This is a very strange thing to have happen, and I am dying to find out if others go through this or if its just my family.
At times, often in the wee hours of the night well after bedtime, I will wake from my sleep in a strange state of mind. I am completely unable to move my body, and can only continue to breathe by concentrating very hard on it. I feel completely relaxed, but it takes a tremendous effort of will to get my body to move. Struggling mightily I may be able to twitch an arm or leg. In some cases I have even had to throw myself out of bed and onto the floor to snap out of it after trying for several minutes, completely conscious the whole time. This is not a case of poor circulation (no pins and needles), still being asleep, or any other event I can recognize. I hesitate to even write this, but my brother and I (happens to him too) had been advised it maybe was some kind of spirit possession. I’ll admit it is spooky, and I start thinking all kinds of “what if” type thoughts when it happens, but I do not believe in that kind of thing.
Has anyone else experienced this phenomen? It has happened maybe a dozen times over my lifetime, but not for a few years now. I’d love to see that it is a common thing, but no one I describe it to has ever heard of it.
It’s happened to me, but not for a while now. Basically, you’re frozen, awake, but can’t move. I never had a problem breathing, though.
Spirit possession? I wouldn’t go that far. It’s probably something like a miscommunication between your muscles and your brain…your muscles think you’re asleep and refuse to accept signals from your brain.
IANAD, so feel free, you medicos, to point and laugh at my theory.
Sounds like mild narcolepsy …symptoms displayed could be cataplexy.
Check out http://www.talkaboutsleep.org for more info
Could also be sleep apnea. You said you have trouble breathing? Sleep apnea can be either obstructive (i.e., soft palate or tongue is blocking air passage during sleep) or central (short circuit of the signal in your brain that tells your muscles to control breathing) and due to a shortage of oxygen in the system from shallow/no breathing over the night, you could be prone to hallucinations of paralysis or muscles could be physically affected.
Our professor in psychology talked about this. When a person sleeps, his or her body is somewhat paralyzed to prevent acting out their dreams. Some people experience a residual paralysis when they first wake up, like you. This is related somewhat to sleepwalking, where the paralysis fails. It is not dangerous AFAIK. (IANAD, so there may be some cases where it is dangerous, but for the most part it is not the symptom of some horrible underlying problem or anything)
B. Pants,
who actually paid attention in class that day
Thanks for the quick replies all, this has been very informative. I never had much luck searching online on this, but the above descriptions sound very much like what happens. Its also good to know its not just me. Thanks!
For me also. Occassionally I will either be semi-awake and unable to move, or, the best I can descibe it is, I wake up within a dream state. It’s scary. I try to wake myself up or make noise so someone wakes me. It doesn’t happen often, but scares the sh*t out of me and my wife.
This has happened to me since I was in second grade and I hate it. I’ve done quite a bit of reading about it, and knowing I’m not alone or going to die has helped. It’s terrifying for me when it happens (usually I’ll have this happen several times in a month, and then go a few months without it occurring). Here’s a page with some good articles on sleep paralysis. The part you mention about difficulty breathing is addressed as well, if you check out the mentions of “hag/incubus.”
When this happens to me I find I am sleeping on my back, which seems to be the most common. When I am going through bad bouts, I have considered sewing a tennis ball into my pj’s so I won’t roll over (a suggestion from a site). One thing that does seem to help me be able to move sooner, is concentrating on wiggling my toes and eyelids. I’ve read a lot of suggestions about just going with it, to try to lucid dream and have OBEs. I guess I’m in the minority when I think, “Who the heck would want to? I’m awake and can’t bloody move!” I’d rather have control of my body than become a flying squirrel.
By the way, some experts believe that sleep paralysis is often misinterpreted as alien abduction. I am reading Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World and he has a chapter connecting sleep paralysis and the mild hallucinations that sometimes accompany it with both alien abduction and demonic possession. It’s really fascinating.
With what happens to me, I can see where a conspiracy minded person might feel they were abducted or possessed. But then again, how do I know I’m not? Maybe that’s why I jump everytime someone says “anal probe.”
I have sleep paralysis, and have for years. I have it on average once a month or so, although sometimes I get it several times a week, and sometimes not for several months. For some reason it’s more common if I nap on the couch.
A common folklore image in some societies is that of the “old hag”; a person belives they are bewitched because of naptime visits from an old hag who sits atop their chest and suffocates them while they cannot move. Very likely this is sleep paralysis. Another dream image associated with sleep paralysis that may be even more common is wild animals tearing at the person’s extremities while they are are paralyzed, especially the legs for some reason. I’ve had this one once or twice, and believe me, it makes plain old sleep paralysis look like an ice cream social. Completely realistic, utterly terrifying. I get the heebies just thinking about it.
The best advice I can give: don’t panic. Just tell yourself “I’ve had this before, it always goes away. I am always able to wake up and move in a minute or so. This will be over in a few seconds.”
Also, some over-the-counter drugs seem to bring it on in me more often.
Yeah, I get this all the time, too. Always when I’m sleeping on my back. As many times as it’s happened, I still can’t just relax and go with it. I instinctively have to fight to move some part of my body to “break the spell”.
I’ve never heard about the animals tearing at your legs phenomenon. I thank my stars I don’t have that one!
I used to get sleep paralysis a lot. Hated it. Oddly enough, when I got my CPAP machine to treat sleep apnea, the sleep paralysis went away. I may simply have outgrown it.
I started suffering from it about a year or so ago. I have never been so terrified and flipped out in my entire life. In my own sleep paralysis, I also experienced the worse sense of doom and impending death I have ever had the misfortune to know. The site I read (can’t remember it right this minute) called it, “The Hag”. Something like the Grim Reaper coming to visit. You never actually see it, but you know it’s lurking and inching steadily toward you.
I was having it so often I got to the point to where I was scared to sleep, and often stayed up all night so it wouldn’t happen. After my worst bout with it ever, I stayed up surfing the net like crazy, trying to find out if I was going nuts, or if this actually happened to other people. I almost cried when I found out it is relatively common…that I wasn’t quite as close to the edge of madness as I’d thought.
Once I found out what I had, I haven’t had it happen but once since then. My husband is under strict orders to wake me up and/or move me if he ever catches me sleeping on my back. There is no way I want that heart-hammering terror happening again.
It’s terrifying for me when it happens (usually I’ll have this happen several times in a month, and then go a few months without it occurring). 
