Thread: What Every Lucid Dreamer Should Know About Sleep Paralysis

Originally Posted by moonshine

Nor really.

REM Atonia = Paralysis whilst in REM sleep.
Sleep Paralysis = REM Atonia whilst conscious.

The sleeping disorder is differentiated with the tag "isolated" sleep paralysis.

I'm not sure it can be any clearer.

I finally see what you are saying about sleep paralysis as the disorder. But if that was the case, then we wouldn't even know about it. So then no one should be running around talking about sleep paralysis because most of them wouldn't even be aware that it's happening. Since most of us lack an EEG and all of that, then the only times we can know we are in sleep paralysis is when we have attempted to move and found that we were paralyzed. I have to admit that I have pretty much stopped reading the responses to this though. So if I'm a bit off that's why, I'm getting kind of bored with the discussion. Sleep paralysis is a disorder. Lucid dreamers are crazy. REM atonia happens during REM stages. Hypnagogia happens early in the sleep cycle. My eyes hurt because I'm so tired.

So when I'm in a lucid dream during a REM stage, and I'm conscious, and my body is paralyzed, I'm in sleep paralysis?... how did we go from debating hypnagogia to also debating the use of 'sleep paralysis' to mean 'paralysis during sleep' (ie synonymous to REM atonia) anyway?
Lucid dreamers blur the boundaries between conscious and unconscious, awake and asleep. That's part of the problem, I think. We are conscious when we shouldn't be. We can hallucinate and experience things that aren't happening. We can try to break out of something we are experiencing because we were conscious enough to do so.

Anyway my main qualm is the use of 'sleep paralysis' to refer to hypnagogia. I think it is misleading and confusing for people who are trying to learn lucid dreaming. If we can all be responsible and realize that the terms are misused and leading a lot of people astray in ignorance, then maybe we as a whole community of lucid dreamers can progress. Maybe not. I don't really care. It just annoys me when, as a DG, I have to continuously correct people. I mean noobs are excited to be "in SP" which means they've made it to REM stages, but that's not the case if all they're experiencing is hypnagogia... the tip of the iceberg when it comes to falling asleep.

And I still think the name for the disorder was stupid to begin with and should be something more clear like "Persistent REM atonia" or something along those lines. "Abnormal Atonia or NREM atonia" probably since it can be experienced prior to REM sleep as well as after. bahhhhhhh