Sleep Paralysis: Symptoms, Causes and Treatment
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One day last year I was taking a nap on the couch when I heard my mother come home from work. I woke up and saw her walk through the front door, and I tried to say hello to her. I was distirubed to find that I couldn't speak; my tongue was frozen in my mouth. I tried to move my body to get her attention, but I couldn't do that either. I was paralyzed. Panic quickly set in, and although I had been breathing perfectly normally up until then, I suddenly felt like my lungs were restricted. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep, only to have the same scenario repeat itself a few moments later when I thought I heard her moving around in the kitchen. I was desperate to get her attention so that she could help me, but once again I could not move, and I would drift back to sleep. After about four more rounds of this, my brother came home from school and that was when I woke up -- for real.
That was when I realized that everything that had just happened hadn't been real. It was a freaky sensation, but I chalked it up to a bad dream...until it happened again a week later. Hoping that if perhaps I could understand what was happening, I could possibly change it, I did a Google search for "can't move while sleeping" and discovered the concept of sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is actually a fairly common condition characterized by either partial or total paralysis of muscles. It occurs upon awakening from sleep or falling asleep, although the latter is much less likely. The episodes generally last anywhere from seconds to minutes, and outside stimuli like touch or sound may terminate it.
According to Wikipedia, sleep paralysis "it is closely related to the paralysis that occurs as a natural part of REM 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. In addition, the state may be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations (hypnopompic or hypnagogic) and an acute sense of danger." Although I had never heard of sleep paralysis, this was clearly what I was experiencing. The same physiology that keeps up from acting out our dreams as we sleep was now keeping my body frozen as my mind was awake and aware. Most people experience severe panic symptoms during an episode, even as they know that their perceptions are false. After reading more on the subject, I decided I was one of the luckier ones. Many people also experience hallucinations during sleep paralysis. In particular, they see an old hag in the room, or feel a witch or demon sitting on their chest and laboring their breathing. Although I hallucinated my mother coming home from work and was greatly disturbed when I couldn't reach out to her, I have never had the sensation of something evil lurking.
Symptoms
Sleep paralysis entails one or both of the following:
- Paralysis: occurs after waking up or just before falling asleep. You cannot move any body part, aside from involuntary movements such as blinking and breathing. "This paralysis is the same paralysis that occurs when dreaming. The brain paralyzes the muscles to prevent possible injury during dreams, as some body parts may move during dreaming. If the person wakes up suddenly, the brain may still think that it is dreaming, and sustains the paralysis." (Source: wikipedia.org)
- Hallucinations: Images or sounds that appear during the episode. The sensation that someone is standing beside you or somewhere close by in the room. Strange sounds. Some people feel a heavy weight on their chest, as if they are being sat on.
Causes
Although there are several theories, the actual cause of sleep paralysis is still unknown. However, several factors have been identified that may increase the chances of having an episode:
- Sleeping in a face upwards or supine position
- Irregular sleeping schedules; naps, sleeping in, sleep deprivation
- Increased stress
- Sudden environmental/lifestyle changes
- A lucid dream that immediately precedes the episode.
Treatment
For those who suffer severe and persistent sleep paralysis, there are medications that may improve the condition. One option is to take 0.5mg of Clonazepam at bedtime. Ritalin has also been used as a daytime medication, the idea being that establishing healthy sleep patterns will reduce instances of sleep paralysis.
In all my research, the only other suggestion I found was to try and move your facial muscles during an episode, as it may be easier to move these than your arms or legs. Not only will it give you a sense of control, but it may be enough to ease you into wakefulness.
Your Worst Nightmare
How to Stop Sleep Paralysis
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Comments
I have had this disorder since I was a teenager, about 15. I'm 37 and I've noticed things that really make it worse, more extreem or more frequent. I used to drink a lot of pop, orange pekoe tea and chocolates. I also would drink a lot of coffee. I went through a period when I changed a lot in my diet and noticed that when I drank the tea pop or coffee my heart would race really fast and I wondered if it contributed to my sleep problems. Plus when I would drink tea I didn't sleep well anyway. So I tried cutting the caffenated drinks out and it almost completely got rid of the problem. But then I noticed when christmas came around and I had that big box of chocolates (which I always ate about 10 chocolates) I would go into a really sleepy state and instead of going to sleep I would go straight into sleep paralysis. I knew the caffiene content wasn't that high on chocolate but the sugar was super high. So I tried drinking coffee without the sugar and it didn't bother me and then I tried putting brown sugar in it and it didn't bother me either. So now I try to stay away from sugar as much as I can and it is not near as severe when I do have an episode. Although I do still have them. What I do different is I just don't try to move or fight it. I notice if I do try to move or fight it that it drains my energy so much that when I do finally wake up I'm so exhausted that I will go right back into another episode. So I just lie there and let it take it's course. I noticed if I didn't try to breath or try to move or try to wake up that it lasted just as long but I wasn't exhausted when it was over. By the way I noticed that I didn't have to fight to breath, I just felt like I couldn't because I was trying to fight it and it was wearing me out somehow. But fighting it never really seemed to do anything but tire me out. If I tried to move it could still last several minutes. If I just lie there it can last the same several minutes but with no fear. I know how scary it can be and I hope I've been able to help someone out there. I don't know if it ever completely goes away but maybe you can learn how to make it not as bad. Good Luck!
I wanted to comment on the videos. I am not against people believing in God. However, I was a christian for at least 25 years and as devoted as possible. Not just to christianity but personally to God. During these years I suffered from sleep paralysis when I delt with it at it's worst. I would pray to God because I thought I was dying. I was seeking comfort, I wanted it to end. I would ask Jesus to bring me out of it or help me to deal with it. Prayers did not make a difference. I'm only being honest. It was only when I changed my diet that the sleep paralysis was not so bad. And then when I learned not to fight it that I could deal with it without fear. If you can see sleep paralysis logically it makes sense. Your mind has woke up about half way, so your still sleeping but still dreaming which explains why you can see things that are not there but yet you can still see the room as it is. Your body is still asleep so it is in a paralysis state so that you will not act out your dreams and hurt yourself. Although if you are a sleep walker you may wake up crawling out of you bed if you see something frightening. I never really feared demons so I never saw them when I was in this state. In my mind I imagined my family was in the room but I could not get their attention and because I was fighting it I felt that I could not breath (because trying to fight it drains your energy). That was my fear, having someone right there, gasping for my life, and no one knowing or helping. Sometimes someone would see me moving my eyes funny or I would get a grunt out and they would wake me up. I told them if they saw me doing that to wake me. I believe that if I had a fear of demons and was afraid of them coming to get me that I might have imagined that. I honestly believe that when you are in that state, half sleep half awake, that it is much like a dream. If you see something and then you think it may be something else it changes, just like a dream. I don't believe these are aliens or demons. I think it is a half dreamlike state upon awakening and that it can feed on fears just like a dream can. You can only learn to control it when you actually know what is going on and what to realistically expect. So that combined with less sugar in your diet I found works. I say less sugar because it is believed that sleep paralysis is linked with being diebetic. You can be slightly diebetic and not know it. When I read that and put it with my own experience of changing my diet and my sugar experiences with sleep paralysis it made complete sense. Good luck! Unfortunately not everyones body is the same so I'm sure some of our needs with be different.
Hi again,
I know I have commented twice on this page but I'm doing more research right now because I have a friend who suffers from this severely and has not learned how to control it yet. I came across a page on another website and wanted to post what they put on it. I will then follow it with another comment that makes me believe more now than before that this is a hereditary condition.
How to Lucid DreamThe most basic definition of lucid dreaming is "being aware you are dreaming while dreaming". Most lucid dreams are about things you want to happen. Although most people know they're lucid dreaming, you can change your dream to how you want it to be. Lucid dreams usually occur while a person is in the middle of a regular dream and suddenly realizes that she or he is asleep and must be dreaming. The person is then said to be "lucid", and may enter one of many levels of lucidity. At the lowest level, the dreamer may be dimly aware that he or she is dreaming, but not think rationally enough to realize that events/people/actions in the dream are not real/pose no threat. At the highest level, the dreamer is fully aware that she or he is asleep, and can have complete control over his or her actions in the dream. However, with low mental control your decisions could be biased not by your opinion, but by your brain. You can control your dreams using the lucid dreaming methods that follow.
This was a link from a page on sleep paralysis.
There was more to this topic but when I read it I realized it is exactly what my dad is able to do. Sometimes when he is just entering a dreamlike state he envisions a circle opening up in front of him. He gets up from his bed and enters the circle which he calls a dream world. There he can control what he does and knows he is dreaming. It is the most amazing way to dream ever. I wish I was able to do this, maybe I can get to this point from sleep paralysis. My brother on the other hand is bipolar to the point of seeing people and things that are not there and hearing voices (all during waking hours) I wonder if these are all linked together...
I found all the differrent comments about sleep paralysis intersting. I am a counsellor and I see many people, who report being victim of this condition. In reality all our beliefs depend on our value system regardless of relegiousity and or ... it all comes as a result of our observision leading to our basic learned behaviors. for those who belief in god praying is the best option as it keeps them focused. however movment of facial muscles are great espacially in trying to open your eyes. what is important to know is that sleep paralysis causes no harm to you even when it it seems that your are out of your self, you are fully concious in your mind there for, making this episode an opportunity to have time with your inner self is not a bad idea. if you are still feeling uncomfortable in having these experiances, there are some tips to help you avoid it. allow positive thoughts to be part of everyday life, become aware of things that makes you happy and unhappy, make mental notes about what you become aware of about your self and the qualities that you hold. they are very valuable to you and others even if you dont know them. sleep on your side and avoid sleeping on your back, as it is easier to move your body when on one side. befor getting ready for bed, listen to relaxation cds such as prograssive muscle relaxation. reduce drug and alcohol. and take care of your self. this is exactly what i did when i was experiancing it.
I'm reading Cynthia's comment about being a Christian and I'm not sure if you're still a Christian or not. But in many instances, you can ask God for something till you're blue in your face. God has already given us everything we want, we need to take action to get it. It's like an obese person praying to God to help her to stick to her diet. It's pretty straight forward - make a conscious decision to stick to your diet and be disciplined. It's basic biblical principles we need to live by. It's like asking God to solve all your financial problems, but you sit on your ass and don't get an extra job, or even remotly try to spend less. Asking God to 'take something away' is like a silly prayer. You should ask God to give you wisdom and show you how to deal with it - which he did, by you changing your diet. And you should be greatfull for that, because he did answer your prayers.
dear cynthia,
i thank you for you valueable information. Honestly, I am having sleep paralys past 2 years. i do not know anythign about it and this happen more frequent recently. I too prayed for GOD to give me soem answers...you know, GOD leads me to your article. You have become an instrument for GOD to answers our prayer for sleep paralys. i felt you are helping many many people with your article on this sleep paralys thing. How wonderful and privilege you are to be use by HIM in HIS work!
God love you now matter what you think of HIM. He will not do things for you like a delivery order service. you call, you order, they deliver. GOD works in ways MOST suitable for you so that you seek HIM and learn! if you want pizza, He won't delivery that to you. HE will send you a recipe and you make it yourself. that is more value lesson than just merely recieving.
Have faith.
"i've been crucified in Christ and I no longer live, but Christ live in me. The live I live in the body, I live by FAITH in the Son of God, who love me and gave himself for m." Galation2:20
Thank You again!
i love the ignorance of the science like myself still a half sceptic but !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would just likt to thank all of you who posted. I've been having these for a year now, and they scare mt to death, I was pretty sure i was being spiritually attacted for a really long time. But thanks for the information. (:
i also have it...Ive learned how to control it a little bit more now. I dont try to wake up anymore or move. It use to drain me when i did. I thought i was having a dream inside of another dream. Scarey stuff!!! Thanks for posting!!!
I have been suffering from sleep paralysis for 6 years now. i just had one this morning and have noticed that these episodes happen when i take a nap during morning hours.
It was worse when i started having sleep paralysis.I never knew what i was goin through during my sleep. as DA said.. i too felt that i was having a dream inside another dream. I always woke up crying. Well, things have become better now and are less scary.
Thanks for the comments..
I am absolutley thrilled that I have found this post. I am 21 years old and I have had this so called "sleep paralysis" since i was little. I have tried to explain it to my friends but they have no clue what i am talking about. They think im jokeing around. I don't find it to be funny at all. Its quite terrifying actually. The Most terrifying feeling imaginable. I Just had my most recent episode yesterday (four times in like a two hour period). I wake up (at least i believe i am awake) and find myself unable to move or talk. And believe me I try so hard to scream or move so I can snap out of it. Almost everytime I can make myself actually wake up from it. Sometimes it takes me a minute or two but I can. There have been times where I have heard buzzing in my ears and then my body felt like it was vibrating. There has been times where I have heard a demonic voice scream my name. Yesterday I heard a sound like an old fashion radio being changed through the channels real quickly. I have told my mom and she has experienced the same thing through her life. She does not believe it is sleep paralysis. She believes its an evil occurence. My mother is a very educated women who happens to be a psych nurse. She is also a strong faithed christian. So her credibility is valued. I am undetermined if i believe it is the work of evil or if sleep paralysis is actually the case.
This has been going on with me for a few years now. I didn't know what was wrong with me until I came across a section in my Psychology book on the subject. Between reading that and reading this and all of the comments, I realize that sleep paralysis isn't that uncommon and that if you stay rational during an episode it will be over with soon enough.
I also found that I get them mostly when I take naps and there's light in the room. I guess it needs to be completely dark so you aren't shocked out of REM stage or something. Hope that helps.
heyyy iv recently been experiencing theese too iv been having themm for a whilee and when i started having them i was feeling very terrified im only 15 and i thought something was wrong with me, i never really tried explaing this too anyone because i thought pepople wouldnt believe me but just today actually i googled it an d found alot about it and im so thankful i read all theese because honestly i thought i was being spiritually or watever you call it supernatural things i dont see things or anyhitng but i just cant talk or scram or move my body and the fisrt time it happened i was so scaredd other times i had my eyes open and i herd something liek the bed shaking wen i finally woke from it and the next day my sister said i was shaking violently in the bed but i thought it was a dream untill she told me i was actually shaking but it only lasts a couple minutes with me ans every time it happens i try to make my slef move to be awake but from what ic read in theese comment im guessing waiting it out it the best to do,
it was such a terrifying experience but now that i know its fairly common i ffeel much better about it so thanks so much everyone.
I have it too... I feel like it was all a dream after i wake up from the episode..its like someone is pushing you down hard
and preventing me from getting up..
I am just interested in knowing whether it is harmful or people can live it . I mean i am not scared of it.. i just let it happen whenever it happens..only thing i worry about is whether i ll snap out of it or not ? i feel i ll go to life long coma...that part is scary!!!
i heard an evil dog growling..on top of me
and same as others..
could not move or talk
Hi, Posting again! : )
Funny thing how this condition plays on your fears. I have a story of what happened after reading this page and veiwing the videos. All of us who have this disorder know that no matter how much we tell ourselves that we are in a state of REM sleep (which we are). When an episode actually happens somehow our thinking process just isn't as reasonable as when we are fully awake. So I'm lying in bed, just fell asleep and something happens that has never happened to me before during sleep paralysis. I know it was from reading all the stories as well as talking to my friend about her stories. So all the sudden I feel an impression on the bed behind my legs...then it makes it way up behind my back. So I'm thinking to myself, okay this plays on my fears, so maybe I can make it play on my fantasies...lol..so I'm thinking Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt....be Brad Pitt (true story). Not so lucky..I felt it jump off the bed behind me and then I snapped out of it. I got up checked the room and no Brad Pitt...lol. A few nights after I was lying on my back and went into an episode. This was after I read the article on Lucid Dreams. I thought "just go with it" "don't fight it" so I felt myself go up into the air...which I know I didn't really but it felt like it. I've experienced a falling feeling before but not a "I'm going up to the ceiling" feeling. I felt like I was hovering there looking at my ceiling. Then I realized that my ceiling looked slightly different and then it was over...lol. I guess reality set in.
I stumbled upon this page trying to find a reasoning for why I can't sleep. I have had this experience a majority of times. It feels as if I am awake in a dream, and I can not move my body, I feel like I am drugged. Also, I feel as if there are other people present in my dreams and around me, and the feeling is like they are going to harm me and when I try to scream or yell, nothing comes out. It has always scared me when this happens, and it feels like it takes forever for me to finally actually wake up. Until today I never knew what was happening to me. Usually this Sleep Paralysis happens when I am taking a nap, so this all makes a great deal of sense to me!!
I only had one episode of this, but I just wanted to post to let others know you are not alone and you most certainly are not crazy.
We don't actually see through our eyes. They just take in light waves for our brain to interpret as what we see. So when our brain projects something that is not there, we're going to be more apt to believe it is. Add to this the fact that you are half-sleeping/half-awake AND cannot move a muscle, well it's a terrifying experience.
This really is a very misundertood disorder and we really should be more supportive and more vocal about it. Just think of the stigma attached to some of the stories associated with this!
I have been experiencing sleep paralysis since I was very young, though I found it became more intense when I was in my heavy drug-use phase of my life. Those days are gone, but the sleep paralysis has stayed. I can sympathise with people who experience fear when in this state, as I used to feel very scared when it happened to me. I am stuck in my bed, unable to move, and I hear this sound in my ears like a rumbling in my ear drum. It's really quite frightening when you don't understand it. However, I have known about sleep paralysis for a long time. When I started experiencing it often, I asked my father (an MD) and he told me about it. Over the years, though, I have come to appreciate the experience, and hope each time I fall asleep to experience it again. It is quite the trip. I am now at the point where I can leave my body and float. Last night was the first time I tried to test the limits of what I could do. I actually floated out my bedroom window, but I had no real control of my flight and so I soon found myself back inside my room bouncing around on the walls and ceiling, flipping around. I tried to look down to see if I would find myself in my bed, but I was unable to. I've found now that I am more capable of controlling my dreams in this state, including at one point feeling that I was underwater and breathing of my own accord. I just want to tell people no to fear it. Don't use medication to stop it. Learn to accept it, even enjoy it, it can be very enjoyable once you get past the superstition of demons, or aliens, or God... none of those have anything to do with it. It is simply a biological function (albeit a strange one) that is completely natural, and as you can tell from the plethora of info available online, quite common. Learn to enjoy it, I have. In the end you are only in bed, usually looking up at the ceiling, sometimes you feel heavy, sometimes you feel light, sometimes you fly, sometimes you swim, and sometimes you just sit there trying to make sense of the experience. There is absolutely no danger, just keep that in mind, you are in the safest place in the world at this point, in your nice warm bed...and in this state, your dreams are yours to create. This doesn't happen right away, it takes years of practice, and a little knowledge of what is happening, much of that knowledge you already have if your on this webpage. I am only just beginning to have control over my conscious in this state, and I am very much looking forward to the next experience. Fear Not Everything is Better than Okay!
Hi Everyone,
So I have had this for the longest amount of time. I really thought the devil was after me because I am such a positive person. Thank you so much Cynthia. This is so awesome how you are taking time and posting all these lovely comments on this disorder. I wish I had known about this a little longer. My whole family suffers from Sleep Paralysis. My sister told me to just joke when I am having an episode, to say things like " Yay I am having so much fun" instead of taking as a threat. I always get very scared. I am Muslim, and I always say my prayers when it happens to me. My last episode was seeing a demon with its draping tail float up the stairs. My fiance just started experiencing once I told him about Sleep Paralysis. He is so scared.
I am helping him to cope with it.
Thanks Again,
From San Francisco,
Zohra
Okay so I've just recently stopped trying to pull out of SP when it happens and had good results. Something else I am noticing now though and I'm just curious what others experiences are.
I'm in my bed and just starting to go to sleep and all the sudden the room gets dead silent...really it's like suddenly...and really silent. Then I will feel the vibration feeling (I used to think I would feel my bed shake at night) At this point I'm not in SP though, it's something different but I guess related. If I want to I can get up, and that is what I used to do, but after researching on the internet other similar experiences I decided I would just stay there with my eyes closed and see what happens. It felt like the inside of my body was making a wave like motion. Mostly in my arms and legs and I could still feel the slight vibration. This happens when I'm on my side so I'm wondering if it's the same thing as when I'm on my back and feel like I'm floating up or falling. But like I said I can actually choose to open my eyes and get out of bed. I guess I'm wondering if anyone who has experienced this has taken it any further to like lucid dreaming or anything. But I know I am 100% fully awake and able to get up if I choose to (but not out of body). If you've experienced it you know what I am talking about.
I am 42 and have experienced this oddity since I was around 16. For years I "saw" a tall woman dressed in black. She never scared me but the experience disturbed me. I also get a loud rushing noise in my ears. When I moved into my new house 4 yrs ago I spent weeks expereincing them every morning after my husband left for work. I would hear the front door open and hear footsteps up the stairs. This frightened me as I waited hopeless to who was coming up the stairs. I would also smell cigarette smoke. I have also had the physical sensations, punching in my stomach and bitting. The last time it happened was the morning after my husband's nephew died suddenly. I "woke" to see our nephew's face in mine contorted in anger, screaming so loud it actually shook me out of my paralysis.
Do you think that maybe at this vulnerable time we are receptive to supernatural experience?? Also has anyone heard that rushing noise??
I was looking up a site for a friend about panic attacks, when i ran across "sleep paralysis"I could not take my eyes off of this site! this is me! I did not know that so many people goes through "sleep paralysis"when I go through it, I make a grunge sound ,praying that my husband would hear me and touch me, most of the times he does,when he does not, I talk myself into coming down, then my body makes this sudden jerk and I wake up."sleep paralysis" happens to me when i am upset or scare or when someone hurts my feeling about something, and last but not lease, when someone close to me dies.
Coming across this site has made me feel more confident, and not so fearful of going to sleep at night. I had one or two episodes when I was very young, and it now started a few months ago, after many years, I am now 32. It was really terrifying to say the least. It really felt like this invisible force sitting on me was trying to drain all life I had, from me, suffocating me, while I was fighting for my dear life. The weird thing is that it felt so real, so vivid, and this invisible force kept trying to suffocate me, even feeling for a pulse on my neck to check if Im still alive, after I could no longer fight back due to the energy just draining away. I then started praying very hard, and in a flash he disapeared. I woke up so scared and terrified that it took me weeks to overcome the experience, and I told my Mom and Dad about it, and learnt that she has these experiences too.
I then googled "invisisble force suffocating me while sleeping" and came across so many sites where people are experiencing exactly the same thing. It makes me feel so much better and stronger knowing I am not alone, or crazy.
Last night I just had another episode, with this invisible force trying to suffocate me, while I was lying on my side(I don't sleep on my back since the first terrifying episode), but then I just let it be after a while of fighting and even trying to tell him to GO AWAY!!(but the words could not come out, and felt him fade away, after trying to pray hard, still it's so scary, because it really feels as if someone is trying to kill me, with all his might.
I've now decided not to fight back, because the harder I fight, the harder and longer and stronger this force fights back, and it drains my energy tremendously.
So Im going to train myself not to be scared and just let it happen(even though it does get scary), instead of fighting. I think this "thing" or whatever it is Im experiencing also feeds on fear, as I can sense in my "dreaming" state that he enjoys seeing me fight for my life
I also realised that when Cynthia mentioned the sweets. That's exactly what I ate last night just before bed, a whole pack of sweets(naughty), so no more sweets for me, atleast not before bed time.
And the fact that it happens when I am really stressed out too, so I am now going to take up some Yoga classes that might help me in trying to relax and free my mind, and take control when I have to.
I am really glad I came across this site, as it had given me alot of confidence not to fear it, but turn the experience around.
Th
I was bad Friday. I went to a luncheon and had two cups of coffee with about 6 packs of sugar each and then followed by a nice big glass of sweet tea. Later that night I fell asleep on the couch while watching a movie with my son and one of my daughters. They knew about the sleep paralysis but it's been so long since I've had an episode like that where I suddenly wake up paralyzed gasping for air and trying to talk and get their attention that they forgot I guess. I guess it looked pretty darn funny because they were cracking up and I was getting pretty annoyed because nobody was waking me up. So I tried to make a face that looked pretty desperate and apparently that was even funnier. So they laughed even harder leaving me to my suffocating misery. I finally popped out of it and they were like "Mom, do you know what you were doing while you were sleeping?" "ha ha ha" "you were making a face like this and you were making noises like this" I'm sure you can imagine what I said back...lol...considering I already knew. But it was kind of funny to see them laughing uncontrollably.
My name is Alexandra I am 21. Wow, it is such a relief to read this page. For the past month I have been having SP. Sometimes I get it about an hour into my sleep, and sometimes I get it in the morning, it all depends. All I know is when this happens I am terrified! Now I am terrified to fall asleep, I will be up for hours before I actually fall asleep. Thank God I don't see any demons!! I live with my boyfriend and he hears me right when it is over screaming "HELP!". He thinks that I am crazy. Anxiety runs in my family, so this has been on my mind constantly since it started. I am contemplating whether or not to take some kind of sleeping pill such as Tylenol PM, but I am hesitant because I don't want it to back fire. I am in college and I also work at a restaurant till late at night, so my hours of sleep are always fluctuating, plus I love to sleep in! My greatest fear is to be stuck in that state for hours...
I'm 40 and have been suffering from SP since I was about 14. It terrified me for many years and to be honest, it still does from time to time. I've learnt to live with it but sometimes it gets so bad it drives me nutts!!!! I've tried the good living approach and to be honest, although I'd always recommend looking after yourself, if you get SP then it's going to happen anyway! Sometimes I just lay there and let it run it's course but other times I panic and it all goes horribly wrong. I personally don't think God, healthy living or demonds have anything to do with it, it's just an imbalance of chemicals when we're dropping off to sleep. Like I said, scares the living sh** out of me sometimes but I'm still here!!!
I used to call them my wind tunnel dreams. They started when I was in high school. I am now 23. They still occur from time to time. Whether or not there is paranormal activity with SP, those that have it know that there does seem to be paranormal activity on the body. I went to college and it happend less frequent than it did at home. I do believe that there is a regular occurance of paranormal activity in my room. (There is a constant tapping on a wall all hours of the day) I wonder because of this fact, I am more likely to get SP in my room at home. I have managed to live with it and even if there truly is no paranormal activity involved with SP, the episodes are shorter when i tell myself whatever is out there to "leave me alone" I force myself to move my body.
I started having sleep paralysis when i was 13 during my summer break in Mexico. I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that i was awake and not breathing. Panic took over my body as i felt someone covering my nose and mouth. I could see in everything in the moonlit room and i was alone. When i was able to finally move i woke everyone up with my loud screams. This happened for 2 nights in a row and i decided to stay @ my others sisters' house a few blocks away. This continued even when i came back to the states ( I thought some evil spirit had followed me lol) I could hear my family talking in the kitchen and living room and i would wish that someone would come move me. I have the halucinations and fear of something evil. I would wake up and have someone laying on me and i couldn't see their face- i could feel them squeezing my arm. Sometimes i could feel someone walking towards me from the side of my bed and i would close my eyes. I could feel someone sit next to me in bed or shake the bed (felt like an earthquake). I'm now almost 25 and i still have these randomely have these episodes. I think they're worse when i'm under a lot of stress. I'm so glad that there are so many of u that can understand this because i was beginning to feel like i was going crazy!!
Oh and Nick (above my previous comment)- I feel like the episodes are shorter when i tell them or it to leave me alone too lol. I know there isn't anything paranormal and it's just ur mind waking up before ur body- but it helps to yell @ whatever i think it is when i'm in that state (yell in my head cause i can't talk). Anyway i'm used to it by now and i'm not afraid to sleep anymore like i was when i was younger. I'm a night owl so i don't really have a sleeping pattern. I think this has only happened like once or twice this year- hopefully it'll stay that way.
So I woke up a while ago 3 something in the a.m., after having an episode, great I have class in the morning.... This was so fucked up. Like seriously. This episode I just had. But I'll start from the beginning. Since I remember I have been having SP since I was 17 or 18. I am 21 about to turn 22 in a few days. lol. So anyways, when it first started my episodes just consisted of not being able to move and ofcourse I would try to scream but nothing happened. During those years 17 18 it would occurr once in a while. Maybe every few months or less. Then SP dissapeared for a long while. Maybe a little bit less than a year or during the next year it would happen only few times that year. Then, after that I guess I was about 19 20 it ocurred all the time! Like almost everyday, and sometimes 4 times a night. I remember that night I was so scared! Then I still kept on having them... again and again. Thank God just not being able to move part. Here comes the next stage, I guess. I freakin hate itt but yea... This is my first major story, that I remember I think, so I was with my 4 yrs and months now boyfriend, we were watching t.v. at his house and suddenly we fell asleep. So I find myself not being able to move and then felt some air from the window just a few inches above us to the right. Then I hear some kind of evil man voice saying something but I couldn't make anything out. Then I started to get attention from my bf but nothing happened. I couldn't talk.... I tried screaming and thought to myself... let me shorten his name, cause I could bearly even try to talk. lol. Then after a while I finally was able to move. I woke him up super scared and told him. Like you didn't hear me calling you or what? He was like yes at the end he heard me. After that I had to go home, and I had driven to his house. I was scared I didn't want to go home. lol. He actually followed me to my house. I was all paranoid. Good thing he lives 3 min. away. I know this is super long but this is just the beginning.
ookkk so i wasn't going to post till some other day but i'm already wide awake after this terrifying episode. i can't go to sleep and i have skool in a bit. so i'll keep on writing so that you can maybe post your opinions on what you think. i want to know what you believe in rather than SP. moving on... after that happened to me i thought it would maybe be something evil. Then someday not too far from that day, coming back from my bf's house, on my own, it was super late like always, i see something right before i enter my neighborhood. so check it out, when i enter the first neighborhood there's houses and then it's attached to my neighborhood at the back. don't know if you understood but yea. lol. so in the middle of both neighborhoods there is plain grass like 1 acre. right before the first house that's in the entrance of my neighborhood. so i see someone not something. i just randomly turn to the my right where the grass part is and see a man standing.... just looking my way. i was like maybe a neighbor. then i was like i don't think so at this time and just stanging there. i was all shocked i pressed the gas pedal and jet to my house, which is halfway in the middle of the neighborhood. i get off running inside my house and sit in the living room. let's say i didn't sleep. Then after that SP kept ocurring randomly, lets say frequently. All of a sudden i think it stopped for another long while...... until recently before 21.
so check it out. this happened recently. am 21 now. about 2 months and something. i was in my mom's room with my mom and little niece. my dad was in theh house but at that time i didn't know where he was at. so suddenly we hear my dad calling me in a desperate voice. said my name twice and saidd to come. i was like... did i hear then my mom said hurry go ur dad's calling you. so i rush out of the room and start searching for my dad. outside the door, living room, the rooms, nothing.... so i go to the restroom and i hear him taking a shower. i was like did you call me, with my voice loud so he could hear me. he was like no. i was like you called me. he then said no again. and started laughing. i was like oookkk. i guess. then a few days later i was at work. my family was having a cookout and my dad and sister were outside and my mom was inside. and they heard my mom call my sister. so my sister goes in and asks her what she needed and my mom said what and my sister was like what? and my sister said you called me. and my mom said nooo. very strange huuh? and im posting this part because it has to do with this.... somehow. though i thought, think i don't know anymore. but yea. well after this happened was when i started having SP over again. and heres my first story since the last time. which was a long time ago....
So this is my next and also recent story. about two months ago. and very scary! i was asleep at my house. i sleep on my own since my sister got married about 4 years ago... check it out since when i was around 18 when i started having SP. the strange thing and my first fact. she used to have them before me. not being able to move. moving on..... i suddenly couldn't move. i was lying sideways facing the inside of my house with the window behind me. so i couldn't move, then i feel a prescence in the room, and then to top it off, i feel a flash of air behind me like someone blowing or sucking air from me! and i also hear itt... i was like what the fuck. seriously??? so i try to move with all my life and then suddenly i gain control and check if anyone's there but don't see anything and freakin run out of my bed off to sleep with my older brother next door. even though i couldn't go to sleep i was so scared! then suddenly i fell asleep and have a nightmare and then wake up and another and then i just fell asleep and wake up about 1 in the afternoon. i had like 3 nightmares that night!
and there's still more but now i do have to get ready for skool.....
i started getting sp right after i moved into a hostle..for college..the first time it happened..i saw a cloud of semi translucent smoke float in through the door..it was right above my chest when i realised that i couldnt move..it was chocking me...ive never been so terrified in my life.
this continued for about three months...i would get up in the middle of the night seeing stuff flying towards me...nd the feeling of being watched...for the longest time i thought it was paranormal...i was scared to be in that room alone..nd im still not sure.
Like many people on this post, I started having these dreams around 15 years old, and like many of the younger posters who have just recently started having them, I was terrified of them. I would be so frightened that I would not want to sleep. I thought I was going crazy.
I would have the heaviness on my chest, the hallucinations... sometimes I would feel like I was watching myself sleep, or that I was floating around the room, all the while, completely paralyzed.
Other times, I would just be trapped inside my own mind as something sat next to me and watched me as my heart beat in my ears, and I felt like I was being electrocuted. The only way I could describe what I was seeing was everything being "3 shades darker" than reality. Creepy...
But as I got older I learned to control it, by "letting go" or "going with it" as someone above suggested. I still get the dreams, but if I let go, meaning let the feeling pass and don't hold onto it, I go back into normal sleep. It's hard to explain, but it took practice. It's kind of a poor explanation. Sorry.
Don't get me wrong, it doesn't always work. I still wake up having to shake myself out of it, or gasping for air/making weird faces/ noises, but that might happen only once every few months, usually if I'm too hot or too cold.
I don't think it's demons, I don't think it's aliens. I don't think it's a higher level of consciousness, I don't think this is anything but a sleep disorder that causes something in the brain to misfire. Someone once suggested possibly a low grade seizure. Another source suggested an imbalance in the chemical that keeps you from acting out your dreams. Someone else mentioned the position the body is in at the time of the dream- could that possibly deprive the brain of oxygen and create the episode?
The question I have, is why isn't this a more studied phenomenon? I bet there could be a lot of interesting data to come from a true sleep study with people who are prone to this. This is something that really effects people, though it is rarely explored by the medical/ scientific community.
Also, years after I started having these dreams, I found out that both my father and brother also had the same thing- though theirs stopped in their late teens while mine- now much less severe/ detailed, have continued through my late 20's.
Hi All, as well as many I am glad I am reading these lines. I have SP since I was a little child and I am trying to deal with it, but not always I am winning :). But I wanted to actually point out one sentence from sandriitah. Here is the sentence: "someone blowing or sucking air from me! and i also hear itt... " this is what sometime I have every night for about a two weeks and it stops for a while and then it is back again. The diference from sandriitah experience is that I am usually about to fell asleep and it feels like something is either sucking or breathing air from/to my lungz and this wakes me fully up immediately. I would apreciate if someboody might know what it is. It really feels weird!
Wow....I've visited quite a few websites and seen so many different levels of SP. I'm glad that this site is a friendly place where we can help each other out realizing that we have pretty much the same thing but yet somewhat different. And best of all nobody looks at us like we're nuts! Nobody is looking at you like....Uh..huh..right..okay hunnie...lol. We completely understand each other and enjoy listening to one another. Gosh...I wish there was a local group of SP's ha ha. But it would be fun to get together and share stories. I started keeping my toy poodle in my room at night. I really don't think that anything is lurking in my room....until I'm alone in the dark and hear wierd stuff and feel my bed shake and have SP. But with my dog in my room I can blame sounds and movement on him...lol. It works for me. Like I said before I guess I used to blame it on my husband but he started trucking and my room came alive. So now I have to have something to blame it on.
so after my last post i have had a few more episodes and then the second to last major one was when i first starting posting. when i woke up and decided to start writing on here. lol. so i was asleep and had an episode, but this time i hear a man's evil voice with an evil laugh. the voice was super clear and it was so freaky. like never before in my life! i was paranoid.... after that i couldn't sleep for days. like literally. so anyways after that i hadn't had any episodes until the day of my birthday actually lol. which was on monday morning... and some things i did realize was that it does actually occur during the first hour of my sleep... though this time i wasn't able to move and thats about it. since i had that evil episode i thought about it and decided not to have anymore coffee... because i had a cup of coffee right before i went to sleep that night. before i din't like it. like a few years ago. and then i started drinking it.. and then about six months to recently i had started drinking it way too much. every morning or at night while doing homework. who knows, maybe it is the coffee, stress, weight gain, depression [the way you live your life.] it has been said that it conludes some of those things. as to my life im always stressed with skool, i used to drink soo much coffee, i gained weight, i always sleep late... since i was 16 i never get enough sleep since then. cause i remember when i used to exercise and was skinnier, cause im not fat, im just a little overweight, i used to sleep well. i just think that it all comes up to this. like yesterday i was all calm with no stress and decided to relax before i went to sleep and i just fell to sleep with no problems. how i said. im always stressed! i did it in a way that i decide what happens to my life while i can. i was like its ok im just going to sleep like nothing has ever happened. just a normal night like before the SP started happening. and bam! i fell asleep... i started thinking about it and im like i can't live with fear. that way im never going to live right. i just need to let go of everything.... relax and hopefully it will never come back.... i don't know if it helps but before i go to sleep im like oo its time to sleep and just think about the old days when nothing ever happened and fall asleep.
I'm GLAD I don't get the visitations...only occurred once, 3 years after the episodes commenced. I'm less likely to be as aware of my surroundings as I was 31 years ago. They were overly frequent in my late teens and 20s. Sometimes I think the condition's abating, then I'll get a spate of episodes. Light, such as early morning, or simply switching on a light seems to be one of the triggers, after I return to sleep. Lying on my back or side, it doesn't matter. Thinking that it might happen if I've just woken can send me into one. A lot of posters have mentioned moving a muscle if you can will bring you out. Over the years I've used that and developed a lot of tricks, but they just don't work after awhile. Going back to sleep only worked once. This year after over 12 months free, I went back to sleep one morning as my husband remembered he didn't have to get to work so early, and I couldn't rouse from the state. I went further into the dream feeling like days had passed and telling people in that dream that I had to be in a hospital somewhere as I couldn't be woken up. I tried over and over then mercifully popped awake right on the hour. That was the worst ever! All the things that trigger an episode since haven't done so, phew! After all this time I still find it frightening: there is the element of fear each time you won't come out of it. They are not frequent enough to require medication; I can go over 12 months, the longest two years and the ear roaring never happens now. But I'd love it to stop.
Okay, so I'm not having "out of body" experiences! what a relief. All the strange visitations in the bedroom and all the horrifing "daymares" are actually SP episodes. I have to go back and explain to all the people who i've convinced that I am somehow a chosen person elected by a higher being to see things that the "normal" person is not privy to, is nothing more than a sleep disorder. LOL I'm really relieved. Only after I explained these episodes to a friend today for the first time, did she tell me about this disorder. I'm still in shock to find that it's normal! Funny how day time napping plays a big part in these episodes. I've experienced them at night although not like day time napping. Also I might add that I suffer migraine headaches that put me in bed for "naps" which is when alot of these occurances happened.
Wow, these posts have made me feel so much better...when this first started to happen I really thought I was dying. The like everyone else I finally Googled it.
The sleep paralysis began for me while I was pregnant, and at 4 months I had miscarrige, and since then it's gotten alot worse.
I think this contributed alot to it...I've read stress makes it worse. I also just moved into a new house, maybe I'm not as comfortable here?
I think I've only ever had these episodes when I'm facing up, and when the TV is on or there is some daylight.
I found out my Dad has the same problem, except he has the nightmare aspect of it too. He says it's better with light, as opposed to no light.
I get so scared before I fall asleep.
I posted 3 days ago and forgot to mention how I'm always glad to read there are others, though I'm sorry anyone has to experience SP, especially a lot of poor posters on this site who definitely have it worse. Like the nightmare aspect as the last poster put it. I'm always dreaming I've woken, when I haven't, (It's awful!) and I'm always breathing hard to wake, BUT, I can wake from the rare nightmares I have. Am I the oldest, here? Oh well, I always feel young...I actually discussed it recently with my father-in-law, (I've officially been in the family 29 years)and he told my that up until he went on anti-seizure medication 4 years ago, he too used to have episodes, but hasn't experienced one since. It's kind of interesting. I just looked up the medication and clomazepan, mentioned above it can be of some help,here, and they contain much the same propeties as well as for similar conditions. It IS good to read these posts: I think I've come across 2 other people in all these years, perhaps because I don't speak of it a lot. Thank you.........
PS. I'm so sorryier place, right now. I'm obese, so I like sleep these days, but there were times when I'd prefer to be without it. They were at their most frequent, when I was in a trim, fit stage and definitely awake, unable to more than partially open my eyes.
I first experienced this when I was 17. It was the middle of the night and I "woke up" to find that I couldnt move. Im pretty sure i was on my side facing my wall but I sensed that there was something evil in my room. I tried to scream for my mom and I couldnt do that either. After this I then started to experience a floating sensation then i would drop and get the chills. It finally stopped and the next morning I woke up and thought that I was insane. I researched it and learned that its quite normal (thank god) and now whenever it tries to happen I can tell myself that its just sleep paralysis and it goes away. Im still scared of it happening though. I find it tries to maybe 2-3 times a year.
I understand why I can’t move when having SP, but I don’t understand why the brain creates horrible hallucinations in most cases? Why the brain is not thinking “everything is fine and you are just about to wake up”? That would be perfect, wouldn’t it? :) I wanted to think this so many times, but even I had a good opportunity (after my daughter was born I had SP several times a day for about two weeks), I wasn’t winning even I was ready for the next episode. I was telling to myself that I am just waking up, but every time I was panicking. I thought I am not going to sleep at all, because it was getting a bit too much, but I started to have hallucinations during awake time too, so I got some sleeping pills and my husband was looking after our baby for a couple of days. I wanted to say that I am quite positive person, surrounding myself with flowers, trees, sun shining...:) and I keep myself happy, but I can't stop panicking when having SP.... I do not watch horrors, do not keep bad feelings, but the nasty feelings or nasty faces are getting into my head anyway. And I drink coffee about twice a week, I am trying to have enough sleep and not eating sweet or fatty food in the evening, but it seems that nightmares and SP come to me any time they want to anyway...
READ THIS MIGHT HELP
okay so i wanted to point out several things and well maybe you will take my advice or maybe not but they're here to help you if you decide to listen. so i used to suffer from SP episodes all the time. what i mean by all the time would be, almost every other day, several days a week, once every week, several times every month to even several times a day. It got to a point where i couldn't take it any longer. The SP episodes got worse. From not being able to move, feeling air blowing sucking out of me, feeling presences to being able to hear an evil laugh clearly and loud while one of these episodes. I was freakin scared to my guts. I then decided not to sleep for several days during the night, cause its scarier than during the day. I would also have them during the day. I would not have enough sleep for about two months, was super stressed, and i would feel depressed also and lastly i would drink too much coffee. I am here to help you so i will tell you what i did. It got to a point where i realized, "What am i doing? this is my life, i control my life, how could this be happening to me?" .... at what point of my life did this start happening to me. this is stupid. only i am the only person who decides what happens to my life. I'M DONE WITH THIS!" after that i decided that i wasn't going to let this take over me. The stress from school was over, no more stress about anything. whatever happens happens. I always felt depressed.... i never had enough sleep. Lastly i stopped drinking coffee. Since that day i havent had a cup of coffe. now, it's been about a month and a half and the two times i have had an SP episode was the first becasue 1. it was a sunday, right after i went out and had gotten drunk and you know those moments when you call somebody and then get depressed. well on sunday morning i woke up feeling like shit. like what did i do.... and i was all depressed, even though i said i wasn't going to i felt it and couldn't help it.... and i decided to go to sleep. not because i was sleepy but because i didnt want to know about anything. i was depressed. so i fell asleep and viola, it happened. I had an episode. just not being able to move part. this time it felt like it lasted forever, like never before. i thought like 20 min had passed by i couldn't move. the second time it happened 2. was also because i was sad. not nearly depressed but you know the point right before you get depressed... it was also during the day and i decided to take a nap right before class. i was just a little bit stressed bearly nothing and a bit sad with school and how it has been going for me. and viola, it happened again. just not being able to move again. My older brother also had an episode close to one of mine, and it was because he was feeling depressed also, but he had the not able to move and see somebody behind him. so i think its the way you live your life definately. I don't know if you think my stories are dumb but i decided i might be able to help some people that's why i posted it. so at the end its all up to you. its your life, not anybody elses. remember that!
one last thing. i am doing my research paper for school on the possible causes of sleep paralysis and i will be doing a survey or interviews. if anyone can participate i would be more than happy. if you can email me at lindakari_18@yahoo.com and let me know. thanks!
today is the 1st of nov. it would be great if i would get anybody now till dec 1st.
Im 18 and I've been experiencing sleep paralysis for about 4 years now. the first time it happened to me, i had a dream in which i heard demonic laughter from the voice of a man. it was so loud it woke me up. when i woke up i wanted to scream and run out of my room but i found that i couldnt move and i also found that i could only move my eyes, which i found very weird and scary. i also started seeing things, which are hard to explain but the voice of laughter and the shape i was seeing came together and it gave me a good idea of what was happening to me. i just closed my eyes and started mumbling the first prayer that came to my head.
im really glad to have found so many people who have experienced what i experienced, it gives me reassurance that im not crazy, and now i know i can relate to people. does anyone have any answer to why it usually starts at the age of 14? or somewhere around that age. 14-16. and why some people only get it when they take naps? because i love taking naps (generally i love to sleep) i dont always get sleep paralysis when i nap but im scared of it. im confused to why evil spirits would enter my body when, all of the houses ive ever lived in have been blessed by a priest.
please comment, if you can answer and thank you to all who posted this-its given me relief
I'm 15. I was flicking through Fabulous magazine earlier when something caught my eye on the problem page. It was about a woman who said she was sleeping and thought she was awake and was unable to speak. It caught my eye because it's the same with me, when I go to sleep, i feel as if i'm half awake, and then i'll try to move, and i'm unable to do so, it's terryfying, i cant open my mouth, and when my eyes are closed when it hits, i can't even open them. It hurts to breath, and i can't stop myself from panicking. So i read the answer to the woman's problem, and it led me to this site. Now I know what's wrong with me, but I don't know how to go about it.
...and what if we are mad and we have some version of schizophrenia?... :) Cynthia, you said you have something to blame it on and it works for you. That is great! I wish to have something which will work for me as well. We have two cats, but the weird things are happening when the cats are in their bed. (I can’t have them in my bedroom unfortunately). But sometimes I am just reading a book in my bed and the sounds and movements are there anyway and I am so sure I am awake so it is not the case of SP. Sandriitah you said you are having SP mainly when you are stressed. Which I very believe that stress can effect it a lot. But I love meditations and I do meditate quite often and I am the odd one in my family as I am too positive and believe that people have problems only when they call some situation as their problem. I usually am called ‘naive’ as I believe I can get/do whatever I truly want, I am the bloody lucky one, because I always get it, but this doesn’t work for the hallucinations and SP. I have heard some other opinion what this is and I was told that I am a bit more sensitive to some psychic stuff and this is the reason why I see or feel or hear some things which some people don’t. I don’t know.... is there some ‘ghosty stuff’ I can blame it on? That would be as scary as SP, so no win :). I was talking to my husband about the ‘things’ and he believe it is schizophrenia, but I told him that also our cats look and react to the same things as I do. He thinks that I think that cats can see it as well, but it is just in my head. Well now we have a baby daughter (unfortunately she can’t speak yet to tell me) but she is reacting exactly as I do. We look at the same time in the same place, because I thought my husband just walked into the room we are. There was several times, usually before bed time, when somebody is coming into the room we were and always I thought it was my husband who I saw in the corner of my eye and I heard him. My daughter was looking at him too, but no smile, more like ‘ I don’t know you’ then I turned around and the figure disappeared. Now I am turning around every time I think my husband is joining us. I am very looking forward to when my daughter will be older and can speak and she can tell me that she doesn’t see anything and I will happily go to see a psychiatric specialist :).
Valerie Lynn says:
7 months ago
I've had episodes of sleep paralysis all of my life. When I explained the characteristics of these episodes to my neurologist, he was quite familiar with them. The mind puts the body into a state of physical sleep, a protective measure; otherwise we are able to act out the physical movements of our dreams. Body paralysis accompanying the lack of conciousness of sleep is the body's means of avoiding possible injury. Most of us, most of the time, have a synchronous mental awakening accompanied by the freeing of body sleep and movement.
When mind and body sleep are not (always) in sync, then there is the frustration of being mentally awake while unable to physically move. My earliest memory of this is as a toddler, with a dreamlike fear of falling between the bed and wall as the bed moved closer to the wall. I felt the anxiety of an external force preventing me from protecting myself from being crushed between the bed and the wall.
As an adult, I now rarely have the out of sync awakening experience of mental arousal preceeding my body awakening.
I have taught myself the ability to make even a slightly move one muscle generalizes to the rest of the body and I am able to wake fully.
This is a common neurological disorder, well familiar to neurologist and information easily found on the internet. If one is unfamiliar with it, anxiety dream states are more likely to accompany the physical paralysis and are distressing.
Cognitive awareness of the of what is happening can diminished the "fear" or dream of "being held bound by external evil forces."
The "just one slight move of one muscle" effort has been effective in fully awaking me when my mind awakes slightly ahead of my body.
The actual time between the two types of arousal is generally a short time, though the frustration of it, especially in the presence of attributing it to some unfriendly external force, or an evil presence, can grossly distort the perception of how long it last and the intensity of the fear arouses adrenaline and other chemical reactions in the body, further enhancing the perception of a supernatural force coming to bear. What a nightmare! The fear and confusion can last for a period of time, and yes, escalate to the severity of fear of going to sleep, attributing the experience to external forces, creating a true disability and trauma.
This phenomena has the very practical purpose of protecting the body from harm while sleeping, suppressing the thrashing about or movements during (especially REM) sleep. The neurological factors responsible for this have far less impact in creating an environment of sleep terror, probably for most people, when understood as a distorted perception to a compensatory physical response in keeping the body physically safe.
Work to short the duration of the perceiving experience as terrorizing by focused practice of viewing uneven awakening between the cognitive mind and the physical body as simply a neurological anomoly.
For some, the fear generated probably from childhood, distorts into anxiety and terror dreams for the inability to express what is happening and to cognitively understand it.
The paralysis is real, and so for many, the dream surrounding it is as real, and certainly the anxiety is intensely a part of this chain of events.
Education of the causes, and an understanding of how to exert your own control in awakening the physical body helps allay anxieties of "evil" or a foreign force "taking over" the body. Our minds are quite susceptible to unexplained experience, especially if this is a neurological deficit existing since childhood. Our childhood experiences and beliefs about it can extend into adult, resolutely denying plausible explanation for the years of terror.
I overcame moderate amounts of anxiety related to body paralysis by complete focus on moving an exremity, if only slightly.
Moving a finger or foot usually begins the quick process of physically awaking. Sometimes, when their is a greater lag between cognitive and physical awaking, it is more difficult. When this happens, I focus on a repeated kicking motion, until I suddenly physically awake.
I imagine there is a range of least to most difficulty in awakening the sleep paralyzed body after the cognitive mind becomes concious owing to variations in how much earlier the cognitive mind reaches consciousness as compared to the body; thus, the tendency to experience the fear of a dream of the body be possessed, or the effect coming from an external, even evil, force. I never experienced this degree of fear, except in early childhood.
After the explanation from my neurologist, I found it progressively easier to exert control over my sleep paralyzed body, with a lessening of the anxiety not being able to move understandably produces.
Surprising, the espidoes of body paralysis have been similarly decreased.
The fear of the experience may have a negative feedback effect. The more anxious we become about "it happening," the more we attempt to overcome the anxiety; the purpose of our dream worlds is to work out in our sleep that which unconsciously, or consciously is trouble while awake.
Try a didactic learning approach, a period of focused understanding and belief your body is a complicated machine. Misunderstanding about how it operates can subject one to enduring, but distorted, and disturbing conclusions.
A trial of practical cognitive problem solving, is a reasonable effort to ridding oneself of the terror of things that go bump in the night.
I do sympathize with the anxiety aspect, as well as the terror of the unknown experience associated with this phenomena. And, I'm glad I have been able to use a practical approach in allaying my fears, practicing ways of awakening the body through focused attention on muscles, freeing myself from early childhood fear of the unknown. Warm regards, and sleep confidently, Valerie Lynn