/r/Sleepparalysis

Photograph via snooOG

Discussion and support for the science of sleep paralysis.

Subreddit Description

  • Have you ever been half asleep, paralyzed, and frightened? You are not the only one. Please feel free to share your story about sleep paralysis in this subreddit.

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/r/Sleepparalysis

64,260 Subscribers

2

Not sure if sleep paralysis or something else

It doesn't happen often but sometimes when I'm really tired and try to sleep, or I wake up and try to continue my sleep, my body gets stuck, it gets hard to breathe and I get overwhelming tinnitus, but my mind is fully awake so I try to shake whatever muscle I can, usually shaking my head works, and I can move again but as I'm still incredibly tired I want to sleep more and in seconds can go back to this state. This loop can happen many many times in a row until I decide to give up on sleeping and get up.

Does anyone else have similar experiences? And does anyone have any advice on how to fall asleep during these.

0 Comments
2025/01/31
21:06 UTC

1

Sleep Paralysis Survey

Hey everyone! 👋

I’m a final-year university student researching sleep paralysis for my dissertation. If you’ve experienced it, I’d love your help!

💡 What’s in it for you?
✅ Help advance research & innovation
✅ Share your experience with someone who gets it
✅ Contribute to a potential solution for Sleep Paralysis

It’s a quick 5-minute survey, and every response makes a difference!

Take the survey here >>> https://forms.gle/6Ctg2zqiZsKT5uGU8

Thanks so much! Feel free to share or DM me if you’d like to chat about Sleep Paralysis. :))

0 Comments
2025/01/31
20:48 UTC

1

Someone pulling my blankets

Hello, this is my first post here. I would like to say that for a week now I have felt like something or someone is pulling my blanket. I wake up after kicking the place where the blanket is going. Has anyone else experienced something similar? And if that has happened to you, what do you do? Because despite waiting a while before going back to sleep, I feel like the covers are being pulled back on me again.

3 Comments
2025/01/31
19:42 UTC

2

Help I ask for

When I get sleep paralysis, I can’t move any part of my body to wake up EXCEPT my breathing so - I stay on call with a friend I start hyperventilating to let them know I’m getting it again They say something really loud and it wakes my body up.

But it’s like my paralysis is evolving- Yesterday I started breathing to my friend but I actually did it AS PART of my paralysis and my friend turned into some monster and grabbed me - if this method doesn’t work idk anymore idk what to do :( I hate sleeping

2 Comments
2025/01/31
18:45 UTC

2

My methods of waking from a SP

  1. I sleep on my right side or with my back facing /touching something like a pillow.
  2. I hold my hands together to feel every twitch and have a closure on my progress on waking up.
  3. I count to 3 then try to move, if it fails, I'll do it again.

remember! not every SP is the same experience for everyone, I've only had 2 "SP dem0ns" which was most likely a nightmare combined with SP. I usually just can't move in general when I have SP, like I forget how to control my body and that's it.

0 Comments
2025/01/31
17:19 UTC

2

Sleep Paralysis or some type of Seizure??

Hello, don’t know if anyone will read this, but I hope someone does. I’ve been suffering from these random episodes in my sleep that I can’t really put a finger on what they could be… I’ve tried searching the internet for answers but I can’t find anything. (19M) This has all started happening about 7 months ago. The first couple of times I’ve woken up paralysed, no scary demons or anything but I’m pretty I was in a dream state as I could move slightly but would get snapped back into it with more progress I made with my movement. The being able to move slightly part makes me think this isn’t sleep paralysis though. This has been going on for months but has gotten progressively worse. Now I’ll wake up paralysed and shaking like I’m having a seizure. I can’t really tell if they’re seizures though because I’m fully aware of what’s happening around me and I’ll snap out of it in a completely normal state. I’ve noticed that these episodes happen right as soon as I’ve fallen asleep. Or, weirdly enough, when I focus too much on hypnagogic hallucinations. There’s been times I’ve woken up shaking and I would manage to get my arm up in the air or something and when I snap out of them I’ll be in a completely different position to what I was lying on my bed. The whole situation on these episodes is really confusing TF out of me as I feel like I’m in a dream state but I’ve also been fully aware of stuff like hearing the Youtube video I’ve fallen asleep to in the background while these episodes are happening. I’m genuinely terrified and I just wanted to see if I can get answers or if anyone’s experienced similar.

3 Comments
2025/01/31
15:35 UTC

3

Laying on back

Hello. I usually only get sleep paralysis when I lay on my back at night. Because of this I’ve been avoiding sleeping on my back for about 3 years now. Every time I lay on my back to sleep I catch myself right before it locks me into SP and force myself to roll over. I was wondering if anyone knew anyway to help me to avoid/reduce the SP so I can lay on my back to sleep again. The sides of my body get sore quickly and I’m constantly rolling around in bed. When I move onto my back I tend to fall asleep quickly, but I am too scared of the paralysis.

1 Comment
2025/01/31
05:13 UTC

1

Weird Dream Experience

Last night, I had a really strange experience. I dreamed I was walking toward a dog lying on the street, and when I approached, I started petting it. Then I looked at a dead tree, and I felt goosebumps all over my body. I woke up (or thought I woke up), but still felt like I was in the dream. My eyes were so heavy I could barely open them.

I saw my room normally at first, but after a short moment of looking at the other side of my room, I realized I wasn’t actually looking at that. I could move around, but everything felt distorted. I had other nightmares later that night, and they ended with me screaming. This kind of dreams has happened to me before

Its not sleep paralysis, I’ve had sleep paralysis before, but this is different.

Also this dream happend and ending all in one hour, which ik is weird. Rem sleep should take longer

Has anyone had a similar experience? What do you think could be happening?

5 Comments
2025/01/31
04:33 UTC

1

Anyone ever get better sleep after an episode?

I feel so content when I have sp

0 Comments
2025/01/31
04:12 UTC

1

Had sleep paralyzed for the first time and what the heck was that

1 Comment
2025/01/31
03:52 UTC

5

Does anyone have a great night's skep after it?

Why do I feel so content when I have sp it's like it's where i belong

10 Comments
2025/01/31
03:13 UTC

1

Am I experiencing sleep paralysis?

Multiple times this month when I wake up and fall back asleep, I feel like I can't move but I can see where I am. It never lasts long, but if I violently move and try to wake myself up I'm able to. Sometimes I can hear myself trying to wake me up, too. My partner asks what's wrong some nights, and I don't know how to explain it. I dont experience any hallucinations, just fear. Is this sleep paralysis?

2 Comments
2025/01/30
22:19 UTC

1

Feeling pain by an entity ?

I’ve had sleep paralysis for years , sometimes once a week atleast or more . Most of the times it’s regular sleep paralysis where I can wake up and what not . But sometimes I feel pain . Wether it’s electrical waves or sometimes feel like I’m being tickled to death . The other day I had a episode where there was some vampire entity , it bit my shoulder and I could physically feel that ! It lasted for about 3 seconds and I felt so helpless and had no choice but to let it happen . Soon after I felt something with Claws try to pin me down , this time I tried moving or fight it but the more I tried the stronger it got ultimately I had no choice . It felt like there was claws of a bird holding my shoulder and legs down while it bit my back . It felt so real and painful I looked in the mirror when I woke up . This happens rarely but when it does I know if I fight it it gets worse . Anyone else have similar experiences ?

3 Comments
2025/01/30
19:43 UTC

2

Sleep paralysis and. Wong dragged out of my bed

I (31F) just had sleep paralysis last night and every time I have it it seems that I’m being dragged out of my bed and I actually feel like I fall to the ground and hit my head, does anyone else experience this? The pain and fear is vivid and there was a black shadow last night that was hovering over me the entire time. I get sleep paralysis a lot, doesn’t matter if I’m on my back or on my side it just happens but there isn’t always a shadow figure. The being pulled out of my bed always happens though, can anyone explain this phenomenon to me? I can usually tell I’m having sleep paralysis because when I go to look at my phone to call for help but my phone won’t work or will appear black.

4 Comments
2025/01/30
15:41 UTC

2

Maybe Sleep Paralysis? Wondering why this is happening.

So last night I was dreaming and I was asleep in my dream but I woke up and seen a shadow around my bed but I couldn’t get up at the time so I could feel my heart racing and I eventually was able to move in the dream and I was trying to wake up my boyfriend but obviously he didn’t wake up at this point I didn’t realize it was dream yet and got up to turn the lights on and they weren’t turning on so at this point I realized I was asleep and dreaming so I was trying to wake up at this point and open my eyes but it wasn’t working and I even tried making noises and I just couldn’t get up it felt like it went on for about 5 minutes and I finally woke up with my heart racing. Wondering why this happened? I’ve had it happen before where I try to wake up and it isn’t working but never during a “nightmare” hopefully this makes sense haha!

1 Comment
2025/01/30
15:32 UTC

2

I had SP

Im going to try to keep this short. I was probably in my early 20s when it happened. I randomly fell asleep on back at my mom’s house of the living room floor. I woke up randomly because I felt weird and wet and was feeling like I was having a sex dream. I seen this figure on top of me with scaly skin, yellow cat like eyes, and really long tongue with a grimace look face. I felt like it was giving me head. Mind you, I never even heard the word sleep paralysis before when this was happening. It was looking at me dead in my face and an evil like grin. I couldn’t move but my eyes and mind were obviously awake. I could hear my brother and mom’s conversation from the kitchen. No matter what I did I couldn’t move. Tried to shout for my mom but I couldn’t speak. So randomly I decided to close my eyes & started praying then opened them back up to see if it would disappear. It then gave me a weird look like a “huhhh ?????” face if you can imagine that. It was the first time it changed its expression after I prayed. Then finally after seeing that I broke free and it disappeared.

Afterwards, I ran straight to Google and YouTube like wth did I just experience and wtf just happened to me?? Then I learned it was SP. I went through a long deep rabbit hole learning about it and listening to story times. I feel like it was a sex demon, and almost absolutely positive it was a succubus instead of an incubus. I just feel it in my gut that it was female. Which I also thought was strange because I am a female myself.

4 Comments
2025/01/30
12:49 UTC

4

Having sleep paralysis too much

Anytime I am asleep on my back it seems I am basically begging my body for sleep paralysis. I have always and forever been a tummy sleeper, but sometimes I accidentally fall asleep while laying on the couch or reading. And if I am on my back I will without doubt have sleep paralysis. The other day I took an accidental nap on my side and had it too. I always just fall back to sleep to get out of it after a struggle but I was wondering if there’s any ways to prevent it from happening? Sometimes its cool, but more often than not its just annoying and scary.

1 Comment
2025/01/30
12:11 UTC

2

Log of episodes

Day 1 of log sharing 01/30/2025 0200

Just had another episode: i was in a secret room in a dream. attempting to commit an unspeakable act. Something that was way too out of character to be true. I dont even remember what it was. so my body started trying to wake up then a demon appeared and tried to takeover my body. My body started pulsing and i tried to fight back. My defense is to sing worship music till i wake up. And i awoke out of it.

1 Comment
2025/01/30
10:39 UTC

1

Idk if this is actually sleep paralysis

I just started experiencing this. I didn't think it was sleep paralysis because it isn't what I imagined sleep paralysis would feel like, but ChatGPT said it was. The first time it happened, I woke up in the middle of the night and was trying to fall back asleep. I kept almost falling asleep, but whenever I stayed still and closed my eyes, I started getting this really uncomfortable vibrating feeling in my head that would intensify the longer I stayed still. I kept getting scared and sitting up before the feeling got too strong, but then I decided to just tough it out and maybe I would fall asleep and the feeling would go away. I stayed still for a while, and then I got nervous again and tried to lift my arm, but it was really heavy, but I could still kind of move it. After that, I was too freaked out to try and sleep. That was about a month ago. Just now I took a nap and got the same vibrating feeling except I wasn't awake, and it was super intense. I dreamt that I got out of bed and fell on the floor, but then I woke up back in bed. The vibrating feeling was so strong it actually felt kind of painful. It feels like my brain is being shaken at super speed, and I feel it in my cheeks too. Is this similar to anyone else's experiences? It makes me really anxious.

1 Comment
2025/01/30
01:50 UTC

11

Sleep paralysis without hallucinations

Hi everyone, Can anyone explain if it is normal that I have experienced sleep paralysis a couple of times but without any hallucinations at all. I just couldn't move, I couldn't open my eyes and I felt panic, but after about a minute, I'm awake.

14 Comments
2025/01/30
05:30 UTC

1

First time SP episode…what does it mean?

I recently had my first ever sleep paralysis episode.

I admittedly have always had pretty poor sleep habits. I don’t generally fall asleep until 2am almost nightly however, in the recent weeks I have been up until 3:30/4am most nights. This past Monday night was no different.

I fell asleep around 3am, and I’m not sure exactly when this all happened but I felt my body freeze up on me. I felt my legs hit the bed while I laid on my stomach and my arms tucked under me. I could tell I wasn’t completely asleep. My bedroom looked exactly like it usually does. Everything was in its place from what I could see. I heard footsteps in the hallway outside the bedroom. I lifted my head enough to look back and saw a figure in the crack of the doorway - peeking in. My heart was racing, my whole body was warm, and I felt a sense of dread. I thought, “this is it. Someone is in the house, we’re done.” And then it spoke and asked “do you know your way around here?” … I shut my eyes tight, praying it was all a dream but it felt real. The footsteps were loud, and grew louder as I felt it approach the bed. With my eyes still tightly shut, I felt a pet on my head and then again and again. And even in this state of limbo, I was trying to rationalize what was happening. I thought maybe I was, in fact, restless and maybe my partner had noticed and started to pet my head to calm me down. Eventually, things went quiet and I guess I fell back asleep?

I woke up Tuesday feeling pretty heavy and overall exhausted. My partner worked from home that day so when I greeted her in the morning she asked me if I’d slept well. I realized in that moment, she had no idea what I’d experience that night. I told her what had happened and only tonight did I give her the full details as I spent the last 48 hours trying to make sense of it all.

While the idea of “someone” being in the house was jarring, their actions towards me didn’t seem malevolent in any way. But if there’s one thing that has stuck with me this whole time, it’s the one and only thing it said to me during the episode - “do you know your way around here?” What does it mean? I tried to relate it to things happening around me in my conscious world but I can’t pin point it.

Has anyone else here been spoken to in their episodes and have you ever found any relation to what’s happening in your day-to-day life?

6 Comments
2025/01/30
04:48 UTC

1

Sleep tracker app?

I don’t know what’s going on with my sleep yet but am not able to see a Dr right now about it. I’m using an app that syncs to my Apple Watch and I don’t feel it’s catching when I’m awake and aware of what’s around me and I feel it’s classing them as “light sleep” a few months ago my bf and I moved in together. He said he noticed bags under my eyes today. I have been really struggling this week with sleep.

10 Comments
2025/01/30
01:25 UTC

1

idk if it’s lucid or paralysis

so i’ve recently started experiencing what my doctors call sleep paralysis. however idk if it is. when it happens, it’s like a switch flips in my brain and my ears feel clogged and then i can hear people talking to me in my head. like, vividly. and i can respond to them. usually it’s people i know, but today it was a youtuber i watch. i’ve had one experience where it was scary, and i was truly paralyzed. but during these dreams(?)where people are speaking to me, i can will my body to move just enough to snap me out of it. but then i fall asleep instantly and it picks up where it left off.

i’ll give you an example: i went to sleep today for a nap, started feeling like i was finally getting there, then im still semi awake and i feel my ears coog, and my brain feels fuzzy. it’s like i’ve been submerged under water, but deep. after a few seconds of clogged ears, i hear someone talk to me. it was my favorite youtuber. he’s talking to me as if he can see my dreams, and im responding to him and my dream sorta becomes lucid? i can show him things and explore different places all while talking to this dude in my head. at some point i truly fell asleep cus he invaded my dreams and they were no longer lucid.

1 Comment
2025/01/30
00:54 UTC

2

This is hard to explain

(this is not religious, spiritual, or mystical. This is real) possible tw

So I've had sleep paralysis basically my whole life. Yet I didn't know what it was called or if I was having the same sleep paralysis as everyone else. I feel like no one understands when I try to explain it.

So, say I'm just watching a show and I'm exhausted, I want to sleep. But my body will go "HAHA no, but I'll throw you in this prison if you like it or not!" Boom my eyes are shut and I can't open them up, I can still hear the show playing clearly, but it's dark with the light slightly shining through. I can't move any part of my body. So I try super super hard and all I get is my finger trying to twitch or move to try to wake up my other limbs. Then at some point I'll make enough progress to open my eyes a little, then all the way and then I can escape, I have to like, sit up and shake around. Slap my self. But then I try to go back to sleep, and boom it happens about 10 times in a row... No sleep, just anxiety ;-;

And yes this has happened in front of people and with people around before 😂 they all see my hand and fingers twitching, multiple times. And each time I escape I tell them that if I'm doing that they gotta wake me up. They never do ofc bc they think I'm asleep. But if my fingers twitching constantly, I'm most definitely not asleep ;-; cuz that doesn't happen when I am asleep.

But I wonder if I can use these horrific episodes as a way to lucid dream some how. I've never gotten it to happen before unfortunately since all I see when it happens is black with grey moving around a bit. But I do know when I'm lucid dreaming :) I can tell. But what I do wanna know is if lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis are some how connected or similar? Lol just needed to get this outta my head 🤙

7 Comments
2025/01/29
23:02 UTC

1

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0 Comments
2025/01/29
19:40 UTC

1

Triggering SP

Is sleep paralysis usually triggered by sleeping on your back?

2 Comments
2025/01/29
18:53 UTC

2

Idk if I’m still having sleep paralysis or seizures.

Sleep paralysis has actually been part of my Life, I guess. But lately I’ve noticed that I would get multiple sleep paralysis in just one sleep. For instance; sleep paralysis, normal, sleep paralysis again, normal, sleep paralysis again. I always can’t move and sometimes there’s a feeling of weird thing on my stomach or my body is a buzzing a bit. I was never diagnosed for any seizure related things when I was a kid. So I don’t really know anymore since I’ve also been having sleep paralysis for a long time and even experience waking up and couldn’t talk whispering to our helper asking for water since I couldn’t breath.

6 Comments
2025/01/29
17:58 UTC

1

Strange Sleep Paralysis Dream

0 Comments
2025/01/29
16:03 UTC

1

SP but.. not scared at all?

So I recently started experiencing SP, probably within the last 5 months or so. I’ve had it around 4 times? Twice within the last week, including today. I’ve never been scared by it, which has always confused me. Even the first time I experienced it - I was just more confused than anything before I realised what was happening. Each time I experience it it’s kind of just ‘oh SP is happening rn okay cool’ and I just wait for it to resolve itself. I don’t usually see things other than what feels like flashing lights while I have my eyes closed, and kind of feeling a presence? But I always dreaded the ‘seeing scary things’ happening, even before I experienced SP. It happened today. I got my usual stuff, but then I felt my eyelids open (they definitely didn’t). There was a young, pale, bony woman with long dark hair and part of her upper lip missing so you could see her teeth and part of her skull. She had big eyes that were almost forced WIDE open in a really freaky way. She was crouched down next to me at the side of my bed just staring right at me. I should’ve been horrified. Then she grabbed my phone from my bedside table and crawled onto the bed, looking at the screen and being lit up by it, now sitting opposite me, kind of crouched over me. She was just watching me while being illuminated by my phone, and I was just watching her back. Like I wasn’t scared at all, just observing - the same way you do with a stranger that you find yourself absentmindedly watching in public without realising. And then I actually woke up lol. It was so weird. I’ve never seen anything before, and always dreaded it happening, knowing that it would terrify me. And when it happened today, I kind of just didn’t care? I didn’t feel ‘safe’ or aware at all - it definitely felt very wrong/unsafe, but I just was not bothered. I always see people talking about being scared or panicking etc, or if they aren’t, it’s because what they’re seeing isn’t something scary. So I was wondering if anyone else gets this?? Never being scared or panicked or worried. Just… there, experiencing it. What throws me off is that logically I SHOULD have been scared. I couldn’t move and there was a very real-looking half dead woman fucking STARING at me crouched over me on my bed. And I couldn’t have given less of a fuck? It was so bizarre. I was slightly more confused/freaked out when I fully woke up, but it was more just pure confusion about how I wasn’t scared. Weird experience, thought I’d share it.

1 Comment
2025/01/29
11:40 UTC

3

The CRAZIEST sleep paralysis experience

Hello I regularly experience sleep paralysis and its usually quite tame but I wanted to tell you guys about this one insane experience I had yesterday. So it started with me having a dream with my ‘girlfriend’ and us hanging out.(I am single and have never seen that girl before) It was all well and the dream ended with her pulling me towards my room from my sleeve. I opened my eyes facing to the wall on my side and literally see a girl sleeping next to me, for like 2 seconds I genuinely thought I somehow pulled a girl and forgot about it but when I tried to move and speak and I could not I quickly realized what the actual situation was… The girl next to me opened her eyes and started smiling at me and made weird breathing noises, at this point I started freaking out and used all my might and power to wake myself up and actually managed to get up. Needless to say there was no girl there when I got up. I would love to hear about it if you guys had any experiences of your brain gaslighting you into having a girlfriend.

2 Comments
2025/01/29
08:22 UTC

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