5 replies to this topic

[Tristam]

Have you ever caught yourself in a state of "half sleep"? I don't think I've ever heard anyone describe what I've experienced. It used to happen to me in high school all the time, and it would usually happen when I'd lie down to take naps after school. I never had the best sleeping habits, so I'd always be tired when I came home, but I knew if I took a nap I'd have trouble sleeping later that night - a vicious cycle. So I'd be thinking to myself "OK, I'll lie down just for a few minutes, but I won't go to sleep." Anyways, it seems my will may have been in the right place but my body thought otherwise, and I'd sink into a state of half sleep. It's actually kind of terrifying -- I think just the same way as if I were awake, but I can't move, I can't speak, and I can't open my eyes. All I can do is think and hear things. Basically, I think that my body has shut down -- physically, I am asleep, my digestion has slowed, my muscles have completely relaxed, my breathing is deep, etc. -- but my mind refuses to comply. And when I say that it's a terrifying feeling, it's no joke; it feels like I've got a pillow over my face and I'm being suffocated. Or more accurately it feels as though my whole body has been completely bound and I'm in pitch black water and sinking to the bottom. Perhaps I was wrong when I said I think the same way as I do when I'm awake, because in this state my only concern is waking up -- in this state, I feel like if I don't wake up, I'll drown. Indeed, when I do wake up out of it, I take a deep breath like I'd just struggled to the surface of a pool.

Even weirder is the method I use to wake up. I said I couldn't move, but there was one exception. I could wiggle the pinky on my left hand just a little bit, but when I did that I could begin to move my hand, then my wrist and forearm, then my whole arm, and finally I'd be shaking my entire body and doing that would wake me up.

This was always a much stranger experience to me than anything I've ever had while dreaming. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

[Tangocat777]

Happens to me now and again, although I actually paid attention in school. (OMG)

[Tristam]

Happens to me now and again, although I actually paid attention in school. (OMG)

LOL, I don't mean I'd fall asleep during class, just after school. Cool to see someone with a similar experience though.

[NNR07]

What you're describing is Sleep Paralysis. It's the same feeling as waking up in the morning and unable to move your leg or hand, but in that case just mentioned it happens when you're awake. It happens both when going to sleep and when waking up.

It happens naturally, every night. It's just, it's happening to you while you're going to sleep consciously in what you described above. Don't worry about the feeling you get in it. It CAN'T kill you. It might be horrifying and uncomfortable, but it's just your body relaxing for sleep mode ""!

[wyldflowa]

Yup, that sounds like sleep paralysis~ I have it too~

The first time it happened I freaked out - I honestly thought I was being raped by a ghost. O_O That weird bound feeling and the pressure on my chest plus hallucinations... I was completely scared shitless. By strange coincidence the next day there was an article in the paper explaining what it actually was. After I knew what it was and why it happened I've started inducing it upon myself just for kicks. It's sorta like my own way of getting to lucidity~

[Louis]

Yes, sleep paralysis. Quite a common phenomenon, some people like to think it's linked to psychic powers.

It's not.