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This morning I had the most full on, scary at times but exciting experience of sleep paralysis. I had woken and gone to the loo at 5am then settled back down to sleep flat on my back. Some time later I seemed to wake up and initially thought that the building was falling down and then for a while really believed that there could be an earthquake (BTW I'm on holiday on fuerteventura an old volcanic island) I then tried to move but couldn't and realised it wasn't an earthquake. My whole body felt like it was pulsing with vibrations and felt like there was pressure on my chest and as though some strange presence was doing this to me. I tried to call out to my mum in the other room but couldn't and tried really hard to move my arms. At some point, as I became more aware, I realised I was experiencing sleep paralysis as I've read about it and have experienced a more mild, shorter version years ago. It still felt so strange and powerful that it was scary so I tried really hard to move and eventually pulled myself out of it and went straight on my phone. It was 6.30am and I spent quite a while reading about sleep paralysis and then ended up down a worm whole of reading about lucid dreaming which I think I've been able to do a few times. Anyway fascinating what the body can do. Anyone else experienced this?
Do you have an electric toothbrush?
I've had it quite a few times. Most recently last weekend whilst out bivvying.
The second scariest one I've had was waking up to a noise and looking across to the balcony to see there were some Cossack soldiers with assault rifles smoking cigarettes on the balcony and talking really loud. I stared at them for a bit then realized how ridiculous it was and that I was lucid dreaming. Then I woke up properly and was kinda disappointed that there weren't any Cossacks.
The scariest was I awoke to a loud noise and started whacking the alarm clock to make it stop. Then I looked over and there was a tiny baby in a crib next to the bed, screaming at the top of its voice. Then I realized it wasn't a dream and there was no way to make it stop beyond waking up properly, feeding it, then begging it to please go back to sleep.
I have quite a few times. Funny you say you were flat on your back, as now you have said that I realise this is position I am in when I get it.
yes... happens regularly too.... and i know when it's coming, but there's nothing can do about it.. sometimes it's a genuinely wonderful experience, sometimes i freak the eff out... my wife doesn't believe any of it...
I’ve had sleep paralysis a couple of times, also out-of-body experiences where I’m looking down on myself - not much fun - but all when I was younger (teens, 20s). I’ve also been able to lucid dream a few times. The key for me is to realise I’m dreaming - hang on, why am I training Barack Obama’s dog, I don’t even know the Obamas - but subtlety enough that I don’t wake up.
I've had sleep paralysis a couple of time (but not for a few years). It can be quite scary when you're just laying there, unable to move. Last time I couldn't snap out of it just had to go back to sleep (easier said than done!).
Do you have an electric toothbrush?
Yes why?
my wife doesn’t believe any of it…
Tell your wife to look at sleep paralysis on the NHS website. It's a well known and studied phenomenon but in it's most full on experience may only be experienced by about 7% of the population. It is part of the bodies process to be paralysed when entering rem sleep so that you don't act out your dreams and the brain releases gabba and glycine to cause this but your mind is meant to be unconscious when this happens. I found it fascinating as I'm interested in how the body and mind work and it felt so powerful and physical it was like being on some strong drug and I can see why some people would be very disturbed by it and look for a deeper meaning if they didn't understand the science behind it.
After reading on some lucid dreams forums I think I might give it go and try to actively enter into a lucid dream although it may be extremely hit or miss some people seem to suggest you can train yourself into it.
Edit I can't even master the quote function so lucid dreaming seems unlikely!
It's quite bizarre I get it fairy often following a night shift.
I have quite a few times. Funny you say you were flat on your back, as now you have said that I realise this is position I am in when I get it.
From some of the reading I did this morning it's apparently more common if you fall asleep on your back.
I had in once, probably about 20 years ago, but remember it clearly... it was like being tied down to a railway track, then being run over by a train; course, the good thing was I was unharmed, but it was far from pleasant.
'course, I have plenty of lucid dreams and it's certainly a real part of my life; had a funny one about Joe Barnes and the Dudes of Hazzard the other day, but I'm a bit busy to go into it now:
https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/weird-dreams/
I will never go to sleep on my back for fear of sleep paralysis - I find it deeply harrowing as it inevitably involves me feeling like I'm being watched, attacked, claustrophobic or suffocated.
I had lucid dreams quite regularly in my 20s that inevitably ended up being sexual.
I get sleep paralysis fairly often, and as above feel that I am suffocating, it is absolutely ****ing horrible. I am aware that I am asleep, unable to breath and trying to wake myself up, but am unable to.
It was pretty scary but I think because I eventually realised what it was on some level I wasn't too panicked. I read that feeling like you are suffocating is because you can't control the depth of your breathing. Your breathing muscles are still working but you breath quite shallowly when in rem sleep.
I get sleep paralysis fairly often, and as above feel that I am suffocating, it is absolutely **** horrible. I am aware that I am asleep, unable to breath and trying to wake myself up, but am unable to.
^That is a really accurate description IME. I count myself lucky I've only had it a few times, it's really unnerving. Getting it regularly must be really shit 😐
I have quite a few times. Funny you say you were flat on your back, as now you have said that I realise this is position I am in when I get it.
Ah, that is interesting, probably get it about once or twice a month and as far as I can recall I have always been on my back too - never spotted the pattern.
Ross980 - you do eventually start to get “used” to it. Although I’ve never had vibrations in the middle of the night!
Maybe had a mild sleep paralysis once, but no issues with breathing. Had a few dreams where I've realized I'm dreaming, but only one I recall where I started wilfully making things happen. Made it go from day to night and then snow and then it just slipped back into a normal dream.
I went from not remembering my dreams to lucid dreaming every night. Mostly it's fine and often enjoyable. Can't watch gore/horror movies now though as I find that can influence it
Annoyingly it has coincided with bruxism/jaw clenching. Anyone else had that?
I get it off and on - when I do start having sleep paralysis episodes it's usually because I'm stressed.
The weirdest one was when I floated up out the bed, and was sure my feet were going to hit the ceiling fan. I knew it wouldn't be bad - but I thought "damn, that is going to be sore".
My sleep paralysis is almost always accompanied by some sort of malignant presence in the room with me. I can certainly see how some people would mentally turn to aliens and probings as an explanation!
No sleep paralysis, but I can often decide what I want to dream about. Doesn't work all the time and often goes off on a mad tangent, but it's fun trying.
Just watched last night's Death In Paradise.
Sorry Ardal, it's not you. 🙂
I've never had sleep paralysis but I've been lucid dreaming since I was a kid. Dreams where I can control myself in flight are most common. I love them but
they're not exactly restive.
I will never go to sleep on my back for fear of sleep paralysis – I find it deeply harrowing as it inevitably involves me feeling like I’m being watched, attacked, claustrophobic or suffocated.
I had lucid dreams quite regularly in my 20s that inevitably ended up being sexual.
I find on the occasions when I fall asleep on my back that my dreams are quite ‘racy’, unfortunately I cannot make myself go to sleep on my back. I have thought that this may be due to being overly tired, as I dream more vividly then and that’s the only time I fall asleep on my back.
Being too hot in bed can also lead to my having vivid dreams, I’ve been getting this recently as it’s difficult to get the bedclothes right as we go from winter into spring.
I will never go to sleep on my back for fear of sleep paralysis – I find it deeply harrowing as it inevitably involves me feeling like I’m being watched, attacked, claustrophobic or suffocated.
Haven’t got a cat, have you? Bloke I used to work with told me he’d had a very similar situation, woke in a panic to find his cat, Mr D, had gone to sleep on his face!
I've had it a few times, and similarly I find I only dream/experience paralysis when I fall asleep on my back. I try to avoid it!
Last sleep paralysis I had was on returning from a heavy week in Ibiza when I was quite a bit younger. Felt like I was pinned to the bed, with someone watching over me. I found concentrating on wiggling my toes overcame the paralysis.
Not had a lucid dream in a while and usually wake myself up when I do. Tip I read was during a lucid dream look in a mirror, my reflection was like a manga version of me.
In recent years I seem either to dream less or be less able to recall them. Not sure what that means?
My sleep paralysis is almost always accompanied by some sort of malignant presence in the room with me.
Initially I thought I'd never had sleep paralysis but if this is a type of it then I have had it when I was much younger.
Used to get it all the time.
Half awake, unable to wake up properly, felt like suffocating with something squashing my chest. Didn't matter what angle I fell asleep at. Utter nightmare, ruined a lot of nights sleep for me.
Also look up 'crashing' where you kind of get the paralysis whilst falling asleep.
Eventually managed to train myself to focus on trying to kick my leg to wake myself up. Don't ask me how though.
I used to get it fairly frequently, usually if I'd woken up, fallen asleep then woken up again.
Once had what I'd describe as "lucid sleepwalking paralysis" I got out of bed but only had the vaguest control over what I was doing, like I knew I was walking but didn't know where I was going or what I was doing, just walked round the house picking stuff up, and couldn't talk. Quite scary when you read those stories about people killing their families in their sleep and others say it can't possibly be true!
I've had this for several years since the accident that screwed up my back, my doctor thought it was PTSD at first, then delved into the side effects of my medication, it turned out the mild anti-depressant I was taking could be to blame, I was trialed on others until Citalopram became the last option, luckily for me, I don't have the vivid dreams as often now. But one dream does crop up on occasion, it involves a bulldozer chasing me, I cannot seem to move, I can only move at the last moment and I have to jump off a cliff to avoid it, in doing this, I always manage to throw myself off the bad and land in the floor with painful results. Not good.
I can only move at the last moment and I have to jump off a cliff to avoid it, in doing this, I always manage to throw myself off the bad and land in the floor with painful results. Not good.
I've always though that cause and effect are non-linear in dreams. Especially as you can only really remember them if you wake up mid dream. So you sense something (feeling afraid, trying to free yourself, then falling out of bed) then the brain constructs a context for it.
Yes that sounds different from sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is your mind becoming conscious while the body is still asleep so you are in your bedroom not in a dream sequence that's why it's really scary as even after it ends you know it wasn't just a dream. The bull dozer episode sounds the opposite of sleep paralysis as you have physically acted out your dream.
Wow, this is really good to see. I honestly thought it was me being weird, I've never googled it. My experience when it happens is very similar to some of the above, there is someone/something in the room with me - I'm generally tied/bound to the bed in my dream, its most definitely not a nice feeling.
My dream is really vivid, pretty much the same dream all the time, or a variant of the same dream. I'm also unable to make any "normal" sounds, so when I'm shouting my mouth is gagged (in my dream), but I'm shouting/screaming but making the sound of being gagged. My body is pinned down into the bed, no movement from fingers or toes, my body can't move side to side - just the feeling of being completely tied and gagged with people about to do something I don't want them to do. Its never got to the point where they have done anything as I've always woke myself up by making the weird noises.
With me I've not found any pattern, but its regular. Maybe a couple of times a month, but most definitely at least once a month.
I also think I can feel it happen, I think I've woke myself in the past before it happened by thinking "I know where this dream is going" and woke up and walked around the room.
Just remembered another episode of sleep paralysis...
Really odd sensation of pulsating energy, with a f*cked up kind of static feedback that felt like my head was gonna explode; it was combined with a lucid dream that was like a messed up TV signal from a 1st person perspective of a surgeon, some civil servants and Theresa May tapping into my mind.
There was footage being played back of nuclear explosions, then they gave me a button and asked if I was gonna push it,
bear in mind this was an immensely high pressure situation with all the dark noises and throbbing pain
When I wake up, I can't help but wonder about microwave weapons...
Anyhoo, back to real life:
Now, the weird thing was, without ever discussing it, the next morning, my mum presented me with a Raditech neutraliser that she just happened to have lying around.