Sleep paralysis

Hi Katlover, and welcome to the forum! I'm sorry to hear you're having this happening to you. It is a most troublesome experience! I know, I've dealt with it for over 25 years.

Your experience sounds similar to what happens to me. You feel a presence, a negative entity holding you down and diving inside of you. To me it sounds like what I go through. Do you ever see an entity or evil spirit before/during this experience in your dreams? Do you feel weakened when you wake up? There are scientific reasons they say this happens, though for me I know exactly what's going on and it's not innocent.

Did you ever play with a Ouija board or play with the occult? How long have your experiences been happening?

*I’ve edited some of this out as I my intent is it to cause any unnecessary fear.

Hi Fizzgig,
I haven't had an episode recently, but still remember what it felt like. I've never seen an entity/presence in the dreams. It's more a feeling. I have had several episodes/dreams
 
Hi Katlover, and welcome to the forum! I'm sorry to hear you're having this happening to you. It is a most troublesome experience! I know, I've dealt with it for over 25 years.

Your experience sounds similar to what happens to me. You feel a presence, a negative entity holding you down and diving inside of you. To me it sounds like what I go through. Do you ever see an entity or evil spirit before/during this experience in your dreams? Do you feel weakened when you wake up? There are scientific reasons they say this happens, though for me I know exactly what's going on and it's not innocent.

Did you ever play with a Ouija board or play with the occult? How long have your experiences been happening?

*I’ve edited some of this out as I my intent is it to cause any unnecessary fear.

Hi Fizzgig,
I haven't had an episode recently, but still remember what it felt like. I've never seen an entity/presence in the dreams. It's more a feeling. I have had several episodes/dreams where I am possessed and am levitating. I'm usually with other people, family & friends. It's so strange. I try to contain the entity (for lack of a better term) but it overtakes me. I feel quite angry during the episode. I also find it terrifying.

No I never played with a ouija board. And it usually happens when I am extremely tired.
 
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I had periotic episodes of sleep paralysis for years when I was younger. It was especially bad in my 20s and 30s but had happened once or twice a year since I was a child. Sleep paralysis is a terrifying experience but it is especially bad if you don't understand it or what causes it.

Sleep has several stages. When you go into a deep sleep, the part that has REM (Rapid eye motion), you start to dream. At this point, your mind disconnects from your body or you would make all of the physical motions that you make in the dream. Basically, this is done to keep the things in your dreams isolated into your dream. In part, this goes back to our primitive instincts. Sleeping is dangerous when there are nocturnal predators out there looking for a snack. When you are asleep it is important that you don't draw attention to yourself and being silent and not moving is a survival trait.

Now for the nightmare...your body is disconnected from your mind and suddenly you actually become conscious! You can't move anything except your eyes. You can't even take a deep breath or make any sound. You want to scream but you can't even do that. You try to fight this and try to take a deep breath so you can scream, but you can't and it feels like something is on your chest pushing down. That must be why you can't take that deep breath. Your eyes are looking back and forth and you are flooded with terror and the knowledge that you are being watched. You can't quite see it but you are aware of the EYES looking at you and you are sure that whatever it is is going to kill you or at least do you great harm. For what seems like an eternity you are frozen in terror. It is actually only seconds but to you, it is almost endless. Finally, your mind wakes and releases you from the paralysis. Sometimes you scream, sometimes you sit up looking for the "monster" still terrified you turn on the light and begin to SLOWLY calm down. You feel sort of out of breath and shaky.

Most of this is all a part of your most primitive ancestral instincts. The eyes of the preditor are what you watch. As long as they are not pointed right at you you may not be seen. When those eyes land on you, you have seconds to RUN. To help with this you get a big shot of adrenaline. The paralysis may go all the way back to our tree-dwelling ancestors. When you sleep in a tree you don't want to roll around a lot.

When you become "aware" and conscious I'm not sure that you are actually awake. Your eyes are open and you have awareness but you are not thinking as much as you are FEELING. It is an emotional experience rather than an intellectual one. I have talked to a lot of people that have had this experience and it is mostly the same. I think that sometimes people may go back into true sleep without ever becoming fully conscious. At this point, their dreams may be attached to this partially conscious experience leaving them with a "dream" that is all too real in their memory.

I suspect that this is where SOME of the alien abduction experiences may come from. Dreams are amazing things. They are part subconscious thoughts and emotions and sometimes something more. But that may be for another discussion...
 
I had periotic episodes of sleep paralysis for years when I was younger. It was especially bad in my 20s and 30s but had happened once or twice a year since I was a child. Sleep paralysis is a terrifying experience but it is especially bad if you don't understand it or what causes it.

Sleep has several stages. When you go into a deep sleep, the part that has REM (Rapid eye motion), you start to dream. At this point, your mind disconnects from your body or you would make all of the physical motions that you make in the dream. Basically, this is done to keep the things in your dreams isolated into your dream. In part, this goes back to our primitive instincts. Sleeping is dangerous when there are nocturnal predators out there looking for a snack. When you are asleep it is important that you don't draw attention to yourself and being silent and not moving is a survival trait.

Now for the nightmare...your body is disconnected from your mind and suddenly you actually become conscious! You can't move anything except your eyes. You can't even take a deep breath or make any sound. You want to scream but you can't even do that. You try to fight this and try to take a deep breath so you can scream, but you can't and it feels like something is on your chest pushing down. That must be why you can't take that deep breath. Your eyes are looking back and forth and you are flooded with terror and the knowledge that you are being watched. You can't quite see it but you are aware of the EYES looking at you and you are sure that whatever it is is going to kill you or at least do you great harm. For what seems like an eternity you are frozen in terror. It is actually only seconds but to you, it is almost endless. Finally, your mind wakes and releases you from the paralysis. Sometimes you scream, sometimes you sit up looking for the "monster" still terrified you turn on the light and begin to SLOWLY calm down. You feel sort of out of breath and shaky.

Most of this is all a part of your most primitive ancestral instincts. The eyes of the preditor are what you watch. As long as they are not pointed right at you you may not be seen. When those eyes land on you, you have seconds to RUN. To help with this you get a big shot of adrenaline. The paralysis may go all the way back to our tree-dwelling ancestors. When you sleep in a tree you don't want to roll around a lot.

When you become "aware" and conscious I'm not sure that you are actually awake. Your eyes are open and you have awareness but you are not thinking as much as you are FEELING. It is an emotional experience rather than an intellectual one. I have talked to a lot of people that have had this experience and it is mostly the same. I think that sometimes people may go back into true sleep without ever becoming fully conscious. At this point, their dreams may be attached to this partially conscious experience leaving them with a "dream" that is all too real in their memory.

I suspect that this is where SOME of the alien abduction experiences may come from. Dreams are amazing things. They are part subconscious thoughts and emotions and sometimes something more. But that may be for another discussion...
Excellent way of explaining this. Thanks Tex.
 
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I had periotic episodes of sleep paralysis for years when I was younger. It was especially bad in my 20s and 30s but had happened once or twice a year since I was a child. Sleep paralysis is a terrifying experience but it is especially bad if you don't understand it or what causes it.

Sleep has several stages. When you go into a deep sleep, the part that has REM (Rapid eye motion), you start to dream. At this point, your mind disconnects from your body or you would make all of the physical motions that you make in the dream. Basically, this is done to keep the things in your dreams isolated into your dream. In part, this goes back to our primitive instincts. Sleeping is dangerous when there are nocturnal predators out there looking for a snack. When you are asleep it is important that you don't draw attention to yourself and being silent and not moving is a survival trait.

Now for the nightmare...your body is disconnected from your mind and suddenly you actually become conscious! You can't move anything except your eyes. You can't even take a deep breath or make any sound. You want to scream but you can't even do that. You try to fight this and try to take a deep breath so you can scream, but you can't and it feels like something is on your chest pushing down. That must be why you can't take that deep breath. Your eyes are looking back and forth and you are flooded with terror and the knowledge that you are being watched. You can't quite see it but you are aware of the EYES looking at you and you are sure that whatever it is is going to kill you or at least do you great harm. For what seems like an eternity you are frozen in terror. It is actually only seconds but to you, it is almost endless. Finally, your mind wakes and releases you from the paralysis. Sometimes you scream, sometimes you sit up looking for the "monster" still terrified you turn on the light and begin to SLOWLY calm down. You feel sort of out of breath and shaky.

Most of this is all a part of your most primitive ancestral instincts. The eyes of the preditor are what you watch. As long as they are not pointed right at you you may not be seen. When those eyes land on you, you have seconds to RUN. To help with this you get a big shot of adrenaline. The paralysis may go all the way back to our tree-dwelling ancestors. When you sleep in a tree you don't want to roll around a lot.

When you become "aware" and conscious I'm not sure that you are actually awake. Your eyes are open and you have awareness but you are not thinking as much as you are FEELING. It is an emotional experience rather than an intellectual one. I have talked to a lot of people that have had this experience and it is mostly the same. I think that sometimes people may go back into true sleep without ever becoming fully conscious. At this point, their dreams may be attached to this partially conscious experience leaving them with a "dream" that is all too real in their memory.

I suspect that this is where SOME of the alien abduction experiences may come from. Dreams are amazing things. They are part subconscious thoughts and emotions and sometimes something more. But that may be for another discussion...

Thank you, thank you, thank you for this! You've described it in a way that I can't. And given me a more in depth reason (our ancestors & survival, having to be aware/alert, body/mind disconnection) into why this happens.

No wonder people in medieval times, etc, believed they were being attacked/overtaken by demons. Absolutely fascinating but scary if it happens to you.

Thanks TexDanm
 
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When you have the rather unfortunate pleasure of experiencing this several times you tend to want answers. I dug deep many decades ago into all of this. While it doesn't help make the experience less disturbing while you are experiencing it, understanding lets you put it behind you once you fully awaken. Not understanding will lead you to possibly coming to disturbing conclusions that will bother you as much when you are awake as the experience did while you were asleep. Man truly is the naked ape and while we shed the hair and left the trees we still carry a lot of that ape inside and in our instincts and even emotions.
 
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Hello,
I am new here and am not sure if there is already a post for SP. So I will just continue with this.

Over the years (actually not lately) I have experienced SP. Not sure why but it would usually occur when I was exhausted (from lack of sleep, I have been an insomniac from early childhood) and would take an afternoon nap.

This is what causes sleep paralyses - sleep deprivation & messed up sleep patterns, so there's nothing unusual about it. I also suffered from it when I wasn't having enough sleep & my sleep pattern was messed up. There's even a guide how to induce sleep paralyses that requires above mentioned things: How to Induce Sleep Paralysis

I know it's very scary feeling and sometimes it comes with hallucinations as well, but there's nothing to be worried, it's all normal. It's all your brain. I don't think there are any paranormal or supernatural things in this world. If there were demons, angels, god(s) and similar things, they would already show themselves publicly instead of hiding behind some stories. Just fix your sleeping pattern and have at least 8 hours sleep a day and sleep paralyses will go away.
 
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I had periotic episodes of sleep paralysis for years when I was younger. It was especially bad in my 20s and 30s but had happened once or twice a year since I was a child. Sleep paralysis is a terrifying experience but it is especially bad if you don't understand it or what causes it.

Sleep has several stages. When you go into a deep sleep, the part that has REM (Rapid eye motion), you start to dream. At this point, your mind disconnects from your body or you would make all of the physical motions that you make in the dream. Basically, this is done to keep the things in your dreams isolated into your dream. In part, this goes back to our primitive instincts. Sleeping is dangerous when there are nocturnal predators out there looking for a snack. When you are asleep it is important that you don't draw attention to yourself and being silent and not moving is a survival trait.

Now for the nightmare...your body is disconnected from your mind and suddenly you actually become conscious! You can't move anything except your eyes. You can't even take a deep breath or make any sound. You want to scream but you can't even do that. You try to fight this and try to take a deep breath so you can scream, but you can't and it feels like something is on your chest pushing down. That must be why you can't take that deep breath. Your eyes are looking back and forth and you are flooded with terror and the knowledge that you are being watched. You can't quite see it but you are aware of the EYES looking at you and you are sure that whatever it is is going to kill you or at least do you great harm. For what seems like an eternity you are frozen in terror. It is actually only seconds but to you, it is almost endless. Finally, your mind wakes and releases you from the paralysis. Sometimes you scream, sometimes you sit up looking for the "monster" still terrified you turn on the light and begin to SLOWLY calm down. You feel sort of out of breath and shaky.

Most of this is all a part of your most primitive ancestral instincts. The eyes of the preditor are what you watch. As long as they are not pointed right at you you may not be seen. When those eyes land on you, you have seconds to RUN. To help with this you get a big shot of adrenaline. The paralysis may go all the way back to our tree-dwelling ancestors. When you sleep in a tree you don't want to roll around a lot.

When you become "aware" and conscious I'm not sure that you are actually awake. Your eyes are open and you have awareness but you are not thinking as much as you are FEELING. It is an emotional experience rather than an intellectual one. I have talked to a lot of people that have had this experience and it is mostly the same. I think that sometimes people may go back into true sleep without ever becoming fully conscious. At this point, their dreams may be attached to this partially conscious experience leaving them with a "dream" that is all too real in their memory.

I suspect that this is where SOME of the alien abduction experiences may come from. Dreams are amazing things. They are part subconscious thoughts and emotions and sometimes something more. But that may be for another discussion...
Your post here is so well written. It explains the condition like wikipedia!
I really learned from this post your writing style is brilliant!
I think most people get sp a few times. Where mine is just like you say but in mine i genuinely feel i am dying and if i dont move and kick my legs over and over i will go under and die. I dont know if that is very rare reaction or normal to sp.
i feel my body will stop and i need to fight to not go under and when i think about it after i wonder what would happen if i didnt fight the paralysis. i get sp quite often and that feeling i feel if i dont desperately move i am going to die.
the worst part is if i am at a festival or camping and i am heard making feeble noises by everyone around me and that has happened a few times.
 
This is what causes sleep paralyses - sleep deprivation & messed up sleep patterns, so there's nothing unusual about it. I also suffered from it when I wasn't having enough sleep & my sleep pattern was messed up. There's even a guide how to induce sleep paralyses that requires above mentioned things: How to Induce Sleep Paralysis

I know it's very scary feeling and sometimes it comes with hallucinations as well, but there's nothing to be worried, it's all normal. It's all your brain. I don't think there are any paranormal or supernatural things in this world. If there were demons, angels, god(s) and similar things, they would already show themselves publicly instead of hiding behind some stories. Just fix your sleeping pattern and have at least 8 hours sleep a day and sleep paralyses will go away.[/QUOTE

I go to sleep around 12-1 a
This is what causes sleep paralyses - sleep deprivation & messed up sleep patterns, so there's nothing unusual about it. I also suffered from it when I wasn't having enough sleep & my sleep pattern was messed up. There's even a guide how to induce sleep paralyses that requires above mentioned things: How to Induce Sleep Paralysis

I know it's very scary feeling and sometimes it comes with hallucinations as well, but there's nothing to be worried, it's all normal. It's all your brain. I don't think there are any paranormal or supernatural things in this world. If there were demons, angels, god(s) and similar things, they would already show themselves publicly instead of hiding behind some stories. Just fix your sleeping pattern and have at least 8 hours sleep a day and sleep paralyses will go away.
 
That’s the scientific explanation and I’m glad it’s the reason for most everyone. However, there is at least one other reason for this. I also do have to say that I do have regular sleeping patterns. I go to sleep every night around 12:30-1 and wake up at 8am. I’m never slept deprived.