Poll: Sleep Paralysis

Raddragon

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Dec 23, 2008
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plastic_window said:
I had Sleep Paralysis once and I dreamt I was underwater and I couldn't breath. It was the scariest thing I've ever been through - I just couldn't breath at all no matter how hard I tried, it was like I was watching myself drown.
You were face down in bed or had a very thick blanket covering your face. Since you couldnt breath your mind assumed you were underwater, or at least I'm assuming, because that happens just too often to me
 

Llewen Ebag

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Jan 12, 2009
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Something weird that happened to me was when I saw a Shadow people relfected on one of the TVs that we own. Except that I was completely awake.
It was a dark, tall blob which was next to me. Stared at it for a long time, just to make sure it wasn't a illusion of some sorts. The worst part was when I looked where it was suppoused to be, and there was nothing.
I slowly got up, and ran my ass off that room.
 

Easykill

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Sep 13, 2007
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Is this really that common? I'd never heard of sleep-paralysis before, much less void-men
 

Zykon TheLich

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I had sleep paralysis for a while. Didn't see anything but it felt like I couldn't breath. apparently its because when you sleep the muscles in your chest relax so your lungs can't expand properly. You breath, but only very shallow in comparison to normal (so it feels like you aren't breathing)and since you're paralysed you can't consciously breath deeper.

Related;
During the same period I used to get a nightmare in which I would be in my bed, awake under the covers and an invisible force would come into the room and pull me out of bed while I tried to hang on and then throw me around the ceiling of the room when it pulled me free. I'd claw my way back into bed and hide under the covers. It'd wait and then do it again.
Eventually I'd wake up, under the covers. It would usually take me a minute or so of cowering until I realised I was awake and it was a dream and I wasn't about to be ripped out of my bed and thrown around. It started to happen so much I began to wonder if it was actually happening and maybe it wasn't a dream.

I haven't had sleep paralysis since then and i know what was causing it, so hopefully it won't come back ever.
 

Ryuzix

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Jan 21, 2009
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I've never had sleep paralysis but I have had a lot of dreams that felt like it (for some reason, there always third person). Some would include me running away or atleast im trying to (eg. trying to escape from a gunman) and for some odd reason just before I die within the dream, I wake up, can't remember if I could move or not. Never seen a void man and if I did I would never remember it.
 

Ryuzix

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Jan 21, 2009
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I should stop reading about these kinds of topics before I go to bed, I might actually get SP tonight, Ill give an update tommorow (actually, looking at the time, ill give an update today).
 

Hachura

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Nov 28, 2007
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I think I had this one time as a very small child. It was during a midday nap and from what I remember, I thought the hat stand next to me was either my grandfather or what you referred to as a 'void man'. Can't believe how I still recall this quite vividly.
 

Yegargeburble

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Nov 11, 2008
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I cannot recall sleep paralysis, but every now and then, I will have a really vivid dream. I'll wake up and wonder if what happened in the dream really happened. That freaks me out a little bit.
 

WolfThomas

Man must have a code.
Dec 21, 2007
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Ryuzix said:
I should stop reading about these kinds of topics before I go to bed, I might actually get SP tonight
Yeah I'm feeling that.

Actually I have amazing control over my dreams and I remember them vividly. Recently I actually managed to return to a dream I was woken from, I thought that was impossible.

I often have superpowers or godlike abilities, though I may not use them, I have actually destroyed things that made a bad dream. Only once have my powers failed me, when an enemy tried to trap me in a pirate themed sexverse. I had way to much fun swashbuckling.
 
Jul 23, 2008
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What's with all the sleep phenomena related questions today? Have escapist members been watching too much john edward?
I've never experience sleep paralysis.
 

DigitalSushi

a gallardo? fine, I'll take it.
Dec 24, 2008
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Labyrinth said:
I would say that there may be an explanation for this. There are several different stages of sleep, one of which is called REM sleep. Rapid Eye Movement sleep. This is the sleep in which you dream. For some reason, people in REM stages of sleep are unable to move their bodies as the muscles are held in place. If you've ever seen a dog twitch and yip but not in other ways move, they're in REM sleep.

I'm not sure how this directly relates to the sensation you spoke of, only that it's the most logical conclusion to my knowledge.
no its actually sleep apnea, your are right about REM though, but what he's discribing is sleep apnea. Also the older the person gets its likely to get worse, things like not breathing for several breaths kick in.
 

Miss.Sami

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Jan 21, 2009
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It happens quite often for myself. But I usually see objects in my field of vision morph into creatures. Scary scary creatures.

This one time I woke up in the middle of the night with sleep paralysis and my door was open. My eyes moved to it, then I proceeded to see a very dark creature. It had no eyes, a slit for a mouth, dog like teeth and it has a scaly effect. But it growls at me and starts towards me. At this point I shut my eyes really tight and pray for an easy passing. I prayed for a quick death.

Scariest thing I've seen during sleep paralysis.
 

TwistedEllipses

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Nov 18, 2008
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A waking dream can be odd, you're dreaming, but you're semi-aware you're dreaming, so if you try to control things too much the whole thing falls apart. It's not unusual for dreams to focus on you being in bed, since that is logically where you were last. Not that logic sustains itself in a dream state...they're so freaking weird sometimes...
 

PsykoDragon

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Aug 19, 2008
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Awake now. I had a dream, but don't remember it, & I didn't have sleep paralysis, so I don't have anything to add on that :/

But I did remember a really messed up dream I had once. I was being attacked by someone from the front, & wanted to raise my hands to defend myself, but I can't! It hurt to try to move them, & they felt like they were as heavy as lead.

When I woke up, I found out that my arms had slipped under my pillow, & were being weighed down by my head, stopping blood-flow & numbing them. It blew my mind that such a thing would affect my dream. I guess that must've meant that i was dreaming with SP off.

I believe I have a low tendency to get into SP, because even though I've had it at least 3 times that I could recall, I've also had MANY dreams a while back of fighting with people, & I'd wake up to myself punching the wall, kicking the wall, or hitting my head on my headboard, followed by a howl of pain :S
 

bad rider

The prodigal son of a goat boy
Dec 23, 2007
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God I hate sleep paralysis, because i used to get it when i slep in an awkward position so i woke up and felt uncomfortable for 10-20 minutes.
 

spuddyt

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Nov 22, 2008
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here's a theory i just came up with about why it only happens on your back - its cos only in that position can your eyelids fall down without any motor control from your body, enabling some sensory stimulus (i say some, because focusing is tied to muscles) to be sent to the brain, which is still in the state slightly below that of waking up. (I know that there are like 4 distinct patterns of brain waves for people who are asleep, and I'm referring to the one closest to a waking person's brain waves). I'm fairly sure that its possible to recieve sensory information from almost all areas while asleep, as once when I fell out of a top bunk, I felt the wind going past me for a brief second before waking up somewhat abruptly -_-
 

PsykoDragon

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Aug 19, 2008
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scumofsociety said:
I had sleep paralysis for a while. Didn't see anything but it felt like I couldn't breath. apparently its because when you sleep the muscles in your chest relax so your lungs can't expand properly. You breath, but only very shallow in comparison to normal (so it feels like you aren't breathing)and since you're paralysed you can't consciously breath deeper.

Related;
During the same period I used to get a nightmare in which I would be in my bed, awake under the covers and an invisible force would come into the room and pull me out of bed while I tried to hang on and then throw me around the ceiling of the room when it pulled me free. I'd claw my way back into bed and hide under the covers. It'd wait and then do it again.
Eventually I'd wake up, under the covers. It would usually take me a minute or so of cowering until I realised I was awake and it was a dream and I wasn't about to be ripped out of my bed and thrown around. It started to happen so much I began to wonder if it was actually happening and maybe it wasn't a dream.

I haven't had sleep paralysis since then and i know what was causing it, so hopefully it won't come back ever.
This is likely to give you the shivers:
http://www.stevepavlina.com/forums/...-we-see-during-sleep-paralysis.html#post39301

bad rider said:
God I hate sleep paralysis, because i used to get it when i slep in an awkward position so i woke up and felt uncomfortable for 10-20 minutes.
You really shouldn't hate it. It's natural to feel uncomfortable or even scared shitless when it happens to you, but now that there's an explanation for it, I'm looking forward to it happening to me again, so that I can try to explore it. It would be like lucid dreaming, where you know that you're dreaming & you control the world around you, except you're slightly awake, so MAYBE you can control what you see in the dream-infused real-world.
 

Rhayn

Free of All Weakness
Jul 8, 2008
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I remember someone telling me that you can only feel things in dreams that you have experienced whilst awake, thus you can't die in dreams. Unless you die in your sleep. Same if you dream that you're falling of a cliff, then just when you're about to hit the ground, you wake up on the floor, having fallen of your bed.

On SP though, I doubt I've experienced it. However, I do remember a similar incident when I was a kid, I woke up, sat up, looked at a painting across the room, and saw a monster resembling the Groke from Moomin, who was screaming at me. I, being extremly scared of the Groke in my younger years, screamed back.

Then I woke up, sat up and saw the painting of the serene bird. Then I ran to my parents. Fast.