what is sleeping paralysis?
372841
Ah ha. I used to have this all the time. You are sleeping or falling asleep then suddenly you can't move at all, it usually happens while on your back. It is very frightening at 1st and to me have been more nightmarish but I later read a book (sorry I can't remember the tittle) the author believes they are our like out of body experiences. I found that very interesting being that in all my sleep paralysis, my dreams were super real like meaning I could see the room around me without distortions. If you learn to control the paralysis feeling and go with it without being fear you will supposedly leave your body sleeping and you can wander the other realms in your spirit body, the book claimed.
576608
hi........you are describing what me and certain members of my family have had happen many, many times. you are just getting ready to drift off to sleep but you are very much still aware of your surroundings. all of a sudden you feel like you can;t move your body and your breathing feels funny. most of the time we all get the feeling someone or something is in the room with us and it sets such a fear inside you but you can't move or speak. often i try to shake myself awake, but i feel paralyzed. i heard this is a real disorder called sleep paralysis. wow......it seems funny seeing you ask about this. for a long time i thought only my family had this.
844969
What you describe is a normal phenomena.  There are four states or stages of sleep- the first being simply a drousy state when you would still consider yourself awake, or very nearly so.  The second stage is when you no longer have conscious awareness of your surroundings, and will awaken fairly easily.  Just prior to the third stage, the brain immobilizes muscles in preparation for the third stage- dream or REM state.  This prevents or at least inhibits to a large degree- muscle movement, so you don't act out your dreams.  The 4th stage is a very deep state, which takes a bit to rouse from.  If you awaken during the transition into or out of 3rd stage sleep, it is usual to be disoriented and to feel somewhat frozen and out of control of your body.    The brain has to "reboot" everything to allow you to take full conscious control.  Normally this only takes a few seconds, and is why when you first wake you usually yawn and stretch before really feeling fully awake.  It should pass within a few seconds, as you return to complete waking state. \n  It isn't anything as exotic as astral travel or projection, it's a normal sleepy brain reaction.  You have simply become wakeful before the system fully booted.  It's happened to most people, usually if they are woken when they weren't expecting to be, or earlier than they they probably should be.
534786
It is sleep paralysis..and I have had them for quite awhile. They can be scary but are completley harmless and it is acutally a sleep disorder. I seem to get them more when I am stressed out about something. And just to give you another piece of advice...sleep paralysis almost always happens when you are lying on your back.   Try sleeping on your stomach or side.
90299
This strikes a chord, because I suffered from this about 10 years ago, when I was having a lot of difficulty sleeping.  For me, I would get suddenly sleepy, sit on a chair and be almost instantly asleep (I was diagnosed with narcolepsy at the time) and then wake up almost right away.  But only my brain, it would take several minutes for my body to follow.\n\nIt was Scary!\n\nIn normal sleep, we would go through cycles - Stage 1 being the kind of drowsy feeling we have just before we go to sleep.  Stage 2 and 3 are dream states.  Stage 4 is deep delta wave sleep where we release certain brain chemicals and our bodies replenish.  Normally people cycle through these stages several times during the night.  From dream states 2 and 3, we come up to the semi-conscious stage 1 and have time for our bodies to wake up.  \n\nMy doctor told me that the body paralysis (from the neck down) was to prevent body injury when we're sleeping.  I only had the problem when I was severely sleep deficient, and my body didn't take the time to go through the normal cycles.  I was so deficient in the dream stage that my body-mind would immediately drop into that state.  Without the time to wake up normally, my mind would "wake up" before my body.\n\nIt's not dangerous per se, but it can be a sign of severe sleep deficiency.  Now, 10 years later, I have the sleep problem pretty much resolved and do not have any of those symptoms any more.  Hope this personal experience helps.
702285
this sounds like sleep paralysis sweetie ...it isn't a ghost or anything like that\nwhat happens is that at the point of dream sleep the body releases hormones so that we dont act out our dreams \nsometimes this is released too early or we wake during it\nthis can bring about some waking dreams and we cant move during the experience\nplease look up sleep paralysis and hypnagogic state \nand please dont worry xx
843927
It probably means you are very restless and toss and turn a lot when you are asleep.  The reference to a 'banshee' is a little bit OUT THERE, however, unless you shriek during your sleep.
310252
you are waking up for REM sleep where the body is completely paralyzed and thus you jerk/spasm.
666357
Lucid dreaming is the conscious perception of one's state while dreaming, resulting in a much clearer ("lucid") experience and usually enabling direct control over the content of the dream. The complete experience from start to finish is called a lucid dream. Stephen LaBerge, a popular author and experimenter on the subject, has defined it as "dreaming while knowing that you are dreaming." \n\nThere are many unanswered questions about lucid dreaming, and about dreaming itself. LaBerge and his associates have called people who purposely explore the possibilities of lucid dreaming oneironauts (literally from the Greek meaning "dream explorers"). The topic attracts the attention of a diverse and eclectic group, namely psychologists, self-help authors, New Age groups, mystics, occultists, and artists. This list is by no means exhaustive nor does interest in lucid dreaming apply necessarily to each group. Clear and consistent knowledge about lucid dreaming is difficult to find amongst the many interpretations of the experience, especially considering its highly subjective nature. It may be classified as a protoscience, pending an increase in scientific knowledge about the subject. Researchers such as Allan Hobson with his neurophysiological approach to dreaming have helped to push the understanding of lucid dreaming into a less speculative realm.\n\nLucid dreamers regularly describe their dreams as exciting, colourful, and fantastic. Many compare it to a spiritual experience and say that it changed their lives or their perception of the world. Some have even reported lucid dreams that take on a hyperreality, seemingly "more real than real", where all the elements of reality are amplified. Lucid dreams are prodigiously more memorable than other kinds of dreaming, even nightmares, which may be why they are often prescribed as a means of ridding one's self of troubling dreams.\n\nThere is a substantial cottage industry based around the technique of lucid dreaming, with an array of induction devices (usually based around flickering light arrays) commercially available to allegedly allow induction of lucid dreams. Their proponents also sometimes claim that these devices help achieve a higher level of spiritual consciousness, and associate it with other New Age concepts such as astral travel or dream sharing. Some proponents of the technique claim they can use symbolic methods to research, program, and modify their nervous system itself. Memory management, creative solution generation, accelerated healing, autoinduced priapism, and ecstatic envelopment of one's body are among the various claimed techniques[citation needed]. Regardless of these claims' validity, lucid dreaming as a scientifically verified phenomenon is well-established.
38935
WebMD provides a good explaination of this phenomena:\n\n"A person experiencing a night terror or sleep terror abruptly awakes from sleep in a terrified state. The person may appear to be awake, but is confused and unable to communicate. They do not respond to voices and are difficult to fully awaken. Night terrors last about 15 minutes, after which time the person usually lies down and appears to fall back asleep. People who have sleep terrors usually don't remember the events the next morning. Night terrors are similar to nightmares, but night terrors usually occur during deep sleep.\n\nPeople experiencing sleep terrors may pose dangers to themselves or others because of limb movements. Night terrors are fairly common in children occurring in approximately 5% of them mostly between the ages of three to five. Children with sleep terrors will often also talk in their sleep or sleepwalk. This sleep disorder, which may run in families, also can occur in adults. Strong emotional tension and/or the use of alcohol can increase the incidence of night terrors among adults."
804718
It's believed that most 'abduction experiences' are actually something called sleep paralysis/hepnagogic hallucinations. This is where a person wakes up and can't move (which they sometimes believe means they are restrained) and then have hallucinations, usually involving some sort of being coming after them (the aliens).\n\nI personally do get sleep paralysis/hepnagogic hallucinations once in a while and they are scarey. I get the feeling that something is coming after me, and while I can see how the experience could easily be misinterpreted as something more, it has always been obvious to me that they are only hallucinations.\n\nTry reading a bit about sleep paralysis and see if this is what you experienced.
583151
Because your body sends out a hormone that paralysis you while you sleep. It keeps you from thrashing around in reaction to dreams, rolling out of bed or opening your eyes which can cause damage due to dehydration if you're not blinking.
716653
This sounds like a phenomenon called sleep paralysis.  When you are in deep sleep, especially REM sleep when you are dreaming, your body goes into a partial paralytic state.  Most of your voluntary motions are paralyzed to keep you from acting out your dreams.  Occasionally, some people wake up mentally before their body gets the signal to wake up.  You become mentally aware and awake again, but your body is lagging behind in that partial paralysis.  It typically lasts for only a few minutes at most.  Most people report that it is a terrifying experience; they have no idea what is going on and can't move.  This can result in tremendous anxiety about trying to fall asleep, and often creates panic attacks.\n\nApparently, this condition is not harmful to you in anyway, except for the emotional trauma.  The next time it happens, stay calm.  Think to yourself that you are just in a different physiological state, one that few people ever encounter.  It will pass after a few minutes, and you should feel normal again.  Try to relax and let it run its course.  By understanding what is happening, you can be assure that you have no reason to panic.  Its just one of those little things you'll learn to cope with.\n\nYou can talk to a doctor if you want, but they probably won't do much if anything about it.  They will probably just give you a prescription for anxiety.  I encourage you to do some more research and look at online communities of other people with sleeping disorders for people who share your problem.  They will help you find ways to minimize the impact.\n\nAs for the connection of this with your uncle's death, I'm at a loss.  There may be some spiritual explanation for that as well.
76948
No it's just sleep paralysis. Something called a phantasm, I believe.
513047
do you mean like sleep paralisis? at night, if you wake up and find this happening, don't panic, it is normal. sometimes when we have bad dreams, our bodies produce hormones which keep us from thrashing and hurting ourselfs in our sleep. if we wake up to early, we find ourselfs unable to move for a period. go to webmd for a rewally good artical on it
884217
falling asleep is knowing you will wake up soon. passing out is when you don't know when you will wake up and you don't know what happened. i passed out a few days  ago and my fiends said i didn't   eat and that before they know it i was on the ground out cold.
179951
It's spelled Guillain Barre Syndrome. Just google it and you'll get plenty of info.