Do you ever feel paralyzed in your sleep?
 

Occasionally when I am asleep, I will suddenly become aware that I am sleeping. But I am paralyzed and can not do anything. It is a very distressing feeling. It feels like being trapped in your own body. Whenever this happens, I try with all my might to move my body in an attempt to wake up. Even if I concentrate all my energy on moving a single finger, nothing works. It never lasts long before I do wake up, but it feels like an eternity anyway.

Is this phenomenon just something that happens to me, or do you know what I am talking about?

No, it happens to me, and presumably most people all the time. It's what your body is actually supposed to do, it's what prevents you from moving all around when you are dreaming. Otherwise, your body would physically act what is happening in your dreams. :wavey: It's very frustrating though, I agree. I often dream that I'm getting up and doing things, because I am trying so hard to wake up and move, but I can't. But anyway, yeah, your body is supposed to do that. :)

I know exactly what you mean! This used to happen to me rather frequently a few years ago, it has pretty much stopped occuring now though. It's like being trapped in a void between sleep and alertness, and it is VERY frightening!

~Marissa~

I never felt this, it must be really scary, but common too.

Sure, that makes sense. But I am never dreaming as it happens. I am just laying there and can't do anything. It happened yesterday when I fell asleep in my recliner. I was aware that I was in the recliner and not the bed like usual.

I've felt paralyzed before (very freaky!), but my problem is that I have dreams that come true. :eek: It freaks me out. They are so vivid and in depth, that I think that it is actually happening in real life. When they actually happen, it's major deja vu. It my happen the next day or the next year, but they do happen...and a lot!

this is EXACTLY what i experience quite often while sleeping, glad to know i'm not the only one~ it freaks me out everytime!!!~

wow curtis i get this too, & when it comes true it seems to go in slow motion for me, very strange~

This used to happen to me on an almost nightly basis for YEARS growing up. It was very scary and nobody would understand what I was trying to tell them. Then I got so preoccupied with it happening, that I would start DREAMING that I was paralyzed and in my dream I would be able to get myself up and walk around the room. But then when I woke up in real life, I would find that I was still in bed. Very freaky stuff. It only happens to me a few times a year now, so it's not that bad. And I've just trained myself that I know what is going on and to just close my eyes and go back to sleep.

Brad

Jeezus christ. :rolleyes: Here you go...I can't believe no one else knew this. :rolleyes:


"Paralysis while asleep is the normal condition. The body secretes hormones which relax certain muscles and prevent you from acting out your dreams. If it didn’t you would be in quite some danger every time you went to sleep.

The process of waking up might seem quite simple to you. But it’s actually a complex process involving many physiological changes. One of these is the reversal of the paralysis. People experience sleep paralysis when the hormone doesn’t wear off fast enough as they wake up. They remain paralysed though conscious. Because they have little sensation from their body, if they are lying on their backs, it can feel like someone is sitting on their chest. Eventually the paralysis departs and normal functions can be resumed.

There is an opposite disorder where people don’t get paralysed enough as they go to sleep. In a minor case this results in twitching and kicking while dreaming, but in a major case they can get up and walk around.

A side effect of this paralysis is that your bed feels a lot more comfortable in the morning when you wake up than it did when you first got into it. It hasn’t changed, your body is just less sensitive.

None of this should be considered evidence of anything paranormal.

MP."

great info & girl you always crack me up, look forward to your posts daily!!! :wavey: :xoxo: ~

No, I knew this too, Amber. But I think what the original poster is talking about is being aware of his surroundings and trying to wake up and not being able to. That's different from not being able to move while dreaming. I know exactly what he's talking about because it has happened to me too. I was once "asleep" on the couch at a friend's house (I guess I had nodded off), and I could hear them having a conversation without me. I was basically aware that they were talking to each other and playing video games while I was sleeping. But I wanted to get in on the conversation and respond to what they were saying, but I couldn't speak or move because I couldn't make myself "wake up!" It's like, whatever mechanism paralyzes you for sleep was in overdrive and even though I wasn't asleep anymore, wasn't dreaming, and was perfectly aware of what was going on around me, I couldn't do anything about it! It was really quite maddening, and it has happened to me before, though not often (thankfully).

sometimes when i am sleeping i feel like i can't catch my breath and i try and try to wake up and i can't. it's very scary.

yes, but it's just from that hormone. It happens to me all the time, too, but it's normal. The article says it's from the hormone doesn't wear off fast enough. :shrug: Yes, it's quite maddening.

Exactly...that's what I meant too. And yeah, it happens to me like on the couch with others around too. I try to mumble in my sleep so that they can hear me and wake me up. Sometimes I think I do it loud enough so they can hear me, but either they can't or they ignore me cuz they think I'm talking in my sleep! :nod:

Yeah, I figured that's all it was--the hormone in overdrive. It's a very weird feeling though! Makes you feel very powerless!

I know, I always dream someone is coming up my stairs, ie, breaking in, and I keep trying to wake up cause I am really scared, and I keep dreaming I'm waking up, but I can't get up at all. Very frightening. Of course, no one is ever trying to break in, but It sure scares the sh** out of me. :nod:

This sounds like you're actually still dreaming something that isn't really happening though, :o . Good thing you can't move during this, LOL.

yeah, but I've been awake and not been able to move, too. :)

:eek: I had never heard of this happening to anyone else before! It happens to me quite often. It scares me. Badly.

Thanks, Amber, for posting that medical bit. I'm kind of relieved now.

I have dreams like that too, Curtis. But mine are never about anything important, they're usually small things like a place I'll pass, or a conversation, but once I had a dream about meeting someone I've never met before (and then a year later, up pops that person!). Supposedly (according to my aunt) this type of thing runs in our family.

I have night terrors all the time. Very disconcerting. Also, I have a recurring dream almost nightly about losing my jewelry or something lost in my nightstand. That always wakes me up in a sweat. The loss feels very serious in the dream!

I had to jump in on this one...I too have had some odd dream experiences. Two in particular that were quite weird, one of which really freaked me out.

The first one was this one time about two years after I graduated high school, I found my old combination lock from my locker in a drawer in my room. It was locked and for the life of me, I could not remember the combination. Anything I tried just did not work. So I threw it back in the drawer and went about the rest of the day. That night, I had a dream I was still in high school. I dreamt that I walked up to my locker and opened the lock. When I woke up in the morning, I knew the combination...so I found the lock and sure enough, it opened right up.

That one is explainable as that combination was in my head somewhere, I just needed to recall it. The next one happened about four years ago and was really freaky...

I dreamed I was at work (I used to work at a local supermarket back in HS and college) and for some reason, I dreamed that my great-Aunt was at the store. Anyway, for some reason I saw her walking out of the front door and I went toward her and said bye. Like, I just waved to her and said "Goodbye" and she kept going out toward her car. The next morning, the phone rang about quarter after five. After several rings, I determined that my Dad likely was sleeping and my Mom was in the shower or out with the dog, so I picked up. It was my Grandmother, hysterically crying saying that her sister, the great Aunt I JUST had the dream about, died a few hours ago. It was beyond weird. It was like she came to my dream so I could say goodbye...I usually don't put too much into what I dream, but that time really freaked me out.

Wow, that is really freaky! :shocked:

Along those same lines, my husband has an uncle who had a stroke. He is in bad shape and goes through periods of days of being awake followed by days of sleep. He once told his wife, please make that light disappear. Of course, she saw no light and just told him ok, i will try. Then he said please turn the light off because there are two people asking me to come to the light and I don't want to go. After a little while passed, he told her never mind, the light was fading.

Isn't that wild!

Holy crap, I need to stop reading these posts. I've actually decided that if my average post per day number exceeds 1, I need to take a vacay from the board, :lol: . I'm gonna go check my stats now.

does anyone recognise this though: sometimes before I fall asleep I've this funny 'sensation' that I loose all sense of distances, proportion. It feels as if my hand for example is huge but it's also miles away. Also feeling bloated or balloon shaped :laugh: . I used to get scared when I had that, but it always goes away after a minute or two. I think it probably has something to do with epilepsy, but I sometimes tend to throw too much on that.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Even though the paralysis is normal, it's still scary. Sometimes I'm trying to move and I can't, usually my hand or my arm.. Other times, I'm trying to talk or yell in my dreams, and I can't open my mouth or make any sound. It's always very frustrating, and I wake up exhausted and cranky.

I have never had the other conditions that everyone is talking about, but I have had the condition you are talking about, Mari. It is a strange feeling, but I have had it so long (since childhood) that it just doesn't bother me anymore.

The only weird thing that I have before I go to sleep is this weird, starburst effect like an exploding star and then sometimes they fall like fireworks do. It is so strange, and I have had this since childhood too. What makes it extra weird is the fact that I mentioned this one time to my dad, and he had it too, when he was younger, but now he doesn't have it anymore?! Also, some nights I can see spirals, waves, and visions when I close my eyes. They aren't in color, but black and white.

By the way, the answer is "no." I have never ever taken any hallucinogenic drugs. :lol: Just for the record.

:lol: :lol: :lol:
Oh, Calvin and Hobbes, how I love thee....

I have predictive dreams, too, like some of you, but they aren't usually important, either. So I just have stupid random deja vu all the time.