Sleep Paralysis - I believe this is what happend to me.
June 19, 2007 – 1:19 pmUsually I make posts on the dreams I have, but last night something happened to me that has happened before and is almost always frightening.
I was sleeping on my stomach with my head turned toward my wife who was lying next to me. I woke up and opened my eyes, but I couldn’t move! My arms were down each side of me, and it felt like there was someone on my back holding me down everytime I tried to move. It almost felt like I was being squeezed.
This was pretty frightening so i decided I would wake up my wife by calling her name. I tried, but I couldn’t open my mouth and the again, I felt like I was being squeezed by someone on my back, almost as if it was punishment for me trying to make a sound or to move. It was weird.
So, then I took a couple of deep breaths and tried to yell her name; a slight peep came out. Remember, I am on my stomach looking her right in the face. I tried this over and over again, and finally on the 5th or 6th try, I was able to project her name loud enough to wake her.
It was definately a strange experience. Has this ever happened to you?
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3 Responses to “Sleep Paralysis - I believe this is what happend to me.”
Yes that has happened to me. Not in a long time, but it has. Usually there is a man in black holding me down, and I try to scream but nothing comes out. I wake up finally when I’m able to get the scream out. What does it mean? I have never been assaulted.
By Cynthia Blue on Jun 29, 2007
Thanks for commenting. The following possible cause of this as noted on Wikipedia…
Sleep paralysis occurs during REM sleep in order to prevent the body from manifesting movements made in the subject’s dreams. Very little is known about the physiology of sleep paralysis. However, some have suggested that it may be linked to post-synaptic inhibition of motor neurons in the pons region of the brain. In particular, low levels of melatonin may stop the depolarization current in the nerves, which prevents the stimulation of the muscles, to prevent the body from enacting the dreamt activity (e.g. preventing a sleeper from flailing his legs when dreaming about running).
Many people who commonly enter sleep paralysis also suffer from narcolepsy. However, various studies suggest that many or most people will experience sleep paralysis at least once or twice in their lives.
Some reports read that various factors increase the likelihood of both paralysis and hallucinations. These include: [3]
* Sleeping in a supine position (facing upwards)
* Irregular sleeping schedules; naps, sleeping in, sleep deprivation
* Increased stress
* Sudden environmental/lifestyle changes
* A lucid dream that immediately precedes the episode. Also conscious induction of sleep paralysis is a common technique to enter a state of lucid dreams, also known as WILD[1] .
* Artificial sleeping aids, ADD medications and/or antihistamines
By Wadeone on Jun 29, 2007
This happens to be all the time and i still don’t get it, why does this happen, i guess wadeone gave a good explanation
By Etienne Teo on Aug 4, 2007