Sleep Paralysis

HaX said:
I had this about 10 years ago. I was 21 years old at the time and was going through a very stressful period in my life.

It happened quite frequently and was extremely frightening. At the time I genuinely believed I would die :(

Thankfully, I've become more accustomed to dealing with stress and no longer have this happen to me :-)
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I've had it several times when especially tired and stressed - along with the 'exploding head syndrome' where you hear a noise that increases in intensity until it is so loud that you awaken and make actual noise just to make it go away.

Currently, free from any of that stuff, but getting night sweats where i'm actually waking up in the night dripping wet. But this is due to pre-occupation/stress from my relationship at the mo.
 
IvanDobskey said:
Jesus, never heard of this before! Sounds pretty terrifying :eek:
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Where have you been? I though everyone knew about it....or had had it.

Had it a few times, the most interesting aspect for me is the feeling of the presence. Most people describe a presence being in the room. However for me the presence I usually hear shuffling or a dull whooshing noise and sense the presence outside on the landing or on the stairs but moving closer and closer. There is often a feeling of impending doom that comes with it.

I read a few books on Lucid dreaming in my mid 20s and really got into it, but I was getting a lot of sleep paralysis when using the lucid techniques. I also had a horrific false awakening experience where I woke up but after a few moments realised the bedroom wasn't quite right and I was still dreaming. I then woke up again and again but could not get back to the real world. In one of the versions of the room an old man stood silently in the corner staring at me….it was terrifyling and I thought I was either dead or trapped in some kind of coma back in the real world and wondered if my girlfriend was maybe trying to wake me up but I wasn't responding. When I finally woke up for real I have never been so relieved and stopped dabbling in lucid dreaming. A few years later when I watched Inception I knew exactly what it was based on.

I might go back to it one day, I also had some profound experiences as well as the bad ones.
 
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I suffer from sleep paralysis and have done for years.
I can now wake and move quite quickly due to years of practice.
For me it feels as though gravity has increased ten fold.
I gradually start to move my head from side to side and then a bit more until I can move my shoulders at which point I can quite easily get out of it but every now and then I will just rock my head just enough to not drift off but not enough to wake up properly either and prolong the experience.....dunno why really.
As stated it probably is due to tiredness as I only ever sleep for around 5 hours and really need around 7.
 
MookJong said:
Had it a few times, the most interesting aspect for me is the feeling of the presence. Most people describe a presence being in the room. However for me the presence I usually hear shuffling or a dull whooshing noise and sense the presence outside on the landing or on the stairs but moving closer and closer. There is often a feeling of impending doom that comes with it.
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This sounds a lot like something I had when I was quite young (around 8-11). Though I don't recall any paralysis.
 
Wow..

I had this happen to me once when I was about 13-14.. It scared the life out of me but no one would believe me, the sensation of not being able to move at all... I'd kind of forgotten about it and actually thought I must have imagined it because its never happened again

Good to know it wasn't my imagination and fingers crossed it never happens again !
 
It has only happened to me once ever, as a child. I was probably 7 or 8 at the time I think. I had a dream where I was floating and I couldn't move or talk, and then I woke up, and still couldn't move.
 
Acme said:
It has only happened to me once ever, as a child. I was probably 7 or 8 at the time I think. I had a dream where I was floating and I couldn't move or talk, and then I woke up, and still couldn't move.
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As a kid (probs 4-6yrs old) I remember waking up but being unable to move my head/neck due to a sensation of a hand on my forehead (even though there was just a headboard/wall behind my head). Eventually I 'overcame' the force, and turned light on, and checked under bed and there was nothing.

Probably the same thing.
 
MookJong said:
I might go back to it one day, I also had some profound experiences as well as the bad ones.
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Don't let fear put you off, it's all to do with your state of mind. So if you're scared crapless then of course you're going to experience and see bad things.

There's plenty of techniques of course, but try one that involves meditation which will help increase your vibrational level.
 
Sorry to bump, but I had a bad one this morning

Woke up at 5 and soon fell back to sleep. I then had a dream where I was walking with a friend to catch a bus and the bus passed us, so we started to walk quicker, but I couldn’t move, my legs felt like lead. No matter how hard I tried, they wouldn’t move. I then woke up and realised I was in my bedroom, but still couldn’t move a muscle. I realised what it was, but it went on for nearly 30 seconds. Every time I tried to move, there was absolutely nothing there, completely numb. I almost got to the point of shouting out before all feeling came flooding back within a couple of seconds.

Had a lovely sleep after that lol. 30 seconds might not sound like a long time, but in those circumstances, it felt like a lifetime.
 
Can't say I've ever had this. But I do have dreams where I'm trying to run but I can't and I'm out of breath because I'm fat and overweight and unhealthy. :(
 
robfosters said:
Sorry to bump, but I had a bad one this morning

Woke up at 5 and soon fell back to sleep. I then had a dream where I was walking with a friend to catch a bus and the bus passed us, so we started to walk quicker, but I couldn’t move, my legs felt like lead. No matter how hard I tried, they wouldn’t move. I then woke up and realised I was in my bedroom, but still couldn’t move a muscle. I realised what it was, but it went on for nearly 30 seconds. Every time I tried to move, there was absolutely nothing there, completely numb. I almost got to the point of shouting out before all feeling came flooding back within a couple of seconds.

Had a lovely sleep after that lol. 30 seconds might not sound like a long time, but in those circumstances, it felt like a lifetime.
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I haven't had it for years but I worked out the key was to try and relax when you realise what's happening. If you fight it you get panicky and it makes it worse, I found relaxing usually snapped me out of it pretty quickly
 
robfosters said:
...Woke up at 5 and soon fell back to sleep.
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I've not experienced sleep paralysis again for a few years now (thankfully) but there is definitely something about this sleep pattern which has an effect on it. Quite often I do as you did... wake up in the early hours, then go back to sleep, and I find that it's always in those last few hours before I wake up fully that I have the most vivid dreams, and the closest to thing I've had to lucid dreaming.

I don't know if it's something to do with having woken first that means I'm not in a deep sleep or something, but it's quite disorienting. A few times ive had dreams in this time period that have felt incredibly real, and its taken me a little while after waking to realise that they weren't.
 
I've only had sleep paralysis a couple of times, the first time was about a week after watching a documentary about it. I remembered the key things is that taking deep long breaths and staying calm snaps you out of it quickly and it worked.

It also helped knowing i'd be the last person being held down whilst I'm sleeping. I got to say it was weird trying to talk and just not being able to.
 
Sleeve said:
Who else regularly has this?

I probably have it every other month or so.

I usually end up shouting almost to try and wake myself up/get my partner to wake me up.

Horrible experience.
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Not saying it's aliens !
Your probably being interfered with by aliens, check for small cuts, lumps or sore spots
 
I suffer from sleep paralysis quiet often but experience it more in autumn and winter then spring and summer. Not sure why.

I hate the ones when you can see but can't move and have that feeling of a negative presence, sometimes I can make out black smoke like figures floating around. They scare me a lot.

I've now discovered that it is best to sit up in bed for moment so that I don't have a repeat straight away.
 
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