I suffer from a sleep disorder that I have had from time of my childhood. It has been diagnosed as sleep paralysis, or it can be called R.E.M. awakening. Its diagnoses depends on what leads to the event. As of yet this sleep disorder is not fully understood, because very few people suffer from its terrifying affliction. So, what is sleep paralysis or R.E.M. Awakening?

The psychological and psychiatric community explain R.E.M. Awakening as an event often occurring after a dream. During the dream one will feel that there is something wrong and dangerous about the events that are occurring in the dream. One may feel that they are about to be attacked viciously by something or someone, or they have the feeling that their life is in danger. The crisis begins after waking up from such a dream. The dreamer discovers that he, or she, is unable to move. From that point on, it becomes a frantic and terrifying panic to get one's self out of that state of being. This is how most people who have had a R.E.M. Awakening event,.will describe the experience, .

This is how it is for me as well. I can't move. I feel disoriented. The room looks distorted, but I am awake.

Take a moment to imagine that you are in a dark room. After having a terrifying dream. You wake up to discover you are unable to move. Can you feel the fear? Remember, you are just trying to imagine it. The real experience is much more frightening.

Most people will have one or two such occurrences in there life time. I have had them as many as two or three times during a week. I have conducted experiments to tested whether I am truly awake or not. I have placed objects on the walls of my bedroom in different places each night before going to sleep, and I have awakened in this state to see them.

In my attempts to get out of this state, I have been able to create sounds and even words. I have sung hymns in the past and recited quotes. I have called out my dogs names, but mostly, I end up screaming to the top of my lungs until I emerge into a fully awakened state. In some of my events, I have actually known that I am having an unpleasant dream, and I would attempt to wake up by deliberately making the dream more terrifying only to wake up in the paralysed state. So what is the difference between R.E.M. Awaking and Sleep Paralysis.

Sleep Paralysis is very similar to the R.E.M. awakening disorder. The main difference is that, during a Sleep Paralysis occurrence, there is no dream that came before it. In this occurrence, you simply wake up unable to move. I have had this disorder occur in this way as well. It is often directly after I go to bed as I am entering the sleep stage where you go between consciousness and being awake. It is just as terrifying and disturbing.

I have given you a brief explanation of what these two disorders are and I have shared my experiences with you to give you a feeling of the experience. There has been several explanations for this disorder by the psychiatric community. The most command ones are, post traumatic syndrome, bi-polar personality disorder, and temporal lobe seizures. Those who are not afflicted by this disorder, but who have had an event or two, may seek other explanations for such a terrifying experience.

In past generations, people have believed that it was some kind of supernatural event, or they placed some religious component to the experience such as a visit from Satan or an incubus. In our modern world of today, the idea of alien abductions has become a very popular explanation to attach to this sleep occurrence. However, if the alien abduction theory is true, and I am not completely saying that it isn't possible, well than, they must have a special interest in me.