Sleep paralysis-What is it & Experiences

in #life7 years ago

Sleep paralysis is the inability to move during awakening or falling asleep.
The scary thing about this phenomenon is that you are awake but you can't move or speak and you see unreal things or beings. Also, symptoms can be heavy feeling in the chest or back or a feeling of flying and levitate.People who experienced it described hallucinations as demons, creepy creatures and dark clouds above them. Scientists still don't know why sleep paralysis happens.


IMAGE SOURCE

What is going on when we experience it?

 
While we are sleeping, our body is between REM which is rapid eye movement and NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep. One period of NREM and REM sleep happens in approximately 90 minutes. In NREM sleep, the body is relaxed and after NREM our sleep slowly shifts to REM. All of the muscles are "turned off" during REM sleep. If a human becomes aware before the REM cycle has finished then he can't do any move.


IMAGE SOURCE

I haven't experienced sleep paralysis but I have two friends who actually did.
One of them told me how she once woke up and she saw a little black creature on her right side of the bed, but she couldn't move or anything else. She knew that she is in a sleep but she didn't know how to wake up. Later on that day she did online research about it and showed me a picture of creature assuring me that it was the same one she had seen during paralysis. It was completely incredible and scary. At first, it seemed weird to me, but she looked so upset while she was talking about it. It happened to her one more time and since then it has never happened again.


IMAGE SOURCE

My another friend has sleeping problems too, but she can't sleep at all. She discovered that she had a sleep paralysis problem a year ago. Her case is more interesting because she believes that she must have experienced some kind of trauma when she was a little because any psychological problem can cause this phenomenon. I never knew that she was actually suffering from it. Even though she went to the psychiatrist, far and she decided to visit a priest. I am not sure did she went but she believes in paranormal activities. As she said, that is the only thing that could maybe help her.


IMAGE SOURCE

I have sleeping problems very often, the first one is on nights of a full moon. Also, sometimes I can't sleep because I have increased energy that needs to get out. So I often ride my exercise bicycle in the middle of a night. You can call me crazy, but I would like to experience sleep paralysis!

Good night! 😊

@exanime15

Sort:  

I've also experienced it few times. For the first time I was so freaked out. I didn't hallucinate any demons and boogeyman but I remember the horror of paralysis when you think/feel you're awake. And the feeling of uncontrollable spinning around, awful. I've experienced it few more times later on but I didn't panic as it was familiar to me and the experience wasn't that bad (but far from pleasant). I can relate it with tiredness, like when you're so tired but you can't sleep. That's when it kicked me. I don't know if it's related to psychological trauma, possible. But maybe there is some sort of electrolyte imbalance that could also be the cause of it. To me it smells more like a neurological story, rather than psychological as it happened to me when I was physically exhausted. Could be both tho. Great post anyway! :)

Thank you for sharing your story with me! I really appreciate it! 😊
I heard that most of the people who had experience with it were also very tired before they went to sleep.

I agree with you and think this phenomenon can be best-explained by these medicine branchs.

Waoo very nice post.horror photos

I've gone through this and believe me you don't want to experience that :/

Wow, many times or just once?
Bolje da se ostavin čoravog posla.. 😥

Once, after a lucid dream... Hahaha kako želiš na tebi je ☺

Još uvijek ništa 😆

Iskusila sam ovo vise puta na drugaciji nacin i zbilja nije ugodno :/
Zanimljivo je da vecina ljudi ima taj simptom da osjete nekakvu tezinu na grudima, kao da netko sjedi na njima ili osjecaj nekakve zlokobne prisutnosti.
Meni se obicno dogada u situacijama kada sam mrtva od umora, pa eto probaj nakon par sati bicikliranja ;)

Baš tako je bilo prijateljici, a i čudi me koliko zapravo ljudi to doživi!
Do prije mjesec dana nisam znala da takva vrsta noćne more postoji..i sad kako me zanima, pokušavam spavat na leđima. Kažu tako je veća vjerojatnost da te snađe,al valjda ću se naučit pameti pa stati na vrime😂

I have experienced this very clearly once; about 10 years ago. I could 'see' something pushing me down & I was totally immobilised. My logical mind tried to convince me that this could not be real, since I do not believe in supernatural forces.

I'm glad that I have only experienced it once. I will not wish it on anyone to experience this. It was scary. You feel a total loss of control. My logical mind wondered after the episode if it may be a symptom of a potential heart attack or some other malady.

When I recounted this experience to some friends, some of them were surprised; but 1 of them was surprised that I had only experienced it once. He was a little shy to divulge more details.

Baš zanimljiv članak za pročitati prije spavanja :)

baš sam pogodila vrime za objavu :D

The REM sleep doesn't freeze, next time your dog is asleep watch him chase the rabbit he is dreaming about- his legs move. Trauma is frequently a factor and the phenomena is most likely partly related to dissociation which is common in trauma.

Nice to know, next time I will pay attention to my dog!Thank you for comment 😊

Thanks for the insight. Sounds scary though

Yes it is really scary thing!

Scary... Fortunately, I read this in the morning... But, nice post... :)

Haha, lucky you 😁
Tenks!

Lucidni snovi su zanimljiva tema. Ovo je malo scary...

Je bome, bilo bi baza napisat post iz prve ruke!