r/Sleepparalysis Feb 23 '20

Identifying SP

1.8k Upvotes

I’m making this because 75% of this sub is people asking “was this SP”. And almost always the answer is yes. So I’m going to list the various effects and some helpful information about the effects. Sort of a master guide to “Do I have SP”

Edit: This is a list of potential Symptoms, if you only experience 2 or experience all you are most likely experiencing SP Seeing and hearing things are far more rare than not. However its also boring hence why no one shares their story here or other places when not a lot happened.

Edit: 0. Someone pointed out I didn’t include the obvious, Paralysis, feeling of being unable to move, like your limbs weigh a million pounds, like your being held down, like your moving but nothing is happening, pain in limbs you try to move. ETC... (This is where we get the name, the explanation is simple. Your whole body is asleep, except for your brain.)

  1. Chest pressure/ Feeling of being unable to breathe. (While under the effects of an SP episode the nerves in your chest are dulled as they are under the impression you’re asleep. You are in fact still breathing.)

  2. Hallucinations (You’re brain is in dream mode, you’re having open eyed dreams)

  3. Sounds (screaming, talking, music etc...) (Again this is because of your dreams being active while awake)

  4. Feelings of being touched, hurt, bit, scratched, flying, falling, shaking (You’re nerves are all asleep, sometimes they’re in the process of waking up and can cause interesting feelings as they do. Alternatively you’re body may be simulating what your brain is dreaming about as we normally experience these while asleep)

  5. Panic, anxiety, terror (100% natural responses to being trapped.)

  6. Feeling like time won’t pass or time is stuck (You have no real way of perceiving time in this state)

  7. Racing heart (Anxiety)

  8. Intense or vivid nightmares/dreams before or after (The nightmare would be what woke you up into the SP, and if it comes after it’s because you’re anxiety is through the roof)

  9. Feeling alone (SP is not as rare as you think, lots of people never even know it happened as they attribute it to a weird dream, you’re not alone, there’s lots of us out here.)

Edit: 10. Recently discovered through this Sub, I had never heard of or experienced it but people report “Buzzing” “Humming” “Grinding” type noises preceding and episode.

Edit: 11. Also recently Discovered through the sub, spiraling, dizzy, sickly feelings. Occurring before during or after episodes.

Edit: 12. In the comments someone mentioned “feeling a presence.” To be clear, this is almost as Rare as actually seeing something. It does happen however and can be an eerie feeling. (Again your having an anxiety attack, our brains try to explain why we are panicking by blaming something. So it manifest a feeling of someone being out to get you, someone there to harm you, or maybe just someone in the room. Either or, nothing to be too scared of.)

There’s a slough of other things that can happen. But generally you can identify SP with three questions. “Am I in my bed” “Am I paralyzed” “Am I unable to talk”

If the answer to these questions are yes then it’s textbook SP

Also remember that people are wildly different, and that your SP may be different but follow the same patterns as what you read. That’s normal, we all have differently wired brains, and no two cases will be exactly alike.

Sources: Myself, experienced SP for the past 16 years.

If anyone needs any advice or has any questions feel free to comment here and I’ll try my best to answer. SP doesn’t have to be as scary as it feel.


r/Sleepparalysis 6h ago

Weird sleep paralysis experience with my sister

1 Upvotes

Hello, I wanted to share a story about a time I had sleep paralysis because it felt like something more.

I want to first explain a couple things so the story makes sense.

  1. ⁠Our bedroom layout was a bit weird because we had a small room but we wanted to make it seem like we had our own spaces. We had a bunk bed that we put horizontally in the middle of our room touching the wall on one side and on the other side we had our tv mounted to the wall and enough space for only 1 of us to walk through at a time under the tv. I was on the bottom and my sister on the top.
  2. ⁠Our TV cord malfunctioned so that if you touched it it would turn the Tv off even though the cord was still in the outlet.
  3. ⁠During this time I would have extremely terrifying nightmares each night. I don’t know why but this happened a lot during my childhood and at this time I was 16 and the only other time I had sleep paralysis was when I was in middle school only once or twice.

Now onto the story, I had a dream, it was very normal at first, kind of like I was awake doing everyday activities. But when it became nighttime, I just had a wave of fear and dread take over me. I tried to leave my home and when I opened the front door, there was a lady standing there. She had a grayish color to her and she was wearing a dress or nightgown with a hat? I couldn’t really tell what was on her head but as soon as I saw her, she busted through the door reaching for me. I took off running towards my younger brother’s room cause it was furthest from the front door. I hid with the lights off behind the door to his bedroom. She came in and once she passed me I ran out, toward my room, and jumped into my bed.

Once I was in my bed, I woke up in real life but I couldn’t move. The TV was on in our room so there was some light but I saw her come into our room, through our bedroom door. Except once she hit the light, she turned into a shadow on the wall( Kind of like the nun in conjuring 2). I could still see her face smiling and her eyes burning into me as she glided slowly along the wall of my bedroom with the TV on it. And she stopped at the foot of my bed.

It became dark in my room. However, I still saw her outline and it looked like her eyes seemed to glow right at the foot of my bed. I tried to scream and I was trying so hard to move but nothing was working. I felt that same dread take over me and I felt like I really needed help.

I started to hear banging and a muttered sound. Then I saw a light and then I was able to move. I had tears running down my face and I had started to hyperventilate. My sister had to calm me down because I could still feel whoever that lady was. She turned the TV back on and told me her point of view.

She told me that she was getting ready to fall asleep so she was about to turn the TV off. When it shut off on its own, she was confused because she didn’t turn it off, we don’t have a timer on our TV and I was in bed so I couldn’t have hit it walking by. Then she heard me whimpering, so she hit the bed and called my name. I was still whimpering so she turned her flashlight on and looked at me, shining her flashlight in my face. She said my eyes were kind of open but not all the way and I was crying. She shook the light in my face, calling my name, until I suddenly looked at her and started hyperventilating. She said once I told her about my dream it freaked her out cause when the lady stood at is where out TV cord would have been.

I’m very confused and terrified at the same time. This was years ago, but it’s always bothered me. I told others in my family but they’ve always said they didn’t want to hear it and to pray about it. Sometimes at night I feel a sudden urge to look at something and shine my light. Whether it’s a super dark corner or a shape in my room I’m not familiar with. Idk the whole thing freaked me out. Please share what you think happened.

Thank you!


r/Sleepparalysis 9h ago

DID and sleep paralysis?

1 Upvotes

Weird question I just had an episode of sleep paralysis today it’s a terrifying experience but I get episodes often I’m also diagnosed DID. but what if I’m an altar that woke up and the host was still asleep that’s why I couldn’t wake up the body from the host’s dream?


r/Sleepparalysis 12h ago

i’m not sure if this is sleep paralysis or not.

1 Upvotes

I started experiencing sleep paralysis around maybe three years ago when I turned 14. im almost 18 now, but I’ve only experienced seeing a shadow person twice. most of the time when I experience whatever this is, I either can’t move nor open my eyes, or I can’t move but I can open them. the most recent and kind of scary attack that I’ve had was when my muscles started to actively contract while i couldn’t move. my jaw started to slowly come open, my arms and legs were curling up, and my body had that tingly feeling that you normally get when you cut off circulation.

is this sleep paralysis? what could be causing it? i don’t sleep on my back but i do have the other triggers like having an awful sleep schedule and being stressed. any insight would be awesome.


r/Sleepparalysis 20h ago

Trauma Nightmares?

2 Upvotes

I’ve only and sleep paralysis a few times in my adult years. I was not going through the best time with my mother. She would stonewall, say hateful things, and misunderstand my feelings when I expressed that I was hurt by her actions. She is an emotional and verbal abuser. One of my dreams I can remember….i, my mother, and sister were in a closet together and I had found a scarf and somehow it ended up choking me and I could almost feel it in my sleep but I couldn’t move or do anything about it. It was like I dreamt the feeling away. But all to say that when I’m having issues with my mother, usually when she is giving me the silent treatment m, I tend to have sleep paralysis


r/Sleepparalysis 19h ago

Help I need some info

1 Upvotes

  let me give some context rq I get sleep paralysis every night and multiple times in one night

I’m working on using it to my advantage so since it’s expected I try and figure out what I can do with sleep paralysis

Anyone know what all I can do 

I’ve had small obe and some other interesting experiences but I need more info


r/Sleepparalysis 1d ago

I think I genuinely like my sleep paralysis creature

1 Upvotes

disclaimer: excuse me if i have anything written wrong or made any grammar mistakes, English isn't my first language

to be honest I don't know if this is the right place to talk about this, but I have nowhere else to get it off my chest

for the past 2 years I've had really bad sleep paralysis, and most of the time it's the same creature/d-mon that comes on to me, or is just standing there waiting for me to open my eyes. in one of the worst cases I've had, I could somehow feel it breathing on my shoulder, with it's hand almost nearing my face slowly

I'm a lonely person, I have a total of 2 friends that I very rarely see in real life and barely talk to online. I also rarely talk to my family, and again, very rarely let them touch me or even speak to me

I feel my isolation makes it so that anyone that touches or speaks to me becomes somewhat special to me

I found myself missing the creature whenever I don't get my nightmares/sleep paralysis instances, and I just keep wishing for it back whenever it disappears for a while

while yes, I keep wanting for it to be back, I don't want u to take it the wrong way, of course I'm absolutely terrified and just want it to end when it's actually happening, but afterwards I feel this rush of excitement and sometimes even happiness?

I don't know how to fix this, I don't necessarily want to but im already too fucked to have one more issue on my plate lol, so logically I know I can't let it go any further

thank you for anyone who read this whole thing and anyone willing to give advice


r/Sleepparalysis 1d ago

I don't know what happened

1 Upvotes

It just happened a few moments ago now,

But I was asleep and awake at the same time, rocking myself and trying to fall asleep like any other person would try to sleep

But then I stopped. I know I didn't stop rocking myself and I still had the like, sensory messages in my body that I was trying to continue but it wasn't doing anything. On top of that, my vision completely blanks out, both eyes, full static grey instead of black like when you close your eyes. And then my hearing went out, and when I tried to call for help I was literally by definition yelling in my own head, but my mouth never moved.

I kept trying to get myself to move, and to keep myself from falling deeper in this state (it kept getting worse every second I wasn't trying to get out of this state, it feels like it was literally dragging me in) by attempting to keep my eyes open even though they were closed? I don't know how to describe that. But it lasted about five minutes before I regained full control and everything. I didn't see any figures or hear anything except for the staticness of a broken TV dialed up max volume. Not one of the modern ones either, the old box TVs in your typical horror show.

I don't know what it was, probably going to go somewhere to talk about it because if this was SP, then it was my very first episode in my life (I'm 19f) and if it wasn't, I kinda fear for my health. I just went to the doctor way earlier this morning (at 8 am) and they said everything was fine before this episode ever occured.


r/Sleepparalysis 1d ago

parálisis

1 Upvotes

suelo tener parálisis chicos, pero estás últimas q vengo teniendo me dejan TONTA.

La semana pasada tuve una en donde soñé extrañamente algo muy largo, vieron esos sueños q ya a veces decis okay, estoy soñando un montón ya me quiero despertar o q pase algo, no les voy a mentir era medio turbio el sueño,pero normal. la cuestion es que en una como q me canse del sueño y me vine a acostar a mi cama y se hizo LUCIDO d repente, y yo claro, ya queria q termine y siendo lúcido estaba un poco en crisis, podia escuchar mis pensamientos y pensar a voluntad imaginense, era un silencio toda mi casa toda mi habitación, y escuchaba mis pensamientos pero se sentía muy raro hacerlo dentro d un sueño, fue como slgo prohibido, y luche un montón por despertarme porque me estaba haciendo mal mal estar lucida y como no poder despertar y escuchar lo q pensaba.

otro lo tuve hace dias, dormia con mi pareja y en el sueño era todo tal cual, yo tengo entendido q cuando es asi es medio bajo astral, porq era si habitación y era como el y tal y estabamos abrazados en el sueño, pero de la nada siento el ambiente extraño y el me agarra de la nuca y me besa BRUSCO a lo que me comienza a vomitar dentro d la boca y a gritar muuuy fuerte dentro d mi cabeza q me retumbaba toda la cabeza y no podia escuchar, ahi es cuqndo comienzo a sentir mi cuerpo en la vida real y a sentir q estaba acomodada durmiendo y no me.podia mover hasta q pude y me quede RE asustada, comienzo a pensar q tengo un incubo o algo


r/Sleepparalysis 1d ago

What was this?

1 Upvotes

Not quite sure if this is sleep paralysis but it certainly felt like it. It was 3am, I know typical right. Anyways I was getting tired and shut my eyes for a little. Needless to say I had a terrible dream. But I was in my apartment and things were happening. Like there were loud knocks, something in my window (I’m on the top floor)And I was going beserk. Like I was (or thought) getting up, running and actually laying down at one point. It felt so real. But then I came to wake up and realize it was either a bad dream or paralysis. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Another shortened version of a similar experience. Was when I was also in this “bad dream” or sleep paralysis, I was stuck laying in my bed. But I could hear something in the other room calling my name. But I knew whoever it was, wasn’t actually there.

I just feel like most people either describe not being able to move or talk. It’s just weird how I seem to be stuck in these dreams. Again, curious if this is sleep paralysis or just really bad dreams.


r/Sleepparalysis 1d ago

Very intense First experience

2 Upvotes

I dozed off around 5am while watching a movie in bed, i wake up and the room was extra dark then i start to hear what I thought was whining coming from my dog in the other room then I pan around my room feeling uneasy and my heart drops. There is a man who is completely dark with a big beard on his side basically leaning overtop of me, my heart starts pounding out of my chest I try to speak but i can’t then he says in a mild mannered voice “your dad told me to come help you”. Still terrified i try and speak back to him as hard as i can but nothing comes out, my mouth was a gape and i was shaking it was as if this man had sucked the air right out of my lungs I couldn’t make a peep. I felt like i was about to pass out then my eyes shut i opened them back up expecting to see him still there in my face. But there was nothing and the room was bright with the sun coming up I checked my phone and saw it was 6am. I’ve never been more horrified in my life i’ve never experienced Sleep paralysis before so during the event I thought the paralysis was me being paralyzed by fear thinking i was about to die. Could such a strong hallucination be telling of any potential mental issues? Thanks


r/Sleepparalysis 1d ago

I have too many dreams

1 Upvotes

I have a lot of dreams in the sleep, what should I do?


r/Sleepparalysis 1d ago

What the hell happened to me lastnight

2 Upvotes

First time in a long time since this has happened to me but I genuinely dont know what happened I fell asleep watching YouTube on my couch like I have a million times before but lastnight was different all I can remember is realizing I was standing in my living room wich was weird and then I went to go laydown on the couch but I was laying on the couch but it wasnt me it was an uncanny valley version of me it looked like me had my tattoos and the long hair but my face wasnt my face I had glowing yellow eyes and this smile that wasnt a friendly smile the part that has me all sorts of messed up is I couldnt move after I looking at my own eyes and I was stuck then the shelf in my kitchen fell out of the wall (it looked like it was pulled out of the wall because of how the holes where left and it broke / pulled out 4 anchors from the wall) almost all of the whiskey i had on this shelf shattered all of the flower vase's shatter and my wife came downstairs to me scream sobbing standing in the living room not laying down and neither of us could go into the crawl space to get the shopvac because we both felt uncomfortable opening the door so I guess im just here to see if anyone has had anything close to what I expected happen to them as well because im kinda loosing it


r/Sleepparalysis 1d ago

SP

0 Upvotes

Hey all, I'm a 19 Year old female who has never experienced Sleep Paralysis before. I Never ever watch horror movies because I'm such a wuss. Well, the other day I had been watching obbsession in parts because I got really bad fomo.

Last night, I had intense intrusive thoughts, I was just in a really bad mental space and thought I'd just sleep it off. As I was falling asleep, I had this hallucination where I was holding my phone watching this trippy video that was quite frightning, and I thought to myself "I've had too much marijuana and I need to sleep" like I was just having a really bad trip.

Mind you, I've been clean for 2 and a half months and I wasn't holding my phone at all.

So, I tried turning off this hallucination phone I was holding and the phone was glitching. To me, the sound was so loud it overwhelmed me and I was so scared I was going to wake up my Mum who was in the other room. I couldn't move my hand to properly turn this "phone off", I couldn't turn my head away from the "phone" but I could feel my whole head was shaking.

What broke me out of this state was actually my brother turning the light on in the other room.

I kind of just want to understand how it works and if I can expect to experience this again.


r/Sleepparalysis 1d ago

buzzing during/before sleep paralysis

2 Upvotes

I had my first encounter with sleep paralysis last night. I was back at home after a flight from greece and it was around 4 50 when i decided to go sleep, i knew i needed this sleep because for my body clock it was already 6 50 (time zones)

but then when i was falling asleep i felt this buzzing sensation in my ear and in my body which got louder when i slept on the side, thinking it was just some weird body reaction i decided to sleep on my back.

and that’s when i fell asleep and then i went into sleep paralysis. the buzzing sensation in my head and ears got stronger and whenever i attempted to lift an arm the buzzing in arm would get stronger and stronger til i felt like the atoms in my body were getting dissipated. whenever i tried to move my whole body the collective buzzing would get so strong my vision would blackout.

i also had a dream in a dream within this episode. it was a horrid experience and now im typing this at 1 in the morning because i am too afraid to go to sleep again.


r/Sleepparalysis 2d ago

Has anyone experienced this? I woke up and violently reacted because I thought someone was watching me sleep.

1 Upvotes

I’m 20 years old, and something happened last night that really scared me.
I woke up and, for about 10 seconds, I was in that half-asleep, half-awake state. I was convinced there was someone standing next to my bed watching me sleep. I started screaming as loudly as I could and kicked my wardrobe with all my strength because I wanted to attack the “person.” In that moment I genuinely felt like I wanted to beat them up, even kill them, because I thought I was in danger.
About 10 seconds later I fully woke up and realized it had all been part of a dream or hallucination. My legs hurt so badly afterward that I felt like I had broken both of them from kicking the wardrobe.
This isn’t the first time it’s happened. About two weeks ago I dreamed that someone was watching me sleep, and I woke up screaming then too.
Something else that might be relevant is that both of these episodes happened on days when I had smoked cannabis. I don’t normally use it—in fact, those are the only two times I’ve ever smoked weed.
The strange part is that I already had this fear before trying cannabis. For about three months I was so afraid that someone was watching me while I slept that I couldn’t fall asleep normally. Every 10–15 seconds I would open my eyes to check if someone was standing in my room watching me.
I’ve also experienced sleep paralysis in the past where I felt or even saw someone standing near my bed.
When I’m fully awake during the day, I know this fear isn’t real. I don’t actually believe that someone is secretly watching me while I sleep. It only happens around sleep or when I’m waking up.
Has anyone experienced something similar? Does this sound like sleep paralysis, a parasomnia, anxiety, or something else? Should I see a sleep specialist or a psychiatrist?


r/Sleepparalysis 2d ago

This is why i believe its real

1 Upvotes

This is why I doubt the medical/scientific explanation being the cause for every sleep paralysis episodes & why i believe some are legitimate spiritual/demon attacks

Ive been intentionally trying to re-experience sleep paralysis. Anytime ive ever had it i would get it randomly and unintentionally. They say it happens during REM sleep or during the transition from sleep to wakefulness vice versa. And once you realize you cant move or speak, your mind creates a false sense of danger, resulting in scary hallucinations. Well I just experienced that today. I hallucinated that my mom was calling me to come out into the living room to talk and i kept trying to get up out of bed but was struggling until I thought id made it part way but ended up trapped in what all of a sudden was a slit in my bed and I was stuck and randomly there was a metal bar above my chest restraining me from trying to get up and I was scared it was going to crush me and suffocate me. Until I then suddenly woke up back where I was laying in bed. I was looking straight at my closet and hallucinated my tan folded ugg blanket to be a homeless chick hunched over looking at her rolls of excess skin. I told her "get out you ugly ass bitch" and she like jumped she looked scared and caught off guard. She was old and wearing hot pink lipstick.
But anyways I can totally see how that scenario fits the medical explanation. I realized I was paralyzed so my mind created a hallucination of me being restricted and crushed by a metal bar. Makes sense

But during the sleep paralysis episodes where i was attacked and once even raped by a demon, I wasnt even aware that I was paralyzed and couldnt speak until after the demon was already on my chest. And when it raped me I was literally sleeping on my stomach completely relaxed. I didnt even realize I was having an episode until I felt it penetrate me. But even then I didnt think I was having sleep paralysis I was just freaking out wondering who it was. And every sleep paralysis episode im still able to communicate telepathically to it, I dont even try to speak out loud

So while I do believe the scientific explanation, I also believe that there is definitely something more like spiritual and demonic going on too, in the incidents where I'm not even aware of not being able to move or speak.


r/Sleepparalysis 2d ago

how to help with sleep paralysis

3 Upvotes

looking for advice on how to make the sleep paralysis stop. i’m not having like hallucinations or seeing things and it really only happens as im trying to fall asleep. i close my eyes and it feels like im dreaming / just thinking about stuff / a blend of both and i get this weird sinking feeling and try to open my eyes and they just won’t. my brain is fully awake and is like ok 3 2 1 OPEN YOUR EYES and they just don’t and it’s a horrible feeling. sometimes it leads to me yelling out for help but always leaves me with some anxiety and makes it difficult to fall asleep again. it’s currently four in the morning and im nervous to try and sleep again because it’s happened about 3-4 times in the last hour


r/Sleepparalysis 2d ago

Sleep paralysis but earthquake?

1 Upvotes

I just had a terrible false awakening nightmare followed by sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis were not a strange thing in my life and i am very familiar with it but this time it's freaking different. Instead of seeing some kind of nightmarish entities i had a sensation of very intense and violent earthquake,i swear man i can genuinely feel the G force on my body as the whole building and the ground shakes violently in circular motion. And instead feeling paralysed to move, i felt intense fatigue, extreme sleepiness from lack of sleep like i had no energy to move and i just lay there and accept my fate.

After i finally woke up and immediately check the news if there any earthquake and there is none.

Do you guys ever had a similar paralysis like natural disaster or something?


r/Sleepparalysis 2d ago

[Academic] Sleep Paralysis Research Survey

9 Upvotes

Hi r/Sleepparalysis!

I'm a student conducting an anonymous research study exploring sleep paralysis and fear.

If you've ever experienced sleep paralysis and are above the age of 18, I'd really appreciate your participation. The survey takes approximately 2 minutes, all responses are completely anonymous, and the data will be used solely for an independent research paper.

Thank you so much for participating. Every response helps!

https://forms.gle/Be1411ZpgNEoXJ647

Edit: If you found the survey interesting, please consider upvoting so this stays on top, and I can get more responses 🙂‍↕️


r/Sleepparalysis 2d ago

Bad experience on sleep paralysis

1 Upvotes

All- looking for some help or advice. I’ve had sleep paralysis in the past but normal it’s more of lucid dreaming and lasts a matter of minutes.

I’m a new mom and constantly exhausted. I took a nap today and used a weighted blanket (maybe this contributed?). Long story short I took a two hour nap and was genuinely 100% awake the whole time but my body was completely asleep. I did drift in and out of some weird dreams that I felt like I was mostly in control of. But for the most part I was almost completely aware of my surroundings.

Eventually I was able to wake up (I managed to move my hands a bit and make a few sounds - I was hoping my husband sitting next to me on the couch would wake me up).

Anyways - I really hated it. Any tips if this happens again?


r/Sleepparalysis 2d ago

shaking and tinnitus during sleep paralysis

1 Upvotes

experienced sleep paralysis a few days ago, it’s definitely not the first time I’ve had an episode like this. :
I’m somewhere between the lucid dream and reality, sometimes I can even open my eyes slightly and catch a glimpse of my room, but as soon as I close them, I’m back into the dream. At the same time, I’m fully aware that I’m dreaming, and most importantly, I can feel everything, absolutely every physical sensation within the dream.
the dream was actually quite pleasant ahah so I let it continue even though my whole body was shaking violently, actually , I can tell exactly how violent it was, but the shaking was rapid. Of course, I was paralyzed, my body felt incredibly heavy. And the most significant part: I kept hearing a sort of ringing in my right ear every five seconds,but it was extremely loud, almost like an explosion, and it was very painful. Between the shaking and that ringing sound, I forced myself to wiggle my toes because I was in too much pain and finally woke up.
It’s not the first time this has happened to me, but this time it was really intense.
What really worried me was the shaking, because it was painful, violent and fast. I don’t know if I was actually shaking in real life, but is this a common occurrence?


r/Sleepparalysis 3d ago

A strange dream!

2 Upvotes

Hello, I'm a 20 year old guy.

(Context)

I had my vacations in the month of June. It was a pretty fun vacation, I reunited with my school friends, we spent a lot of time together, giggling, playing.. Out of all these friends, my best friend is Mike. (not his real name) He's currently pursuing his military training. During this training, he doesn't use his phone at all, no social media, nothing. Just him, his training sessions with his troops, that's it. We don't talk for 5 months straight. That's why I get emotional whenever he leaves. He lives across the block and whenever he's at home, we meet everyday. These are like therapy session to me.

After seeing all his hard work, I got inspired. I'm into Competitive Programming and I decided to work as hard as him. You know it just feels good to known that one of your close friend is out there grinding along with you. To be honest, none of my other friends are hard-working and they are always into social media, performative things. Mike inspired me a lot. He is different and I too wanted to be different and successful. So from 1st of July, I decided to quit Instagram and Snapchat, where I primarily contact my friends. First 3-4 days were quit difficult, as I always had this urge to look for updates from my friends or shall I say "the people I know". I'm lean into the introvert side. I don't have any friends any college. The only friend group which I was talking about in the first paragraph are school friends. So whenever our group disintegrates into different cities to go on with their lives I feel a bit lonely at times. This had happened a couple of times in the past, but I brushed it off.

After 3-4 days of quitting social media, I started feeling relieved. I was working pretty hard during these days. I coded in the office as well whenever I got some spare time. As an intern, I don't have much work to do, so I comfortably coded for like 3-4 hours in the office. I left for the office at 7 in the morning and returned home at around 6:30 - 6:45. I was so into Competitive Programming, I was thinking about it constantly. Whenever I had lunch break in the office, I used to read a question in order to think about it during my lunch. I tried to squeeze each and every minute to dedicate it towards Competitive Programming. To be honest, Competitive Programming was pretty difficult to me. I want to get better so bad that practically I was thinking about it all day long. After returning home, I used to relax for 15-20 mins and get back to coding. Sometimes there are contests at around 8 so I used to attend those as well. The contest usually last 2 hours and I will have my dinner and go back to sleep at 11.

(The Unusual Dream)

After like 5 days, something strange happened to me. I was struggling with a question at night before going to bed. In my dream, I was solving the same question and strangely I solved that question effortlessly. The next morning, I thought about the approach which I had dreamed of again and found it logically sound. After going to office, I skipped my breakfast in order to try out the approach. Surprisingly, it worked! I was fascinated. On that day as well, I decided to read and try out a difficult question before going to bed.

The same thing happened.

During this period, I was essentially not talking with anyone else. My family was worried and started asking if I was okay. To be honest, I was completely okay. I was enjoying this process a lot. I was getting better each passing day.

After a few days, a random wave of sadness hit me. While I was making my bed, I started crying for no reason. I went in the balcony and started staring in the sky whilst tears were dropping from my cheeks. I was very sad for no reason at all.

(The incident)

A few days after this incident, I had a terrible experience. Usually I don't wake up at all during the night. But one night, I had this feeling that someone was crouching over me and looking at me directly. The feeling was so uneasy that even though I was asleep, I directly opened my eyes. As expected, nothing was there. But that uneasiness persisted in my body. I slept after half and hour and plugged earphones in my ears as I had similar experience a few years back when I was a teenager and I'm addicted to distracting myself by listening to youtube or something while going back to sleep.

As usual, I was helping myself solve a question in my dream and all of a sudden I got this uneasy feeling again. That someone's watching me. I was in a confused state. I was imagining a while loop physically executing itself in front of me. The value of "ind" was set to zero initially.

As I got this uneasy feeling, I stood up and tried to go outside my room. Why did I say "try"? Well because for some apparent reason the moment I stepped outside my room and I entered the same room from the opposite side. I know this sounds ridiculous but this legit happened. Whenever I tried to exit my room, the value of ind increased by 1. I got anxious and started running outside my room again and again. I remember this vividly. Eventually the value of ind got till 1053. It felt like hell.

I hugged my legs and crouched in the bed and started crying. I was so disturbed that I failed to realize I can simply call one of my family member. I called my mom and asked her to come to my room along with my sister. My sister had an idea that I was experiencing loneliness at times and I am sort of hearing things which she insisted didn't happen.

After entering my room, I was crying all over the place and my family consoled me. I insisted my family to leave the home so that they won't be trapped. They didn't listen and they all said that it was just a bad dream. But I swear to god, it was all real. I'm pretty sure all this happened. I slept with my family that night.

From that day, I feel like something has snapped internally. I don't feel like talking to anyone. My sister had suggested that I was tired and I should take some rest and not code for some time. I followed her advice. While resting, that is, watching youtube, laying on my bed, sitting in the balcony, I was facing very weird and violent mood swings. I was getting angry on a video which simply wasn't outrageous. I'm not that person who gets offended / affects himself by watching a video. My moods are usually quite monotonous. But since that incident I just get angry at silly things, get sad abruptly, laugh at things which aren't funny.

One morning while going to my office, I heard a bell ring while I was waiting for my bus. I checked my vicinity, I could not spot a bell in audible distance. I am hearing things which are having some mysterious sources.

Today's incident forced me to write this post seeking help.

I was cleaning my balcony and I started hearing murmers which later on seemed like muffling voices of people fighting at a distance. I couldn't hear exactly what they were fighting over but I knew what it was. I checked out of the balcony and I could see 5-6 people arching their necks out of their windows and railings like they were witnessing something. I thought that it was some random fight on the street, but I wasn't quite sure. So I asked one of my friends in order to confirm this fighting and she said that there were no fights in our society.

So what I saw... People looking from their windows, railings, those soft yet audible fighting noises were something which I imagined? I don't think so.

I'm facing such things since that incident.


r/Sleepparalysis 3d ago

Scary experience with sleep paralysis!!

1 Upvotes

It was about 2-3 years ago. I went to visit my dad in diff country for 4 months. I was asleep in my room that I always slept in before I moved. I came from swimming and immediately fell asleep it was night. But in middle of nowhere I felt something heavy in my chest. I tried to move I realized I couldn’t at all before this I never experienced sleep paralysis nor did I knew what it was until I did research later on. But as I was saying I felt my chest heavy like someone was sitting on top of me. I tried calling out my dad I couldn’t speak then I felt 2 hands in my neck
Choking me like pressing onto my neck for a while it went on for like 5-6min then I realized I couldn’t move my body only my eyes but i didn’t want to I don’t know I felt this scary energy. I felt as if if I open my eyes now there is gonna be smth mad scary as hell and I did not wanna see that but I was curious about it a lot after then after it stopped choking me I called out to my dad a lot but no response then all of sudden I could move my body I immediately turned and went under covers then I felt it slip off my covers like twice I started to get so scared and cried but then the pulling of covers went away and everything but I still couldn’t open my eyes because I was so scared. In the morning I was just taking it all in I think i don’t remember but later on I forgot about it then after years I remembered my experience when my friend talked to me about sleep paralysis after I came back to the states and started school I researched more then I had it again the 2nd time but I couldn’t really have the same vivid experience I think all I felt was a heavy thing in my chest or sometimes in my back clinging and I still couldn’t bring my self to open my eyes cause I was scared. And I’m so confused on this . what it was and is it normal? Have any of you had this experience.


r/Sleepparalysis 3d ago

Sleep paralysis

1 Upvotes

Hi guys I have been experiencing sleep paralysis for most of my life I had one here and there from8-16 then 16-21 it was very rare but when I moved in with my gf and her mum it was every week sometimes twice sometimes more now that I have moved out recently about 3 months I have only had 2 the things I have seen are the lady with the claws black figured person and this realy unsettling smiley face thing
I just wanna no if it will ever stop or will it continue through my life thanks