Laurentius
Member
So the lucid dreaming thread reminded me about sleep paralysis. It's practically the antithesis of lucid dreaming. During LD you are aware that you're dreaming, and can thus control the dream (sometimes). It can be quite the rush, and an amazing experience! Sleep paralysis, on the other hand, can result in you being awake, but you have no control, and can be terrifying (worse than nightmares).
You can read the Wikipedia article for more information, but here's the gist of it. During REM sleep (the dreaming state) your body is essentially paralyzed. For whatever reason, it's possible for the brain to wake up during this state, but for the paralysis to continue. So you'll be awake, and fully conscious, but unable to move. While that's a pretty scary thing in and of itself, it's often accompanied by hallucinations. Usually not something particularly tangible, but maybe a dark object in the room that different people interpret as different things. You might also hear things.
In fact, it's been theorized that cases of people claiming alien abduction might have been sleep paralysis! Think about it. You wake up from sleep, in the dark. You can't move. You're scared out of your mind, you see shapes around you, indistinguishable sounds.
I've never had this happen to me personally, thank goodness. My sister has, though, a couple of times. She's told me about them, and it freaked the heck out of me.
One time she woke up and couldn't move. She saw something on the side of her bed, about a foot from her face. She said she couldn't really figure out what it was, but that she thought she saw eyes, and she thought it looked like some small animal or something. Then she said it moved onto her chest and said her name. After that she says that she "passed out" which I guess means she fell back asleep. When she woke up again later that night she said she could move, and she thought it had been some demonic presence. She was about 14 at the time, and didn't read about sleep paralysis until years later, when she realized that's what it was.
Another time she woke up, couldn't move. Said she thought she heard our parents coming down the stairs talking. After a few seconds she realized she couldn't understand what they were saying, and that it wasn't them. And then the voices came into her freaking room. That's all that she remembers from that episode.
I think that's the only two that have happened to her, but they frightened her so badly that she's literally slept with the light on ever since.
Man, I hope I never have these. I'm guessing it'd be worse than most any nightmare (maybe not night terrors?) since you're awake, and you know it. These things feel real, you can't move, and you can't have the relief of waking up and realizing it was just a dream! *shudder*
I don't know how common of a thing this is. Have any gaffers ever had an experience with this? I'd love to hear stories about it (although I probably won't go to sleep tonight).
You can read the Wikipedia article for more information, but here's the gist of it. During REM sleep (the dreaming state) your body is essentially paralyzed. For whatever reason, it's possible for the brain to wake up during this state, but for the paralysis to continue. So you'll be awake, and fully conscious, but unable to move. While that's a pretty scary thing in and of itself, it's often accompanied by hallucinations. Usually not something particularly tangible, but maybe a dark object in the room that different people interpret as different things. You might also hear things.
In fact, it's been theorized that cases of people claiming alien abduction might have been sleep paralysis! Think about it. You wake up from sleep, in the dark. You can't move. You're scared out of your mind, you see shapes around you, indistinguishable sounds.
I've never had this happen to me personally, thank goodness. My sister has, though, a couple of times. She's told me about them, and it freaked the heck out of me.
One time she woke up and couldn't move. She saw something on the side of her bed, about a foot from her face. She said she couldn't really figure out what it was, but that she thought she saw eyes, and she thought it looked like some small animal or something. Then she said it moved onto her chest and said her name. After that she says that she "passed out" which I guess means she fell back asleep. When she woke up again later that night she said she could move, and she thought it had been some demonic presence. She was about 14 at the time, and didn't read about sleep paralysis until years later, when she realized that's what it was.
Another time she woke up, couldn't move. Said she thought she heard our parents coming down the stairs talking. After a few seconds she realized she couldn't understand what they were saying, and that it wasn't them. And then the voices came into her freaking room. That's all that she remembers from that episode.
I think that's the only two that have happened to her, but they frightened her so badly that she's literally slept with the light on ever since.
Man, I hope I never have these. I'm guessing it'd be worse than most any nightmare (maybe not night terrors?) since you're awake, and you know it. These things feel real, you can't move, and you can't have the relief of waking up and realizing it was just a dream! *shudder*
I don't know how common of a thing this is. Have any gaffers ever had an experience with this? I'd love to hear stories about it (although I probably won't go to sleep tonight).
