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When the dead attack us in our sleep (Sleep paralysis)
Written by: Erich Weihrauch - Email: erichw@adelphia.net
Sleep Paralysis, from what I personally have come to understand, is a phenomenon that even science alone cannot seem to solve. Waking up in bed to find yourself totally paralyzed, is by far one of the worst feelings ever, and when you add the even more horrible feeling of being pinned down or watched, and you have a basic definition at best.
My own experiences began some many years ago as a child. I am now currently twenty-one, and will thankfully be celebrating my twenty-second birthday this spring. I can honestly remember the very first time I fell victim to Sleep Paralysis. I woke up in the early morning hours, probably around 3am or so and realized something was wrong, VERY WRONG. I could not move. Not only could I not move, but I swear that the room around me was illuminated, and I felt like someone was pushing down on me. I did not feel alone, and I felt a very unwanted presence around me.
I tried desperately to scream for help, but to no avail. While my mouth barley moved, no words came out. After what seemed an eternity, I gave up and succumbed to weakness, falling back to sleep. That was but the first time I would have to deal with this horrible event in my life. Since that day, I can no longer count the amount of times that I have woken up only to be paralyzed. It usually happens once or twice a month and sometimes if I am lucky, four or five months will go by before it happens again.
More recently, I decided to finally research this completely God-Awful issue myself, and see if there was some sort of cure, or something to prevent it at least. I turned up more dead ends, and inconclusive evidence as the time went on. I then began my own little research, and my findings will now be discussed. Firstly, Sleep Paralysis from what I have concluded is something that seems to be extremely common among people who have psychic abilities. This does not mean that you have to be able to predict the future or read minds to have this happen to you. What I mean is that around ninety-five percent of people, who go through Sleep Paralysis, are those who can feel presences, communicate with life beyond the living realm, see into the future, or even those who just get random glimpses of impending doom in their minds. I have yet to actually find anyone who does not have some sort of ability in this related field that has ever experienced Sleep Paralysis. In fact, not one other person in my family has ever experienced it, as far as what I have been told upon asking.
Even so, there are many theories as to why Sleep Paralysis occurs. Most doctors would have you believe that it happens only when lying on your back and that it is a chemical issue in your brain, which does not completely wear off before you wake up. This chemical is said to be what makes you not move while you sleep at night. Right away, you can say, well, no, hey, I toss and turn! That is exactly my point. While there IS a chemical that is produced to make you not urinate or defecate yourself, I have not yet seen plausible evidence that there is a specific chemical that keeps you from moving.
Having said that, the other theories which I have heard and read about, involve astral projection. I have no real honest opinion about astral projection, but I do not believe that Sleep Paralysis is the result of getting “lost�?along the way somewhere, and then panicking and snapping you back into your body too soon. That really does not seem to account for the fact that there always seems to be something pressing down on you, or at the very least an entity present in your area. Personally, I believe that Sleep Paralysis is caused more or less by darker entities, bent on making your life unhappy.
At any rate, people are very vulnerable when they sleep. Your mind is not set at a defensive mode, so therefore you are really open to any types of attack, be it physical, mental, or spiritual. I believe that this would account as to why you can be paralyzed all of a sudden. This could also account for the sense of an unwelcome entity in your immediate vicinity. Even so, when it happens it happens, but there does seem to be a way to break free from it, and also attempt to safeguard yourself from having it happen to you.
For starters, I find that it is best to not go to sleep with a negative mindset. Instead, clear your mind from anything that may be bothering you. Do whatever it takes to get you relaxed, be it reading a book, meditating, etc. If you are religious, you could even do a short prayer of protection to safeguard yourself spiritually, and thusly mentally. You might even burn sage, or any other spirit-warding items, to secure your sleeping area. Even if that does not give you a total guarantee that Sleep Paralysis wont strike, you can still do things to help you snap out of it.
One method that I have found for breaking out of this state, is to try to move around. Use all of your might to try and just move anything, even a pinky. Once you get going, your body seems to take back control, and eventually you should be able to move again. I usually try flipping myself out of bed. Otherwise, you can try to force yourself back to sleep. That may not be the best option, but at least the next time you wake up, you are able to move again. Perhaps even at a level of sleep you may be able to help ward off what is causing your paralysis.
I hope that anyone who reads this will come forth and share their information, and experiences on this subject. The more that is said, means more will be learned. I am sure that there will someday be a sure-fire preventive measure or cure for Sleep Paralysis. Until then, one can only hope it does not happen to them. If anything, I hope this article helped at least one person, because helping even one person, makes it all worthwhile.
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A very, very enlightening article. I
experienced something quite similar to what the writer of the article describes
about 17 years ago. One time. I never knew what to call it. I woke up one
morning unable to move with the distinct feeling of being pinned down. I also
immediately sensed a dark energy in the room. I was scared. For a minute or two
I thought I was going to die. My husband woke up and I mouthed the word "pray"
to him. The fear in my eyes must have told him something was very wrong. He said
a simple prayer for my protection, repeating it a few times. Then suddenly, the
weight lifted off of me, I could move and speak again.
Pondering on the experience later I
attributed it to some sort of psychic attack. But the why or who of it I never
could figure out. What ever the case, it was darn
frightening! |
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Neuro science Mary Jane is gonna pipe in here. We do EEG's and people have sleep studies for sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is very rare, so I am not extremely familiar with it, but this is my understanding of it so far. When your are sleeping and the brain shifts into the specific stage of dream sleep, another part of the brain sends signals to your spinal cord that paralyses you. This is actually a nifty little feature of your brain that saves you from injuring yourself or others, otherwise you would physically ACT out your dreams. People with sleep paralysis tend to wake up before that part of the brain unlocks your movement. On the other hand, people who sleep walk don't have this part of the of the brain locking movement, so people tend to sleep walk. Generally, these two opposite but similar occurances happen when people are sleep deprived or under a great deal of stress. I will ask my docs on Monday what they do to treat these conditions. mj |
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I have to go with the 'sleeping on the back' theory. I had this problem many times, many years ago, when my daughter was just a baby. I would feel the sensation of someone sitting on my bed, ect. When I finally broke out of it I would realize that I was lying on my back. I pretty much forced myself to wake up when I rolled over on my back, and I personally think that this was what stopped it and a lot of other bad dreams. If I felt a bad dream coming on, I would wake myself up and stop it. Sometimes the bad dream would start again as soon as I went back to sleep. Chances are, I was unsuccessful at totally waking myself up, and would have to try again. These days, I am paralyzed in my dreams; in my dreams, I can't make myself wake up, or open my eyes, or move my legs. I end up forcing myself awake in my dreams, and then for real. Invariably, I am lying on my back. And, I feel exhausted. I'm trying to determine if controlling my dream to tell myself to shut up and go back to sleep will change this. If I'm lucky, my loud snoring will make me wake up when I am asleep on my back. lol When a 'bad spirit' bothers me, I end up sleepwalking, and seeing and feeling an ugly brown-type presence. One time I was standing at the top of the stairwell to the basement when I woke up. That's scarey, too. I moved my bed to face the north, and used lots of sage, but this thing followed me for years. It generally occurred during stressful times or during illness, and sometimes I do the out of body thingy, instead. Living here on the 12th floor I should be lucky it's just the paralysis in my dreams, or I may find myself balancing on the 12th fl. balcony rail. BB ~wabbus |
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I actaully watched a pretty cool national geographic explorer this past week on UFO's and they had a segment on Sleep paralysis. Apparently a lot of US folk attribute sleep paralysis to alien abduction, people in Japan attribute it to a very scary looking oriental woman, the norse believe that a hag witch it sitting on their chest while they sleep. |
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I'm not sure which one of those sounds the worse. lol
~wabbus |
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