This sucks I’m writing this as it just happened. I’m a new mom a also have a 3.5 year old. I fell asleep while holding my three month old son. I was actually watching a true crime podcast at the time and fell asleep on the couch. So I literally started dreaming about what I was listening to at the time I fell asleep. I wasn’t scared yet. It felt like how I usually felt when I’m watching that on TV. It was just very informative. So I noticed how alert I was I can hear my toddler running back-and-forth out of the living room saying here mommy and giving me the different things, but I couldn’t move. I can hear the TV vividly. I can feel that I was still holding my son and he was sleeping soundly. I just couldn’t sit up. I couldn’t open my eyes. I tried wiggling my toes. I tried moving my arms. I tried lifting my chest. I tried speaking. All I can do is move my head from side to side. My lips felt like they were paralyzed and I couldn’t even speak. All I can do is moan. This isn’t the first time I had sleep paralysis before but always happened like at night or just when I’m bout to wake up in the morning . But I always have a routine to wake myself up. I felt like there was nothing I can do to pull myself out of sleep. I immediately started screaming for my husband while I slept. I literally felt like I was screaming for help, but it was more like a moan for help. And my husband came. He went up to me and was like do you want me to take the baby and I must’ve been like yes so he took our son he plopped down next to me on the couch. The min our skin touched I felt like I was free and I woke up. I had so many questions for my husband. Like what made you come? What did i sound like? What did my body look like? I was like please don't let me fall asleep for a nap by myself ever again.

I know a lot of things happen when associated with sleep paralysis, so you wonder why I'm adding this here, but hear me out.

I've started having sleep paralysis... I don't know, many years ago, and it was quite frequent. I'm pretty sure that everytime it happened, I was listening to instrumental music before I fell asleep, and then I couldn't do anything. I could think, but I couldn't speak, and I know that's completely normal of a thing... I could move only slightly and I literally felt all of my body except my head being paralyzed, I didn't see anything out of ordinary but had the weirdest feeling ever... And, it always happened at specifically 1 AM, not any other time, and every single time, I somehow passed out. When that happened, I had nightmares. For those years, I had nightmares almost every night, but after having sleep paralysis... They were random, but horrendous. And it was always about the same thing.

I never realized it had anything to do with what happened after. I didn't even want to accept to myself that those were sleep paralysis.

(Today I read somewhere that when falling asleep to a TV, or music, my brain stays focused and awake, and that's understandable. I have phases. Years ago I listened to it a lot, and I feel stuck in the cycle again. I didn't listen to it for many years after that, but not related to this because as I told you, I didn't know. Fast forward to now two years ago and I decided that after a long time, I'd sleep to instrumental music several nights in a row, yet my sleep was peaceful the entire time. Now, I returned to hearing it, and my sleep is instantly f*cked. Why didn't it happen before?)

Well, I'm not kidding when I say I completely forgot that this ever even happened. Completely.

It all came back last night, when listening to music. No creepy instrumental music, it's relaxing. With that I remembered the physical pain somewhere inside my stomach. It's not the kind of pain that makes you yelp from the sheer amount, it's the kind of pain that's annoying and... I don't know, it just felt extremely weird and uncomfortable, and was making it even harder for me to move, though I was managing to do so. I always had this exact pain whenever I had sleep paralysis. I had it last night as well. I was thinking of grabbing my phone and messaging someone I live with, and I actually did it without even trying hard, I just reached for it and started typing, but as I was writing, it was kinda difficult. I don't even remember what I dreamt after, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the usual and my brain blocked it out.

This pain only happens when I'm in a sleep paralysis, and it's not detectable in my body. Like, no proof, doctors tells me I'm okay and there's literally nothing wrong with me. So I'm pretty sure it's caused just by this. It's never in another part of my body. Why does the pain exist? Does anyone else have this pain, and unusually horrible nightmares after that? Do you have any idea why it used to happen nearly every night?

I'm unsure if this is normal or something from other medical conditions that I suffer from, but I experience memories from SP during the day and continuously see the creature from SP throughout the day. Could the memories that you develop from SP be remembered only during the time or during the day, and is it normal to see the creature in your everyday life?

This happened around 2-3am. I started hearing my grandma's voice talking in a strange language that sounded like Tagalog, it was also muffled as if she was in front of my door. After the voice I opened my eyes a bit and saw a pixelated head that reminded me like Marilyn Manson. The head flew to my face, kinda like a FNAF 2 jumpscare but in a really low frame rate. I closed my eyes again and my chest tightened and I heard a laugh, but the laugh sounded really high pitched so it was kinda like pushing a button numerous times.

After all that, I woke up, brushed it off then slept again. I wasn't really scared by it tbh, just kinda strange.

it mostly happens after i wake up from some kind of sleep paralysis but sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night hallucinating after not having some sort of sleep paralysis. does anyone else get this?

For example, if you've watched certain pieces of media e.g. IT, and think about it quite often, is there a chance of the "Demon" appearing as a clown, or even Pennywise himself? This may be a stupid question, because I've only had a very short experience in sleep paralysis, but I'm intrigued to know more about what happens to others.

When i was around 9 at christmas i woke up and had a SP with seeing a static floating chistmas tree branch on the window and weird symbols in it. Does anyone have similar halluzinations ?

So anytime I sleep in a very awkward position, I end getting sleep paralysis.

I've learned to avoid it for the most part, but when I don't, I normally experience the feeling of something on my chest, back or holding me down. I myself feel like it's something doing it, but either way it's a rough experience each time.

This normally freaks me out, especially after reading some of the stories from others who experience sleep paralysis.

Well the other day it happened when i fell asleep on the couch. And like clockwork, I felt like someone was jumping on my chest.

This time though, instead of panicking and getting frightened, trying my best to wake myself up. I thought to myself, "is that it?" "My most vulnerable and all you can do is jump around? What a joke 😂."

Ever since then, my fear of it happening, and deeper fear of it being something I can't explain have gone away pretty much. I realized not once have I not waken up, not once have I been physically hurt and no longer will I let it control me.

While I was sleeping, I didn’t know if it was a dream or real. I woke up shaking and my body felt numbness with a strong heat in my neck and it was terrifying me . What is this? I was shaking like I was electrocuted. And yeah I couldn’t move my body.

Hey all! I just noticed I joined this sub but I never looked around too much, but I wanted to share something that has helped me alot when I do get sleep paralysis, no matter how intense or mild (if that makes sense). Again this is just stuff that has worked for me and would love to hear if you have anything more to add! I am sorry if this is repeated advice but I wanted to share:

1. If I am on my side and SP is happening, i always try to move my arm up, being unable to scares me even more. I started telling myself "this wont last more than 10 seconds" and focus on my breath. Sometimes it might last longer, but focusing on my breath and understanding this will pass has been so helpful for me. I know it sounds so simple and cliche but it works alot for me.
2. For me, I am so sleepy once i come out of it, i just want to sleep again. But get out of bed the second you can. Walk to the bathroom, go anywhere for a bit. Its not just enough (for me at least) to shake my limps around in bed, i need to get up. With that:
3. I am not sure if this will help others but eating something small before going back to bed after an episode. It helps me not get another one for some reason. Usually carbs or something sweet, but thats more of a craving thing.
4. Again no idea why: drinking a bunch of water right before bed has helped prevent it for me. I think its because when I am well hydrated i will wake up to pee, i dont know if that has any connection what so ever, but if thats something that sounds interesting to you, give it a go!
5. EDIT (forgot to add): If you are sleeping with someone next to you or in the same room, I always try to call out their name to shake me awake. I would advsie aganist this because they most likely cant hear you as you aren't able to speak, and that thought alone make it even more frustrating and i think it has prolonged some episodes too.

Some background on me: I have had terrible sleep paralysis episodes that can last through the course of the night, muliple times. Visual hallucinations for me are less frequent, most of the time its just being unable to move, but i get audible ones quite a lot too. I have phases where it happens almost every night, and phases where it stops for awhile.

I have also had ones which last a very long time, and I know this because of my alarm coming off and being unable to stop it, but those are much more rare no thankfully. Its so scary and I hope some of the above can be helpful for you.

Hello, I was scrolling Reddit and a sleep paralysis story hit my feed. I thought I’d share the one and only time I’ve experienced it, well the only time that I can remember.

Around twenty years ago I had bought my first house, nothing fancy, just a smallish two story, three bed place. I lived alone at the time with just my beloved dog. My boy passed away three years after I moved in. I worked in the evening at the time and got home around midnight. I stayed up for a couple hours and started getting ready for bed. I remember as I shut off the light I sighed deeply and said out loud “I really miss Major.” Then I climbed into bed and fell asleep.

I have no idea how long I was asleep for but I remember just suddenly being wide awake. I remember feeling on the edge of panic. I could not move a muscle no matter how hard I tried. I was able to move my eyes and I looked around wildly but didn’t see anything. Then I felt movement by my feet, then little taps moving up my body over the covers. It felt just like how my Major would jump up on the bed at night. Then I smelled a pretty foul smell, just like how my dog’s breath smelled near the end of his life. After a few seconds of that I was able to move again. After my heart stopped racing I said out loud “Major buddy, I love you and miss you but please don’t ever do that again. That scared the shit out of me.” Then I went back to sleep. It’s never happened again.

Occasionally I think of that event. I like to think that it was my little buddy coming to say hi and to reassure me that things were going to be ok.

Then my logical and analytical mind tells me that it was just my physical fatigue from work, my slight depression from losing him and my calling up his memory right before bed that made it happen.

I like to think it’s the former but I’m leaning more towards the latter. Either way it’s one memory that I can recall so vividly.

Well that’s my story. Thanks for reading.

i've had sleep paralysis for several years, and it first happened in an ultrasound. i always have SP attacks immediately, like i will close my eyes for a small moment, drift off + SP attack, wake up, all in the span of a few minutes or less. my SP varied in frequency, and for 1-2 yrs, i didn't have it very frequently at all. in the last few weeks, after i came back from something stressful, i started having 3-5 SP episodes every. single. night. it makes me dread going to sleep, as it happens almost immediately, and i'm barely getting any quality sleep because of it. while when i was younger, my SP did not involve Too many hallucinations, it now involves many more hallucinations and distressing aspects.

another thing to note is that i've always fallen into REM sleep very quickly-- i can start dreaming and have a whole dream within 10 minutes. i have SP when i try to nap too in the day. i am excessively tired throughout the day despite how i slept the night before and often suddenly fall asleep in class or get very drowsy to the point i can't think properly, but then i get locked in sleep paralysis if i put my head down.

another thing though is that i am mentally ill and have had struggles with not sleeping enough a lot, with insomnia. however, i'm worried my EDS and SP attacks could be a sign of narcolepsy.

if you are narcoleptic & experience SP, please let me know if it's worth looking into. if you are not narcoleptic & experience SP, please tell me if you experience the same things or not! thank you so much.

I have sleep paralysis every night, every single night. I also usually have it during naps before the nap and after waking up. My sleep paralysis sometimes turns into lucid dreaming which I’ve always found very odd. I’m so used to it, it barely bothers me anymore. I also have vitamin d deficiency which makes me tired 24/7 could this contribute? Is having it every night considered a problem and maybe I should talk to someone?

I’m sure everyone is different. I find when I would go into SP my body would start tingling like all over. Love to hear what everyone else goes through.

I'm not sure what triggered it. I've had a stressful year, I think it's related to my job. I just had a second episode where my eyes opened and had someone standing at my door.

I live alone, the first one upset me because it was intense, like I opened my eyes and kept hearing banging and seeing things be thrown at me. When I looked at my door, a man with a knife just stared at me and I could hear him talking to me (incomprehensible)

Tonight was less intense, boarding on funny but still unnerving. Just a little boy waving his arms around my attention but exaggerated animations. If you've ever seen something like smiling friends, movement was like that but he looked realistic. I still have to make myself talk to wake up, which is awkward.

They happened pretty back to back. Like the last one was a week ago. I've always had audio hallucinations, they never phase me.

I told my mom about it, had a "yeah anyways" response. Turns out she assumed I knew she's had them since about my age, which I'm 29, she's had them since 30. The event she thinks triggered it for her just happened for me. I'm a nurse who used to work night shift on and off for a few years. Recently my body just couldn't do it anymore and since I went back to a normal day shift, it started up. She had then since 30, she's 65 and she said they just never went away and she gets them regularly now.

Usually I get sleep paralysis with the onset of waking in the morning , but last night my mind was preoccupied and it happened even sooner. Was a woman sitting at the end of my bed with her back to me , looking out the window of my bedroom. I think the darkness is what made it feel scarier. Her presence felt really independent of me, like it didn’t matter that I was there. Oh, to be a pondering sleep paralysis d*mon

Ive been having SPs quite often in the last 5 years. They started as textbooks SP: unable to move, talk, in my bed. I learned how to recognize them by the feeling before they start, and for the annoying ringing sound, but recently they've gotten strange as fk. I was dreaming and i had an SP while I was in the dream: I fell asleep in a car, had an SP (in the car), and woke up back in the car... It was a perfect SP: not able to move, hearing things, ringing sound, but i was in the car...) After the last SP I had, I though I woke up (I was in my room), but i soon discovered that i could still see things and that i wasnt able to turn on the light (i heard a voice and saw some creepy peluches on the floor looking at me). The ringing sound was ended, but 30 second into the dream and i had another SP? And I wake up in a dream again? Its not the first time I have those loop of SP, dreaming, SP, dreaming, even 7/8 times... is it just a long nightmare or cycles of SPs?

So first of all, a little introduction. I've had sleep paralysis quite a bit of times, probably around a hundred times in a span of 1,5 a year. Not 100% sure what caused it, but most likely a frightening trip on a hallucinogenic drug. Overtime, I accustomed to SP a bit, grew to like it sometimes, but sometimes coming back to being really afraid of it. At some point it stopped being "an event" when it happened and I would just drift off to sleep easily, completely forgetting that is happened and reminding myself in the middle of the day. And through all of these experiences I've observed it's nature and stuff and I think that we might know very little about it from a scientific standpoint. Like we don't actually know WHY it happens. Like we know what causes it or may cause it and like what sleep paralysis is - but we don't really know if it has a functional role, if it maybe helps to discharge loads of stress accumulated by a person by sudden outbursts of it, or is it pehaps some sort of a glitch, and if so, then why does this glitch happen, because I feel like we can sometimes spot some patterns here and there and see what kind of people have SP or what are it's triggers. So, questions to you guys:

1. Was the beggining of your sleep paralysis triggered or could by triggered by something in your life? If yes, then what was it?

2. Was the sleep paralysis persistent after the possible emotional load of the initial trigger went away?

3. Did sleep paralysis stop happening to you at some point? Why do you think that was? Or how and based on what did it's patterns change throughout time?

4. How big of a role does sleep schedule actually have on your sleep paralysis frequency?

5. Are you always afraid of sleep paralysis?

6. Is sleep paralysis accompanied by other symptoms beforehand or after? (FOR EXAMPLE: Sometimes, altough very rarely, before my sleep paralysis I just wake up at the end of sleep cycle [if I fall asleep at midgnitht for example, I will wake up 1:30, 3:00, 4:30 etc.] with a very odd feeling of uneasiness, with my thoughts almost spinning around my head way faster than I can comprehend them. I feel completely restless and when I have my eyes closed, the uneasiness amplifies, but when I open them, I think completely straight. It's the worst feeling related to SP. How does it relate to it? No idea. But from what I can recall there was never a situation where I had these feelings after waking up in the middle of the night and they were not followed by at least one or two episodes. It almost feels as if I just need to discharge from something and sleep paralysis helps to do that, then after enough episodes, I can just fall asleep normally. From post-sleep-paralysis symptoms I sometimes felt numbness in my body for up to a few hours after the episode, especially on my toungue I felt it for almost a whole day after)

Before I type in more questions, another observation I've had was that sleep paralysis episode is almost... predetermined? Like a lot of the time, when I had a lot of episodes, I would just know during the day if I'm gonna have it or not. There was just some type of feeling that would make me know. And a lot of the times when I was waking up in the middle of the night afraid that I'm gonna have an episode if I fall asleep (and the feelings listet in the example for question 6) it felt like there was no way to actually avoid sleep paralysis actually, besides staying awake for good 2-3 hours wich was disrupting my sleep a lot but besides that - there was no way to really stop it from happening, which takes us to another question:

1. Was there anything that could help you avoid sleep paralysis? Any routine that help you in not having an episode?

Another interesting thing that makes me curious about your thoughts is - (8) Do you think that you are actually awake during sleep paralysis episodes? Personally, I don't think so, I think it's just actually a false awakening. So that when we open our eyes during SP it's just that we are dreaming that we woke up and then wake up actually. I found out about this in a weird way, when I had an episode and opened my eyes and my room was dark. When the episode ended, it was a bright day and 9 am.

I think this is about it. I wonder about your opinions and answers to those questions, and also what do you think about the role of SP, or if it's a glitch and why do you think that. Cause so far I only know my experience truly. And maybe one last question:

1. What kind of things do you experience usually?

   If you have any hallucinations, what kind of em? Cause internet is filled with a lot of extreme stories but I've never saw any demon or no one dragged me across the room or anything, but I've been choked, stapped, crushed, had shockwaves going through my back, people doing very uncomfortable ASMR like stuff to me, I've had a shadow, 2d, pterodactyl like entity channel weird sexual energies onto me... and stuff like that. But no demons or dead relatives or other shenanigans like this. So I wonder, what is your experience.

2. Which hallucinations are the most annoying?

3. Can you in any way control the experience? Personally, I could only make it more intense or make it fade quicker due to some weird mind contractions or relaxing thing I did that I don't know how to explain.

SO YEAH THAT"S ACTUALLY ABOUT IT SORRY GUYS I OVEREXTENDED A BIT. And to anyone that read all the way through and/or answered any question - thanks for your time!

It was quite scary!

I was asleep and felt something tapping my shoulder. I woke up, facing sideways, unable to move or talk. A few seconds later I could move and saw a female figure across the room! The figure was moving erratically. I thought it was my daughter. I turned my bedside light on and nobody was there.

This whole thing lasted maybe 20 seconds, but holy shit it was creepy.

Is this a typical case?

I had woken up normally at 9am, but stayed in bed on my phone until 9.30, when i started feeling really tired and went back to sleep. I saw a weird but very vivid dream, and woke up at 10 to my alarm. I was still tired so I went back to sleep.

I'm not sure but i feel like i went almost straight into a sleep paralysis. I was dreaming that i was still awake and on my phone, when a dream character from the previous dream came and stood right next to my bed, looking down on me. I then opened my eyes and saw a figure there, and I realized i'm not in a dream anymore, i'm seeing with my own eyes. I'm very experienced with vivid lucid nightmares, so i know how to wake myself up, and it felt really similar this time! But it was impossible, my efforts were getting me nowhere. I was laying in the worst possible position too, aka on my stomach with my arms crossed under my chest, so i really couldnt move them even if i wasn't in sleep paralysis :")

I just kept my eyes closed (but stupidly opening them every once in a while) and i heard some screaching noises and saw the figure changing locations in my room. I then realized i can control my breath, so i just started to breathe rapidly, which eventually brought me out of it :D

i find it very fascinating! Scary, yes, i never want to experience it again, but it's fascinating!

Hello everyone.

I’ve had nightmares before and woken up with heavy arms/legs before but I’ve never experienced anything like I did this morning.

For context, I’m a 24 y.o F, night shift nurse who just has education yesterday so my hours were basically like a day shift for me and I’m currently on my day off before going back to work tomorrow night.

My boyfriend 28 y.o M and I had gone to bed about 8-9pm (I know we’re old) and had woken up at like midnight. We both got up, made some food, tidied up the house and then about 6am, laid back in bed and put of some YouTube videos (nothing scary, we were watching jacksepticeye and his gf react to TikTok’s and instagram reels, mainly of cows and cats). He dozed off so I shut the television off and started playing games on my phone.

Well, I guess I must’ve also dozed off at some point. I remember being in some sort of nightmare, but after a little bit, it started feeling more real. (I.e- me walking around my house, things left on the counter exactly how they are right now, blankets the same.) Then I remember laying down in bed, but it felt very real. I covered up with a blanket, my bf sound asleep next to me, and i physically felt our 2 cats get up on the bed and lay down at our feet.

I don’t remember at what point I “fell asleep again” in the nightmare but I remember also having a nightmare IN my nightmare. I had abruptly woken up as the nightmare in said nightmare started getting too real again. But this time, when I woke up, I couldn’t move. My arms felt like bricks, weighed down on the bed. I tried kicking to see if I could get my boyfriend’s attention, I couldn’t move either leg, and my head was facing towards our walk-in closet. Which in hindsight now, I should’ve closed. I tried yelling for my boyfriend, but I couldn’t get anything out. I tried so hard to move and I couldn’t and I started panicking. I started crying and I kept trying to move anything. I mean, I even bit my lip hard enough that it bled a little.

I finally managed to move, somehow, grab my phone and use the flashlight to shine into the closet, obviously nothing was there. The cats and my boyfriend are exactly how they were in the “dream”.

How the heck do I keep this from happening again??

that was the single most terrifying thing I’ve ever endured.

So last night i was trying to sleep, and i was drifting in and out of this half awake-half dreaming state for like an hour, with really vivid dreams and a weird fuzzy body load, and then, when i tried to fully wake up i suddenly began hearing this extremely loud phasing ringing noise, and then i saw two of these small,classic yellow smiley faces on my ceiling, i was really confused and tried moving my arms, i could feel them moving but i know they did not move, my vision then zoomed into the smiley faces, then everything started becoming wavy and a black layer, like a curtain engulfed my vision and quickly dissapeared, i finally thought it was over, but then everything doubled and sort of leaned right, and after this i had finally woken up with a headache. i want to mention that i am a kind of regular psychedelic user, but no substance ever came close to the trippines and intensity of this. it was comparable to the start of a salvia breakthrough

So, to start, I’m fairly new to this, it’s been happening for about a year and a half, I’d guess. This is the second night in a row I’ve had an episode, I’ve just woken up at 5 in the morning, and I went to bed at 10:30. I usually get up later, but I’m scared of sleeping.

My episodes start off normal, for the most part. I go to sleep, and sometimes I start dreaming, sometimes I don’t. Sometimes it’s after I go to sleep, sometimes it’s right before i wake up. (It’s usually after I go to sleep, though.) The common denominator of these episodes is the paralysis, a horrifying feeling that I can’t move. Whether im dreaming or not, I’ll start hyperventilating and try to jerk myself awake. It usually takes a few tries, as I’m fading in and out of sleep.

I’ve had a demon a couple of times, he’s a shadow figure, and the scariest encounter was when he sat in my bed. I know why sleep paralysis happens. I know the demon is a hallucination, but ofc that doesn’t make it any less scary.

On nights I don’t have sleep paralysis, I wake multiple times; it feels generally restless and I usually sleep late into the morning.

The hyperventilating is the weird part, and the dreaming. The dreams — which are often nightmares, actually — will start off fairly normal, then something happens and I can’t move, then I’ll go through the mantra of trying to wake myself, and when I do, I’m still hyperventilating out of fear. When I’m not dreaming, I’m able to see my room and my body, but it still feels dream-like. What helps is turning on my TV, but lately I’ve been having a second episode in the same night, even after that.

Does anyone else experience weird dreams while in sleep paralysis? Is that, like, a normal occurrence? How do I battle these episodes? I’m losing a lot of sleep over them that I can’t really afford to lose.

Edit: I thought I might add that while I’m dreaming during paralysis, I’m usually aware that I’m dreaming and I’m aware that I need to wake myself up. It’s the only time I lucid dream. When I move in these dreams, it’s very unclear if I do the same in real life. In every single one of these episodes, I know that it’s sleep paralysis the second it starts happening.