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Symptoms
Sleep paralysis is a condition in which someone, most often lying in a supine position, about to drop off to sleep, or just upon waking from sleep realizes that s/he is unable to move, or speak, or cry out. This may last a few seconds or several moments, occasionally longer. People frequently report feeling a "presence" that is often described as malevolent, threatening, or evil. An intense sense of dread and terror is very common.

The presence is likely to be vaguely felt or sensed just out of sight but thought to be watching or monitoring, often with intense interest, sometimes standing by, or sitting on, the bed. On some occasions the presence may attack, strangling and exerting crushing pressure on the chest. People also report auditory, visual, proprioceptive, and tactile hallucinations, as well as floating sensations and out-of-body experiences (Hufford, 1982). These various sensory experiences have been referred to collectively as hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences (HHEs).

People frequently try, unsuccessfully, to cry out. After seconds or minutes one feels suddenly released from the paralysis, but may be left with a lingering anxiety. Extreme effort to move may even produce phantom movements in which there is proprioceptive feedback of movement that conflicts with visual disconfirmation of any movement of the limb. People may also report severe pain in the limbs when trying to move them.

Several recent surveys suggest that between 25-30% of the population reports that they have experienced at least a mild form of sleep paralysis at least once and about 20-30% of these have had the experience on several occasions...... CONTINUED....

http://vampires.monstrous.com/sleep_paralysis.htm


Has anyone ever experienced this? If so, how long did it last? Do you remember any thing about it? Be detailed.

This has happened to me more than once. I've often been frozen in my bed. I can't move and barely can breath. I've sometimes had to bite my own tongue to snap my body out of this state. I've even had success at yelling and someone has come to shake me awake.

it happens in the last part of the sleep patern as REM kicks in .... your body is imobilised in this state and normaly you wake enough to roll over in your sleep and back in to REM a brain wash system.... well sometimes it doesnt work as it should lol

does this explain demons and so forth ... hardly just science trying to sound inteligent

This has happened to me on several occasions. Usually when I am alone with no cats on the bed with me. It has made me feel anxious and pissed off at the same time

I agree... I do not think this has anything to do with demons or whatever the like. I believe it's a natural happening. But have any of you seen or heard anything UNUSUAL during this state?

I cant think of a time that this has happened to me.. I do however remember in dreams having that affect

Having them in dreams may be the same thing. That makes you wake up feeling really yucky.

Well than I have had both the paralysis and the malovent spirit but not at the same time.

Like what was said, it is a medical fact during a part of REM sleep... to prevent the body from sleep walking and other activities that your dreaming. Even though people do sleep walk, it is your body's way of protecting you in your sleep. Just google it :)

I too have awoken suddenly and took a second or two before I could move.

Also, have that "just fell onto the bed" feeling? Your muscles have just been released.

I remember that happening to me once. But it seems different from what is being said here. I was being held down in my dreams. When I woke up..I couldn't move...My heart was pounding..I was breathing as if I had just ran 2 miles. And I was afraid of something that was not there. At least I couldn't see anything.

This happens to me at least once a week. Several times during the night I will wake up, not knowing if Im breathing, feeling totally numb. I get many images of evil faces, hands and eyes around me trying to pull me down, where I dont know.
After struggling to move and gasp for breath the images and feelings of malcontent go away. I'll go back to sleep only to wake up with the same sensations.

I have tried to reason it away thinking its part of my condition (Shy-Drager) but I have had way to many paranormal experiences to totally dismiss it.

Have I heard or seen anything?

I don't see anything beyond the physical....Maybe things out of the corner of my eye but that's it.

As for hearing things, I have heard things before. It's usually my name. One time someone yelled in my ear, I've heard "hmmm" and that's about it.

But I have felt the crushing pressure on my chest and whole body. I have also felt my head being pushed into the pillow and my neck being exposed....quite weird that one

Yes, very familiar with this since I was about 13. As already indicated, it's from waking before the brain had signalled the body that it can move again. Neurotransmitters/hormones are still trying to protect you from acting out your dreams in your sleep.

The unfortunate side effects also include hallucinations and a feeling that your dream has followed you into the waking world and you're helpless. It's terrifying, but when the hormone is metabolized, you are fine again. It's then a matter of trying to clear your mind from the dread. It can also be very difficult to relax enough to sleep again, even when you're terribly tired.

Most of the time, when the images of the body parts try to hold me down, it is the moment when my essence wishes to travel into the astral. Not my fault entities do not want me crossing certain barriers when there is something hostile going on. Mayhaps it is for protection purposes, mayhaps it is something not wanting your essence to travel for a reason.

(Chuckles)Too bad things are always keeping one down.

What Joli said goes into more detail with my statement...

However, there are those times in a different sleep pattern that you can hear someone calling to you or another situation.

well it have happend just a few times what i can remember. It is not a pleasent situation. Kinda scary infact. I personally think it is because you have been alot stressed lately and when relaxing down the mind try to handle it.

Wow these are great. I am excited to learn more about this as it does happen to me on a semi-regular basis. I don't understand the pressure I feel but that does not scare me as much as the not being able to breath.

It happened to me, sometimes more than once a week.

But I couldn't scream or bite my tongue, I could absolutely do nothing.

Also it happened even with different sleeping positions, because at first it used to happen only when I used to sleep on my back.

However I don't know if I dreamt it or not, but I remember a time where I felt pulling the hair of someone/thing but didn't feel my hand. Maybe it was a dream sleep paralysis. Still weird.

I've had this happen to me before

The one constant is they were times when my day to day sleep routine is disturbed or changed.

I've had dreams that i was paralyzed.. had a very hard time waking up from these.. but once I am awake I am ok... never understood why

Maybe the brain get blocked a very shorth time that causing this. Could be lost of energy or something.

Interesting, but the breathing process is not the one among paralised functions?

It might be a case of as if the brain/mind/person woke up, but the impulses incharge for waking up the body in paralel have not been sent under some strange circumstances in order to wake up the body as well, to initiate the waking body functions?

"People frequently report feeling a "presence" that is often described as malevolent, threatening, or evil. An intense sense of dread and terror is very common."

...................................................................

I guess the question would be, is this state caused by an entity indeed, or did a person dreamed something, and initiated the process by it self shortly uppon mind woke up? We know what is causing strong fear and missconceptional mind process, and that is adrenalin. The gland is releasing more of it if the person is exposed to the stressful imagery, or those one wich are causing fear. That might easily happen in a dream, and uppon waking up the person might forget it thanks to the current disturbed state of thinking influenced by the powerful chemical, from wich the mind might imagine all kind of presences controlling it in its state of panic and fear. It might be that the mind it self created a shock to the nervous sistem, thanks to its own fear and fearful delusion, wich somehow paralised the whole sistem in that strange manner for some time before the relaxation/calming of the sistem, resulting in recovery of the bodily function.

I have experienced this at different times in my life, and in different places. I think reasons like this are one of the deciding factors of never going to summer camp again. When accompanied by the sense that something is there, or not right, it is rather unsettling. There has been a few times with happening, that I can remember, that it didn’t bother me to terribly much. But I remember being in a place that I was comfortable with for the most part. My grandmother used to tell me that it was just family members in different places thinking about me, and that is why I felt it. I never really gave it much thought after that.

I have had this happen although my most recent was a little stranger. This time I was not aware I had fallen asleep when I suddenly heard a very strange noise and felt a strange presence in my room. I was unable or perhaps unwilling to move for a few minutes. It was definately confusing and a bit spooky.

I have heard people say this can also happen if one is astral projecting and are wakened before you completely return to your body. Although it is usually then accompanied by a sensation of falling or being pulled.

This sleep paralysis is also being blamed for people's accounts of alien abduction.

This has happened to me a few times and I thought it was something supernatural until I read that it was sleep paralysis. I remember feeling scared and I couldn't move or speak. Usually it would stop when i try to jolt myself off my bed and then it goes away.

I've had dreams where in the dream I cannpt scream. They've always been scarey, with something after me. I haven't had one since I was a child but I remember being scared to go back to sleep after. I don't think it's ever happened while I was awake/partially awake, it's always been in a dream.

Oh my god...No I've never had this happen but if it did I think I would completely flip out...

I remember when I was little and my eyelids were stuck closed one morning hah, that freaked me out enough.

I wonder if this occurance can explain some stories throughout history of people being "attacked" by demons.

It is triggered by environmental variables that produce sudden excitement .So we dont go flying out of bed and hurt ourselves upon awakening.

Oh yes, and has it been proven that the person is indeed awake when they have these sensations? Maybe they're still dreaming.

Mind over matter, I think it's amazing what our brains can do, along with a simple belief in something.

I have experienced this a few times before and I personally believe its linked to the paranormal.

I share a room with a dear sibling of mine and she has an A2 poster of Spongebob Squarepants up on the wall which I detested highly. The sleep paralysis occured when I was alone in the room and I looked at the poster where a pair of fluorescent eyes appeared. I broke free when I heard my father coming up the stairs. That's something i'd always remember.

I've had this experience many times. The first time I woke up and knew exactly where I was sleeping, the position and who with. I felt a very ominous presence above me . I was 19 I couldn't move and was terrified When I told my Mother the next day she said it was a dream... I knew it wasn't. The next few times the threatening presence lessened. I have yet been able to move during these episodes but, have
been able to moan and then my boyfriend
wakes me. I saw something about this on T.V recently and it is REAL!!! I don't remember the facts but it had something to do with your dream state. A part of your brain prevents you from sleep walking and or hurting yourself when this occurs. I'm going to look this up now because It may happen again. My theory on "THE PRESCENCE" As it happened to me more often I began to accept it then the fear dissipated. I simply was fearing the unknown.

I was having a bad dream. So bad that my husband couldn't wake me. He could see me trying to scream, but all he could hear was a whining type noise. He said after a few seconds of this, I went completely still, opened my eyes and lay there as if I was trying to move, but couldn't.

All I remember is something chasing me, getting very close to killing me, but never quite getting close enough. I remember opening my eyes and staring at my husband, but I couldn't move for what felt like several seconds. He said it was more like 3-4. For those few seconds, he swore that I lay completely still, not even breathing.

I don't remember any horrible spirits or any bad feelings, I just remember someone was trying to kill me in the dream. I don't remember ever experiencing that before.

I'd say my body and neurotransmitters/hormones were definately protecting me here. If not, I would be sleep running for my life during that dream.

I experience sleep paralysis almost every time I get pleurisy, which is the inflammation of the pleura (lining) of your lungs. It was definitely uncomfortable and I felt like someone was staring at me laughing because I couldn't move. The last time this occurred was about 2 months ago and it lasted for close to 2 minutes.

Anann,it occurs when a peep is transitioning into or out of REM.
Here if you would like to read about it.

http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9811

The Crushing Ghost you have exposed it....
The very reason I learned self hypnosis ... the same reason I learned OBP this ties well to a previous thread .Thank you .

The flip side of this condition can also be very dangerous. I was a sleep-walker when I was younger. If I was doing something in a dream, my body was trying to act it out in real-life to some extent. I ended up being medically discharged from the service for this reason because sleep-walking and boats are not a really groovy mix. It was then that my mother tells me, oh yes, you've been doing this for years. Thanks mom. It has lessened as I have gotten older, but I generally have always had to tell people around me to keep an eye out for me doing strange things in the middle of the night. It's scary. I would much rather be paralyzed.

Perhps the presence we feel is the person experienceing it from outside themselves perhaps they cast out their concsiousness.

Wow! Now that would not be a good thing.Boats and sleep walking.
What you experience here is a type of Atonia disorder..or lack thereof.

Here you go..more stuff.


http://web.indstate.edu/thcme/anderson/NCR.html



http://neurology.health-cares.net/sleepwalking-causes.php

So what are your thoughts on that end?

if it could be the persons concsiousness having the experience ...waiting to get back into their body ...perhaps we "get-up"to quick.and we feel ourselfs in bed and sense our selves out side as well.if the soul stays in the body when we dissacciciate our concsiousness then the soul is their to "record"the experience with out the filter of the concsiousness.

Ok,Kool,lets say it is..now,can we find anything on it?

Isn't that closer related to Astral Projection??

astral projection I think perhaps is the subconcsious "dream self"roaming so we have three things that could possible separate from us.

this happens to me several times a year. i never felt a presence, but after what seems a long time i finally either scream out or go into a lucid dream and calm myself till i can wake and move.

This is a scarey thing. It's probably deeper than we all realize. Whatever it is...... it happens to alot of people. Does anyone wonder if that might be some sort of connection thing?

Reading through other people's responses makes this thing make sense now!

I was never aware that this was something that could happen to anyone...

It happened to me one time, a few months ago.

I was laying in bed, on my side facing the wall. I didn't have a roomate or anyone that would be coming in the room, so I was really relaxed. I had a bit of music playing softly to help me sleep.

As I drifted off, my body felt as though it were in a deep sleep, but my mind was still awake! My breathing became really shallow, and I got a little freaked out. I tried to roll over on my back... Move my feet... Something!! But my body wouldn't respond.

What was really strange was that my radio turned off. I didn't have it set to turn off... Nor did anyone come in to set it off... Nothing like that... That's what really made me afraid.

I ended up falling asleep peacefully after about five minutes, and woke up okay too. I didn't move the whole night, but I didn't have a hard time breathing that I know of.

I guess that's natural sometimes... It just felt strange because it never happened before... And because I was scared a little, too.

I agree with some above posts, the 'presence' felt could very well be your own mind sensing and overreacting. When someone is scared, adrenaline levels rise. Since doctors don't know everything about the human body, it could be an affect on adrenaline released during the sleep cycle.

Here ..
http://ura1195-6.univ-lyon1.fr/articles/listes/en/1.html

Yes i have had it happen and it is one of the scariest things in my experience, it's like being held down to the bed i'm usually very cold, can't speak, and can do no more then move my eyes.

This is a condition that people grow out of as they age. I don't believe however, that there is any evil spirits invovled and the feeling of terror is natural as you are not able to speak or move.

oh yeah, the most memorable was when i was about 10, i was half awake and saw this huge colorful fly walking on the wall.

i wasn't afraid, just fascinated.

Same here Hibiki, it's happened to me while dreaming but never when I was awake. I remember the dream, my bed was up against the wall and a big hand was reaching out of the side by the wall. I tried to scream and nothing would come out. I think I remember looking underneath the bed for a body or someone there (so I guess I could move, just not speak) and there was nothing there. I think it was then that I woke up.

MaraJade how old does one have to be before it stops? I am still having them... and I am well..... I am OLDer.....than most here. So just curious as to what someone might know about this age thing.

Sleep paralysis is really a safety feature of your body. It allows you to dream actively but not injure yourself.

Actually,it does not always go away.There are factors that play into that such as trauma etc...read those sites I posted,you will see what I mean.

Leisons and other things in older persons can cause it..which in that case,it would worsen,not get better.Children do grow out of night terrors and such but..theres much more to it than that to be so cut and dried.

I have had this happen to me on several occasions, but I did not feel that it was an "evil" event... it is something I can not explain, but I do not fear it. I have to just calm myself and wait for the moment to pass.

Yes, I agree with the previous posts that this is a scarry subject, especialy if on e cant do nothing to defeat it. It would be of most highest study to understand this phenomenon, in order to succesfuly eliminate it out of persons mental process as a cause to the malfunction. I believe as well that a certain inner work would help those, wich have problems with this issue, inner work like mediation, wich should calm the inner sistem of a person, not triggering such disturbing flow of actions in their body/sistem. I believe mediation would be of high use.

This has turned into quite an interesting conversation. I still have this happen to me and had it happen to me just two nights ago again. It is very disturbing. I doubt seriously I'll be growing out of this any time soon.

You know,this almost reminds me a little of the movie Jaccobs ladder.He had all kinds of scary and strange stuff that was happening to him,seemingly paranormal and quite scary.As it turns out,he was simpply in the process of passing away...not to say that this is a sign of passing,but Im pretty sure you can see my line of thought here.

Meditation I believe would help if one is aware that this is a technical problem, and when it happened remained calm and mentally relaxed until it passed.See that is a part of the mehcanism too..to kindof ensure a "quiet wakening" but as we see,there are many things that can get off track,thus causing these frightning things to happen.

My ex used to have this happen quite often and would be just terrified of what was going on but when I woke him he could never remember what the nightmare was. He couldn't wake himself up when this was happening to him I would have to wake him up and it would happen again if I didn't switch places with him on the bed.

i think i have had this happen to me alot the only thing i remember is that i feel like i can not breath and when i try to move i cann't

Our first reaction naturally is to fight it.You might try to relax if you find it happening ,it really shouldnt take very long to pass.I know its easier said than done, but it would help a great deal if you could do that Im sure.

I had that happened to me years ago I was in the 3rd or 4th grade and I remember my mom coming into my room to wake me up to get ready for school and I didn't wake up I could hear her feel her shaking me literally picking me up off the bed and slamming me back down hearing her scream out my name calling for my dad but I just couldn't wake up couldn't move nothing and like 5 minutes later mom said I woke up like nothing happened and was wondering why they were in my room looking scared

I finally got a chance to look up sleep paralysis. Most helpful site !www.wikihow.com/Cope-With-Sleep-Paralysis. I hope some of you who get the chance will look into it. I learned quite a bit. Good Luck

people with impressionable imaginations sometimes link SP with events that others describe: example abductions ,possessions,and entities.(I am not saying this is the only possible explanations just one that could thin out the resources for study.)The bodies ability to protect our consciousness is only starting to be explored.

http://csicop.org/si/9805/abduction.html

For you Dab.

http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050709/bob9.asp

There are also a slew of reffs in there is needed.

I gree with you Oceana. This is normal. It happens to everybody, you only notice it if you wake up during it. It keeps you from jumping out the window just because you dream you are or punching your partner just because you dream your hitting.

this has happened to me tons of times but i can't remember feeling anything .... or anyone around me...just the feeling of not being able to move

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