleep paralysis

[wsg1991]

there is a third interesting case , you feel like you're falling

[homegrown terror]

I've also had an ''out of body experience'' after getting extremely drunk at a party. I was floating in my room, and my body was still on the bed. It was fucking awesome, I could go through walls and fly around. Obviously, my ''soul'' didn't leave my body, that's utter nonsense. It was a lucid dream.

that sounds a lot like astral projection. your "soul" doesn't "leave" your body, your subconscious just wanders about without being hampered by physical limitations.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I shared a room with someone who had that happen to him a couple times a year. I was up and shaving the first time it happened while we were roommates and I nearly crapped my pants. He started wailing this unrestrained and unnatural sound so I ran into the room - fuck, I thought he was having a heart attack! His eyes were wide open and he was screaming this crazy high-pitched scream but totally unresponsive.

After a few seconds of me shaking him (it seemed like more) he sort of blinked and then was like: "Gnahh, what the hell are you doing"

I told him what happened and he said, "Oh, oh yeah that happens every once in a while." Then he turned over and went back to sleep while I curled in a ball and rocked back and forth for the rest of the morning.:lol:

[Krano]

This happened to be few months ago, i could feel my eyes blinking a lot and i tried opening them and couldnt and went back to sleep few seconds later.

[Sputnik_1]

I keep having it all the time. I had it this morning as well, I woke up, had breakfast and went back to bed cause tired. Before i knew it I was sitting in a room with my husband filled with rats, then when I got back to where I was I was convinced that someone was talking to me in the room, I couldnìt hear what, but I knew that the voice was trying to intimidate me. And it all seemed so real that I was thinking how to fix it, how to get rid of rats, how to answer that person in the room talking to me. When I finally "woke up" I needed a few minutes to seperate imagination from facts (a thing that would seem pretty obvious but after I wake up from a SP everything seems to melt together into an insidtinguishable mash). I don't find it scary, but it certainly is a relief to realise that it was just a hallucination.

[Deicide]

that sounds a lot like astral projection. your "soul" doesn't "leave" your body, your subconscious just wanders about without being hampered by physical limitations.

There's no scientific evidence to support that.

[homegrown terror]

There's no scientific evidence to support that.

the same can be said of a lot of parapsychology, the main factors in such being that the western world is notoriously harsh towards any science that A) doesn't lead directly to profits for the powers that be, and B) is often in direct opposition to the established religious majority.

[Tenka]

the same can be said of a lot of parapsychology, the main factors in such being that the western world is notoriously harsh towards any science that A) doesn't lead directly to profits for the powers that be, and B) is often in direct opposition to the established religious majority.

A lot of parapsychology is methodologically flawed and simply unscientific. It would be neat if the consciousness could exist independent of the brain, though there is no evidence of this occurring that I know of besides subjective anecdotes which are often misinterpretations of other phenomena.

Also, people do profit from parapsychology -- just not drug companies. Think it's mostly television executives and the like. And the things parapsychologists (often pretend to) investigate are believed in already by a ridiculous number of people regardless of religious affiliation, so a popular basis does exist.

[Art Vandelay]

My dad has gotten i tnumerous times and I have gotten it as well once or twice. Its fucking terrifying but thank god I haven't had it in a few years.