I had sleep Paralysis last night

It was a hot day at work so I took a nap after work thinking 2 hours is perfect. Well I ended up sleeping until 11 PM. I got off at 3:00 PM. Well I stayed up and played some games with a few friends that live in California until around 5, and went back to sleep.

When I am in a dream I can force myself awake by forcing my eyes open. I have done this many times and everything is great and I'm awake. Well this time I did it and I couldn't move. I could see my TV and what was on but no muscle in my body would move. Being as I couldn't move I closed my eyes and fell back asleep, and started to dream again. I didn't like my dream once again and forced myself awake. The same thing happened I couldn't move. I tried forcing myself to move using every muscle in my body. I felt a tiny movement. Then I thought to myself if I am using every muscle in my body and it all of a sudden lets me move I might fall off my bed. So I gave up. So I went back to sleep and woke up at 1 pm. It is Sunday so I don't much care.

I read a lot about sleep Paralysis, and watch videos on it. It seems every time this happens to someone they feel a dark entity watching over them holding them down. I didn't feel this or see anything. I just couldn't move. Not being able to move did scare the poop out of me though. So I can see why people would think they felt something due to the fact of how terrifying it is, but where my eyes could see I found nothing looming over me or in the shadows.

Anyway I wanted to share my experience just to get it off my chest.

Same thing happened to me once.

I fell asleep at my desk.

I could hear my colleagues comings... But I couldn't move.

a reply to: Crumbles

My mom is a neuroscientist. I asked her about it. It's because of REM. You need that so you don't move around and hurt yourself during your sleep. If you get woken at the same time as your going into REM you might feel paralysed. You went supposed to be conscious during that state. That's what I got out of t anyway.

She didn't seem alarmed.

a reply to: MALBOSIA

So I woke myself up at the wrong time twice in a row? I guess that makes sense, but you would think if I was still in REM while I went back to sleep it would be over by the time I had waken up again.

Thanks for the info though.

a reply to: Crumbles
LOL this has happened to me a handful of times in life. Its like your body woke up but your brain did not. So your seeing everything in the real world, but your brain is still kind of sleeping and not receiving the signals to allow you motor control.

At least that is my theory, I never researched it or anything. I always found it kind of funny, and it took me about a minute or so to snap out of it. I don't recall it happening any time in the last couple years though. It always happened to me though in the early morning hours when the light is just approaching, as well in the afternoon from deep naps after bad sleep cycles.

Strangely, it has never happened to me during actual hours of night.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Yeah that is what I am thinking. It has to be because of my huge nap prior.

a reply to: Crumbles
oh you can regain control it just takes some strong focus. I'll try my best to explain how it feels, not so much like a dark force, but some kind of force. If you have ever been to a fair, sometimes there are these little flying saucer or giant ring looking rides that people go in and stand up against the wall. The ride itself will spin very fast, and gravity or G forces or whatever makes it very difficult to so much as raise your arm a few inches.

That is kind of what it feels like to me, because when I finally regain movement, my limbs just shoot up in full force kind of like when that ride wears off. Its like I was trying to fight gravity, and when I finally move all that force is finally released. Thats how I usually would end up snapping out of it.

There were times however when I just said # it and dozed back off. Unlike some people, I actually enjoy crazy wicked dreams most people would consider nightmares. I have watched myself been executed or eaten by zombies I don't even know how many times. I always wake up smiling because it felt like an awesome movie I was just a part of.

It wasn't sleep paralysis it was the greys coming to inspect your inner self [roflroflo] ehem to warn you about the impedning doom that they themselves will be unfolding to everyone who is not chosen by them and you were chosen by them to visit their ship and give them a peak inside [roflololol] ehem to inspect your inner thoughts [inner rolfololol] ehem and um to give you and only you divine knowledge of the future to bring to all of us peons on ATS who won't believe a thing you're saying anyway because you're a UFO cuck crazy person in most people's eyes but in fact were beamed up like scotty.

a reply to: Crumbles

I've found that if I struggle to make a noise, any kind of noise with my mouth or throat, I can quickly make a groaning sound. If I keep this up for a few seconds my body usually rouses.

originally posted by: Crumbles
a reply to: MALBOSIA

So I woke myself up at the wrong time twice in a row? I guess that makes sense, but you would think if I was still in REM while I went back to sleep it would be over by the time I had waken up again.

Thanks for the info though.

You get sleep paralysis so that you don't act out your dreams. Sometimes. It's a pretty complex system to expect it to work so consistently when your changing conditions like sleep patterns.

When it happened to me I had forced myself to bed at 5pm the previous afternoon to be up for 12am in order to work straight through till 5pm the next day. At 5 am I had a little nap in my chair and that's when it happened.

Poor sleep patterns is probably likely cause since everyone that posted so far were experiencing that condition when it happened.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

I figured if I tried to make myself snap out of it I could, but I also wanted to keep sleeping so I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. It was scared me yes, but I was still tired. The dreams I find myself most waking up to when I open my eyes really hard are the awkward ones lol.

a reply to: MALBOSIA

While I cant claim to know better than your mom or other specialists, the problem I have with that explanation is it ia rarely accompanied by the explanation that it's also possible to have other experiences during sleep that involves consciousness.

I know I didn't word that well so I hope it's understood. Again, I don't claim your mom is incorrect, only that she isn't mentioning other explanations because they aren't taught in books, and scare or confuse some people.

We know far too little about sleep and consciousness to ever pretend we know a definitive answer to any questions concerning them.

a reply to: sputniksteve

i think there are two explanations to this that are both valid.

Yes your body does shut off during the beginning stages of sleep so you don't walk out of the window when you dream.

That being said. I practice astral projection a lot. To have an out of body experience i always meditate myself into sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is the gate way to consciously entering the astral dimension.

Also I wanted to say, if you don't like your dream and you know that you are dreaming, you can consciously change it and just fly away from your situation if you wanted to. You should use those opportunities to explore what your mind is capable of.

a reply to: Crumbles

I have a theory that not all sleep paralysis involves the paranormal.

I believe many of them are natural causes.

There was one case where a dude had sleep paralysis and instantly he sees hallucinations of people (humans, not demons or any supernatural entities) breaking into the house.

Happened to me once. All started when I had a dream inside a dream and woke up out of both dreams suddenly. Could not move a damn thing except my eyeballs. It's a little scary at first but I just keep trying to move and eventually after 5-10minutes I could move again.

I had it happen many years ago a handful of times and it would be accompanied by jet-like noise bursts. One time it was like you say, I made every physical effort to sit up, only this time, WHAM it worked. The auditory things disappeared instantly and I found myself at the end of the bed looking forward sort of hovering over it about 6" so I slowly turned around and was looking at my sleeping self.

I basically looked dead laying on the pillow. As I was looking at myself for a few seconds, I half-panicked and zipped back inside and all was normal and I was able to sit up for real. That incident totally changed my beliefs. This was in no way a dream.

a reply to: Crumbles
I remember during a period in my life where I was severely hypothyroid and under a lot of stress. I was sleeping very, very poorly all the time and always felt like I was in a daze or fog. I was sitting at my desk playing a game and suddenly I think I dropped off to sleep. It was like I was fully awake, but I couldn't move. I could hear the game sounds, but they sounded very far away. I could hear my kids talking to each other behind me, but once again, very muffled.

It was terrifying to not be able to do anything or even indicate to those around me that something was wrong. Then just like that, it was over. My heart was pounding so loud I could hear it as the anxiety ramped up.

To this day, I have no idea if it was a waking dream or something else.

a reply to: Crumbles
Has it ever happened to you while your on your belly? It has actually happened more often to me on my stomach than back. But when it does, I think I am less conscious and that's when I just go back to bed.

a reply to: Crumbles
Was happening to me often while in my early twenties, no longer experiencing it once past thirty.

Often it was an incredibly strong arm(s) coming from the bed trying to strangulate me, other time it was being violently be thrown against the ceiling, and feeling the sensation of being crushed, as the force from the "tractor beam" was so immense...

I eventually found that trying to fight was futile and the whole terror event would immediatly vanish at the very moment I stoped resisting and relaxed. The disturbing parts is the incredible level of reality of these events, not like in a dream, it truly feel as it realy happen.