Anyone of you encountered this experience where you can't move or say a thing right after you woke up from your sleep?
It happened to me like more 5-7 times already and it is seriously freaking the hell out of me, though the last one I have is like a year ago. The most recent one was yesterday. It was like 1 am or something and I suddenly woke up from my nice comfy sleep and I found out that I can't move my body. I tried speaking but then I can't mutter a word. I could vaguely see my surroundings though I know that I'm really awake. I Could hardly open my eyes.. and feel so helpless. What I did was move one of my fingers (the smallest one) and suddenly, I could move. I was shaking after the incident though and I felt so tired. It was literally a struggle to move. I though it lasted for a minute or so. Went back to sleep again and the same thing happened, but now I know what to do (moving my finger) to make me move in a short time. I was seriously freaked out but I decided to sleep back and surprisingly, I had a nice sleep after.
"Physiologically, sleep paralysis is closely related to the paralysis that occurs as a natural part of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is known as REM atonia. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the body paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully conscious, but unable to move. The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes "after which the individual may experience panic symptoms and the realization that the distorted perceptions were false"."
Not too uncommon a thing for people to experience. There's been previous threads about it too. Basically just have to wait it out each time. Others' experience's:
my sister claimed this happened to her once or twice, i thought she was talking bullshit for attention tbh cos i'd never heard of it... But I guess she wasnt lying, haha.
haha it happened to me too! happened after being on lan's or just getting very little sleep due to caffein overdoses, i read up on it afterwards and i thought it was a panic attack. seems i was wrong.
"In addition, the paralysis state may be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations (hypnopompic or hypnagogic) and an acute sense of danger.[11] Sleep paralysis is particularly frightening to the individual due to the vividness of such hallucinations.[12] The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it even more likely that someone will interpret the experience as a dream, since completely fanciful, or dream-like, objects may appear in the room alongside one's normal vision. Some scientists have proposed this condition as an explanation for alien abductions and ghostly encounters."
Yeah if I couldn't move my body at all, felt like there was danger, then suddenly saw an object to the side I would absolutely totally freak out. It sounds like a horrible experience.
Yes. It happens all the time when I take a nap when I'm not supposed to be taking one. Or when a nap lasts for over 1 hour.
These are some of the things I feel. I feel like I'm aware, or awake, I can see the room but I can't move or speak at all. No matter how hard I "Scream" or yell for help nothing happens, and it makes me panic even more. Sometimes I feel that I am able "will" myself out of the bed and YAY everything turns out fine after all, but then 1 second later I'm back in my bed paralyzed.
i had this experience for the first time maybe like 3 weeks ago, the chinese call it "being crushed by a ghost", which scared me even more. i tried super hard to move too, and i was "awake" as in aware that i couldn't move and remember the "being crush by ghost" saying.
It's only happened to me once in my life, but I have never forgotten it because it was so traumatic. I woke up to a roaring in my ears. I forced my eyes open to see a Tyrannosaurus Rex standing over me about to eat me up. I literally couldn't move and I was sure I was going to die. The roaring got louder and louder and I don't know how long this lasted but all of a sudden, everything was back to normal. The Tyrannosaurus had disappeared along with the roaring. I have never, ever forgotten that. It was terrible.
On August 30 2009 18:48 The Storyteller wrote: It's only happened to me once in my life, but I have never forgotten it because it was so traumatic. I woke up to a roaring in my ears. I forced my eyes open to see a Tyrannosaurus Rex standing over me about to eat me up. I literally couldn't move and I was sure I was going to die. The roaring got louder and louder and I don't know how long this lasted but all of a sudden, everything was back to normal. The Tyrannosaurus had disappeared along with the roaring. I have never, ever forgotten that. It was terrible.
lol that's intense. Sometimes when it happens to me, I hear shadowy voices from outside my room calling my name and getting closer. freaky huh? XD
has happened to me a bunch of times, mostly is just like ahhh fuck. Especially if my mechanism to wake myself up is to twitch my arms and they are under my pillow.
i've told my girlfriend to wake me up if i start shaking/moaning/twitching in my sleep, because its usually me trying to wake myself up anyway.
I would always get this napping on the couch with the TV on. Crappiest part about it is I'm soooo tired that as soon as I wake up I fall asleep again and then the chances of this happening again are high.
oh yea one time i decided doing a push up would wake me up, and sure enough i woke up in a full "up" position lol.
another really sucky thing is you can feel your weight on the mattress, so you know exactly whats going on.
On August 30 2009 18:48 The Storyteller wrote: It's only happened to me once in my life, but I have never forgotten it because it was so traumatic. I woke up to a roaring in my ears. I forced my eyes open to see a Tyrannosaurus Rex standing over me about to eat me up. I literally couldn't move and I was sure I was going to die. The roaring got louder and louder and I don't know how long this lasted but all of a sudden, everything was back to normal. The Tyrannosaurus had disappeared along with the roaring. I have never, ever forgotten that. It was terrible.
i had a similar experience to this except it was darth fucking vadar with a light saber about to cut me up. freaked me the fuck out (used to watch star wars a lot as a kid)
I'll tell you about one the experience I sort of remember kinda well. I share a room with my roomate, and he sleeps on the other side of the room, but its not so far that it's out of my peripheral vision, maybe about 8 feet of distance between our 2 beds.
Anyway I'm sleeping, and I sort of wake up, or at least I believe so. It's still pretty dark, and I can't really see things well. Then, I started to hear a weird screeching sound over my right shoulder. Fear sets in like no other, and I feel as if the second I turn my head over to look, I'm going to get murdered.
Frightened stiff, I keep my head straight, but the screeching becomes louder and louder to the point that it's unbearable, and I know for certain that only death awaits me. Somehow I summon the courage and tell my head to turn only to find it won't obey my command. It felt like I was gathering all the strength in my body to turn my head, but all I could get was a slight twitch. Now, in the corner of my eye, I see a shiny blade the size of a kitchen knife appear in my peripherals and its getting closer and closer to my throat.
In the background, I can a dark silhouette holding it. I couldn't see the face, but he was wearing a long black hat and had long hair. Very similar to a witch. The blade is getting closer to me, and now I start to panic, I'm about to die! In my panic, I remember my roomate!
Yes he's there and sleeping soundly! I can yell to him to help me, since I can't move! But it's useless, I'm once again summoning all my strength, this time to just get a bit of a gasp or at least a whimper to wake up my roomate, but nothing comes. This is the most frightening experience I have ever felt in my life. Knowing imminent death is coming, but being unable to scream for help. It's like getting punched and having the wind knocked out of you, and trying to say something. My mouth is open, but no sounds come out....
Before the knife gets to my throat, I suddenly *wake up*. By "wake up" I mean I am finally able to move my body, all the images disappeared, and my roomate is still in the corner snoring. The room is the same, and I have no idea if that was a dream or not. But it was the first time in my life, I was so scared, I didn't want to go back to sleep. The experience was too real to be a dream, and after similar experiences happened to me, I figure it's sleep paralysis... Scary shit.
hallucinations are really fucked up. i mean they always are the nasty ones. in one of my other experiences, i can see a guy that looks like sherlock holmes(his outfit) trying to stab me. scary stuff. i also had seen my room about to collapse. this is really freaky.
Never happened to me, but I studied a bit about it. It's what's used to explain alien abductions generally, because apparently often people have crazy hallucinations during that stuff, and they seem terribly real.
I've had this in one arm. Apparently that was because I slept on a nerve and has nothing to do with this, but it was still freaky. I tried to get up out of bed and 1 arm just decided not to respond, so I decided to shake it. I never knew arms feel like rubber when they are completely numb and relaxed.
On August 30 2009 19:59 disco wrote: I've had this in one arm. Apparently that was because I slept on a nerve and has nothing to do with this, but it was still freaky. I tried to get up out of bed and 1 arm just decided not to respond, so I decided to shake it. I never knew arms feel like rubber when they are completely numb and relaxed.
Yeah this is the closest thing I've had to it. A completely numb and useless arm is a bit alarming, but just takes a bit of shaking to get back. Can't imagine having vivid hallucinations, huge freakin noises and not being able to breath ><
On August 30 2009 19:43 Mikilatov wrote: Never happened to me, but I studied a bit about it. It's what's used to explain alien abductions generally, because apparently often people have crazy hallucinations during that stuff, and they seem terribly real.
i dont see it given that an abduction has to feature a missing person. Now if they say that its caused by sleep paralysis, hallucinations and sudden dislocation of your entire body, im calling shenanigans.
it happened to me too nerium, i guess we call it "bangungot", it was pretty creepy, but only happened once tho, but next time it happens, i know what to do i know what you feel man
On August 30 2009 18:22 nerium wrote: Anyone of you encountered this experience where you can't move or say a thing right after you woke up from your sleep?
It happened to me like more 5-7 times already and it is seriously freaking the hell out of me, though the last one I have is like a year ago. The most recent one was yesterday. It was like 1 am or something and I suddenly woke up from my nice comfy sleep and I found out that I can't move my body. I tried speaking but then I can't mutter a word. I could vaguely see my surroundings though I know that I'm really awake. I Could hardly open my eyes.. and feel so helpless. What I did was move one of my fingers (the smallest one) and suddenly, I could move. I was shaking after the incident though and I felt so tired. It was literally a struggle to move. I though it lasted for a minute or so. Went back to sleep again and the same thing happened, but now I know what to do (moving my finger) to make me move in a short time. I was seriously freaked out but I decided to sleep back and surprisingly, I had a nice sleep after.
:|
Do you exercise a lot? Or do anything that most people don't do.
i dont exercise a lot. idk if its based on my lifestyle but im pretty healthy afaik :/ and @icystorage: yes, its called `bangungot` in our dialect. i dont mind if i feel numb when i wake up, its just that hallucinations really fucks you up pretty badly
Sleep paralysis is something I've experienced a few times and it really is extremely freaky. The first time it happened to me, I thought I had died and my soul was leaving the body (LOL)
I find that it seems to happen most when your sleep cycles get messed up so the best way to avoid it would be to focus on having a normal lifestyle. Also, since you've experienced it a few times, the most important thing is to not panic. Now when it happens to me, I try to just ride it out and stay calm knowing that the effect is temporary. I take the time to practice my meditation techniques :D
Personally I've never experienced it but it does sound scary as fuck. As an aside, has anyone ever felt like they're suddenly going to roll off the bed when they're about to fall asleep? I usually wake up only to find out that I was imagining it.
On August 30 2009 22:54 Foucault wrote: I used to fall asleep and then wake up like an hour later, I could move though. But there was this feeling of danger
And yeah sleep paralysis is quite common
Siefu: I sometimes feel like I'm falling when I've almost fallen asleep and I wake up again. Is that what you mean?
Yeah you feel like you're suddenly gonna fall out of bed and wake up. I don't really know how to describe it other than that.
ive had that happen a few times, just lying on the bed and all of a sudden it feels like the bed has been pulled out from under me and im falling really fast.
Damn this explains what happened to me all those times in middle school. Used to happen to me all the time then we moved to a different house and it stopped. I seriously had no idea what was going on and had the feeling that my soul or something was getting ripped out of my body (an extension of a series of dreams I was having).
same here, I've actually had this many times (usually comes after having trouble sleeping). Often times it will happen in succession. Like, I go into the paralysis state, come out of it, then few minutes later I'm back in it. And then it will keep going until either I fall asleep, or I get out of bed and walk around a little bit.
I never really thought about it that much, but sometimes I will have "dreams" even though I'm not asleep. I'm guessing those are the hallucinations. I also remember times where I'll be trying to sleep and all of sudden a train or something will be coming straight for me and my whole body flinches. I also remember a time where I would hear a bunch random loud screaming and although I knew it was just in my head, I would do stuff to block it out (cover my ears, say "stop," scream myself to sort of block it out)