[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Sleep Paralysis (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 6/17/2008 10:21:06 PM EDT
|
Holy shit that is terrifying. I woke up this morning, but I was unable to move. And part of my dream was still going on. I had opened my eyes and could see my room, but heard someone who I had dreamt up say, "You wanna die?" and knew they were moving down the hall towards me. Suddenly I saw a hand and arm in front of my face and I was able to finally lurch my arm across my body at it after a few seconds of it being there. Suddenly I could move and there was no arm. My heart was beating so fast. But damn, that shit was scary. I'm glad I didn't have any of the crazy stuff I've heard of from other arfcommers. 
|
That was this morning.
Not my assginity! |
Yeah, according to Wikipedia one of the causes can be sleeping on your back. Like the first time I do that and bam! Sleep paralysis. But I need to learn how to sleep on my back...
|
|
I had a semi terrifying experience. my eyes were open , but I couldnt move for the life of me. Then I heard a low humming, that kept getting louder then a bright light then a 4 foot alien appears slowly walking towards me. The only thing that preventedd me from totally freaking out was that I saw my dog just chilling. And she attempts to kill anything that moves that isnt immediate family. So a total disregard for my alien brought the realization it was a dream. All of a sudden my body kicked into motion and it was all good. I watched a show on aliens a few weeks earlier and they talked about sleep paralysis.  Or else I would have shat my self
|
|
Well I never sleep on my back. This is probably the 3rd time in my life. |
|
I have had this happen to me twice in my life. The first time it happened I was a freshman in high school. During the middle of the night I "woke up" and saw a shadow figure in the room, then he came at the end of my bed and leaned over looking at me. No face or anything just a dark figure. I freak out and screamed and it was gone. At the time I had no idea what happened to me. For a long while I was convinced it was a paranormal experience but years later I found out about sleep paralysis and the weird things you experience. The second time was years later in my apartment. I woke in the morning to find that I could not more or even speak. Then a strange ethereal wisp like thing was floating around my room. At first I was terrified then i quickly realized it was sleep paralysis and I just waited it out and then I woke up for real. It can definitely be terrifying but if you know whats happening to you its not as bad. I truly think a lot of ghost/alien stories are a result of this phenomenon. Thats why I never trust a story that starts with "I was sleeping in bed when.." |
For serious, that is some scary shit. |
Yeah, this was just some random antagonist from the dream I was having. I wasn't expecting violence until I half woke up and suddenly: "You wanna die?" |
I found this on google:
|
I dunno, I've always slept on my stomach and sometimes on my sides. This back sleeping thing is new to me. I want to do it so I can easily do it when I need to. |
|
It's about a 50/50 split for front/back sleepers. But if you have slept on your back your entire life its bad for your back to switch to sleeping on your stomach. If you have slept on your stomach your entire life/childhood then you are conditioned for it and good to do as you please. I did a report on this once in hgihschool. |
O RLY? So me sleeping on my stomach until now has been beneficial? But what if I had a very large stomach(I did but am now teh skinny...almost)? |
|
I've had literally dozens of sleep paralysis episodes (probably close to 100). Fortunately, though, as I've gotten older, the frequency has faded quite a bit. Most of mine have "simply" involved paralysis, and I usually don't see or hear anything. However, a few times, I woke up on my back (yes, the vast majority of episodes occur in this position) and saw a black, smoke-like veil descending over me from the ceiling. It looked like a woman's handkerchief made of smoke slowly billowing downward. I actually broke a few paralysis spells by reaching up to touch these apparitions. The worst thing about these incidents is that when I'm paralyzed, I don't just think, but absolutely KNOW, that there is an evil presence right behind me that is gleefully contemplating committing horrible acts upon me while I am powerless. This feeling is among the most powerful emotions I've ever felt, and occurs even if I know logically that I am lying on my back and a wall is directly behind me. Interestingly, when I break a paralysis spell (I can move my eyes fine during one, and can move my head from side to side slightly, which is how I break the spell), I feel a tremendous buzzing sensation all over my body. After some research, I think this is due to neurotransmitters, which have been suppressed during the sleep cycle in order to induce atonia, suddenly being released en masse, especially in response to the tremendously stressful experience. Re: alien abduction, I actually had an incredibly vivid alien abduction sleep paralysis incident, and, had it not been maybe the 40th episode of sleep paralysis, I might have actually believed the experience was real. Try going through one episode after another in the early 80's before the internet was available to quickly address such issues! I had to wait for years, with my family thinking I was imagining or exaggerating my sleep paralysis, until I saw an article in the newspaper discussing the possible link to alien abductions. That lead me to some studies done by the U of Pa. I'll give more info if requested.... |
What exactly did you experience in your abduction exprience? Actual alien figures? stereotypical greys or what? |
|
OK, some info on my sleep paralysis "alien abduction". The "abduction" occurred when I was home from college, and sleeping in a a basement bedroom. Like many sleep paralysis episodes, it occurred at a time when my sleep cycle was disrupted. I fell asleep at about 8 PM. The room was very dim, and I must have had my eyes half-open, because the room was worked into the dream exactly as it was. There was a pair of louvre doors (hinged doors with slats in the top half) leading into a storage room that led to the boiler room. This doorway always gave me the creeps when I was down there, as if I expected someone to appear between the halves of the door, which didn't meet in the middle (there was about a 1-foot gap. I was directly facing this doorway as I dozed on the couch. As the episode began, I heard something from that direction. Horrified, I realized that it was the boiler room door opening. A few seconds later I saw the left door panel swing in, and a small humanoid face appear at a height of about 3 1/2 feet), which stared right at me. It looked to be gray in the dim light, with large black eyes. It suddenly moved towards me, and, as it did, I saw two others emerging from the storage area behind it. They crossed the 10 feet or so to the couch where I was sleeping, and stood looking down at me (they were only about 18 inches higher than my position). I felt them grab me, and try to lift me up. Somehow, I knew that they intended to carry me back to the boiler room. I was absolutely freaking out at this point, and straining every muscle to regain motion, so I could fight them. But I noticed that they were now making some agitated sounds, due to the fact that I was too heavy to move. Somehow, I managed to break the spell, and found myself sitting up on the edge of the couch, feeling like every nerve cell was on fire. Ever since that incident, I would have occasional nightmares about that room. Often, in these dreams I come to the boiler room door, open it, and see that there is a passage to another place (sometimes prosaic, sometimes fantastic). This episode was one of the few times I heard (or saw!) anything during sleep paralysis. As strange as it was, I immediately ascribed its cause as being sleep-disorder-related. But, man- what an experience. These dreams definitely have a heightened reality, and when they are as detailed as this one was, it's quite a ride! But as bizarre as it was, it was attributable to physical causes. As were all the other odd sleep-related experiences I had, with one exception. And I don't like to think about that particular incident, because it's the only one for which I can find no rational explanation. |
|
I have had this happen only once in my life. It happened while I was sleeping on my back (usually sleep on my side) Same song and dance, I saw aliens in my room and could do nothing =TOTAL panic! My theory on why this is always a negative experience is. You basically have negative feedback going on. Your conscious mind is awake and realizes it cant move and it panics. Your sub conscious mind picks up on the panic and conjures up something it knows would evoke panic. Having both sets of the mind self aware at the same time is what sets off this experience. Much like when you are sleeping and your body hears something and it conjures it into your dream. Dog barking, car etc. Just my thoughts on why it is normally a bad situation and not a benevolent issue. |
Yeah I've always had the concern that if I was ever in the hospital for an extended period of time I wouldn't be able to sleep... since they make you stay on your back. I've tried to make myself sleep on my back. I've heard it's better for your back. I just lie there awake. |
|
Astral travel thread FTW! Count the number of posts on one page so far, it goes to the next one on the 27 post.
Edit:I remember this happening only once to me, pretty terrifying, I couldn't even get my eyelids to open. Like the poster two posts above mine, I can't manage to fall asleep on my back, even if I'm really tired. |
| Mine arent as exciting. I just cant move and have to stare ahead and try to move. It really sucks when you have your own hand laying on your throat though. I usually just give up and go back to sleep. Ive even tried thinking of hot women hoping id get some type of dream, but nothin. It is seriously like im awake but cant move. |
|
Has happened to me many many times - not much in the last few years though. Most common for me was while sleeping on my side for whatever reason. Eventually I got over some of the terror of it and began experimenting with the strange sensations. Concentrating on moving an arm, my mind perceives the arm as moving, and it continues right on through my body, other solid objects...very strange feeling. |
If it's not too uncomfortable for you, could you share that one "irrational" experience? Thanks. |
|
This used to happen to my wife almost every night. She'd wake up unable to move and see these dark shapes coming for her. The worst ones were when she'd wake to find them on top of her and could feel their weight pushing her down into the bed, smothering her. She'd wake me many nights with her screams and other times I wake to her crying. I'd have to hold her until she fell back asleep. She hated to sleep because she knew that demons were coming for her, kind of like Nightmare on Elm Street. This went on for many years but seldom happens anymore. |
Yes now that he has brought it up he has to share... |