Sleep Paralysis - A Nightmare of the Conscious, Awake Mind
. . . Being a corpse . . .
. . . Enduring this short death . . .
~Dr.
Jorge Conesa
Usually I am lying face down
or on my side and I am terrified. I'm almost unable to breath or my covers
or pillow are inhibiting my breath making it feel like I am rebreathing
hot air. I can't turn my head. Sometimes I can barely crack my eyes open,
it is difficult to do but I try every time. I am paralyzed. It felt more
as though I was locked out of my body and I no longer had the ability to
control its function. This has occurred since I was a child.
I've found that I'm usually too scared to "let go" and
go back to sleep; I always try to fight it and usually can wake myself
up. (Although I do remember having involuntarily fallen back to sleep and
awoke later with no adverse effects.) I also experience repeat sleep paralysis
in which I just break out of paralysis only to go into it again immediately.
This can go on for hours until I finally manage to get myself out of bed
before I go into it again.
That Strange, Painful, Electric Surge of Energy
Sometimes I get a very strong surge of energy through my
body that feels like an electric shock or a severe vibration and it almost
hurts. It travels from one end of my body to the other - usually head to
toe. Sometimes I feel like I am falling. Almost always after the surge
of energy I feel I float. I am often afraid that my soul will leave my
body and not return to it. Yes, sometimes during the electricity it feels
like I am being dropped into myself and I am bouncing, during the electric/energy
surge sometimes I am turning or spinning as well as bouncing.
Inability to Speak
If I can manage to speak usually I can move again. When I
was a kid I told my sister that if I start moaning loudly in my sleep to
shake me awake, the episode is often terminated by a sound or a touch on
the body. We shared a room and the same happens to her. The only sound
I can get out sometimes is a moan. My husband shakes me now when I do that.
I used to be able to squeak out 'Help!' but my sister said it was barely
audible. People frequently try, unsuccessfully, to cry out.
Hallucinations . . .Dreams?
Usually I can hear what is going on in the room around me.
I have verified what was on TV or conversations between my college roomates.
I feel that I am wide awake and trapped within myself.
Auditory, visual, proprioceptive, and tactile hallucinations,
as well as floating sensations and out-of-body experiences are reported
by other people. These various sensory experiences have been referred to
collectively as hypnagogic and hypnopompic experiences (HHEs).
Most of the hallucinations I experience are dreamlike
and not scary. Often I know that they are hallucinations, but it doesn't
make them any less weird. The commonest ones are getting up and getting
out of bed. I am so relieved to be up and out of paralysis, and suddenly
I back in the bed paralyzed. I've never had an acid trip, but if it's anything
like that count me out!
I have heard voices before but usually I hear them when
I am falling asleep and not paralyzed.
Proprioceptive Hallucinations
Oh my God, I thought I was the only one. I have gotten my
kids ready for school and everything 2 or 3 times a morning only to finally
hear the alarm clock wake me, precluded by paralysis.
With proprioceptive hallucinations, one feels suddenly
released from the paralysis, but may be left with a lingering anxiety.
Extreme effort to move may even produce phantom movements in which there
is proprioceptive feedback of movement that conflicts with visual disconfirmation
of any movement of the limb. People may also report severe pain in the
limbs when trying to move them
I feel an Aura or a Presence with Me
This may last a few seconds or several moments, occasionally
longer. People frequently report feeling a "presence" that is often described
as malevolent, threatening, or evil. An intense sense of dread and terror
is very common. The presence is likely to be vaguely felt or sensed just
out of sight but thought to be watching or monitoring, often with intense
interest, sometimes standing by, or sitting on, the bed.
Sometimes I feel a "menacing" presence or "attacker".
Since I know that I am safe at home and probably dreaming or hallucinating
I am usually not afraid of it. The entity does not always accompany the
paralysis. I've never felt like anyone/thing was touching or sitting on
me.
Why Does this Happen? What is Sleep Paralysis?
Sleep paralysis consists of a period of inability to perform
voluntary movements either at sleep onset (called hypnogogic or predormital
form) or upon awakening (called hypnopompic or postdormtal form). I think
I have the hypnopompic form. Our bodies protect us from acting out our
dreams by paralyzing us. Sometimes, the paralysis lingers after you wake
up.
According to most researchers ( in a 1992 Gallup poll
) nearly every adult will have an episode of Common Sleep Paralysis (CSP)
every couple of years. In the 1950ies and 60ies researchers discovered
that sometimes sleepers gain counsciousness finding their bodies temporarily
"frozen". This temporary paralysation affects the gross motor functions
and macro muscle groups of the body. This state lasts
between 15sec to
a minute ( though subjects report that it lasts longer.)
These episodes of paralysis baffled sleepers and medicals
professionals for centuries. It was not until R.E.M. and its correlation
to the dream state was discovered that the mystery of Sleep paralysis started
to unfold. Researchers soon discovered that hormones were released during
the R.E.M./dream state that paralysed the body and kept it from acting
out the contents of the dream. During most regular sleep cycles the hormones
begin to wear off even before the dream is completed and thus people wake
with a full funcitionning body. In rare occasions the hormones are still
actively suppressing the gross motor functions of the body and thus upon
waking the individual finds its body temporarily paralysed.
I have also been a lucid dreamer since childhood and often
know I'm asleep and dreaming during the dream. I used to think that my
paralysis was a lucid dream of some sort or a "lucid nightmare". Now I
know that it is a recognized sleep disorder.
"There would be nights where I would be so afraid
to go to sleep. In sleep paralysis, sometimes you get to the point where
you are sure youíre going to die."
~Sheryl Crow, in Rolling Stone magazine
What Can You Do?
ABCNEWS' George Strait reports on a simple way to snap
out of sleep paralysis:
RealVideo
(download RealPlayer)
Practice Good
Sleep Hygeine
Sleep Paralysis Articles & Web Sites
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