Something's happening...

[Sahaqiel 1232]

XD, DiamondTriforce, that happened to me once. I was trying to sleep but my mind was racing about random stuff.

Eventually I had thoughts that were extremely vivid. These thoughts became dreams on the insides of my eyelids. It was like I was watching TV and sleeping or something. It's hard to describe. Then I almost dozed off but woke up again without opening my eyes. Then I tried to get up for a glass of water but couldn't move. The dreamlike visions had turned into a third person view of me in my room. I'm sure this was paralysis because I tried to move and felt a definite strain on trying, just like feeling heaviness evenly distributed on my body parts. I thought, "What's wrong with me?" And tried to move around again. Then I thought, "Screw it. I'll stop moving and then try to move again in five seconds to see if that'll work." So I did that and I was better. I got my drink. It was a pretty awesome experience though and I want it to happen more often. XD

Also, HF it's probably nothing. Probably just a random occurrence. Like one time my hand felt funny so I looked at it and one of my veins moved to the right a centimeter and stayed there. It like, bulged over. 'Twas trippy, but awesome.

Sahaqiel

[The Minish Link 1]

HF, you should talk to Anon about this. It was either a strain, a wierd reflex of some sort, or...

A BANSHEE!!!

They do wierd things in the night, apparantly there's a few people who have woken up in the middle of the night with a huge amount of pressure on their chest, like something's sitting on them, and have even woken to fing horrible disfigured heads above them which then disappear.

That's Bulls***.

[The Minish Link 1]

Sleep paralysis is a condition characterized by temporary paralysis of the body shortly after waking up (known as hypnopompic paralysis) or, less often, shortly before falling asleep (known as hypnagogic paralysis).

Physiologically, it is closely related to the paralysis that occurs as a natural part of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is known as REM atonia. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the bodily paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully aware, but unable to move. In addition, the state may be accompanied by hypnagogic hallucinations.

More often than not, sleep paralysis is believed by the person affected by it to be no more than a dream (although it is possible it is in fact a dream: i.e., a false awakening). This explains many dream recountings which describe the person lying frozen and unable to move. The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it even more likely that someone will interpret the experience as a dream, since completely fanciful, or dream-like, objects may appear in the room alongside one's normal vision. Some scientists have proposed this condition as a theory for alien abductions and ghostly encounters.

Symptoms of sleep paralysis can be either one of the following or a combination:

Paralysis: this occurs after waking up or shortly before falling asleep. the person cannot move any body part, cannot speak, and only has minimal control over blinking and breathing. This paralysis is the same paralysis that occurs when dreaming. The brain paralyzes the muscles to prevent possible injury during dreams, as some body parts may move during dreaming. If the person wakes up suddenly, the brain may still think that it is dreaming, and sustains the paralysis.

Hallucinations: Images or speaking that appear during the paralysis. The person may think that someone is standing beside them or they may hear strange sounds. These may be dreamlike, possibly causing the person to think that they are still dreaming. Often times it is reported as feeling a weight on one's chest, as if being underneath a person or heavy object.

These symptoms can last from mere seconds to several minutes and can be frightening to the person.

Sleep paralysis occurs during REM sleep, thus preventing 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 dream activity (e.g. preventing a sleeper from flailing his legs when dreaming about running).

Several studies have concluded that many or most people will experience sleep paralysis at least once or twice in their lives.

Many people who commonly enter sleep paralysis also suffer from narcolepsy. In African-Americans, panic disorder occurs with sleep paralysis more frequently than in Caucasians. Some reports read that various factors increase the likelihood of both paralysis and hallucinations. These include:

Sleeping in an upwards supine position

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 .

Artificial sleeping aides, antihistamines

Recent use of hallucinogenic drugs

HOW THE FLIP DO YOU EVEN KNOW ALL THIS?!

Yes, I know I double posted. Sue me.

Yeah, I agree with Saha. Like one time, I woke up and was dizzy, and threw up. But it hasn't happened since.

Still, if it happens again, see a doctor.

Edited 24 Feb 2008 by That's Mama Luigi (see edit history)