I think I may have experienced sleep paralysis and it really scares me.
So just yesterday I had an experience that really scared me. I looked up some stuff and sleep paralysis seems to be the closest thing to explain what I experienced. So here's what happened. I woke up and I was in that state of "don't want to get up yet" so I tried to go back to sleep a few times. Weird thing was that whenever I closed my eyes I went into a dream almost instantly. First one was amusing as I could hear birds in the backyard clearly speaking English. Second one was really short, I turned and saw my mother on a lounge that I don't even have anymore, alongside my grandfather (Who passed away some years ago) and my mother simply shakes her head and says truly tragic.
Here's the scary part. So I wake, I'm clearly consious but I see this dark hooded figure right above me, like floating in the air just staring down at me. Just remember I'm awake here. That's when I can't move a muscle and I'm really struggling to speak. I was trying to say "You're not real." but I could barely get the words out and it was really hushed. I felt like I was being choked. I knew what I was seeing couldn't possibly be real but I was awake and couldn't move, no matter how much I wanted to. I was really struggling and I heard these experiences are much worse if you try to fight it and that might be why I had such rough time. This may be the first time I've ever felt genuinely terrified. Soon after I somehow managed to wave my arm and basically whimper "Get away." The figure was gone instantly and I could move. After that I obviously had no desire to sleep. I desperately wanted to get the fuck out of my room, so I immediately got up and left.
So I just really wanted to get that off my chest. I felt that I had to and I feel comfortable talking on these forums. Honestly I'm a little paranoid and scared about the idea of sleeping now. I never want to experience that again. So please share your thoughts. I don't mind discussing this and I think it might ease my mind.
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I had sleeping paralysis before, it is never a nice feeling. You are awake, but you are unable to breath. It feels like you are trapped inside your own body. I am fortunate that I haven't open my eyes yet when I had this experience so I had never seen this dark figure. I am usually able to quickly figure out that I am under the paralysis and thus I began moving my toes and then my foot side to side in order to get out of the paralysis and staying calm.
Just stay calm, relax, think on some other stuff. You will be able to sleep again.
ive had sleep paralysis in the past didnt see anything but heard some wierd noises the dark hooded figure you mentioned has been seen by other people as well it seems to go away if you manage to tell it to but its best to try and sleep and not worry about paralysis happening
Okay, so I looked up what you described on Google. Apparently, other people have seen this "dark hooded figure" you mentioned.
Being a Christian, the best thing I can recommend doing is pray. It helps. Don't just mumble words, do it from your heart. Just trust me. I'm here to comfort you, not convert you.
One more tip: keep relaxing music on at night.
Man, that just sounds terrifying. [Much to my chagrin,] I looked it up just now, and.. boy oh boy some people have the worst luck. There seems to be varying degrees to this, and you've gotten the short end of the stick, luckily. (Not that I truly believe all these other stories I see on the internet -- could just be to drum up a horror story -- but it seems like quite the experience.
Have you ever had a lucid dream?
Luckily I've never had Sleep paralysis (until now) but some of my friends had this and they told me about this "dark figure" staring at them, and it completely terrifies me. Sometimes I'm afraid to sleep, I really don't want to experience this, it seems awful. I think if one day I suffer sleep paralysis I will faint. Mainly because I have Nyctophobia (phobia characterized by a severe fear of the dark) and I'm gonna die of fear if I see this dark figure.
I'm sorry you've experienced this.
What do you mean by that? You go on to say that when you do, you'll be terrified. Not when I did...
I think I might've had one. I mean I've had dreams where I was pretty sure it was a dream but it's rare that I've ever had control over the dream.
I had sleep paralysis once, thankfully i didn't see anything scary as i was laying on my side so there was nothing to see above me but it was a weird feeling being awake but unable to move.
I've had these regularly for years, nowadays less and less, but haven't found a lot of people like me. I used to feel like some freak.. Maybe the reason is also having a bunch of other sleeping problems? Well, lucid dreaming like mentioned before, not a problem but I've been having those too since I was a little kid, weekly or at least monthly. Don't remember seeing a thread for that, those would be fun to talk about.
Back to sleep paralysis. Your experience sounds a lot like my first one, jumping back and forth between the dream state and the paralysed state without even realising you're paralysed yet? If I understood right. I didn't see the dark entity until these had become a regular thing, you really had the worst luck. But when you're in this state you only control your eyes and breathing. You couldn't have possibly talked to it? Because when you finally manage to make a sound or move something you snap out of it immediately.
Sometimes you can have this "ghost feeling" of moving your hand for example, when you actually haven't moved. Of course you only pay attention to these things when the sleep paralysis isn't in full terror mode. I used to be in this semi-private discussion group for people suffering from this (the site doesn't even exist anymore and it seriously sucks). I learned a lot from them, you can actually have an out of body experience with practice starting from the paralysed state. Managed to do it once but that is some advanced level shit lmao. When you've gotten rid of the fear.
So instead I'm going to look back on the time when I finally met the hag, the entity, "nightmare" whatever you call it for the first time. It's actually really interesting that people collectively all over the world and over the years see the same things? Yeah, the dark entity was hooded but it wasn't floating above me but sitting on my chest with it's hands around my throat, and I couldn't breathe. It kept mocking me and telling me it's going to kill me. Earlier in another sleep paralysis I had only heard it's steps in the room, then yet another time felt it crawl from under the bed, on my legs and up my body. Can't even describe the fear and terror, rationality says it's not real but when you're in it you're afraid of dying.
Of course it's not always that bad. And there are things you can do to prevent it and/or to wake yourself up.
During sleep paralysis you might see and feel hallucinations. This is considered normal. Stuff like eating too much just before going to bed can cause sleep paralysis.
Sleep Paralysis has many causes...it is not a one size fits all....however what ever started you down the rabbit hole has the same effect on your sleep and rem cycles that govern your dreams.
In the normal course of events...just like a song you have on your phone...these cycles run their course and you dream...and you will not remember all your dreams. Dreams are a way for your brain to sort through things that have happened in your life...sort of like a defragging of your hard drive...these dreams for the most part are just your brain cleaning up things and making life easier.
However things happen in your lives every day that can affect the process. You are stressed...you are sad...something has changed in your life...or you could be just having a bad night of sleep....so instead of running that song all the way through to the end...your brain keeps switching it back to the beginning...something is causing the process the restart. Most of the time you wake up and you are still tired...you had a lousy night and got no real rest. We have all been there.
Sleep Paralysis happens when part of your body starts to wake just as the rem cycle is reset to the beginning. You are stuck in between sleep and wakefulness..as far as your brain is concerned ...you still need rem sleep...but another part of your brain says...hey idiot...get up. You are still..."asleep" But you have full access to your dream state...and it is frightening because you know you should be able to move but cannot.
The human brain is a marvelous thing...we will actually fill in details of what happened because we have no way of actually understanding what we went through. Our brains will fill in the gaps with some fears...because usually we are frightened. If you believe in god and the devil...well chances are a dark figure will appear. If say you were Cambodians who escaped the Khmer Rouge and the Genocide of 3 million fellow Cambodians...then your living nightmare is a Khmer Rouge soldier with a weapon in hand. Or it could be a vampire, or an alien.
The interesting thing is that people have gotten over their fear of the situation...they can shape the dream and make it a joyful time.
I wake up with it every now and then. Nothing frequent though. And I have to say, it has to be one of the worst experiences ever. Sometimes I can't breathe enough or call out for help, sometimes I hallucinate when it occurs - strange hallucinations. Like things watching me or reaching for me and me not being able to react quickly enough to "do something" or get up. But I just tell myself i'm dreaming to feel better :' )
Sleep paralysis happens when something goes wrong in your brain with the REM and falling asleep/waking up stage, for whatever reason which are many. You wake up, but the part of your brain that keeps you still so you don't hurt youself while you sleep, does not. What you experience in that state is not a dream, they're hallucinations. Dreams can be controlled if you know you're dreaming, hallucinations cannot. That's why eventhough you know none of it's real you can only observe. Well if someone can control what happens in their SP feel free to correct me.
As a side note, my bf has experienced sleep paralysis once himself and he also saw the creepy floating figure above him and was seriously freaking out. The fear isn't always present though. If being paralysed doesn't activate the threat response then there's no panic. I've sometimes seen flashing lights with bright colours and heard calming music. Interesting stuff. Well, used to be, nowadays they're mostly just boring tbh. Not complaining.
You can also experience similar state but without paralysis. I wasn't aware of that until recently so that one really scared me.. called hypnagogia in english I believe.
Sleep paralysis is terrifying. I've had it before and I used to get anxiety attacks just thinking about going to bed, in case I have an SP. The best things to do to prevent them is have a healthy sleep schedule and manage your daytime stress.
When you're having one, try wiggling your toes and fingers. Even if you can't just try. It will wake you up eventually And whatever you do - don't open your eyes.
Good tips, trying to move has never worked for me personally. If that's the case you can also breathe really deep and/or fast which makes you move enough so you get free. Only thing that works for me. Also avoid sleeping on your back.