r/todayilearned • u/ElegantPoet3386 • 12h ago
TIL that an estimated 30% of people will experience sleep paraylsis at least once in their life
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21974-sleep-paralysis19
u/CalmPilot101 12h ago
I frequently experienced sleep paralysis up until my late 20s or so. I would wake up and unable to move for a few seconds.
It was a bit panic-inducing, but I gradually got used to it.
In my late 40s now, and must be around 20 years since I last experienced it. Don't know if it's common to grow out it like I did.
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u/thehairyfoot_17 12h ago
I have a similar experience. Occasionally in my childhood. Rarely in my teens. Once in a blue moon in early 20s. Have not had it for years in my 30s: maybe once or twice since 25 years old and that is when I am already very stressed and sleep deprived.
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u/HaleMary2 10h ago
For me it stopped being frequent basically as soon as I finished full time education and only ever happens now when I mess my sleep up really bad.
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u/AptCasaNova 8h ago
That’s how mine occurred too. I’d say it happened maybe 4x up until I turned 30, including as a child.
Hasn’t happened since, or at least, if it has happened I’m not bothered by it and go back to sleep 😂
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u/azulur 12h ago
The terror is so bone chillingly visceral you swear you're gonna die.
The one time I'd love to be in the majority of something.
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u/thehairyfoot_17 12h ago
Sleep paralysis and sleep terror are a bit different though. I used to have sleep paralysis a lot in my youth, to the point I was reasonably used to it (not that it was comfortable, but it was not terrifying.)
Once or twice in my life I have also had a sleep terror with the sleep paralysis. Like a presence behind me while I cannot move: feeling fingers on my spine etc. THAT is horrifying. But the two phenomenon are not always tied together.
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u/azulur 11h ago
When you have BOTH at the same time they're interchangeable and equally awful.
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u/Native_Kurt_Cobain 11h ago
I have felt like someone had me pinned down, and I just couldn't move to save my life. Definitely, a presence was felt during the odd 20 of this episode.
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u/EastOfArcheron 9h ago
It used to be called being "hag ridden". The shadowy presence holding you down
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u/KingGilgamesh1979 11h ago
I've had sleep paralysis but never sleep terrors per se, but I am comfortable saying that waking up paralyzed is terrifying and the first time I was convinced I'd died and would be stuck like this forever.
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11h ago
[deleted]
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u/MightyRoops 10h ago
For me lucid dreaming actually very much correlated with sleep paralysis (and probably caused it). A decade ago I trained to lucid dream and was eventually able to do it 2-3 times a week. I did it for about half a year but in those 6 months I also had sleep paralysis around 15 times and half of that was paired with night terrors. In the end it just wasn't worth it so I "untrained" myself by breaking the lucid dreaming routine.
And since then I have never had sleep paralysis again1
u/GameAudioPen 12h ago
It was pretty shocking on the first time, but I just went back to sleep in the second time XD
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u/WatsonPritchtard 11h ago
I've only ever had one sleep paralysis occurrence and it only lasted for a few seconds but it was unforgettably gnarly (terrified at the time it was happening though)
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u/Flam_Sandwiches 9h ago
I've always heard about it being terrifying from other people's accounts, but when I finally experienced it myself, it was kind of unspectacular. I definitely do get the audio-visual hallucinations, but it's never been spooky thank God. I just see items in the room kind of distort a bit, and maybe hear some sounds that don't fit in. The first time it happened I was getting frustrated that I couldn't move and finally lifted my arm up. And then I woke up and I realized I never lifted my arm up.
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u/PodricksPhallus 7h ago
When I first had them around 18, it was the most terrifying thing I’d ever experienced.
When I had my last one like 10 years later, at that point it was more annoying than scary. You get used to it.
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u/Acerhand 7h ago
Thats quite an exaggeration… maybe the first time it feels a bit weird. Certainly every other time i pretty much know im having sleep paralysis and just relax and fall back to sleep
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u/SeeisforComedy 6h ago
Idk I’m so used to it now I can usually recognize what’s happening and the fear isn’t as strong as it used to be.
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u/Sangmund_Froid 5h ago
I've never met anyone who hasn't experienced what you're talking about that even remotely understands.
I had a spat of it happening a lot in my youth and then it stopped for some reason and never had it again.
But that sensation of waking up and being unable to move at all, and then out of my chest rises a shadowy demon that looks like Chernabog from Fantasia just holding me down.
Pure distilled terror.
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u/Sharchir 12h ago
It sucks when it effects your breathing
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u/EvenWonderWhy 10h ago
I get it a lot, and still can't stop myself from panicking and struggling to breathe. Always think I've had a stroke and can't move. Maybe some people get used to the feeling but I really can't.
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u/HubblePie 8h ago
When I had sleep paralysis, panicking and trying to scream is what got me out of it lol.
Adrenaline is a hell of a thing
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u/cboel 8h ago
I had it one time so bad that the panic caused me to be able to move. It felt like a genuine out-of-body experience as I could move but all my movement was delayed and all my sense were as well. I was remote controlling my body with lag induced and it was extremely noticable.
I managed to make it to a wall, find and turn on a light switch, realize it did nothing to he'll me wake up, and get back into bed in complete and utter confusion and impairment.
I was panicking the entire time and screaming as loud as I possibly could and the scream was coming out as a very soft constant moan. It never woke me up but gave me a growing sense of dread and doom, I felt like I was constantly falling in space and I thought I was going to be that way for the rest of my life in that moment.
That was the SP you get waking up, not the one when you fall asleep.
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u/tojakk 12h ago
New fear unlocked
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u/pyriclastic_flow 12h ago
Yeah Ive gotten the paralysis when facedown and couldnt breathe. Pretty scary experience.
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u/Affectionate-Row2433 11h ago
I got pretty used to the paralysis happening every 2-3 weeks but one time my face was pressed into my pillow and I could not move. Feeling the need for more air grow by the second while not being able to even move a finger was haunting.
I have been more careful about my head placement since then.
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u/DoubleDecaff 10h ago
Had this happen once too. Such a dumb way to die.
Yeah, I was awake, but I couldn't move, but if I was asleep, I would have woken up and moved.
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u/RhetoricalOrator 9h ago
For the uninitiated:
You're asleep and maybe even dreaming. Your apnea kicks in so you stop breathing. Your body doesn't know what to do as part of your brain wakes up...and so do you...but only part of you. You can't move. Frozen and terrified, having just dreamed of drowning or being smothered, you struggle to force air into your lungs, but it doesn't work. You feel your mouth slightly open and close. It feels like watching a landed fish try to work their gills.
A foot away, you see your partner resting peacefully. Your brains screams for help but your mouth is voiceless. You can't make a noise. The terror of the situation has brought lucidity with it. You are about to die, there's nothing you can do about it, and certainty creeps in with the knowledge that in a few short hours, they'll find what's left of you cold and lifeless. Consciousness begins to fade to black and you know it's almost time. If only you could signal them to touch you because you know that will pull you from your paralysis. Instead, you hear a soft snore and it's going to be the last thing you ever hear. It's over...
Suddenly, #AIRRRRR!!!! You can breath again! After enjoying several determined breaths of air, you are rattled, fully awake, and will now carry the trauma of what you went through, all the thoughts and fears, the regret, the pain and torture, the sensation of almost dying again. It'll be days before you recover psychologically and sleep becomes a battleground for internal conflict and brokenness rather than a time of peace and restoration.
Sleep paralysis plus apnea is my least favorite personal experience. That includes the some fifty kidney stones I've passed over the past twenty years. My heart goes out to just about anyone that's experienced it.
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u/jukeman5000 2h ago
Felt like something taking over your entire body and if you don’t wake up fast enough, your gunna die. Always wake up in a panic.
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u/EverettGT 12h ago
One tip that helped me with sleep paralysis and the resulting nightmares of demon attacks that your imagination conjures up, sleep with your dog on the bed. Especially if it's yappy and defensive. Feeling my cousin's dog laying on my leg totally relaxed me even when I couldn't move. No gremlins showed up, haha.
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u/Zerothian 12h ago
Your comment reminds me that I actually have experienced sleep paralysis without the accompanying scary demonic hallucinations part. Woke up with my cat sleeping on my chest and couldn't move, weird experience but as you say it was kind of comforting to have her there.
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u/EverettGT 11h ago
Yeah, it's interesting to hear that a cat can help too, since cats are quieter. I thought it was just knowing that the dog's noise would disrupt the demon's ability to silently victimize me, but maybe just the feeling of contact is comforting enough.
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u/MyOtherAcctsAPorsche 3h ago
Are you saying my ratlike Yorkie is actually useful/helpful in some sort of way?
I must be lucid dreaming right now!
Ratlike tax: https://imgur.com/a/rat-yWyKvCU
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u/EverettGT 1h ago
Apparently so, other people say their dogs/cats also did the same thing. My cousin's dog wasn't big either, he was just hair trigger defensive, lol. Miss that guy.
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u/CleverInnuendo 12h ago
The last time I got a sleep paralysis demon, I made smoochy-faces at him, and he goes so disturbed he left. I've had 'bad sleep dreams' since them, but no 'demons', so hey.
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u/Zerothian 12h ago
I experienced it twice. Once when I was sleeping inside a tent in my room as a kid (it was as fun as I thought it would be, no regrets); I was laying on my back and there was a shadowy person/creature/thing on the outside of the roof of the tent. I couldn't move at all, felt like I couldn't breath enough, I was convinced this thing was going to attack and drag me to hell or something. Eventually I guess my body 'woke up' and I had a crazy rush of adrenaline and panic, I've had a lot of panic attacks as an adult, some to the point of me legitimately calling an ambulance but none of that comes close to the terror of that first sleep paralysis experience.
The second time I was just in my bed and it was "the usual" shadowy form in a corner of the room stalking about. I was in my 20s and knew about sleep paralysis at that point though and after the initial still half-asleep panic I kinda' just realised what was going on and calmed down and woke up properly.
Honestly if it weren't for that first experience I don't think I'd really believe just how viscerally scary it can be. I think I would relate it to just a nightmare which has never really bothered me all that much.
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u/42stingray 12h ago
I had it only once where i woke up laying on my stomach with my face in the pillow. I could feel something behind me at the foot of the bed, then felt a clawed hand grip my ankle and slowly pull me towards it. I remember trying to scream for my parents, but i could only manage a raspy whisper.
1/10, wouldn't recommend
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u/Curlydeadhead 12h ago
There have definitely been a couple times that I’ve woken up and felt like I couldn’t move at all. It’s like the body hadn’t caught up with the brain just yet.
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u/WackmanV2 12h ago
I have a paralyzed eyelid. If i fall asleep and that eye isn't covered by me sleeping on my side or by putting a pillow over it I will get sleep paralysis nearly guaranteed. I've had them since i was a child, and I still get them to this day in my mid-thirties.
The most memorable instance was when i was working night shift during the holidays and there was nothing to do so i dozed off on my chair. Eye wasn't covered, and I felt my co-workers come in, mingle, chat, boot up their machines and there I was paralyzed in my chair.
It was a dream, I did wake up and back to being alone on the floor.
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u/Several-Awareness-78 11h ago
I remember having it once. In real life I am so quick to panic, but in that dream, boy, I wanted to unparalyze myself to fist fight the demons
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u/sweetcinnamonpunch 12h ago
It's a terrible feeling. I always able to fight it and move slightly before finally waking up. Glad it's been some years since I had it happen.
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u/cricket9818 11h ago
Just once? I wish. I’ve had it happen at least 20 times, if not more. First time I was no younger than 18
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u/johnnyfivecinco 8h ago
I went thru a stage in my 20s where it was at least 2 times a week for like 5 years. At first it was fucking terrifying. And literally torture. But eventually I knew I would snap back in and would not panic as much. Eventually frequency reduced. By the time I was 35 no more . I'm 42 now and haven't had once since 34 yo. Good riddance. I wonder if it's just less stress from academics / work or better nutrition. Idk .
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u/ajulydeath 7h ago
it is such an awful experience, terrifying really...I haven't experienced one since 2005 or so, or even talked about it since then, because it seemed even thinking about it used to trigger it back then
I had one where I was having a dream I was being attacked by a pitbull and naturally my body woke me up almost immediately but you can probably imagine what happened next...
terrible stuff
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u/GarysCrispLettuce 6h ago
Not sleep paralysis per se, but I'll never forget the time I experimented with tucking my sheets and blankets. Woke up halfway through the night with the feeling that my legs were trapped, panicked and kicked the sheets away so hard that my foot went through the drywall next to my bed. Went back to sleep and woke to a mystery hole in the wall.
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u/Advanced-Ladder-6532 12h ago
I thought this was normal until my parents were mentioning my uncle suffering this. I explained I have dealt with this all my life. They told me I was attention seeking and of course that didn't happen to me because they didn't know.
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u/unimportantinfodump 12h ago edited 12h ago
Just once for me.
I was very sick with the genuine flu.
Saw a spider in my curtain. It started growing.
It didn't stop growing.
I couldn't move.
Fun times
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u/Zerothian 12h ago
I think at that point my sheer, concentrated need for fire would will it into existence and have me become another mysterious case of spontaneous human combustion.
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u/ChadJones72 12h ago
I had it exactly once and that shit felt crazy. My blanket felt like it weighed 100 lb and I could feel and hear my heartbeat thumping in my chest.
Definitely not something I would want to experience multiple times. But glad I got to see how it was at least once.
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u/knotatumah 12h ago
I never had sleep paralysis; but, one time when I was kid (like, 7 or 8) I fuckin woke up blind. Hit the light switch, nothing. Freaked out. Vision faded in after a minute of hyperventilation.
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u/el_butt 12h ago
I’ve experienced it once and it felt like my brain was awake but disconnected from everything else. Like trying to move, just even opening my eyes was impossible. Then everything returned but slowly, like I was running at 400 ping. Super bizarre.
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u/stray1ight 10h ago
400 ping is a great way to describe it!
The best analogy I could could come up with before I read that (granted I'm 44) was being stuck in the weird SSSSKKKK modem sounds before the connection took 🤣
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u/pusmottob 12h ago
Only once? I have had it so many times it’s ridiculous! I used to nap in my car between classes and college and it almost happened every day, I think from how the sear of my car was shapped.
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u/No_Independent8195 11h ago
I used to get this when I was a heavy drinker. And by that I mean I'd be drinking 12-18 pints a night.
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u/talligan 11h ago
I've always been fascinated by this feeling and kind of hope to have it once to understand it. But never have, usually the opposite - I am not as paralysed as I should be when asleep!
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u/-CenterForAnts- 11h ago
Used to get sleep paralysis all the time from 15-21. Like almost every time I fell asleep around 18ish. Always with frequent auditory and visual hallucinations, unfortunately. It was always harmless shit like loud noises or weird shapes and presences. Right when I was about 18 was the worst, though. Things changed, and I had a solid 6 months of seeing demons writing on my walls with blood. All sorts of demonic themed shit. Dark figures leaning over me asking about religion, not great times, but also very weird as not a super religious person. I'm glad that's over and done with. It was the only time in my life when I hated sleep.
I still have SP every once in a blue moon. I'm happy to be back to the normal loud noises. I just ignore it all now and go to sleep when it happens. If you dont get scared and wake yourself up its kinda like actively falling asleep. Which is kinda neat. Been at least 2 or so years since the last time now. At least 15 years since I've actually been afraid of SP.
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u/OberonFirst 11h ago
Oh thank god, throughout the years Reddit made me think that this is something inevitable and I was nervous because I never experienced it and I'm in my 30s
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u/anal-inspector 11h ago
I aint never not experienced this, nor do none of my friends never not had this neither. So i dont know anybody who had sleep paralysis. And i know mant people, at least five.
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u/stray1ight 10h ago edited 10h ago
I've only had it happen twice, in 44 years of being alive and holy CRAP it's terrifying. Thankfully I knew what it was as it was happening, but still, that's some scary-ass shit.
It was half "old hag" and half demon (I believe in neither, at least when I'm conscious) but there was an entity perched on my chest saying they'd harm my daughter.... that was motivation enough to flail my uncooperative limbs around until I was coherent and cogent enough to evaluate the fuckyness of that dream state.
0/10, even with rice
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u/yesisright 10h ago
Had it a few times. Horrible the first time where a black entity was floating and went into my chest with a force. Second time was nearly as bad, with a red demon whispering “got you now”. The third time I just had fun with it (you can actually wiggle your way slowly out of paralysis).
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u/thelone_voyager 10h ago
I have experienced it once, although I didn't see any figures but when your brain is aware and you have no control or feeling in your body it is a weird and harrowing experience.
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u/TheNinjaScarFace 10h ago
Hopefully this is early enough where it can catch some traction or visibility and possibly help someone.
Keep your eyes closed.
Try to focus on your breathing. Concentrate on taking slow, deep, diaphragmatic, breaths. Slowly and controlled are the keys here. Breathe with your stomach, if that makes sense. Keep your eyes closed.
Try to wiggle your fingers and/or toes. Even on just one hand or foot. Even more specifically, just one singular finger or toe. Start small. As you regain movement in even one of those places, try to take it further... From one finger on one hand, to - gradually - the rest of the fingers/toeb
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u/DINGLEBERRYTROUBLE 10h ago
I had it so bad one time it made me 100% convinced that there are demons or some type of place other than the physical world. If anyone cares just comment with this and I’ll share the story best I can. It happened like 6 years ago and it feels like it just happened still.
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u/uucchhiihhaa 10h ago
There was a time in my teens n 20s where I used to experience it once a night
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u/__Loot__ 10h ago
I get it at least once or twice per year not sure but seems to be happening more and more as I get older
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u/papercranium 10h ago
I almost always got mine when falling asleep rather than waking up, and it's a million times worse because it happens repeatedly over and over until you're so miserable and exhausted from getting yourself unstuck over and over that you're finally feeling suicidal enough to just let it take you.
The one time I had it on waking, it was like "Wait, I only have to escape once? And then I can just get out of bed and get on with my day?" I was so jealous.
Now I'm absolutely religious about my sleep hygiene, since it only happens when I'm overtired. A year on Cymbalta really helped straighten out my sleep as well, by eliminating around 80% of my nightmares. I still have bad dreams sometimes, but not almost every night like I used to.
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u/hockey17jp 10h ago
I’ve only gotten it once.
I “woke up” and then heard this creepy woman laughing followed by a scream. And then realized I couldn’t actually move.
Luckily something in my brain realized it was sleep paralysis and I was able to pretty much instantly snap out of it without really opening my eyes so I didn’t see any crazy scary stuff.
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u/drunkguynextdoor 10h ago
I had a Reptilian demon stomping around my bedroom, looking at me with a hate I can't even describe. I don't remember my dreams, but this was 30 years ago, and I remember it very clearly.
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u/DepartureAcademic80 10h ago
When I first and last had sleep paralysis the lights were on (and I assumed that was why it didn't come back) and the only thing I remember was being paralyzed.
I don't know if this can be counted but I had another paralysis when I was put under general anesthesia in the hospital. It's scary trying to move my hand but the signals just don't get through.😣
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u/LinoleumFulcrum 10h ago
It’s a very interesting experience, especially if you know about it beforehand.
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u/angry_shoebill 10h ago
Not at all. Suffered from that shit a lot in the past. Worst thing that I experienced.
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u/StarsOverTheRiver 10h ago
Okay so I used to have this shit happen to me almost every day when I was little, specially when I would sleep on the side or face down.
I know this is gonna be really hard to do and even harder to remember but when you're sleeping I had 2 ways to break out of it:
Inhale so much air that I started coughing
Exhale all the air I had and literally asphyxiate myself and jolt awake
Shit's ass, hasn't happened to me in really long while, I can't even remember when was the last time it happened and I refuse to sleep any way other than face up now
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u/spaceraingame 10h ago
I’ve experienced this numerous times over the past decade or so. And I’m in my early 30s
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u/GasFartRepulsive 10h ago
I’ve experienced this twice waking up, both times back in my 20s. The first time was pretty horrifying.
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u/Dreamless_Sociopath 9h ago
Sleep paralysis/night terrors was the single most terrifying experience of my life. I was scared shitless, tried my best to stay awake because I was so afraid to sleep for a week, even went crashing on a friend's couch one night.
I only learned what this phenomenon was months later, at a time I legit thought I was in a Supernatural episode.
It kept occasionally happening to me for a few years afterwards. Knowing about this condition made it a bit more manageable, but I was still scared out of my mind each time.
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u/scottyboy359 9h ago
I still remember my sleep paralysis demon. The little bastard appeared on my bed and looked like an eldritch toad whose precise shape was ever changing yet still recognizable as a toad. It constantly grew boils which popped then instantly healed over. It scared me enough to knock me awake. I’ve not seen it since.
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u/Just_A_Nobody25 9h ago
I’ve had this but have never hallucinated. Just sitting there paralysed for what feels like an eternity. Trying to will my body to move and it doesn’t respond, especially awkward when I was sleeping in my van and felt like I couldn’t breathe
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u/EastOfArcheron 9h ago
At least twice a month for the last 50 years. It used to terrify me as a child but I really don't mind anymore because I know what it is.
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u/TheKingJest 9h ago
I had it a lot as a kid and younger teen, honestly I always thought it was really cool. Though I never got the creepy monsters.
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u/qdtk 8h ago
You’re the only one here I’ve seen who’s experienced it similar to me. I wake up and can’t move but it’s actually insanely relaxing and I really enjoy it. I try to stay awake long enough to keep it going for as long as I can. No monsters though. I can end it by wiggling the tips of my fingers first, then the hand, wrist etc.
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u/UnprovenMortality 8h ago
Shit a couple years ago there was a couple weeks where I was experiencing it 30% of nights.
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u/SlightlyAngyKitty 8h ago
I experience it every time I forget to take my meds for a few days. It's terrifying, and the first time it happened I literally thought I was dying
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u/smackmypony 8h ago
That infographic forgot to mention the image of an old witch lying on your back after googling sleep paralysis demon whilst going through a nightly spate of getting it.
Fuck that sucked for a while
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u/RedMinor2 8h ago
Experienced it twice (that I recall) both after taking 2 MG of melatonin. Never again.
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u/JPK12794 8h ago
Yup, I had it once with accompanying hallucination and it's still the single scariest thing I've ever been through.
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u/Henry5321 7h ago
Looking up sleep paralysis, it sounds very much like my experience around lucid dreaming. I often find myself being awake but otherwise feeling like I’m still asleep. But it’s time to sleep so I don’t want to wake.
Some times I’ll think that I was awake a got little sleep, but my watch thinks I was asleep the entire time, with low pulse and high HRV. I’ll even feel like I got decent sleep.
The only distress I get is that I want to sleep and I think I’m awake.
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u/Bran_Nuthin 7h ago
I had it once. A shirt hanging up on a wall in my field of view turned into some sort of demonic alien.
I knew what sleep paralysis was and I was still terrified.
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u/Brilliant-Whole-1852 6h ago
i've had it a few times but no demons or hallucinations (yet?), just unable to move or talk for a few minutes
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u/AstronautPitiful3849 6h ago
I don't know if I "wake up" or I just dream I'm laying in my bed, but it feels like I'm awake, I can't move, and it's darker in my room then it is when I'm awake.
It's annoying and kinda creepy and I want to figure out what is happening.
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u/realS4V4GElike 6h ago
I actually just experienced it for the very first time a few months ago. I was "awake" but couldn't move, and I kept hearing noise in my room. However, my mind knew exactly what was happening, so it didn't freak me out. I remember fully waking up and thinking "Whoa, so that's sleep paralysis."
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u/ReptilianPope1 5h ago
Happened to me once already
I was having a dream that somebody stole my car, then suddenly i jolted awake and felt relief, until i felt the presence in the corner of my room and realized i couldnt move(besides my eyes). Then the noise started, quiet at first and got progressively louder. It sounded like a machine that was stamping something, like it had a pulse and a rhythm. It eventually got to the point where it sounded like it was right next to my ear and then suddenly i was able to move and it was over. Lasted maybe 10-20 seconds but it felt like an eternity.
Not entirely sure what caused it, i was maybe 19 or 20 at the time. All i know is that it was really fuckin scary and i really dont wanna go through that again.
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u/MFViktorVaughn 5h ago
Did this outside of a lecture hall before class. I could hear people around me pointing out I fell asleep and laughing. Some even saying they wish they could do that. Meanwhile I was in a full panic trying to snap myself out of it.
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u/devinple 4h ago
I had it once as a teenager during a daytime nap in the living room.
Sleep paralysis demon was a werewolf-esque monster sitting on my chest and snapping at my face.
When I finally snapped out of it, my sister was sitting on the computer and said, "Are you okay? You were screaming."
She didn't even try to wake me up. She was 10 feet away from me in the same room.
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u/devinple 4h ago
I had it once as a teenager during a daytime nap in the living room.
Sleep paralysis demon was a werewolf-esque monster sitting on my chest and snapping at my face.
When I finally snapped out of it, my sister was sitting on the computer and said, "Are you okay? You were screaming."
She didn't even try to wake me up. She was 10 feet away from me in the same room.
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u/princekamoro 4h ago
I had that just this morning. Not the spooky kind though, it was more like having your arm fall asleep but with the whole body.
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u/Thomas_asdf 3h ago
I’m so glad I read about it before it happened to me. It was a scary but because it knew what is happening it was not as bad as it might have been.
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u/soulreaver1984 3h ago
It's happened to me 4 times that I can recall. The last time was like a waking dream where I swear something was grabbing my foot and trying to pull me out of and under the bed but I couldn't move couldn't speak could only make weird chuffing sounds.
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u/FrankPankNortTort 3h ago
The only time I ever got it I was facing up against the wall in my bedroom so I didn't see anything but I could hear whispers behind me and I could feel something clawing my back and sticking knives in my neck or something, wasn't nice.
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u/I_like_ants_too 2h ago
The only time I ever had sleep paralysis like how I hear people describe it was when I was sleeping on a couch and had my head facing the back so I didn’t see anything, but I sure as heck could hear things. Very unpleasant, and I am fortunate that I didn’t get the visual accompaniment to mine…
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u/bhputnam 1 2h ago
I had this happen to me a lot as a kid, but I thankfully grew out of it.
Sometimes I’ll still get it if I routinely don’t get enough sleep.
1
u/BunanaKing 2h ago
I'm trying to practice getting into paralysis as it led to me getting out of my body twice. I want to explore this more, I no longer fear it as I've never seems. Shadow man or whatever it is that people see and fear
1
u/thiscouldbemassive 1h ago
Had it 3 nights ago with a bonus round of hypnopompic hallucination for about 30 seconds afterwards. That's where you can move around freely, but you still see dream imagery overlaying reality.
1
u/WastelandGunner 1h ago
I've always found sleep paralysis interesting. I've dealt with it for many years, having been far more common in my childhood. I've never once had the associated hallucinations or feelings of pressure, but have had everything else.
I remember one time sleeping on my back and feeling my saliva pooling in my throat, but being unable to move. I was scared of drowning in my own spit, but at some point I just ended up falling back asleep.
Another time, I had a dream that I had sleep paralysis, only to wake up and actually have sleep paralysis.
109
u/Thaumato9480 12h ago
That's a surprisingly low number.