sleep paralysis question.

Sephiroth_dude

Hi
Not sure if this is the right place for this or not so can a mod please move it if necessary.

Im almost certain I suffered from sleep paralysis last night,but I have one question I want answered.

Is there always a feeling that there is someone else in the room?I heard some voices and then I vaguely remember getting scared and upset and was trying to move but could'nt as it felt like there someone pressing down on my stomach,and I just wanted to get out of the room.

thanks for reading.

spruce

Hi, I think that it is fairly common. I used to suffer from SP myself (hasn't happend in a few years). I never experienced anything as intense as what you have described but I did feel like someone was pressing on me at one stage.

I remember reading that it was quite common though someplace...

Was that your first experience of SP?

faceman

Yes feelings of dread or people in the room is quite common with Sleep Paralysis. In extreme cases people do see a person or people in the room and the feeling of being choked etc goes hand in hand with it.

Its also one explanation offered for people who claim to be abducted by aliens at night.

Try to avoid sleeping on your back and sleep on your side instead. it is said to help avoid it.

Sephiroth_dude

Yup twas indeed and it scared the **** outta me and I hope It does'nt happen again,Is it likely to happen regularly from now on?

SkepticOne

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Yup twas indeed and it scared the **** outta me and I hope It does'nt happen again,Is it likely to happen regularly from now on?

I got it once years ago and hasn't happened since. Some people who get it regularly stop being bothered by it as they realise what it is.

Whispered

SkepticOne wrote: »

I got it once years ago and hasn't happened since. Some people who get it regularly stop being bothered by it as they realise what it is.

I still get very upset by it. Scares the s***e out of you.

I try the whole "you know what this is, just relax" etc but it doesn't work for me.

stevenmu

It has happened me once that I remember clearly off the top of my head, and a few other times that I forgot about pretty quickly, the same way you would forget a dream. From what I've read here and elsewhere it seems to happen to most people to some degree at some point or other. I think for most people it may happen once or a small handfull of times their whole lives. Others will have a period of it happening a few times and then not again for years, if ever. Others still get it regularly. I think it can be brought on by periods of stress or broken sleep, but they aren't required.

Slow Motion

I get it regularly, and tbh it's perfectly normal, once it's happened a couple of times and you know what it is, it's fairly easy to deal with, the key is to recognise it and relax, I concentrate on moving just one limb, like my arm and it tends to break the "spell". The reason it happens AFAIK is that when you sleep your brain paralyses your limbs to stop you physically acting out your dreams and hurting yourself. Sometimes however you become concious (sp) before it has worn off and you think you are paralysed.

Edit: This question has come up a few times, I wonder if it warrents a sticky?

faceman

Slow Motion wrote: »

This question has come up a few times, I wonder if it warrents a sticky?

Good idea.

SkepticOne wrote: »

I got it once years ago and hasn't happened since. Some people who get it regularly stop being bothered by it as they realise what it is.

fortunately for most people thats true.

Although a friend of mine who gets it once a month (he doesnt see people but feels an evil presence in the room) says it terrifies him when it happens even though he knows its nothing to be worried about.

UTV showed a doc about night terrors and they had one girl on it with the most extreme version of it and she gets so traumatised that she generally takes the following day off work. its happens to here nearly every week.

Lullaby Pie

Sephiroth_dude wrote: »

Hi
Not sure if this is the right place for this or not so can a mod please move it if necessary.

Im almost certain I suffered from sleep paralysis last night,but I have one question I want answered.

Is there always a feeling that there is someone else in the room?I heard some voices and then I vaguely remember getting scared and upset and was trying to move but could'nt as it felt like there someone pressing down on my stomach,and I just wanted to get out of the room.

thanks for reading.

Hello. That's it although I'm surprised anyone who has experienced it could doubt it. Be glad you didn't see anything. Look for the 'Secrets of Sleep' documentary on Youtube. It covers this and other sleep related phenomenon. Also, ...sleep on your side not your back (if you can control that).

eddiebear

this has happened to me a few times in the past really scared me couldnt explain the feeling of been held down was terrifying feel a bit better after spotting this thread never knew what it was

Nothingcompares

this really unsettles me at the time but when it happens i know it's only a dream/waken state merge.

Sephiroth_dude

luckily it has'nt happened since and I hope it never does again,if it does well I guess all I can do is try and assure myself that there is no one else in the room and its just my imagination.thanks for reading folks and posting yer replies if anyone else wants to post there stories please do or make this thread a sticky so people can talk about there experiences in here.

sp_family

No, there is not always a feeling that there is someone in the room. I have been experiencing sleep paralysis for many, many years. I can only recall a couple of times when someone was in the room, and one time it was someone I sort of knew, so I think a dream must have crept into my waking state.

What does happen to me sometimes is that I feel pressure on my chest. But it's not caused by a person or other presence. And on a couple of occasions I did have hallucinations.

This isn't to say that experiencing sleep paralysis doesn't scare me. Of course it does! Even after knowing what it is after more than 2 decades, I still get freaked sometimes. I usually try to fight it, though not successfully. Maybe I do it out of a fight-or-flight reflex (even though I can do neither!). Once in a while I'm just plain too tired to fight it, so I fall back asleep.