h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That was a more detailed and intriguing entry than I was expecting

Excellent stuff Farlander

Pimms

It doesn't help knowing about physiological basics of this phenomenon though, lying there inert is a nasty sensation.

I had sleep paralysis last nite, reali $hat me up. i dont want to go back to sleep now. but it does help to know why and what was goin on because i thought there was somthing wrong with me.

i think they underestimated the percentage. i reckon everyone gets it at least once in their life, even if only slightly. i've been having it since i was 13 and i've spoken to loads of people that have had similar experiences, but most of them have only had it once or twice. i can go for months without having it, and then get it three times in a week, and quite strongly. i have recurring characters in my hallucinations-does anyone else? i sometimes fell like i'm being pulled out of bed, and i have things whispered in my ears. someone should do a documentary on it-maybe then half the population would recognise what's going on with them at night.

I have been experiencing sleep paralysis since i was 13, I am now 31! I also have times when I rarely get it then will get it a lot. Mine started with a presence, sometimes pressing down, often holding me down. Often I can feel the carpet under my finger tips as I crawl (or so I think) along the floor, trying to get help. Then I wake in bed. The only nice time was when I flew out of my bedroom window round the village! Sounds crazy, but obviously it was a hallucination, but felt SO real. My mum and 2 sisters all have had it, my sisters still do. Think it is mostly through lack of sleep, and mostly when daytime napping, especially when on back. So avoid those things!! A most perculiar (and scary) thing indeed, but interesting too.

hello, yes i get this from time to time, i think it may be linked with anxiety. i sorta think i'm waking, but i feel (I'm sure it's a person) sum1 leaning on my back, i usually sleep on my side, i can't move or breath with the weight of them, i also feel 'they' are a negative or 'evil' force...i'm always sure i'm breathing my last..i usually wake after what seems an age...pretty scared.... only other time i had a similar experience to these more common ones, when i spent the night at a friends old house in Edinburgh, the room went icy and sum1's hand was on my back (i was lying on my back!)-i just went into 'statue' mode, terrifying...turned out a man had died in that room...eeek