As I briefly explained sleep paralysis in a previous post, I’d like go into further detail about what an episode of sleep paralysis typically feels like and some of the associated phenomena.
First, a video from YouTube user Viper93000 recreating an episode of sleep paralysis he experienced.
Thus far, this is the most accurate portrayal of an episode of sleep paralysis I have found. Although this video clip does not show the fear experienced while one is paralyzed (well, maybe a little bit), it does allude to the psychedelic and possibly spiritual experiences SP can have.
Here are some of the symptoms of sleep paralysis I have experienced:
- Inability to move
- Tingling
- Pressure
- Levitation/falling
- Hypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations
- Panic / Sense of impending doom
- Strange odors
- Noises
- Tastes
Let’s go into a bit of detail about each of those symptoms.
Inability to move
Just like it sounds. You literally are paralyzed, thus have no control of your body. However, the eyes still retain their ability to move. I believe this to be the link to what REM (rapid eye movement) sleep consists of, or rather why we move our eyes while asleep.
In Lucid Dreaming by Stephen LaBerge, he goes into detail regarding the sleep research he did at Stanford University. One section talks about the correlation between eye movement and where the dreamer is looking in the dream, mainly that his studies found the two to be linked (i.e. the direction the dreamer looks corresponds to the direction his eyes are moving).
You also have no control of your vocal cords while in sleep paralysis. You can try to scream, but no sounds will come out. Maybe you’ll be able to get out a squeak (or at least imagine you are).
Trying to regain control takes a lot of focus. I find it’s easiest to focus on one finger or to try to cough; that usually helps if you want to break free.
Tingling
Right before your body becomes fully paralyzed, you may experience a series of tingling vibrations, beginning from my toes and going up unto the top of the head. Others have reported a heat sensation that starts from the toes and goes up to the head.
I think this symptom actually feels pretty good but is mildly awkward. If you let yourself go, you may find that this tingling sensation feels somewhat like an orgasm (probably why I like it).
Pressure
It may feel like there is an immense pressure on your body (especially the chest) while experiencing sleep paralysis.
I’ve felt as if a ton of bricks were on my back (when sleeping in the prone position). I’ve also experienced the sensation of being underwater (such as ears popping and an overall pressure on my body). These were uncomfortable positions but not painful, at least not for me.
Levitation/Falling
This one actually feels pretty cool. It’s like your bed vanishes and you just start falling into a pit (well actually it can be quite scary in that case). Or you may find yourself levitating above your bed.
I’ve had pretty fun experiences once I got acclimated to the strange feeling of suddenly falling or levitating.
Visual hallucinations
This is the fun/scary stuff.
While experiencing sleep paralysis you may hallucinate. What you see while hallucinating is entirely up to you. Your personality and experience with SP will determine what the apparitions can be.
The first few experiences I had with sleep paralysis were terrifying, mainly because they happened unintentionally.
Once I “got stuck” and after about 5 seconds concluded that Death had condemned me. I saw a small, doll-like Grim Reaper fly through my wall and into my room. It was hovering around my bed until I closed my eyes. Suddenly, it was inches from my face staring at me with a blank white skeletal face. Oh the terror!
But on the flip side, I’ve also had many positive experiences with sleep paralysis.
Another time, after getting the tingling sensations and hissing noises, I focused my mind on positive thoughts, namely a girl very dear to me. I watched as my room transformed into a wooden villa situated on a pristine beach, staring at said girl. A feeling of ecstasy engulfed me. How could this be? She was right in front of my eyes! Every last detail perfectly represented. I spoke with her as I caressed her hair. After about 2 minutes the scene started to fade and I had to focus very intently to keep it from vanishing. This bought me some time but eventually I lost control and woke up.
Basically, I’ve realized that once in sleep paralysis, your mind can wander and your superstitions and fears can haunt you. If you are scared of aliens then you’ll probably imagine that you’re being abducted. If you believe in ghosts then a ghost will come and haunt you. This probably explains all the people who have claimed to have been abducted by aliens or have seen and been attacked by ghosts or other creatures of folklore (just a thought since I don’t necessarily subscribe to paranormal stuff).
Panic / Sense of impending doom
You may believe you actually died or that your death is approaching rapidly.
I believe the initial panic leads to the frightening hallucinations. The key is to stay calm when sleep paralysis presents itself, unless of course, you get a thrill out of being eaten alive by zombies.
Strange odors
You may smell phantom smells.
This hasn’t happened to me many times but a few times I smelled strange stuff; can’t really explain what I smelled so all I can say is they were strange. I believe if I were to focus on the sense of smell while in SP, I could possibly smell whatever I wanted (the same way you see things you think about).
Noises
During sleep paralysis you may hear buzzing, static or even high pitched frequencies (or anything for that matter).
I’ve heard voices before while in SP. I often realize I’m experiencing SP when I hear a phantom person say something to me then try to look but can’t move. It’s usually stuff I’m thinking about in my head and it suddenly makes the transition into being said aloud (but not by me).
More often I experience a series of buzzing and high pitched frequency noises.
This YouTube user, AKMetal666, posted a clip of the noises he heard during an episode of sleep paralysis (remember, this is one person’s representation of the noises heard).
Pretty intense stuff.
Tastes
Some people report tasting odd things while in sleep paralysis.
I normally don’t have a sense of taste while in SP (or at least I don’t taste anything strange). However, I’ve done a bit of experimenting and have found that it is possible to taste anything while in SP. I once just thought of sushi and instantly had the taste of salmon sashimi. I decided to push it one step forward and experience the sensation of eating wasabi, only to discover I could replicate it faithfully. I haven’t done too much more experimentation besides that but I’d imagine you can taste anything you desire while in SP.
These are the most common symptoms of sleep paralysis. If I missed anything please drop me a comment and I’ll be sure to include it.
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Hi there
Just one thing to set my mind at ease – do you think it’s actually possible to suffocate during SP? I get it quite frequently and am currently endeavouring to find a way to enjoy it, but the recurring fear is that I’m actually going to die through suffocation. This is because I often sleep with my face partially mushed against my pillow or covered with bedding (it’s cold where I live!), therefore when I get SP and find I can’t move, I start to panic, and it’s usually only when I really begin to think I’m going to die that I snap out of it.
Second question – is it really true that you experience SP with your eyes open? I thought that because it occured during REM your eyes would be darting all over the place. It’s certainly how I feel, because even though I see things, I know it’s an hallucination, and if I concentrate I can kinda feel my eyes “flickering” (no other way to describe it). Of course, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was my mind playing tricks on me!
Even though I find SP quite unpleasant right now, I’m kinda glad that I have it – it’s quite unique and people seem fascinated when they hear about it, so I’m glad I’m experiencing something that most people aren’t able to. Your site is great by the way, keep it up!
Thanks for the comment. I’ll try to address both of your questions, but keep in mind that these are hard questions to answer.
In all of my research I have never encountered a case of death involving sleep paralysis. The rational side of me wants to say that it is nearly impossible since I have experienced SP hundreds of times over the years and I’m still alive. Also, I too sometimes sleep on my stomach with my face in the pillow and have had SP while in this position. However, if someone has died while experiencing SP in such a position how would we ever know that was the cause of their death? We would have to look into cases of otherwise healthy individuals dying of suffocation in their sleep. Once again I’ve never heard of this. I believe the human body would snap out of SP if breathing was inhibited, but this is just speculation. Still, I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If it’s a concern of yours maybe it’d be beneficial to change sleeping positions (probably better for your back and neck anyway).
Do we experience sleep paralysis with our eyes open? Good question. This is something I want to see tested in a sleep laboratory to know for sure, however I have some ideas on the matter.
From my experience, I’ve found that SP can be experienced with your eyes open (at least partially) and with your eyes closed. I recall a particular instance when I was taking a nap with while my sister was watching TV in the same room. I could see her watching TV when the SP set in and I tried to yell out to her but of course no sound came out. I could also accurately hear and see what was going on on the TV. One could argue that I had recalled my surroundings and recreated it accurately, but I’m not sure.
Most times it happens to me as I’m coming out of sleep. In those instances I think my eyes are closed and my mind completely creates the entire scene, but usually not entirely accurately (although at the time I may think it is). Sort of a false awakening.
It just occurred to me to try inducing sleep paralysis with a blindfold or sleep mask on. I’d like to see how accurately my mind can recreate my surroundings when I know my eyes can’t possibly be seeing anything. Also try recording myself while in SP and see what my eyelids are doing.
I have recently been experiencing sleep paralysis.. so far its happened 3 times.. the first time freaked me out completely.. i woke myself from a nightmare and i couldnt move at all.. my eyes were open but i felt really hazey.. it was when i looked at the door i could clearly see the scary character from my nightmare standing in the doorway… Im assuming this was a ‘hypnopompic hallucination’ that was mentioned.. I paniced as i struggled to jump up but couldnt move, not even my mouth… probably after about 30secs i reckon, i was able to move my leg.. and i put it on the cold floor to be sure i was awake, very strange.
There was another instance almost exactly the same except i didnt have the hallucination, I woke couldnt move at all.. kinda felt like i had pins and needles sensation all over my body… and again slowly after about 30 secs everything kinda came back.. It was kinda like when you foot falles asleep and you have to wait for it to wake up.. but my whole body.. including my mouth..
More frightening was the most recent which prompted me to ‘google’ if anyone else has had this experience. I have been having a restless night and rolling around a lot and at some point i woke up lying on my front, with my face mushed against the pillow.. my face was squished in a way that i was breathing through my nose.. I hadnt noticed i couldnt move, until I started to panic as i couldnt get enough air through my nose.. Then i started to really freak as i couldnt get enough air in my breaths were getting shorter and i still couldnt move anything.. i started thinking these were gonna be my last few breaths and what a stupid way to die… and then my arms and legs started tingling like pins an needles and i was able to move my left arm and push myself on to my side.. again id say thow whole episode lasted about 40 – 50 secs.. But still pretty scary… Still a very interesting experience though.. I had read and heard about sleep paralysis before, and assmued that people must be just dreaming or exaggerating… its very strange
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Sleep paralysis can be a very daunting experience. I was terrified the first few times it happened to me until I learned more about it. Try to keep yourself calm when it happens, making sure not to panic. I find that when I don’t panic it subsides much more quickly.
I have experienced sleep paralysis since i was younger and it happened a few times each year, however over the past few years my experiences have changed.. i find that either before or after the SP sets in i have this really weird vibrating all over my body almost like what i imagine a sezure to be like, its not just tingling its really strong shakes and vibrations im sure i can feel my eyes flickering too..
is this normal during SP?
Vibrations involving SP are very common. I get them when going into or coming out of SP. Try to focus on a place you’d like to go when the vibrations set in – this is a good way to launch straight into a lucid dream.
I have had feelings of “flying up” before but I feel like I am partially awake. I normally ‘get out of it’ because, say, my arm jerks. But am I expierencing SP? If not,A) can people expierence this by choice-as in can I make myself expierence it? B) Would I want to? It sounds exciting..sorry to ask all this I’ve just been curious for a while.
So I have had feelings of “flying up” before but I feel like I am partially awake. I normally ‘get out of it’ because, say, my arm jerks. But am I expierencing SP? If not,A) can people expierence this by choice-as in can I make myself expierence it? B) Would I want to? It sounds exciting..sorry to ask all this I’ve just been curious for a while.
The “loss of gravity” you experienced often proceeds an OBE (out of body experience) and indeed is part of Sleep Paralysis. Many times we realized something is awry and try to regain control of our bodies.
You can indeed experience SP if you like. It is a wonderful experienced as long as you are prepared for it. Try reading some of the tips posted on this site on how to achieve SP at will (mainly, sleeping on your back). Good luck!