A couple of days ago I experienced sleep paralysis. Actually, I've had this every other month or so, but I never knew what it was. After fully waking up, I decided to check on the internet just what the hell was happening to me because quite honestly, it's a terrifying thing to experience.
For those that don't know what sleep paralysis is, imagine waking up. Except you're not completely awake yet. Your still going through REM sleep. So your body is paralyzed and you're still dreaming while awake. In other words, you see and hear hallucinations while paralyzed after waking up.
It's never a pleasant thing either, as it usually involved extremely loud noises and often enough your mind is smart enough to show you a reason why you can't move, somebody might be pushing you down (my case last time it happened.
The first time I experienced it, I heard the neighbors upstairs fighting. They were really going at it, smashing stuff, screaming at each other. Suddenly it went quiet and I heard footsteps going through the hallway, down a staircase, towards me room... and then I snapped out of it, unsure if it was a dream or not.
I put it down as a nightmare later.
This time, it started as a dream where my mom was over at my place and was using my computer. I went to bed. She left the room to get something from the kitchen, and then I woke up with sleep paralysis: I heard her trash everything in the entire house, except the room I was in. I tried to get up, but I felt like I was being pushed down. I could see there was something under my blanket.... and then I snapped out of it, turned on the computer and looked it up.
Apparently more people have it, it's caused by stress, anxiety and terrible sleeping patterns. I think the Twittery folk here on the 'Scapist know about my stress and sleeping patterns well enough.
I was just wondering, has anyone else experienced this, and if yes, what did you see?
For those that don't know what sleep paralysis is, imagine waking up. Except you're not completely awake yet. Your still going through REM sleep. So your body is paralyzed and you're still dreaming while awake. In other words, you see and hear hallucinations while paralyzed after waking up.
It's never a pleasant thing either, as it usually involved extremely loud noises and often enough your mind is smart enough to show you a reason why you can't move, somebody might be pushing you down (my case last time it happened.
The first time I experienced it, I heard the neighbors upstairs fighting. They were really going at it, smashing stuff, screaming at each other. Suddenly it went quiet and I heard footsteps going through the hallway, down a staircase, towards me room... and then I snapped out of it, unsure if it was a dream or not.
I put it down as a nightmare later.
This time, it started as a dream where my mom was over at my place and was using my computer. I went to bed. She left the room to get something from the kitchen, and then I woke up with sleep paralysis: I heard her trash everything in the entire house, except the room I was in. I tried to get up, but I felt like I was being pushed down. I could see there was something under my blanket.... and then I snapped out of it, turned on the computer and looked it up.
Apparently more people have it, it's caused by stress, anxiety and terrible sleeping patterns. I think the Twittery folk here on the 'Scapist know about my stress and sleeping patterns well enough.
I was just wondering, has anyone else experienced this, and if yes, what did you see?
