Have You Ever Experienced Sleep Paralysis?

[runeon]

Explain your experience(s) if any with Sleep Paralysis.

Sleep paralysis, also known as Old Hag, is a phenomenon that is known, to some extent, by all cultures throughout the world. Some people say attacking aliens are the cause of sleep paralysis, while others credit the "Devil" himself and/or his minions, and if not that, then the classic "old hag" who sits on an unsuspecting sleeping person's chest, and upon their waking realize they are powerless to move. For what ends a hag would do this are as varied as the cultures on the planet. Only the old hag does not always appear as a grotesque elderly matron. For more on the legends and lore of similar 'old hag' experiences, see the bottom part of this page.

Only in the last couple decades, and especially the last 10 or so years, have researchers begun to seriously study this bizarre happening. Nothing is as of yet in concrete, but we at least now have a solid place to begin. And I would like to further add, that although we may now have an explanation of the mechanics involved, it does not mean we know WHY or WHAT causes this strange phenomenon to occur, but only explains what is going on physically during an episode of sleep paralysis, or SP...

link (http://www.paranormalsocieties.com/articles/what-is-sleep-paralysis.cfm)

Mind to share your experience(s) on this strange phenomenon?

[maxon]

I thought the idea was your mind is raised to consciousness before your body wakes up. Sorry, haven't read the link. Basically, yes - I've had a lot of strange experiences in my life. I've had a serious illness and that sort of thing can cause all sorts of unexpected problems. Certainly my sleep patterns were severely disrupted - which is my way of saying, this is something that accounts for the fact that I've had this experience several times. It can be frightening. I've never had the hag though - but certainly the idea that someone is in the room who I can't see.

[Oaktree]

Well, I think that mind arises from the physical functioning of the brain, so I think that, once we have a complete understanding of the physical mechanism of sleep paralysis, there will be no more why questions to ask. But anyway, yes, I've experienced sleep paralysis, several times. I find that it happens most commonly when I sleep on my back. I seldom sleep on my back, but, when I do, I usually experience sleep paralysis. I haven't generally felt the feelings of terror that often come along with sleep paralysis, but I have felt a certain uneasiness as everything feels different and sort of wrong. I've also had visual and auditory hallucinations. I usually have colors splotched across my vision, as you would see in an afterimage. I've also had one hallucination in which the pitch of my dog barking sounded about two octaves too high.

The worst episode of sleep paralysis I had was intertwined with a dream I was having. I had a dream when I was young that I was splashing in puddles after a rainstorm, jumping from puddle to puddle. I jumped into one puddle that turned out to be especially deep, which coincided with a feeling of tightness in my chest. I thought I was drowning. I couldn't move when I woke up and I still felt the tightness. It was the only scary episode I've had, as I felt like my dream had continued into the waking world (I was young and still a little superstitious).

I had one other particularly noteworthy episode of sleep paralysis when I was even younger. I was having a fairly nonsensical dream, but I gradually became conscious of the fact that I was dreaming. I've never been able to lucid dream and becoming conscious of a dreaming state always leads to a quick awakening for me. I quickly became conscious of my surroundings, being in bed and such, but I couldn't open my eyes and I couldn't move my arms. I was not only experiencing sleep paralysis, but the secretions that leave crusty stuff on your eyes had actually glued my eyes shut (it was the only time this had/has ever happened to me, too). For some reason, not being able to open my eyes meant that the dream continued, even while I was just about fully conscious and aware. So I was still seeing soft, vague images, and hearing quiet sounds of the dream while I was trying to move my arms enough to unglue my eyes. I finally managed an uncoordinated flail that let me rub my eyes, and I fully woke up soon after.

[Rawra]

This is so terrifying... I've never experienced such a thing and thank God for that!

[maxon]

I think it's only terrifying if you don't recognise it for what it is. It can be very unpleasant at the time though and sometimes the uneasy feeling can carry on throughout the day. But it's just your mind playing tricks on you.

[brillo_pad]

I constantly wake up with a dead leg...

This sounds like an awful experience. But it depends on how long it lasts, if it was going to make me late for work, I'd be kind of PO.

[Obsidian81]

I have experienced sleep paralysis on and off in my life beginning as a child.
My experience with it was that I could open my eyes and see
everything around me but my body was absolutely paralyzed.
It didn't last too long, less than a minute then all feeling came back,
but it is terrifying and I would always end up screaming.

It is very much like your body forgets to wake up with your mind.
Fortunately it seems to have gone as I have not had an episode of it since my daughter was born ( knock on wood) eight years ago.

[lilliandulcia]

I experienced this for the first time less than a week ago, but I had read up about it not too long ago so I realized what was happening when it happened. Basically, I was dreaming, and then I thought I was awake [maybe I was? I read about how people can see hallucinations] and I saw my mom hovering over me and my eyes were blurry so I saw 3 of her. It made me feel nauseous and I woke up from that dream and I couldn't move my body. I tried to open my mouth to scream and I couldn't move my mouth. All I could do was look around with my eyes [not turning my head] and change how hard I was breathing [trying to make noise to get other's attention]. After about 1 minute it stopped and I rolled over and went back to sleep. So it was briefly scary, but since i realized what it was and it was over quick, it wasn't a huge deal.

[prettiammie2005]

I've had it happen to me twice in my life, both instances were in my childhood and were the result of bad nightmares. The first time I was around 6 and I had a dream that a smouldering monster was chasing me through my city's local mall. It was just me and the monster and in the end I had to jump from the second story to avoid being eaten. I woke up at the moment I hit the floor in the dream and I couldn't move at all. It was a chilling experience, and even with my terrible memory I still clearly remember that dream.
The second time I was around 12 and I dreamed I stole a car and accident drove it off the niagara escarpment. I woke up when the car crashed. My arms and legs were raised in the air like I had been in the dream, trying to block the sight of the ground rushing up at the windshield! I was frozen like that for a few minutes, then finally I was able to move again.

Scary stuff! :O

[maxon]

ooo yes, prettiammie, vivid dreams like that can really stay with you. I've had several like that though not always with the paralysis when I woke up. You must have been very confused when you woke up.

[Rawra]

Y'know what's weird? In ALL of my dreams, I know I'm dreaming and can control myself (move, speak etc). If I get hurt, I feel it like I would in real life. When I wake up, I feel completely normal. Also, I can continue my dream if I wake up for, say, 10 minutes, when I go back to sleep, I can dream it again. I can wake up whenever I want... It's really strange, like another dimension.

[crocobaura]

Sleep paralysis is good for you, because it keeps you in your bed when you're dreaming that you're running, or falling, or fighting. You could say that it makes sure that you don't hurt yourself or put yourself in dangerous situations like sleepwalkers who are asleep while their body is active.

[brillo_pad]

Y'know what's weird? In ALL of my dreams, I know I'm dreaming and can control myself (move, speak etc). If I get hurt, I feel it like I would in real life. When I wake up, I feel completely normal. Also, I can continue my dream if I wake up for, say, 10 minutes, when I go back to sleep, I can dream it again. I can wake up whenever I want... It's really strange, like another dimension.

I envy you! I've been trying to lucid dream for ages, but whenever I realise that I am I get all excited and wake myself up. I haven't been able to remember a dream for a while, it's very sad. But I jolted myself awake last night because it felt as though I was about to fall down the stairs sideways - I missed a step and woke up and twitched just before I felt I was at about 90 degrees...

[maxon]

I lucid dream every now and again - it can be fun. I say 'ooo I can fly' and then I can.

Nobody said it wasn't Crocobaura - I think we are just discussing what it is like to become conscious while the body is still asleep.

[missroxor]

Hah, how weird, I'd never heard the phrase 'lucid dreaming' until I watched American Dad last night which happened to be an episode about it. I can't imagine ever having that kind of power over my dreams: I'm a very heavy sleeper and often once I'm asleep I completely lose control of myself to the point where even waking up can be challenging, lol. I've never had phsical paralysis though I've often felt a kind of mental paralysis. By that I mean my body does stuff I'm not even aware of and usually don't remember...I don't think it's the same as sleep-walking though. I've been accused of being lazy in the past because I hit snooze or unplug the alarm clock entirely to carry on sleeping but I swear it's not a consious decision, I usually have no memory of doing it and certainly never remember deciding to do it. I also apparently answer the phone and/or have conversations with people without remembering a thing about it :/ So to me, this kinda feels like sometimes my body is conscious even when my mind isn't...or at least not all of it. Thankfully it's got better with age :p

[MsScribble]

I had this for many, many years and it was terrifying. I had no idea what was causing it. I'd be paralysed and halluncinating, but because you think you're actually awake at the time, I thought the hallucinations were real. I had a lot of people around me at the time telling me it was everything from evil spirits to ghosts to me being psychic, and because it seemed to make sense (shaking bed, noises, lights, the feeling of being attacked, 'seeing' strange people or beings in my room), I thought they were right. So I ran about taking their advice about casting circles etc. Some of them wanted my money - especially charming as I was unemployed for much of that time. It just made everything worse. I'm really amazed I didn't lose it completely during that time.

[SuicidiaParasidia]

the closest experience ive had to that was one night while i was trying to sleep (on my back), a sudden, very intense pain started in my chest and worked its way up to my trachea. it hurt so much to breathe, even just a little, and i couldnt get up or summon enough breath to summon help. my bedroom door was slightly ajar, but nobody could hear me, and i couldnt move, which terrified me.
once the pain faded enough for me to move, i stumbled to my feet and my vision blacked slightly. by then i was scared witless and crying, since id been trapped in my bed with that immobilizing pain for a good 3-5 minutes by then. my mother ended up calling an ambulance but the symptoms had faded and gone by the time an EMT arrived, leaving me shaking and in tears.

thankfully, it hasnt happened again in the years since then.

[brillo_pad]

...I've been accused of being lazy in the past because I hit snooze or unplug the alarm clock entirely to carry on sleeping but I swear it's not a consious decision, I usually have no memory of doing it and certainly never remember deciding to do it...

I've done this, at really annoying times like on the day of an exam or on a work day. This and forgetting to set the damned thing.