just wanted to start a thread on sleep paralysis because i've just woke up from a quite disturbing one, and up until now there is limited information on the net about why this so-called phenomenon actually occurs to a lot of people.
just in case anyone doesn't happen to know too much about sleep paralysis, it's said to be a condition that could be related to nacolepsy in which a sleeper will suddenly "wake up" but not have any control of most voluntary muscles in the body. this experience would most likely also be accompanied with a number of hallucinations such as strange unexplainable noises, visions, or a malicious presence. a lot of myths concerning these experiences have been passed down within' different cultures. in america, the most common seems to be that of an alien abduction, although i've never felt as if i was being abducted.
there have also been cases of people who have claimed to have an out-of-body experience while their paralysis was taking place, but i myself can't remmeber if i actually have had one. people describe this as a feeling of floating as if your entity is leaving your body.
as far as my experiences go, a great number of them have been a bit frightening. sometimes i would have a little anxiety even after fully waking up from one. i try to stay confidently scientific about what happens, but perhaps something a little more mysterious could be happening? the fact that people say they can actually leave their bodies during sleep paralysis is quite strange to me.
just to bring about some interest in other posters and maybe compare similarities within' different experiences, i'd like for people who have ever had sleep paralysis to share some of those experiences.
most of the time, i usually dont get sleep paralysis from sleeping at night until morning, but when i wake up early and then decide to go back to sleep, theres a chance that it may happen. i also seem to get it most when i'm more tired and anxious. if i'm going to have an episode right before falling asleep, i can almost feel it coming because i start to hear strange sounds in my head right before i actually fall asleep. sometimes, i can catch myself and wake up before it actually happens. during college, when i would end my class earlier than my gf's, i would wait in the car for her and sometimes fall asleep. my chances of getting sleep paralysis then are VERY HIGH for some reason. i've had sleep paralysis in the car almost every single time.
usually when sleep paralysis occurs, i hear strange sounds and sometimes feel as if something else is in the room with me. except for a little bit of my toes and my fingers, i cannot move any other part of my body, but i can move my eyes around and look around. sometimes i forcefully try to move my head back and forth to wake up, but it doesn't do much. when i finally can't take it anymore, i gather up every single ounce of my energy and then try to "jump" myself awake. once i have done that and woken myself up, everything is back to normal, but i still have those slight feelings of terror inside me (probably just the after effects). sometimes during paralysis, i "see" people i know and try to give them some sort of signal to wake me up. when i finally get myself to wake up, i realize that those people are actually not there. this happens a lot in the car while im waiting for my gf to finish her class.
i've heard just about everything, from different languages being spoken all at the same time in one odd lump of sounds, while at the same time seeing fog around my room, to hearing loud scratching and moaning noises as if someone is in pain or struggling. all of these mixed together with the inability to move or protect yourself is pretty damned frightening...even if you know its not real. it takes too much energy to wake yourself up and a lot of the times i have a lot of trouble getting myself to do it.
other experiences or commentaries would be greatly appreciated.
~ j
just in case anyone doesn't happen to know too much about sleep paralysis, it's said to be a condition that could be related to nacolepsy in which a sleeper will suddenly "wake up" but not have any control of most voluntary muscles in the body. this experience would most likely also be accompanied with a number of hallucinations such as strange unexplainable noises, visions, or a malicious presence. a lot of myths concerning these experiences have been passed down within' different cultures. in america, the most common seems to be that of an alien abduction, although i've never felt as if i was being abducted.
there have also been cases of people who have claimed to have an out-of-body experience while their paralysis was taking place, but i myself can't remmeber if i actually have had one. people describe this as a feeling of floating as if your entity is leaving your body.
as far as my experiences go, a great number of them have been a bit frightening. sometimes i would have a little anxiety even after fully waking up from one. i try to stay confidently scientific about what happens, but perhaps something a little more mysterious could be happening? the fact that people say they can actually leave their bodies during sleep paralysis is quite strange to me.
just to bring about some interest in other posters and maybe compare similarities within' different experiences, i'd like for people who have ever had sleep paralysis to share some of those experiences.
most of the time, i usually dont get sleep paralysis from sleeping at night until morning, but when i wake up early and then decide to go back to sleep, theres a chance that it may happen. i also seem to get it most when i'm more tired and anxious. if i'm going to have an episode right before falling asleep, i can almost feel it coming because i start to hear strange sounds in my head right before i actually fall asleep. sometimes, i can catch myself and wake up before it actually happens. during college, when i would end my class earlier than my gf's, i would wait in the car for her and sometimes fall asleep. my chances of getting sleep paralysis then are VERY HIGH for some reason. i've had sleep paralysis in the car almost every single time.
usually when sleep paralysis occurs, i hear strange sounds and sometimes feel as if something else is in the room with me. except for a little bit of my toes and my fingers, i cannot move any other part of my body, but i can move my eyes around and look around. sometimes i forcefully try to move my head back and forth to wake up, but it doesn't do much. when i finally can't take it anymore, i gather up every single ounce of my energy and then try to "jump" myself awake. once i have done that and woken myself up, everything is back to normal, but i still have those slight feelings of terror inside me (probably just the after effects). sometimes during paralysis, i "see" people i know and try to give them some sort of signal to wake me up. when i finally get myself to wake up, i realize that those people are actually not there. this happens a lot in the car while im waiting for my gf to finish her class.
i've heard just about everything, from different languages being spoken all at the same time in one odd lump of sounds, while at the same time seeing fog around my room, to hearing loud scratching and moaning noises as if someone is in pain or struggling. all of these mixed together with the inability to move or protect yourself is pretty damned frightening...even if you know its not real. it takes too much energy to wake yourself up and a lot of the times i have a lot of trouble getting myself to do it.
other experiences or commentaries would be greatly appreciated.
~ j
