Sleep paralysis stories typically involve unusual and frightening experiences. Perhaps you have one or two of these disturbing tales of your own to tell.
If not, I’ll first share one of mine to give you an understanding of what it can be like.
Then we’ll take a closer look at whether sleep paralysis demons or ghosts really exist. Or if science can provide a logical and comforting explanation.
My sleep paralysis experience
Imagine the following scenario: it’s been a long day, you go to bed later than usual and fall asleep quickly through sheer exhaustion.
But instead of waking up peacefully in the morning, you half wake in the middle of the night. And in the darkness of your bedroom, it slowly dawns on you that you can’t move your body…and that someone, or something, is watching you.
A weight pushing on your chest
You feel a weight on your chest, pressing you down and preventing you from sitting up. And not only is your whole body paralyzed, but you can’t so much as move your lips to call out for help.
You’re not sure who or what is pushing on your chest. Even though you seem to be able to move your eyes just a little, it’s too dark to see anyway. Regardless, you just feel that there’s a presence there. Something strange. Something frightening.
This happened to me last year and was a very unsettling experience. Fortunately, there was no demon, ghost or burglar in my bedroom.
After a minute’s panic, the feeling passed. And I was then able to stumble to the bathroom to make sure my face wasn’t decorated with demonic symbols. It was a classic case of sleep paralysis.
What is sleep paralysis?
Recurrent isolated sleep paralysis is classified as a parasomnia, which is a group of sleep disorders involving unwanted behaviors that accompany sleep.
The main symptom is being awake and unable to move your body. It might also be accompanied by hallucinations or dreams/nightmares whilst still awake.
It typically lasts from a few seconds to a few minutes before movement is regained. And although it may feel like it at the time, it’s not believed by medical organizations to be harmful.
What causes it?
The exact reason for why it happens to some people and only on some nights isn’t known. However, scientists do have a theory about what goes on during sleep paralysis.
During the night, you cycle through different sleep stages. When you enter the REM stage of sleep, your brain stops your muscles from moving – known as REM atonia. One explanation for this atonia is that it prevents injury from acting out your dreams in bed.
During sleep paralysis, the atonia starts, or continues, while you’re awake. And during this time, you might also experience what’s known as sleep hallucinations, or dreams while you’re awake.
So your body and brain are temporarily out of sync while transitioning between sleep stages, potentially creating a frightening experience.
As Dr. Michael J. Breus neatly explains:
Sleep scientists believe that sleep paralysis may occur when the transitions in and out of REM sleep and other sleep stages don’t go smoothly.
How many people experience sleep paralysis?
Sleep paralysis stories like mine are surprisingly common. In 2011, researchers aggregated 35 sleep paralysis studies to find out how many people had experienced it at least once in the past year, finding:
- 7.6% of the general population
- 28.3% of students
- 31.9% of psychiatric patients
And according to the handbook of sleep disorders, it will happen at least once in a lifetime of 40% to 50% of normal subjects, but is “far less common as a chronic complaint”.
Who is more at risk of having sleep paralysis?
Scientists might not know the precise reason only some people have sleep paralysis yet, but there are a growing number of risk factors becoming apparent.
For example, researchers who analyzed 42 studies found several risk factors and associated conditions:
- Sleep problems, changing sleep patterns and shift work.
- Sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea, insomnia and nocturnal leg cramps.
- Stress.
- Some psychiatric groups, particularly those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, anxiety and panic disorders.
- Substance and medication use.
- Physical illness.
- Personality and anomalous beliefs.
Is there a genetic component to sleep paralysis?
In 2015, British researchers published a study of 862 twins and siblings aged between 22 and 32. They did find some evidence of a genetic role, but only a small one:
In this sample of young adults, sleep paralysis was moderately heritable
Interestingly, they also found other independent risk factors, including:
- Disrupted sleep cycles
- General sleep quality
- Anxiety symptoms
- Exposure to threatening events
Polls – readers’ experience of sleep paralysis
I polled readers of this article for a year to find out what kind of sleep paralysis episodes they had.
Note that it’s likely that many people who search online about it will have had the more frightening episodes, skewing the results.
But they still provide a fascinating insight into what people experience and how they cope.
Poll 1
In poll 1, the most common episode was thinking there was a demon or other being in the room.
Poll 2
Poll 2 shows that many readers find sleep paralysis terrifying. Again, those who search online for it are likely to have found it particularly disturbing.
Poll 3
Poll 3 shows that many readers first experienced sleep paralysis during adolescence.
Poll 4
Poll 4 shows that most readers don’t experience sleep paralysis on a regular basis.
Poll 5
Poll 5 shows some of the ways readers deal with episodes. You’ll find more coping mechanisms below.
The not so scientific explanations for sleep paralysis
Since first writing this article several years ago, there has been an extraordinary number of comments. And the comments show that not everyone accepts the scientific explanation.
Interestingly, some people struggle to accept it even though they consider themselves to be scientifically minded generally. I think these cases highlight just how realistic the experience of sleep paralysis can be; how it can linger in your memory and makes you question what happened for a long time afterward.
The possibility of demons, ghosts, spiritual beings, and aliens all crop up from time to time in the comments too. And while many people accept their experiences as hallucinations or dreams, some people choose to believe another explanation – that those entities are real.
Despite these beliefs, there’s one clear theme: nothing bad ever actually happens, other than being frightened and perhaps losing some sleep after an episode.
Around the world
Cultural beliefs also appear to play a role in how sleep paralysis is perceived by some people.
In Fiji, for example, the demon is sometimes seen as a deceased relative coming back to discuss an important or unfinished matter.
In Chinese folklore, it’s also seen as a ghost rather than a demon or intruder.
Some people in Iran and Pakistan interpret it as demons or spirits taking over your body. This could be due to black magic performed by an enemy.
The common theme is that the entity is usually something to be feared. I’m yet to find a culture which believes it’s a friendly creature!
Sleep paralysis treatment
When to see a doctor
Fortunately, most people don’t experience sleep paralysis very often, and no treatment is usually required.
However, if the following apply to you, it’s a good idea to speak to your doctor:
- It happens regularly.
- You’re anxious about sleep paralysis and going to sleep.
- You don’t get enough sleep.
- You feel very sleepy during the day, sometimes fall asleep suddenly or lose control of your muscles.
What medical treatment is available?
If you see a doctor, they might take the following action:
- Refer you to a sleep specialist to assess if you have another sleep disorder, like narcolepsy.
- Treat any underlying psychiatric condition.
- Discuss any medication or substance use that might be a factor.
- Explain the biological processes involved in sleep paralysis to reassure you.
- Talk to you about developing good sleep habits. This is thought to help reduce the frequency of sleep paralysis.
Readers’ techniques for coping with sleep paralysis
Over the years, many readers have described how they cope with sleep paralysis, and I’ve created a list of the most frequent ideas below.
The first seven in the list are also suggested by sleep experts. The rest are a mix of personal opinions. Please bear in mind that none are guaranteed to work:
- Don’t let yourself become too sleep-deprived.
- Stick to a regular sleep schedule.
- Try to reduce stress and anxiety in your life.
- Try to vigorously flutter your eyelids or move your eyes, as this tends to be an area of the body that’s less affected by the paralysis.
- Focus on wiggling just one finger or a toe.
- Don’t take recreational drugs or drink alcohol in the evening.
- Don’t sleep on your back.
- Stay calm.
- Tell yourself that you’re in control. You can order the experience to stop.
- If you feel a weight on your chest, imagine there’s something friendly causing it.
- Film yourself sleeping so you can see there was nothing in the room.
- Don’t think about what it could be. Your imagination will probably make up something scary in the darkness.
- Organize your bedroom in a way that makes you feel safe and secure.
- Don’t hang dressing gowns, coats, or hats in places that make them look like figures in the dark.
- Sleep with a night light, music, or radio on.
- Remind yourself that nothing bad will happen.
- Imagine your body rolling from side to side in your mind and count each roll. Focus on this and try to grow the capacity for movement from there.
- Count numbers to focus your mind on something else.
- Don’t sleep with a high pillow.
- Keep your eyes shut and try to clear your mind.
- Squeeze your eyes tightly shut if you can control the muscles.
- Keep well hydrated – drink water before going to bed.
- Talk about it to family or friends – they may have experienced it too.
- If you have it once, get out of bed for a while to reset the brain.
- Many people say prayer helps. Some also say that calling on their religious beliefs and commanding what they see to leave helps them.
- Check if any sleeping pills or herbal remedies you’re taking are causing it.
- Use sleep paralysis to lucid dream by relaxing and going with the experience instead of fighting it.
- Once the episode has passed, tell yourself that you overcame it, are not afraid and will always overcome it.
How I recently stopped an episode of sleep paralysis
I successfully used two of the above techniques to stop a recent episode of sleep paralysis.
I woke to find myself in a strange position with my arms crossed on top of my body. And I could literally feel strong hands pinning my wrists to my chest.
I have to admit I was immediately petrified. The whole event was blurry, and I think I was having some dream overlap, but can’t remember exactly what now.
Stay calm and wiggle a finger
Two things sprung to mind after a moment of panic: stay calm and try to wiggle a finger.
The calmness I only managed with moderate success. But I did manage to focus my efforts on moving a finger. It felt quite odd – like my fingers were wiggling in different directions!
Eventually, I felt my arms loosen as well, and soon afterward I was able to shake the whole sensation away as I regained full control.
I then spent a few minutes doing some breathing exercises to ground myself and calm down, and then fell asleep again.
I think just knowing about the finger wiggling technique was enough for me to remember it when the sleep paralysis occurred.
Share your story of sleep paralysis
Have you had sleep paralysis? What happened, and do you have any suggestions to help others deal with it?
Please feel free to share your experience in the comments below.
I’ve experienced this feeling before, but I can’t ever remember what happens the next morning. Last night it felt like someone was strangling me, to the point where I could barely breathe. Then it felt like someone kept kissing me and trying to rape me. I’ve never been raped, so I don’t know if its something I’ve been watching or what caused that. It was terrifying, and the only way I could get it to end was to bite my own tongue because I couldn’t move the rest of my body.
It was the first time.. For me
I was already in dream with my frnds
And Suddenly I felt heavy pressure on my chest I was unable to move hands I started praying god
And then suddenly I opend eyes and heaviness reduced that time
Been a very long time since I was in my teens. I want to quickly post what I can remember and also add any info from my own experience that correlates with the article above. Its after 4 am I have not read user comments yet but I will. My xp with sp happened in high school ages. Probably 15-17. I was also hit by a car at 15 helicopter ride and near death july 18 1996. Not sure but afyer reading article I can now possibly associate my sp with that event. But I cannot be sure that it did not start before that event. Because after my xp which I will detail in full I was able to somehow stop it from happening. I made myself believe that it was the house I lived in and when I moved away it stopped tho I can slightly recall it possibly happening again but only a short period. I really cant be sure it was 20 yrs ago and I worked pretty hard to suppress all memories or beliefs that it was real. Never looked it up or talked about it google was just beginning back then maybe still a few yrs away . Back in my day internet was very new.. not everyone had it. There were no cell phones laptops etc. Not till a few yrs later. What would happen to me when going to sleep no tv in room lights out and yes I slept on my back. As soon as I fell asleep I git the loud annoying noise frequency thing and it would scare the hell out of me. Not being able to move and the sound penetrated it was awful. This happend alot over n over for a yr possibly two off n on. I do not remember pressure on my chest. I do remember the paralysis and trying as hard as I could to open my eye lids. Because it was reoccurring and always the same I got used to it happening. It was awful getting up out of it scared falling back under and having it happen again n again a few times before finally getting some sleep. It didnt happen all the time but when it did it was an all night thing. Never spoke about it really. But ive read more recently and am in middle if exploring and trying to understand it better. For decades now ive just blocked it out but now im opening this back up. I am somewhat interested in astral projection. N in reading many discussions im finding out that possibly I was right there with the ability that I have somehow deactivated. On the cusp of it but not knowing how far I went. If I faced my fear and let it play out or tried to. And if I did , did I have a bad experience that forced me to disbelieve and try to mentally block it out. Alot of questions maybe I shouldnt reopen that doorway even if it is possible. But I cant help but wonder if I have held myself back. Anyways I will be here reading and I will try to make a better post for u guys as I can recall more details that may be helpful or interesting.
Can someone explain to me how my body moved around even though I could not physically move my body during this freak sleep paralysis episode?
I’ve had sleep paralysis a few times. Some had an intruder or demonic presence, some did not. Tonight it did. But it was strange. When I woke in my sleep paralysis state, I woke to see a demonic evil woman with long black hair wearing something blue or white and her face was covered. I have a huge mirror almost directly at the foot of my bed but moved more to the left of it on the floor so I woke to see her in my goddamn mirror staring at me. So even after experiencing sleep paralysis several times, you just don’t get used to this ^&*%.
I’m immediately scared and called out to my father who’s room is right beside mine for help and could barely say it. So right then and there I knew I was having another episode and of course couldn’t move. Well the funny thing is my body is dragged around where my head is at the foot of my bed closer to this demonic bitch.
I’m panicking more and keep calling him. I see the light come on and my dad opens the door. As soon as he steps into the shadow of my room he becomes a shadow of a person and just stops staring at me now not helping me and I think he leaves. I keep calling out saying help me because saying dad was too hard.
When I wake I’m not at the foot of my bed anymore, I’m the right way but facing the wall. When I woke I immediately turn the light on and my dad opened the door bc he heard me “whimpering” and thought it was my little brother.
I understand the whole body process and what it goes through and I am not religious but I do believe in different dimensions and a spiritual world. I can’t explain how my body seemed to move but I could not move it. I really feel that there are evil entities or leaches trying to drain my energy but was I really dragged around?
I recently had this experience just one day back while I was sleeping on the bus. It was scary for me. I experienced some old woman in greyish white cloth( fact is I wasn’t able to see the face as my head was leaning in downward position and I don’t know why I believe it was an old woman). Both hands were on my lap with fingers intercrossed and my wallet was under it. She was trying to steal my wallet but it felt as if she knew I can’t move and don’t know why was using one finger to remove the wallet (yeah that was weird). I tried to move my body but was unable to, I tried to shout but it only was a soft moan. In my attempt to move my body I was somehow able to move my ankle and started tapping it on the bus floor. After a few seconds I was able to move my body and realized my wallet had been in my pocket the whole time and I was breathing heavily. I was scared and the idea of ghost or something did come to my mind but I still googled it and found that it was sleep paralysis. For me, I know it was due to not having enough sleep that led me to this experience. Just thought of sharing this.
i just wanna start by saying that all of this happened almost 20 minutes ago , i’m terrified to fall back asleep. It’s winter break , so i’m up really late as usually but i finally fell asleep around 5am . i closed my eyes and continued to toss and turn , but then i all of a sudden must have fallen asleep but all i can remember is feeling a tingling sensation in my body and like it was really heavy to move , but while i was in this state i don’t remember how i managed to get out but i remember trying to scream . When i eventually managed to gain control i opened my eyes and could see a image every time i blinked , (almost like the pictures that you stare at a dot and blink while looking at a wall). it almost looked like me but while i was in this stage of paralysis i felt as if i wouldn’t have woke myself up i
would have died . Did anyone else see something whenever they were blinking ? i’ve looked on a lot of sites and not once have i seen something . i’m 13 and i’m almost positive this is my second time having this because the feeling was familiar .
Having experienced SP many times since I was 12 years old and now being 29. I can say the best way to deal with SP for me was to simply relax and go back to sleep. I can’t really say how many times I have experienced SP because it happened to often to keep count, but the I found that simply closing your eyes and going back to sleep was the easiest way to counter it. I have tried many ways to break out of SP. I even launched myself out of bed once because I forcefully tried to sit up during SP. I know that the experience can be frieghtning to some as it used to be for me especially when seeing the shadow figure standing above you. I once had an SP experience where the figure talked to me in some language I couldn’t understand. I also had an experience where I was being attack by shadow figure and I managed to fight it off and destroy it by slicing it with a shadow sword, although that could have been more of a dream. Strange thing is I haven’t had SP since. When it comes down to it I believe it’s best to put fear aside, relax and fall back asleep. Your body isn’t ready to wake up yet anyway. As for the shadow figure I believe it’s just part of your minds imagination making things up out of fear or part of a dream. I have experienced the shadow figure often enough in the past to know that no real harm has come from it. Other than being scared out of my mind the first time it happened.
Many thanks for the post.You explained it so clearly. No matter how many times I wake up and sleep back, its a nightmare. I wake up by saying god name repeatedly. Most of the times, once I switch my lights on and sleep, I am all set. But today it was recurring and I had to on all lights in home yet feel scared. Your post hass clarified it.Thank you
I had a classic case of sleep paralysis for the first time at age 31 had never suffered this before.I remember waking to realize I could not move at all.This was mid afternoon after falling asleep on my bed.This was scary enough by itself but I was shocked to hear there was someone in my room while I could not move,I couldn’t believe there was an intuder in my house and in my room while I was suffering a case of sleep paralysis,they weare pacing around my bed and I could not believe this was happening now of all times.I remember listening to what they were doing and it heard as thought they was leaving and coming back in my room as thought intrigued by me sleeping.This went on for what seemed like about a minute or two before I snapped out of it immediately opened my eyes and sat u to see nobody was in my room or in the house.The footsteps stopped immediately upon wakening.
What really got me fascinated by this experience is the fact that before this happened I was completely unaware that a feeling of a presence in the room was commonly a part of this experience until I researched sleep paralysis on the internet.I never thought of this at the time as something paranormal at all having coming from a scientific background viewed this as just some sort of disorder so was amazed by the presence phenomenon as It seemed so real and just thought it was an intruder in the room.
I have since suffered a few bouts of sleep paralysis but so far have not suffered a presence in the room again.
I will say to anyone it may help I found in my mind that if i try to force myself to move it only seems to strengthen the resistance and it actually feels like you are struggling to manage to move slightly only to realize you haven’t moved at all.What I did discover with myself is if i stop pushing I could actually side step the resistance in my mind and step out of it as if you stp pushing against a wall and insted just walk around it.When i did that i instantly snapped out of it and could move again so to anyone reading this maybe you could try this and see if it works for you.Just think I am not going to push forward against this I am just going to step to my left hopefully this will work for you and to anyone please respond on here if you experience this and it works for yu,would be interesting to see if it works for others also.
So I believe it’s only sleep paralysis when you wake up paralyzed. But what if you wake up in the middle of the night with full control of your body? This one night, I woke up in the middle of the night fully awake, and turned to my left. I saw what it looked like someone in a pure white dress with its hands up (in the motion you do when you’re trying to scare someone) but I knew it wasn’t my sisters, because they didn’t have any white dresses and I know they didn’t have the courage to try to scare me in the middle of the night. The very moment I laid eyes on that someone in the white dress, I quickly pulled my blanket over my head, even though that night was humid. I was breathing heavily in fear and stayed there, too scared to remove my blanket, for what seemed like hours. After a while, I felt someone slowly drag my blanket but at the same time, my sister, who was laying next to me, moved around in bed which gave me the courage to also move my blanket off of me. And so, I did. I removed the blanket and looked around and at the end of my bed but there was nothing. I laid in bed thinking about it for several minutes then drifted off to sleep. That was my experience and like I said, I was wide awake and had full control over my body.
I forgot to mention that while I was under my blanket, I heard our dustpan slamming on the ground as if someone was slamming it onto the floor. It slammed twice then everything was quiet again. How should I look at this experience?
were same i also experience that when my first time had a sleep paralysis something entities dress with pure white hold me like he trying to save me that someone pull me down and until now sometimes Im having a sleep paralysis and i was scared ITS TOO DARK.
I happened to have an episode at 3:00 this morning. It’s the first time it’s ever happened to me and I’m scared to go back to sleep. It happened to me mom last week. What was scary about it was I was having a dream that I was being choked, and I woke up and felt huge hands around my neck and I couldn’t breath or move or speak, it felt like it was going on for hours. I tried yelling for my mom but nothing came out. I couldn’t even open my eyes. Eventually when everything stopped I was too scared to leave my bed or fall asleep. I hope it never happens again
I have trouble staying asleep but I find that what happens to me is almost a complete body vibration or tingling that I can almost hear- like a heavy low vibrating sound then I feel something pulling me up from the supine position- it happens maybe once a month – I’m not scared anymore it almost feels like ok here we go again – I usually fall back to sleep during this experience – does anyone else feel the levitation of pulling and vibrating sound ?
The body vibration was a very common feature for me as a kid when I had SP now and then. Not sure what aspect by itself was the most terrifying, but so many things combined together surely made it the scariest experience ever.
For me the vibration was kind of like the bed I was on was vibrating, but also or sometimes like there was an electric current or field flowing through my body, along my legs, spine and brain, in waves that moved in a direction with varying intensity. The vibration feeling seemed tied to the heaviness I felt in my, either in it just weighing more or feeling a stronger pull of gravity, a weight, force or pressure squishing me deep into the mattress, or a kind of vacuum or magnet gluing me paralyzed to the bed, sucking me into it like into an abyss or vortex from which I feared I’d never return! And the vibration was also tied to the sound I heard, which was always a loud “evil” or at least sinister buzzing sound that seemed to come from somewhere in the dream or in my head, as if it were the sound of the electricity lowing through me and vibrating my body, or that my terror was SO intense that I FELT and HEARD it as that vibration and buzz. This led me to the conclusion that what I was most afraid of was this physical feeling of sheer terror itself, and its intensity and the helpless panic I felt made it something I wanted to escape or avoid at all costs.
Of course, in addition to that were the awful elements of not being able to scream for help, or even breathe, making me think that I was dying or WOULD die if I could not break free of the grips of this thing and WAKE UP.
Not sure if what I experienced was sleep paralysis or not, but it just happened to me last night for the first time ever. I had just fell back asleep after waking up to get some water. My eyes opened halfway and I was laying flat on my back and it seemed as if my lamp was on in my room. I turn my head over and looked at my boyfriend (his back was facing towards me) and as I lay there looking at him I say his name and start laughing in some sort of demonic voice.Then when I realize it’s not me whose voice was coming out of my mouth I start to panic and start moving around. I started to pinch my boyfriends back to wake him up and when that wasn’t working I started to pinch his neck, but he never woke up. I was trying to move around, but I was only able to move my arms, legs and head. As I’m trying to get up I start laughing in a demonic voice again. I finally woke up and asked my boyfriend if he felt me pinching him or heard me laughing but he said no. After I told him what happened he said it could have been sleep paralysis since he’s had them since he was a kid, but he also said it could have been a nightmare. I’m not sure what to think of it since this is the first time I’ve ever experienced anything like this. I immediately started praying after I woke up.
I had another episode last night. I thought something moved under my cover. It seemed as big as a kitten. I sleep on a full size bed… but have a twin bed above me. I thought my eyes were open and I could see stringy hair from atop the bed. Then I realized my eyes were closed. I tried to say help and woke. I patted my bed down… got up turned light on and went to the bathroom. After I gathered myself… I finally went back to sleep.
I happend to have an episode last night after a few months of remission. It was different that what i normally experienced. I was sleeping on my side and well aware that I was sleeping. Suddenly I got this feeling of something blanketing over me. Something powerful and full of terror. I was paralyzed. I couldn’t move. Could only scream. My wife woke me up. The only thing that I felt was pure terror. Something evil was present. Pure evil. Like the devil. Luckily when she woke me up she was able to comfort me and I snapped out of it. But it took 30-45 minutes to calm down. This episode was completely different from any if the others that I was experiencing anywhere from 1-2 times a week. And the first with someone else present. I hope its the last.
I have never been so scared in my life. I felt like i was going to dye and that God was reminding me of all the bad things i have done in my life. I tried to pray but i could not. The only thing that helped me to calm down was the feeling that God would not harm me but would protect me from evil. And that if i was going to dye he came to get me himself. But before i felt that way, could not move not open my eyes or my mouth i could not breathe i can’t even say how long it lasted but it was horrible at first and as i told myself it was God next to me i managed to relax somehow and woke up. It was surreal and i hope that will never happen to me again in my life
You have to much fear inside you. Stop doing bad things or even bad things. What you sow is what you reap.
I tried to submit my comment just now but my WiFi suddenly stopped ! After I had my son ,by emergency caesarean , from which I nearly died, I had an out of body experience. This strange sensation was always preceded with a loud ringing in my ears which made me sit up and wake up with fear.Since then I have experienced sleep paralyses with horrible frightening voices in my ears and a feeling of being suffocated. I’m frightened every night to sleep always thinking death didn’t get me the first time but is all ways stalking me. Can you help me ?
Hypnotherapy is a powerful resource that may be able to help you. I would look for a reputable therapist in your area. The subconscious mind is involved in dreaming and in sleep paralysis as well.
About a year and a half ago I remember feeling a constant presence in my room when I slept. One night there was something breathing into my ear and I couldn’t move at all. My mum has had sleep paralysis numerous times, a lot of the time something is on her chest or her duvet is gradually moving up to strangle her, other times she’s seen the ‘hat man’. She has only had a few sleep paralysis experiences that weren’t terrifying, such as seeing penguins dancing around her bedroom. My experiences that I mentioned are the only ones I remember, however my gran (who my mum and I used to live with) always talks about how when I was little I apparently had ‘another mummy’ who sat at the end of my bed every night and talked to me(creepy I know), but my mum doesn’t ever remember me talking in my sleep or anyone being there – we shared a room at this point. Could this have been sleep paralysis?
I don’t know if it is sleep paralysis but I experience it almost every night. When I wake up and try to go back to sleep again is when it starts I see my self in mother place different from my room but I know I’m still on a bed.I try to move and call my sister’s name because we share the same room but I can’t do this. It is like I am tied to the bed.please help because this is frightening and scary. I don’t know if it is demons or science. Please is it sleep paralysis?
This sounds like sleep paralysis. The suggestions in this article truly help. Try to stay calm and control your breathing. I’ve always maintained that it’s best to try to see the experience through, face it. That way if it happens again, you’ll understand it and it won’t be as scary.
You are experiencing clinical depression. Relax and stop stressing your mind..
I remember falling asleep but I woke up and could move I kept trying to turn my phone on so I could have a flash light but it wouldn’t turn on then I heard panting felt something moving in a circle to then laying down just like my dog usually does if he sleeps with me, but I know my dog was in the kennel I put him there before I fell asleep, my body felt heavy every where when I tried to get up I also remember hearing whispering but I couldn”t make out the words. I was finally able to get up but I couldn’t turn on any of the lights in the house, then I heard the T.V in my moms room, every thing seemed to dark, darker then when I normally walk in the dark. I got into my moms room but then I passed out. I woke up in bed again still in this state, I was scared I kept imagining crosses in my head but that made it hurt, then I heard whispering and I thought what is that, I remember hearing it say what ever you want it to be. Then is when I woke up still in the dark but I could tell I was actually awake I turned on the lights and sat back in bed, I could feel my limbs still felt very heavy, and my heart beat was racing I could actually feel my body throb with each heart beat. What is this? I read your article but it talk about not being able to move or speak I was able to do both but with dificulty. Does any one have any answers to this or was what I expierienced just a nightmare and now I’m just paranoid. This all happened from 10:00 – 10:45 pm.
That’s an interesting experience you shared. It’s understandable that you would feel a bit rattled after something like that. First off I want to say that I am not an expert or a doctor in this field so my answer is based purely off my own experiences and general observation.
From what you described of what happened, that you felt like something was there with you, the room was unnaturally dark, you tried to use your phone and lights but they didn’t work, and how you went to your mom’s room and “passed out” later to wake in your bed, I am pretty certain after all that you actually did not do any of those things. It only feels as if you did. I have had a few experiences like that and later I cam to the conclusion that it was a case of being caught somewhere between dream and reality. You are sort of half in half out so to speak. What I found is that its like part of your brain wakes up while another part remains asleep. The result is a confusion of dream and being awake, or like a fluttering in and out of the dream state. So you have a sense that you are awake, and in control and yet things don’t seem right. Your phone for example, the part of your brain that told you to get your phone and turn on the flashlight believed it was a wake and doing just that, but the reason the phone did not work is because you never actually picked it up in the first place. Its also why the room seemed impossibly dark. Your eyes where mostly closed even though your body believed they were wide open. You could have even been in a state not that different from sleep walking. My ex girlfriend used to “sleep talk,” I don’t mean talking in her sleep where the subject is acting out their dream, I mean she could have a rather lengthy conversation on the phone while she was actually asleep! I know it sound crazy but I have seen it with my own eyes. One night while I was reading in bed she had been sleeping and suddenly woke up and said she forgot to call her mom and tell her something. She picked up the phone called and talked with her mom for a while. I was not really paying attention to the conversation but I heard hear chatting away. when she hung up I asked how her mom was and what she she needed to tell her. She started to tell me, sounding perfectly normal but in the middle of telling me she said something that was nonsensical. When I interrupted her to ask what she was talking about, her eyes were open and she was looking at me, she clearly seemed awake, but then she asked me a question that made no sense, and then rolled over and immediately fell asleep. The next morning when I mentioned it she remembered nothing! Not the phone call, talking to her mom, talking with me, nothing. She even told me she didn’t have anything she needed to tell her mom! I understand this is different from your situation in that you remember what you did or thought you did. I am only trying to illustrate the point that we can sometimes have only part of ourselves partly in a dream and it seems the other part that’s out is unaware and vice versa.
I actually had one time when I was trying play a game on my computer. I had a new game I had just gotten. I turned on the computer and looked at the screen and realized I could barely seen the screen, I then realized it was not just the screen, but the monitor my room it was all like you said, there, but somehow unnaturally dark, shortly after I came to realize I was actually still in bed and had been dreaming, even after I was fully awake and knew it was a dream it still felt real. I actually think that “unnaturally dark” comes from you are “seeing” your dream but your are also seeing the insides if you lids. That’s why you get that sense of seeing but at the same time can’t see.
When your halfway between sleeping and being awake you can see some really weird things. I was in this state and I could see my mom in the room with me and other people I know. It seems very real but it is not.
I have struggled so much with sleep paralysis. I don’t know if I’m going to die or not. It’s been happening more frequently when I dream about my uncle who I was once very close to, which was like a father to me. Everytime I dream keep telling myself they are alive. I recently just lost a friend in a car accident. So this time in my dream again it was at my uncles home and we were having a going away party and I was telling everyone they are both still alive and everyone kept telling me they were dead and I just see my uncle staring at me from his room. So I can’t tell if it’s a nightmare or real life. When I try to wake up I can’t. I am completely paralysed. I try moving my finger or toe and I try opening my eyes but I feel like can’t and I feel like a heavy weight on my chest holding my down and i start panicking and I always for some reason scream for my sister in the dream. It’s like I know I’m dreaming but I just can’t wake up. Then at the end I almost get terrified to open my eyes because I feel like I’m going to see a demon or something i my room and I wake up hyperventaling. It’s the most terrifying feeling. I’ve been getting it a lot recently and I honestly don’t know why.
I have had a lot of sleep paralysis, I used to have them 6-7 times a month, but the first one I had was the worst one and most disturbing by far since I didn’t even know about sleep paralysis. Being home alone, waking up in the middle of a cold winter night. I had my eyes closed as I could hear this loud buzzing noise and feeling this presence in my room, very frightened and unsure I opened my eyes to see a dark shadow standing by my desk across the room, making its way closer and closer to my bed. When it got to my bed the buzzing got louder and I could feel this disgusting sensation of not being able to move anything but my eyes. I then felt something physically grab me by my wrists, and then after what felt like forever everything stopped.. drenched in sweat with my heart beating through the roof I turned the lights on, looked around..very scared and confused of what had happened. Since then I actually gotten kind of used to it, and even experimented with it. Personally it have only happened to me when I slept on my back, and I always been able to move my eyes…so closing them as tight as you can until the buzzing stops is a good advice, no matter how hard it is, just keep them closed.
I’ve also experienced shadow beings, but these beings are merely a projection of yourself. You describe a buzzing sensation. This may be your spirit body preparing for astral travel. Look up “astral projection vibration stage” so you can determine for yourself. Cheers!
I do not know if i have sleep paralysis or not. I have had several experiences over the years where i am aware i am dreaming or asleep and i know something bad happened but do not remember what. All i remember is i am beyond scared and am trying with all my strength to wake up but cant. I purposely try to move and scream to get someone to wake me because I can not. In the past my spouse has told me he woke up to me have goosebumps all over like he has never felt before and he can tell my breathing is fast and heart racing and then sometimes he can tell im trying to move or talk. He will just touch me or gently shake me and i eventually calm down and my breathing returns to normal. Last yr after my mother died was the first time i was aware of an entity in the room. It was all black and kind of flowy but i also seemed to be aware that it was my mother and she was trying to strangle me. I was trying to fight her off but couldnt move and yet i was aware i was sleeping and was trying to move and scream to get someone to wake me, but i also was aware that this entity was very real too not just a dream i began to pray to God to save me and send this demon back to hell. I have sleep apnea and have a c pap, but have these episodes with or without it. I also tend to fall asleep through the day extremely easily even while doing this like reading to someone or having a conversation or stopped at a stop light. Not really sure what to do at this point, but these sleep issues are beyond scary!
You might have narcolepsy if you fall asleep very easily and try fighting it off.
Your experience and situation sounds exactly like mine. Except I don’t see my mother although she has passed away and also experiences these episodes. Growing up I’d hear her making these awful sounds trying to call out for me and I’d rush in and turn on her light and wake her up. I know get them and so does my older sister. I have just been diagnosed with sleep apnea and was hoping when it’s treated that the seep paralysis episodes would leave. I haven’t had one for a few months but did last night and it was terrifying, I finally made enough sound to wake my husband who woke me up. I then screamed, took awhile to calm down and eventually went back to sleep. I’m hoping with all the reading I’ve done today and learning the scientific reasons this occurs will help calm my mind when I have my next episode. Take care and sleep well.
i really liked your article,it’s good to know their is a scientific explanation for this.I have had s p for10 years,i always experience it when waking up and always when i sleep on my stomach.I aways feel like something is on my back and i can’t a mucle
This is my first time experiencing something like this. The only thing different for me than your reading is that I sleep on my stomach. It happened last night, I sleep with my candle burning so there was light. I felt someone/something sitting on my back. I couldn’t move or speak, I was able to move my eyes it seemed to look like something dark on my back. I just prayed for it to please get off me because I couldn’t breath or move. It felt like enternity I don’t know how long I actually was like that though.
I have these experiences when falling asleep. I can somewhat control my body, but I shake like I am having a seizure and when I try to call out for help, it sounds muffled and stuggled. I have them once or twice a month if I have them, or I go without them for a while. Sometimes there is a demonic presence, other times I just feel like I am having a seizure. The thing is, everytime it happens, everything is exactly the same as when I fall asleep, although, at times I find small differences that help me realize I am asleep. The first experience I had was nearly one year ago and it was the worst one yet. I lived with my sister and I was just falling asleep in my bed and all of a sudden I started shaking and was unable to control my own body. I tried calling out for my sister, but it was muffled and hoarse. After a minute or two of this happening I started to be drug off of my bed by what looked like a black shadow. It drug me down the hall into my niece’s room and I had my eyes closed because I was scared. I felt myself being lifted into the air and turned around so that my back was against the ceiling. I opened my eyes and there I was staring down at my neice sleeping in her crib. All of a sudden my phone started to ring and in the blink of an eye the demon drag me back to my room and it all stopped. I wasn’t sure if it was real or not, but my phone was no longer plugged into the charger like it had been when I fell asleep and it was on the floor. I did not sleep after that. We moved into a different house a few months later and my other sister was staying the night. She slept on the couch, I slept on the floor. I had just fallen asleep and then I started to shake and felt a presence right beside my head. It started to whisper in my ear, definetly a man’s voice. It was harassing me. I tried calling out for help, but once again it failed. Finally I managed to wake myself up. In the morning I told my little sister what had happened and she told me that she had seen something that looked like a dark shadow next to me while I was sleeping in the middle of the night. I’m not sure of she was trying to scare me even more or not, but at times I am terrified to sleep. Luckily I have a friend I can call at anytime and he will answer. I am 17 years old and this absolutely terrifies me. My little sister, my bestfriend, and my boyfriend know about these experiences, but I’m afraid to tell my parents because I feel like they will laugh at me or think I’m crazy. When I was younger, my childhood bestfriend and I felt like we were haunted my demons or something because we always heard noises and things have fallen on us that shouldn’t have. She hasn’t had any of these things happen to her. But my little sister says she is started to experience paranormal activity. She is 14 and we don’t even live together anymore. I’m not sure what is going on. I am non religious, but I do believe in demons and ghosts and such. The experiences that I have are terrifying. And the first one with my neice really scares me because she is my world and I don’t want her growing up scared to sleep like I have. I feel like the demon was making a threat to hurt her for some reason. My sister’s boyfriend says he has noticed her sitting awake at night staring at the wall or into space and it freaks him out. I have gotten her from a nap once and she wasn’t responding to me, but she was crying silently and just staring wide eyed into space and I just hugged her close because I could tell she was terrified. She will be three next month. I’ve tried searching for articles with stories simular to mine, but have yet to find ones that seem as terrifying at mine. I’ve seen some that are just paralyzed, but no shaking like they are having a seizure.
I can only relate to how you fall asleep. I sometimes get sleep paralysis when i’m falling back asleep in the middle of the night and my body usually has a vibrating sensation. except it feels like the energy inside my body is vibrating at a very high intensity. I don’t think i’m physically shaking. Have you tried filming yourself or maybe put a night light in the room. given your families experience, i would say you need some help from a paranormal expert.
So I went to bed on normal time and woke up around 3am or somewhere near that time. And I immediately knew something wasn’t right, this isn’t normal, and something else is here with me. It made me uncomfortable because I was seriously feeling that there was another thing in my room. So I tried to get up and go downstairs because I felt nervous but I couldn’t seem to move my body. I could still look around but I couldn’t even move my lips. I was too scared too look around so I just stared at my ceiling and then I heard something move and saw it out of the corner of my eye, so I looked over and didn’t see anything and when I looked straight ahead there was this weird thing Infront of my door, in front of my bed, Infront of Me! I could feel my heart racing and then my bedroom went cold. At this point my eyes were closed because that thing Infront of me hasn’t moved and is still near me.
I guess I fell asleep after I closed my eyes cause when I opened them again it was morning. I found out what moved: my picture of me fell off the wall and my TV turned on to the static fuzzy channel. Sure was weird and now I sleep with my door locked and a nightlight on.
This happened to me this midnight for several times. I woke up at 3:07am this midnight, and I felt so scared because it’s devil hours. What I did was, I watched movies on television for an hour for me to fall asleep again. When I already fell asleep at 4:36am, my body felt unconscious and I started to unmove my body. And my eyes were open and I can see everything around me. Still can’t move. I tried shaking my fingers and also tried saying ‘In Jesus Name’ because I know that, that’s the only way for me to move again. I wasn’t able to move again immediately as I did those things. It actually took me a few minutes before I can move. Later on, I slept again, and in just a few minutes, again, I experienced this sleep paralysis thing. The same thing happened for like 7 times in a row. But not anymore the same as the following scenario. When it’s already 5:15am, I woke up to wake my nephew up because he’s going to school. After preparing him his breakfast, I slept again, and a couple of minutes later, I was unable to move my body again. And yes, I’m experiencing again the Sleep Paralysis. I looked around, and I saw my nephew walking into the bathroom with a towel in his shoulder. And I was asking for help, like I was shouting to death but still, no voice were out. I was trying to call his name, but it feels like I was just lip-syncing what I was saying. Then I shaked my fingers, after that, I was finally able to move again. Since I was really sleepy that time, I slept again after that scene. And this is now different, because for the nth time of having sleep paralysis, I saw my nephew kneeling in front of our huge mirror in the dining room wearing his PE uniform with an army haircut (which is not his haircut now), moving his head left and right. I was shocked seeing him like that because first of all, I know that Monday is not his PE day. And that really freaked me out. But still, I tried calling his name for seceral times even if there’s no sound coming out. I tried calling him with ‘Pst’ because somehow, there’s a sound comin out when I’m using ‘s’. But, he did not look at me. So, I, myself, again was the only one who helped me out from that experience. When I was already conscious and I can already move my body, I stood up and I checked my nephew if he’s already gone to school. But then, I saw him, he’s still sleeping. OMG THIS REALLY SCARED ME. I was like, woa, I just saw you walking into the bathroom with a towel. Omgggg!!! I tried waking him up again but he told me to just wake him up at 7am. Since it was still 6am, I slept again because I really feel sleepy and tired. The moment I shut my eyes, my body was slowly getting unconscious, but then I prevented it as early as I could by moving my hands and turning side to side, and yes I did it! But afterwards, As I continued sleeping, without being aware, I was already unconscious. And then I opened my eyes, I tried sitting up, but it felt like someone was hindering me from sitting up, but I was still trying. When I got conscious, I tried to take a nap while sitting down (not anymore laying on a couch), cause I thought I wouldn’t experience it anymore. But ugh!!! It still happened, with a very different scene. This time, my mouth was so open and I can’t even close it, and still can’t move my body. After a few minutes, I came back to normal and even if I was still sleepy, I stood up and made myself busy just not to fall asleep anymore. Hays. ???
I’ve had it happen a few times the first two happened about 10 years ago in my teens and the third a few months ago. I woke up the first time and felt like I couldn’t move like my body was glued to the bed, I couldn’t even open my eyes. It felt like my entire bed was shaking under me, eventually I was able to throw myself out of my bed. The second time I woke up I could see everything, the TV to my left in my peripheral, that was playing main menu clip to the movie I was watching, which lit up my room, I could hear the music. I saw to my right my bedroom door open, I could hear and see something dark crawling into my room, it moved around to the front of my bed where I couldn’t see over the blankets, I then felt it crawling on top of me, the covers tightening on each side as it climbed up, just as it reached the top of my covers I jumped up and it was gone. The third time I woke from a nightmare on my side, could see but not move and it felt like someone was holding my arms and had their knee in my back, it quickly ended. I’ve personally never felt the weight on my chest, more like my entire body is stuck to my bed like a magnet. But everytime it’s been deeply disturbing, like being awake unable to move while having a nightmare.
I have experienced this 3 times now since last year, and I believe that when I was a child I used to experience it. The first time was the most frightening: a VERY clear understanding of a VERY dark energy. I also saw a hooded figure standing in the doorway of my room. I screamed my sister’s name over and over again but I couldn’t move and my voice wouldn’t come out (we used to share a bedroom when we were kids). On the other occasions, I also experienced extreme sound and scary visual components – high pitched acute and quick sounds (almost something like the sound effects accompanying the Psycho stabbing), and angry red flashes and slashes of color. My main comment, though, is about the demon. What has never made sense to me in the scientific explanation of sleep paralysis is why nearly everyone experiences the “perceived threat” as a demon or very dark energy. It would make much more sense if there were a varied array of different hallucinations that would explain the perceived threat (things that people actually fear), like imagining that there was a fire, or an earthquake causing the house to collapse, or being physically trapped somewhere. I don’t buy the scientific explanation. I think that when we experience sleep paralysis, we’re somehow tapping into another world or dimension, or somehow becoming unusually alert to dark energy and actual evil (whether it comes from within ourselves or is present around us but which we can’t normally see or feel).
I completely agree with your comment. I have experienced sleep paralysis once, several months ago, and the experience is so vivid. The figure closely resembled a human male, in a long black coat. He was rather short but imposing nonetheless. I had fallen asleep with all my lights on and suddenly “awoke” to this figure facing, as though looking into, my dresser’s mirror. Of course, he had no reflection. Suddenly, I felt him pressed up against my body, as I was laying on my side. (His proximity felt both ominous and sexually motivated.) Anyway, what really sticks with me and made me feel inclined to respond to your comment was what he then said. He said nothing else and I heard no other noises. He simply stated: “This place isn’t for you.” The episode then ended.
I was pretty terrified the next day, and was curious about what place he meant. This apartment? This city? This world? This dimension? Seemed quite specific but I have no plans on attempting to meet him again in order to find out….!
Sleep paralysis played a huge role in my abysmal childhood. Occult Pagan duelist upbringing added a particularly horrid tone to my experiences, which all started within my fith year. Upon reaching my late teens I became less afraid, and almost adopted a cavalier attitude towards the whole thing. One night, not long after, I experienced a bout of SP, and decided to try engaging the voices I always heard thru out their duration. I then experienced something that horrified me to the point I still cannot remember the details, and type at the same time. Reluctantly I admit to this day I make it through bouts of SP like the same terrified child, and will never, ever, mess with these things again. They come, and they go, but I as of yet remain…
I’ve had sleep paralysis countless times. I also suffer from severe insomnia, 5 days no sleep, and migraines. In addition to everything mentioned I get the sensation of electrical shocks in waves from head to toe.
Most often it dovetails with a dream in which there is something horrifically evil in the room. So this is probably when the paralysis is actually begining. I think I’m actually starting to awaken but am actively dreaming at the same time. It wasn’t until the internet that I learned this is a real and common condition.
First things first. I say to myself ‘ok, here we go again. Nothing new, nothing scary’ then try to regain control of the diaphragm, deeper breathes. Then work the throat muscles. If I can make noises my husband will wake up and help.
The problem is trying Not to fall back to sleep before the paralysis was worn off. If I do it turns into a cycle for the rest of the night. So I get up and stay up until I feel the natural chemicals that produce the paralysis have completely worn off and left my muscles and my mind is fully awake.
Now here’s hoot. For someone who suffers sleep paralysis several a year I also sleepwalk on occasion. Seems my body can’t get it right! Lol
I’m unsure of what this was but this morning as I was waking up, I was completely unable to move and when I opened my eyes I saw what looked like a clown with a kitchen knife staring at me and whispering something along the lines of “oh my god..” that silently trailed off. I assumed this was a dream because in my head I was challenging said person/clown and when I tried to speak and say what was in my head, I noticed that I couldn’t at all. After that, I realized I couldn’t move. I’m 18 and this was the first experience that I’ve had with what I could only assume was sleep paralysis, but I don’t know. Was it just a horrible nightmare or could it have been what I’m thinking it was?
Most of the time when I am going back to sleep, I can feel my body going into paralysis, like I am not fully paralyzed. It starts from my legs and up. One night I woke up and my was in the paralysis. I sleep on my side or stomach and it’s worst on your stomach, but anyways, this time I was on my side and I could hear a deep laugh behind me. I couldn’t move, but I was not going to bother to look anyways. I started to wiggle my toes a bit and I say Jesus in my head a few times and I’m up. I think my most terrifying moments of sleep paralysis are during the day, because I actually catch myself going into paralysis and one time I decided to let it take over and I heard all these voices so I wiggled my toes to come out. This happened in broad daylight, sun was out. When I lay on my stomach it feels like someone is pushing down on me, but on my side I just can’t move. Honestly for me, the scientific explanation does no justice. Sleep paralysis seems to be the separation of the body and your soul considering people have had out of body experiences. It’s like entering another realm, the supernatural, but if you become fearful then you go back.
Hi, I had the complete opposite experience regarding sleep position. Of course now people say if you want to avoid SP then don’t sleep on your back, but we both know it can happen in any position.
In my case I still preferred to avoid sleeping on my back because when SP struck me in that position it always seemed WORSE: terror much more evil and intense, harder breathe and move, feeling of death coming worse, buzzing sounds and vibrations louder and higher pitch, and the whole thing harder to break free from, so it lasted longer too. Somehow, when I was on my stomach, things seemed gentler or muffled, Still scary, but compared to the other experience, it was more preferable and I felt I had an easier chance to break out of it. I also felt something on my back too, but instead of an EVIL invisible weight holding me down on my chest, the feeling on my back was of some sort of wet, heavy slithering weight, like water flowing or a giant slug, gliding slowly down my back. Sounds creepy and it was, but somehow my terror wasn’t as extreme.
I’ve wondered why I felt this difference. I came up with two possible explanations. The first is that on your back you feel more exposed – your soft, vulnerable and “ticklish” parts are unprotected as you face your attacker. On your back you being turned away and your spine and ribs seem to offer some protection of your vital organs. The other explanation is that on my back, it felt impossible to try to move while paralyzed to SIT UP from the waist when I had this weight/pressure crushing me and my chest. I could not use my arms to assist me. But on my stomach, instead of my weak stomach muscles to try and do a sit up, I felt I could use my stronger chest and arm muscles to push my body UP with that upper body/arm strength, lift myself up from being stuck or pressed into the bed.
I am 17 years old and just an hour ago, I woke up from something horrific. I had started out with a deep sleep all night, not even waking up once to toss or turn. And then (around 4:45 or so) I become conscious with my eyes closed still. I don’t realize why I am conscious yet but I notice that I am in the same position I fell asleep in (on my back). I then start to hear footsteps and I just thought of it as consciously dreaming. I hear them near my closet and then stop. And then by my bed and stop, and I feel a presence. Then I feel a weight beside me on my bed and then the covers by my face get pushed onto my mouth and a weight is on my body. I thought there was someone in my house trying to kill me. Then, the most terrifying part, I hear something whisper to me as it is choking me. I couldn’t understand it. It didn’t even sound like English. After that, it just stopped. I was just in shock and scared out of my mind. I thought it was a demon trying to kill me. But after reading this article, the first one I viewed, I feel a bit better. But in the back of my mind I’m still afraid an evil entity was trying to hurt me.
I had two episodes of sp when I was a teenager and since my dad passed away I have regular episodes the one I had this morning I felt like someone was touching me up in an in appropriate way and I couldn’t get away ! The other ones I’ve had I swear my sons been holding my hand or the cats been sitting on top of me but this really scares me I’m now too scared to sleep and end up sleeping in the day which seems to be worse ! I agree it always seems to be when I sleep on my back but they seem so real ! I really try not to fight it as it makes it worse ! My doctor described it as a panic attack whilst your asleep and that’s probably the most sensible thing I’ve heard it been called ! The episodes really really upset me like I literally think I’m going to die so fed up thinking of going back to the doctor to get on the sleep clinic .
I’ve always had sleeping paralysis since I was young but this morning I had the worst experience ever. It started with a night mare of me and my coworker having a sleepover. While we were trying to sleep from the corner of my eye I saw a naked bloody dead body at my feet when I turned to it it had disappeared. I got up to turn on the light but the light was later shut off. I went to turn it on again and again it got shut off. The third time I went to turn on the light the light wouldn’t go on and I looked into the dining room and the dead body was there looking at us. I woke up and shut on the light to my bedroom and woke up my husband to tell him what I just dreamt about and he comforted my and told me that it was all ok. He went back to sleep and I got my phone checked the time and it was 3:46. To forget about the dream I had just had i turned to Facebook to watch silly videos. After an hour I got sleepy again and decided to give sleep another try. Around 5 I heard my husbands work alarm and he got up to get ready and I fell back to sleep and this is where it gets strange. I felt someone come into the bedroom and I looked to see and it was my sister. (which we don’t live with) She had a creepy grin and I asked her how she got to my house and she just smiled. I asked her what she was doing there and she layed next to me. I turned on my side to her and suddenly there was my sister but there was someone else behind her and when I tried to look at her face she jumped on top of me and was trying to choke me. I couldn’t breath, move, or scream and the worst part was that it felt so real and it was my sister. I tried to rock my body back and forth until I finally was able to move again and turn the lights back on. I am still terrified of the whole event
Hi Blanca
Thanks for your comment. I can understand why you were terrified after that vivid experience. I do wonder if perhaps you were dreaming though, rather than having sleep paralysis. It’s unusual that you could move, and then couldn’t. Perhaps there was just some overlap and confusion between waking and dreaming.
Regards
Ethan
I am not sure if what I have experienced was sleep paralysis or not, but may have been one of the most terrifying experiences I have had and it happened two nights in a row! Last nigh particularly, I went to bed very early as I have been tired the past few days. I woke up from a nightmare whereby this force was pushing down on my shoulders as if it was coming from the back of my head, I was trying to fight it with all my strength for a short while and finally it let go and I felt as if I woke up. But the back of my head and shoulders were hurting, heart was racing and I could not stop shaking for about 20 mins. I was terrified to go back to sleep!
Hi Liv
Thanks for your comment. It could have been sleep paralysis. Were you definitely mentally awake at some point, but unable to move your body? If so, it would be sleep paralysis. Sometimes people also sleep in an uncomfortable position, which then somehow is reflected in their dream. So when you wake up you might think the soreness is because of your dream. Try not to get too stressed about your sleep, if you can. Talk it through with someone, and follow the advice in the article if it happens again.
Regards
Ethan
This happened a little before 1am. I’m still awake cause I’m scared to death. I haven’t been sleeping that well for the past few weeks. I’m laying in bed awake but tired but couldn’t sleep but I layed on my side and just closed my eyes to see if I could just fall asleep. But before I fell asleep I felt like someone or something was behind me over me.My dream was that I was in my dream watching myself sleeping in this bathroom on this circle sink thing. And I I started to wake up cause there was noises and at first I thought it was cause I was in a school and people were changing classes and girls were coming in the bathroom. But I think I started to wake up and there was a static noise and screaming. My eyes were open I could shut them nor could I open them wide. I couldn’t move from laying on my side. I tried screaming… Nothing was coming out. Then all of a sudden it was gone. I was awake scared out of mind. I still felt like someone was behind me. So I called someone and then answer and I had them ok speaker phone and I sat up and looked around my bedroom and nothing was there. But I was cunfused and felt like I was still sleeping but I punched my leg to see if I was awake and I was. I’m 19 years old and ive experience this 4+ in my life.
Hi Kristina
Thanks for your comment. I know this kind of experience can be very scary. I hope you found the article useful though, and have some idea for dealing with it in the future, if it happens again. Try not to allow yourself to be too scared to go to sleep. Stay positive, believe that it won’t happen each night, and even if it does, try your best to deal with it using the ideas in the article. And then do some things to keep calm, like getting up for a while and doing something normal and nice, before going back to sleep.
Regards
Ethan
I literally just had this happen to me (dreaming):
I was lying on my back in bed, on the phone with my boyfriend. My head fell back as if I’d passed out for a second, and I told him as much.
Next thing I know, no phone in my hand anymore and I am THROWN off the bed to the left against the wall and slightly upside down. In my dream, my room was situated exactly how it is now, except the window on the left in reality was a door in my dream. Anyhow, there was a heating vent in my wall (in my dream) that had white light coming through it. I was still immobile, upside down and terrified because something was watching me through the vent. Even though I saw nothing, I knew it was there. I heard a very loud static but I think it was me trying to scream, except it was only in my head. I was trying to wake my mom and dad up, as if I were still a child (I’m 33!), but I could not make a noise. I knew it had happened before (in my dream); I felt deja vû. I knew I was going to be abducted.
The thing is, I was half awake while dreaming this. When I fully woke up, I wondered if I’d woken anybody from actually screaming, but I hadn’t. It was all in my head, along with the loud static.
I have often experience sleep paralysis. It not only happens at night. I have experience it during a day nap. Its the same frightening feeling of something or some presence trying to suffocate or take over your body. I reside in the Caribbean and we define it as a hag is riding you. In other words they ate on top of you that is the feeling if the weight on your chest. I pray when this happens and that works for me. Whatever the entity while I pray at one point I get release. I truly believe their is a presence and its something malevolent.
Hi Carmen
Thanks for your comment. It’s interesting to hear how your culture views the experience. It seems that many cultures around the world have a particular explanation for this kind of experience. If you find that prayer helps you, then that’s great. You could also try the tips in the article as an experiment to see if they help.
Regards
Ethan