The Student Room Group

Reply 1

I get it. Used to scare me crapless when I was little.

I don't know if you can stop it ocurring, but the best thing you can do is just lie calmly until it wears off. It rarely takes longer than a minute or two, and that's at its most extreme.

Reply 2

^this si gonna sound scary but they are pretty cool.

Reply 3

i get it quite a bit. but i find a never get it when i sleep with the TV on. haha maybe thats just me though:smile: still scares me everytime.

Reply 4

i feel like theres someone inthe room everytime. and sometimes it feels like theyre trying to crush me or something. it well weird.

Reply 5

Yes I get this too! I didn't know how common it really is. It's bloody scary isn't it. I was looking at what people experience in this sleep paralytic state... any of you affected by these things?:

Most common

* Vividness
* Falling sensation
* Fear

Common

* Sensing a "presence" (often malevolent)
* Pressure/weight on body (especially the chest or back).
* A sensation of not being able to breathe
* Sense of impending doom/death

Fairly common

* Auditory sensations (often footsteps or indistinct voices, or pulsing noises). Auditory sensations which are described as noise instead of sensations of distinct or comprehensible sounds, are often described to be similar to auditory sensations caused by nitrous oxide by persons who have experienced both.
* Visual sensations such as lights, people or shadows moving around the room

Less common

* Floating sensations (often described as out-of-body experiences)
* Seamless transition into fully immersive lucid dreaming, also associated with out-of-body experiences
* Tactile sensations (such as a hand touching or grabbing)

Rare

* Vibration
* Involuntary movements (sometimes the feeling of sliding off the bed or even up walls).
* The feeling of being pulled in different directions


I've had the "feeling of impending doom". It was weird - like I could feel myself leaving my body and ... I dunno... dying. And I've also had the feeling of actually slipping off my bed onto the floor. It's really weird but I've learnt to put up with it. Stress apparently.

Reply 6

for me its when i am usually dreaming, and in my dream i usually maybe fall, or get hit or say hit a wall or stub my toe then i wake up and feel like i am just about to hit the ground.

Reply 7

i also get unfer the rare section the weird things like falling off bed. though it is even more weird since i sleep on a double bed :|

Reply 8

Yeah the falling off the bed one is the most frequent. I've only had the out of body thing once - was like I was being pulled out of my body. When i PROPERLY woke up, was quite scared :p:
I read about a little trick to get 'back to normal'; that you should start blinking if you realise you're in sleep paralysis - and it does work.

Reply 9

alien abduction

Reply 10

I got this today when I took a nap in the afternoon:
First I dreamt that I was fainting then I got to the ground, opened my eyes and felt paralysed with pulsing noises in both ears and I though there was someone else in the room. This is the first time its ever happened, but was quite scary and surreal! As I wasn't sure what was happening, but am glad its nothing to be worried about- I'll just try not to take naps during the day anymore.

Reply 11

I really hate sleep paralysis. When I get it I can't open my eyes yet I am aware that I am awake. It feels like they are too heavy too open so I'm just lying there with my eyes closed.

Reply 12

I used to get it a lot, and i had it last week. I find that i get it when i've slept too much.

Reply 13

I don't get it. One of my (ex) flatmates has every sleeping disorder under the sun and gets it a lot. Scares me witless just thinking about it. :eek:

Reply 14

When I get it, I just keep saying in my head "you are awake, you ARE!"
and try to be all alert and awake.
Don't know if this makes sense but I snap out of it pretty quickly!

Reply 15

Last time I had it, I thought I'd woke up but was still lying on my bed on my back and I saw my sister leaning over me holding some candles or something. My sister doesn't even live in my house (I'm at uni) so that kinda gave it away that something was up.

I just thought "hmm something is slightly odd here" and tried to move my body...I think I tried to move my legs but I snapped out of it when my elbow knocked into the wall and I woke up properly. I know I wasn't just dreaming that I'd woke up, I actually remember trying to move which seemed to help me to snap out of it, either that or it was a coincidence.