Sleep Paralysis. I Get It. You Get It. We All Get It. Let's Talk About It.

I have experienced sleep paralysis several times over the past few years. Curiously, for me, they seem to be linked to my fertility. Although I have always had a fear of the night from my very earliest childhood, the SP only began when I was pregnant, and continued in the months following my daughters birth, and - most recently - preceding a miscarriage. Any other women experience similar symptoms? I suspect that it has something to do with hormone fluctuations, but I haven’t seen any research done on the subject.

My experiences are fairly standard for a typical SP victim. I’ve heard robotic voices, felt strange figures looming over me, and felt a hand gripping my shoulder…all of which felt very real, and very frightening at the time, however much my logical mind is able to rationalise the experiences afterwards. The fear is so intense during the episodes that there have been times when I have literally thought that I was going to die from fright. It is truly a horrible, horrible thing to happen, and I would not wish it on my worst enemy.

Most recently, I have been able to anticipate when the attacks are going to occur. I experience a sense of deep anxiety and dread before going to bed, and hear a faint droning noise - like a distant plane. I find it difficult to go to sleep, and will often wake myself up sharply just as I am getting to the point where paralysis is starting to kick in. Sometimes I will wake up and find that things have changed in the room - sometimes the lights have been switched off, or objects moved. It’s tempting to try and assign a paranormal explanation to these happenings, but I try and be rational. All the same, it is really very frightening, and I wish to God that it would stop. =(

reply to post by LolaLavell


I find your account very intriguing, as it might provide a clue as to why ladies experience SP more often than men.

If (very big if) SP can be attributed in some cases to entities snacking on a sleeping person, perhaps ladies provide more of a meal at certain points in their cycle.

Dovetails well with what another poster pointed out in re: the video.

Hi everybody,

I have been experiencing Sleep Paralysis all my life and I have had some terrifying nights!
However up until yesterday I didn't know what SP was or if it was common or rare!

my desire to research this further is due to the increasing amount of SP experiences I have had over the last few years. Before my SP became so frequent it used to be much more intense and scary. but now they seem to be much shorter and controllable. Over the years i would hear the noise in my ears and know one was coming, over time this became a sign that I was about to have a lucid dream (often sexual).

After researching this yesterday there seems to be a connection with SP and lucid dreaming and Astral Projection.

I find this very odd as I always thought these experiences could be connected to something more paranormal.

So, using this research last night i was able to induce SP after many hours of drifting in and out of consciousness. As I was aware i was in SP mode, I was able to control my breathing to slow my HR. At first it was still scary, however i knew I wanted to push myself further.
I was able to "imagine" myself getting out of bed and moving.
then i think this could have merged into a dream as i cant remember much after that.

My point is, Was this a form of Astral Projection and if so how do I get better at it?

I have no problem inducing SP its just where do I go from there.
Thanks
R

I am so interested in this topic, as ive been been getting sleep paralysis since the age of 9 years old! To me it has always been scary and weird even though i found out at a later age its just sleep paralysis, havent had them for about 3 months but its starting again, more vivd than ever, and what scares me is the fact that whenever i experience it now, theres bruises on my back, legs and arms when the paralysis stopped. My explanation for it is probrably from all the struggling to actually move, but my bed is seriously not that hard so bruises would occur and i dont feel any pain!, it vanishes in about 5 minutes but untill it changes color to red, can anyone shed some light for me on that?

one time, when i was 14ish... i was in a hotel in Washington, it was about 7:30am, i was awaken abruptly by falling out of bed (i roll a lot at night). and my right arm could not be moved.

then one, more recently, i was laying in bed one day, dozing off, waking up a bit later, etc, the fun stuff. i awoke one time, could not move anything, not even my eyes. i could hear myself breathing, and i was fully awake. when i noticed i could not move, not even open my eyes, needless to say, i was somewhat confused, maybe a bit scared. after a few seconds, i could only think to myself, "why cant i move? why cant i move? why cant i move! i wanna move! why cant i move!" this went on for a good 30 seconds. i finally snapped out of it by trying as hard as i could to move something, i eventually managed to make my arm moved, which snapped my body out of it. i immediately picked up my iphone and did a wikipanian search for sleep paralysis. it was an interesting experience to say the lease

For me, sleep paralysis seems to be part of the OBE experience, which i've been having since I was a kid. Hate it!! The sleep paralysis, not the OBE'S

I have had sleep paralysis a few times a couple of years back. The first time it happened I freaked out and was literally scared out of my mind that my epilepsy had come back since that was how it started. The paralysis I mean, but that's not important right now. At the time I experienced this I didn't know anything about sleep paralysis or out of body experiences. The only thing I knew about was lucid dreams and that was because I was a natural at it because I could recall my dreams.

Back to what I was saying, the first time it happened the fact I felt as if I was having trouble breathing hadn't even registered in my mind. I automatically went into my defensive proceeders for trying to break out of a spell. (Never works usually.)

The first step was to open my eyes. They felt as if they were glued shut and I tried to open them. After a few tries I managed it, bringing me to the sight of glowing purple light coming through my covers, but I still felt as if my eyes were still closed. I was still panicking and ignored the strange feeling as I imagined that I had driven all of my energy into a ball before I began to imagine it was bouncing around chaotically internally.

It wasn't long before I became to put more focus and tried to move my hand repeatedly. I was greeted by the strangest sight when my hand shot out of my hand jarring my body out. It made me feel as if my body was layered over another. It was the strangest feeling since I had lost feeling in the body of mine that was "frozen" but I was able to move around now.

I had to climb the rest of the way of my body before I was completely free. The first things that registered in my mind were the fact that I was weightless and that I was free. I have had dreams where I have felt weightless before but to me this was what it truly felt like to be weightless. It was amazing. I will admit I did celebrate the fact that I had escaped from my "prison." It was after this that I remembered why I felt weightless and I looked down to find that my body was gone.

I knew my "eyes" weren't closed but everywhere I looked it was pitch black. I looked around to discover that I was in a place that just seemed to be endlessly dark. It was a peaceful type of darkness. I didn't feel threatened what so ever. I had nothing else to do and I felt pretty excited so I just began to walk along. I never felt worried or scared.

After a while in the distance I saw a light in the distance. It grew larger and larger and before I knew it I was standing in front of it. I'll say this now, that light was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my entire life. I know I haven't lived very long being that I'm only nineteen. I can't really explain it in words.

It was just a bright, pure light that seemed to have texture, but no texture at the same time. It also sent out this warm, conforming, and inviting feeling too. I tried to touch it before I heard boy yell: "Don't touch it." Since I hadn't been expecting that I snapped back awake.

I'm not sure if I had fallen asleep or what happened but after reading a bit it sounded like I had an out of body experience. But I thought I should have been in my room or seen my room. I'm not sure where I was but after talking with my parents, they said it sounded like the "other side." But even then I'm not sure why I would arrive there. I still wonder what would have happened if I had gone on and touched it. Since then I have had several more incidents of sleep paralysis. I didn't try what happened before again instead I decided to wait them out. There have been incidents where while I was trying to sleep I felt as if I was turning in my body and I could see parts of my room though my eyes, my body was vibrating, the world was moving constantly beneath my body, or I would hear a high pitch ringing sound.

reply to post by Parize


Wow, Parize, thank you for your story.

I was really intrigued by the last part of your story. As the SP experience seems to 'mature' in a person effects like the ones you mentioned (rotating in your body, seeing through closed eyes, auditory aberrations) seem to increase and become more discreet.

I was shocked during some of my later experiences with SP when I realized that I was not imagining things; but that I was actually able to have episodes of some kind of very acute clairvoyant vision during these episodes. The first time it happened i saw the full moon right through the ceiling.

I gather that you know what I mean.

reply to post by Parize


Thank you for sharing your experience. I can relate to a lot of what you are saying. I have experienced sleep paralysis for around 10 years. Only within the past couple of years I have tried so hard to move during the paralysis that I have felt and watched myself divide. I honestly thought I was crazy because I knew others who had sleep paralysis, but NEVER to the extent of my experiences! I remember a few times getting just my arms to separate... but lately I have discovered I can roll out of bed. I have not left the house yet while in this condition because I get so frightened it always wakes me up.

I also wanted to mention I know I had to see this post for a reason on this specific day because last night for the first time, I had a dream that went from a vivid and visual dream turned into complete blackness, yet my thoughts continued to flow. It was one of the more bizarre experiences I've had, because in the dream (term I'm using loosely, I was mildly conscious as I am in many dreams thanks to persistent sleep paralysis) I was speaking to myself and trying to figure out who God is.

I find this very strange for ME to experience. I have always considered myself agnostic. and I never speak of "God" because I have never been sure if there are one, many, or none. So I thought the timing of the first "black" dream I ever had, to also coincide with my mind being endlessly curious and fascinated about God, to be funny as it doesn't seem characteristic of me.

I also want to mention that I heard two voices speak to me in this black dream. One voice, I have not identified beyond sounding male, said to me "you are mistaken," I guess about the ways I was trying to identify God. At this point, in real life (which I was mildly conscious of,) I started to moan in fear of the unfamiliar voice. I then heard another voice ... that of my boyfriend, telling me "you're dreaming," which woke me up. When i woke up, I had the same feelings that I do when I am coming out of sleep paralysis... like every muscle in my body is weak and I'm just using them for the first time. When I looked over, I was going to tell my boyfriend what had caused my moaning, when I realized he was actually sleeping.

I spoke to him about it this morning, and he said he was woken up by the moaning but too tired to react, so he thought to himself "she's dreaming" then he nodded back off. So he did not verbally saying anything. Yet somehow I heard him in my dream.

There is so much I don't understand about these experiences, but my gosh I am trying.

reply to post by Frater210


On rare occasion, yes. I am however also prone to constant recurring nightmares. Weather that means something in conjunction with the sleep paralysis, I'm not certain. I do know that the first time I recall it I was bloody terrified.

Originally posted by 547000

Originally posted by ObvTruth
How would you even know you have sleep paralysis?

It's when the only thing you feel you can control is your breathing.

These two sentences gave me an epiphany.

I have been trying to figure out what causes my sleep paralysis for a long time. I've started to keep a dream journal which has given me amazing dream recall. I've started remembering dreams from years ago I hadn't gotten the chance to write down. I know this initially seems irrelevant, but I noticed themes, symbols and patterns in my dreams as I started to decode them. I can say with a HUGE amount of faith that many of my dreams seem to be messages to me, and they seem to be telling me to meditate. I can give some examples if anyone is curious, but right now I want to explain why what I have been learning about myself has anything to do with these posts.

I have never, in any official sense, meditated. Growing up I never believed it had any significance. However... when I first started getting sleep paralysis, the most prominent thing I noticed was the vibrating feelings lingering in my skull and traveling through my spine. I tried many google searches years and years ago, and the only stuff I could find about people feeling vibrations had to do with meditating and the energy of the chakras. When I first read that stuff, I didn't think it had anything to do with what I was feeling.

So here is the bridge I am starting to see between these two things I thought were unrelated. Someone chose to define sleep paralysis as "the only thing you can control is your breathing." Now when I remember the articles I have read about meditation, breathing (and your control of it,) is essential. Both states place a high importance on breathing.

After making this observation, I wondered why we go through sleep paralysis. I know my dreams have been telling me to meditate, and I have began to think that sleep paralysis is a way for the body to attempt that state of mind without our conscious consent. And then maybe because we aren't prepared in the same way we would through meditation, we become vulnerable to frightening experiences.

I would LOVE to hear from those who have shared their experiences... and see if there is any connection for anyone else. I am going to start researching into meditating to see if it affects my sleep paralysis in any way.

I don't think it's accurate to say that everyone experiences sleep paralysis/night terrors.

I've experienced a few times. It's a symptom of low levels of serotonin in the brain, I believe. I fixed my sleep problems including night terrors by taking the supplement 5-HTP for about a year. That was at least ten years ago. Never happened again.

Wow, you guys are awesome.

We are creating a kind of database for these stories here.

Please keep them coming.

The 5-HTP tip sounds like a good one. Or at least interesting.

I never knew there was a term for it but I have experienced SP numerous times. I have not bothered to research it but my theory is simply that the mind becomes conscious or some-what conscious yet the brain has not yet awaken the rest of the body (motor functions and such). This is why you would be unable to move. It is not a pleasant feeling but in my experience, I can usually force myself to become fully awake where I can begin to move again. Sometimes it seems to take quite a bit of effort and will power.

I just stumbled across this thread, and thought I'd chime in. I'm sorry, I did not fully read the whole thread, but hopefully enough.

I'm Buddhist, and have experienced what you call "sleep paralysis" for years (almost nightly) from the age of 14 to 20 (i'm 30 now). At the time I wasn't sure what was going on. I experienced it all, from normal paralysis, to seeing distorted images, consciously knowing what was happening to me.

After awhile, I told my family what was going on, they thought they knew what it was. If you believe in the paranormal, you might be able to digest what I'm telling you easier.

The first type of SP is believed to come from the blood of a wild animal that might have dripped on wood that was used to build your home, usually that piece of wood was used somewhere above where your sleeping. They say the reason for this is because it was a wild animal's blood, along with it's nature and natural instincts continue to live on. 1 type of SP is supposedly due to that. This type is not harmful, and actually very common.

The second type of SP is believe to be cause from a soul that's still trapped here on earth. These souls are just wondering around, usually near where they died. Or it could be other a more powerful being, a demon. Either is no good. It's believed that if you are unlucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time, you might get 'caught'. As in, your alignment, age, birth date, sign (chinese zodiac) are compatible with that 'spirit', it has a chance to 'catch' you.

What I mean by catching you, is basically, the spirit sort of lays a claim on you on the other side, and follows you around. Usually, that spirit is of the opposite sex, and the nature of the relationship usually developes into more romantic affairs.. in which you kind of become married to that spirit. At night the spirit will come to you in your dreams, can even manifest itself. All this happens on the 'other' plane, while your sleeping. The SP happens when they are closest to you, trying to manifest itself.

The couple pictures I saw posted in this thread depicts what happens very well. You don't have to believe what I'm saying, but what I'm saying is the truth, and very real. It's just very, paranormal.

If the 2nd type of SP happened to you, where you consistently remember a particular individual.. or even feel like your in love with them in the dream. You need to get paranormal help, the longer you let it go on for.. the harder it is to cure. You have to go through ceremonies to try and get 'divorced' from the spirit. I've seen it, this stuff is very real.

Those are the 2 main types. There are other instances where this happens also. This is based on the paranormal side of things.


PS. Anyone who is still experiencing this, don't fight it. Instead, try to calm yourself (this takes much practice), and whisper to yourself "om ma ni pad me hum", this is a Buddhist chant to protect yourself. The SP/spirit should go away after you say it.

reply to post by deanGI5
Hey! I had very similar experience. I was laying on my side facing the wall and sleeping. Suddenly I woke up as I felt cold hand pressing my shoulder/neck area. I was trembling and having a feeling of being very cold(that hand felt ice cold) and I wanted to elbow that, whatever was behind me touching me, but I couldnt.

It was impossible to scream or move and finally when I could move and hit with my elbow, there was nothing there..
Couldnt sleep for the rest of the night, very scary and later on I read about SP and thought it might be the cause..

reply to post by acidsweep


Thank you, AcidSweep. Great post.

Would you mind telling us what culture these traditions you are sharing come from? I am very interested. Thanks again for sharing your story.

It is quite an unnerving experience for sure. I've had it maybe 10 or so times in my entire life (32 years old), and the last few times I've been able to deal with it better. I'm mixed with what causes it. On one hand the scientific explanation makes total sense. On the other hand, those that have experienced it are hard pressed to be satisfied with the scientific explanation. I can only speak of my experiences but whenever it would happen I would always feel a presence in the room that's invisible and malevolent. It usually happens during an "awakening" period, when I cut through all of the illusion and vices and strive towards my "imagined" path. I also feel throbbing force to my ears and head almost like I am being hit with energy attacks (best way I can describe it). This all sounds loony and I am totally aware of that lol. I am also aware that SP happens in the twilight of your dream state so the mind could certainly be playing tricks on me.

reply to post by acidsweep


Interesting. I have read about succumbi (spelling?) and incubus and old hag tales so I am somewhat familiar with paranormal explainations, but I have never heard of what you speak of. One thing is certain...the best way to deal with is to try and stay as calm as possible. When it first happened to me, I freaked out and was tense as hell (no pun). After a few minutes (or it seemed that way) I screamed out "Jesus help me" because being brought up Catholic thats all I knew (no longer Christian). When I did that I sensed extreme anger on whatever I thought was causing it, followed by a eventual release. A few years later after going through a period of reading and studing, it happened to me again. This time knowing I wasn't Christian I decided to try a few shielding techniques that I had read such as the light sphere or egg along with a demanding by my free will for it to cease. This also angered it and I was attacked more fiercely, but I didn't panic and held with resolve. The attacks soon stopped after that (almost like it knew it couldn't win if I didn't fear it) and I rarely get one anymore (one time in the past 5 years).

Of course this could have be all in my head and still to this day I have no clue if it was real or not.

Originally posted by Universer
I don't think it's accurate to say that everyone experiences sleep paralysis/night terrors.

I've experienced a few times. It's a symptom of low levels of serotonin in the brain, I believe. I fixed my sleep problems including night terrors by taking the supplement 5-HTP for about a year. That was at least ten years ago. Never happened again.

I completely agree with this statement - low serotonin is a known cause of sleep paralysis.

I have found some interesting student work that researches the hallucinations and feelings of fear:
serendip.brynmawr.edu...

Obviously there are many reasons for chemical imbalance but one acknowledged cause of low serotonin is use of drugs such as Ecstasy. The following link backs this up. It is taken from a well known clubbers forum that operates in the UK. Read what they have to say - by their own admission they have been using 'pollutants'.
www.dontstayin.com...

Increasing serotonin can be as simple as a change in diet/healthy lifestyle. Foods such as avocado, tuna, & walnuts naturally increase serotonin. I am no dietician so I am sure the list is quite extensive.

I have experienced this for approx. 15 years. When it first started it was quite severe and I would often feel as if I was being spun round my bed. At the time someone suggested it could be astral projection so I ran with that. From then on, every time it happened (which was regularly) I would try and control it. One evening I did find my self floating and not panicking. To try and prove it was real I willed my self to go to my flatmates room. The thought seemed to work and I found myself in the room turning the light on.

I heard about the serotonin conclusion a few years after this.

I still experience paralysis to a lesser degree.The floating sensation has not happened often - until last Saturday night. Having fallen asleep on the sofa - the paralysis started. I then took a trip up my hall way. It looked a little different - very white but cloudy. It only lasted a couple of seconds but it felt real all the same.

Each experience shares the same theme; the dreams where you know something is not right, the tingling in the head and swishing in the ears.

My probably too long account may sound like a contradiction. However, the science bit does not conclude it for me - the trigger is explained but the actual experience is not. Brain capacity is so unknown that perhaps it is another plain or untapped skill we have not developed.

Either way - although it can be scary I find it quite fascinating.