The opposite of Sleep Paralysis - Who else has experienced this?

[spaceexplorer]

Had an unusual experience this morning, and on reflection it seemed to me to be the inverse of sleep paralysis. Basically here's what happened... I'd woken from a dream, nothing particually eventful, then fallen back to sleep. I found myself in a false awakening, i was laying in bed looking at the wall. I noticed a mosquito walking around on the wall just in front of my face, so in the dream, i reached out to squat the mosquito, and just as my hand made contact, I awoke due to the sensation of my real life hand hitting against the wall in the same spot. The only physical difference was my hand was closed and my knuckles had made the contact on the wall, rather than in the dream where my hand was open, palm facing the wall. Obviously the physical shock of my hand hitting the wall with force woke me up. So it seemed to me in this case, rather than as with sleep paralysis, where you awake but the body is frozen, i was dreaming and my body was still under mental control. I was wondering how common this is and who else has experienced similar things? This sort of thing happens for me rarely, but enough to notice. Often in the very last dream before waking. So, anyone else?

[Shift]

It happens to me when falling asleep sometimes, almost like a hypnic jerk except much more related to what's going on in the dream forming when I first pass out (either for the night or after a brief awakening, but these are not lucid dreams). I've never hurt myself really badly but I have smashed my arms into the wall/bedframe hard enough to wake up in pain (I have a twin bed and also like to sleep pretty far against the wall.) I've always wondered if it was just strong HH I was moving to, or actually a dream forming, because I typically have a lot of trouble remembering what just happened as far the hallucination/dream (probably due to the shock and adrenaline). Could just be an extremely vigorous action that defies all reduced muscle tone of NREM sleep where you're not always actually paralyzed; slapping bugs is often like that in real life... all this tense muscle as you track it with your eyes that releases in one huge attempt to smack it out of existence. There's always RBD as I know you must be aware. I haven't read very much on that but it seems to happen much more commonly and rarely awakens the dreamer, so I don't think it'd be that. I'm not sure if RBD typically has smaller motions, like a single arm moving, or if it's more elaborate and encompassing of movement of the entire body, but I've always thought the latter.

[Desert Claw]

I have had something similar happen to me, but I was trying to move my dream body but it was paralyzed. at the time my bed was against the wall, and I rammed my leg into it because I was trying to walk, the shock woke me up also. oh and it was after trying to sleep in. I find that very strange things happen when you try to sleep too much.

[Adam]

It's pretty common really, that sometimes paralysis fails and you act out your dream. I've been punched by my girlfriend in the past (she was dreaming of punching her Mum LOL) so it does happen.

[Shift]

Well it's not necessarily that rem atonia fails, it could also be that you're not in a stage of sleep where it even exists yet. It'd be interesting to see what actions correspond with reports of this. I can never remember mine but so far it is punching and smashing a mosquito, both of which are relatively quick and high energy motions. Trying to walk while paralyzed also seems like it would involve an outburst of energy.

[Slinking]

Uh, hey there, first post. I just wanted to say that this happens to me all the time. It has become somewhat less frequent over the years, but it used to occur almost nightly. I have problems getting comfortable and falling asleep, often tossing and turning, which may or may not be connected to this phenomenon. Anyway, as an example, the image of a cobblestone path appeared, the first (and only) image of my dream. I tried to lift my leg to take a step, but instead lifted my real leg and woke myself up. It wasn't a high-energy or jerky movement at all. I simply tried to take a single, calm, step in my dream but was obviously not paralyzed at all.

[spaceexplorer]

What would also be interesting is to see at which point in sleep the most occurences of this behaviour occur. My initial thoughts upon awakening the other day, punching the wall, was that i've experienced this kind of thing mostly when i sleep in a little later than usual, basically oversleeping. It may be some kind of "wake up" mechanism. Perhaps the mind uses some kind of system to test which point in the sleep cycle the body is in, maybe trying to assertain if it is time to wake up and face reality. Generally REM is going to occur when we are at a stage in the sleep cycle closest to waking. Perhaps intense physical dreams are more likely the later we sleep in. The mind starts charging the nervous system with more and more intense signals, testing or perhaps waiting, for the body to reach a weaker, less inhibited state, at which point the physical body responds to this nervous system bombardment, and reacts in a dramatic movment enough way to wake us up. Just a random theory really, but it could be a mechanism to override the lazyness of us little hairless monkeys wishing to sleep in longer than is good for us.

[Slinking]

Well, I don't know about you, but for me, these kinds of "rude awakenings" in non-lucids have always taken place at night, at the very beginning of my first dream, right when I try to make my first motion in the dream. Sometimes I move my arms, my legs...even my head. However, when I am lucid dreaming I often suddenly accidentally move a real limb instead of a "dream limb" as I intended to do. It's something I need to work on, and it seems to have no connection with the time of night or how many dreams I've had so far. It seems to be able to happen at any time if I'm not careful enough.

[Supernova]

I've been punched by my girlfriend in the past (she was dreaming of punching her Mum LOL) I know someone who says she's punched several people in her sleep

[Shift]

What would also be interesting is to see at which point in sleep the most occurences of this behaviour occur. My initial thoughts upon awakening the other day, punching the wall, was that i've experienced this kind of thing mostly when i sleep in a little later than usual, basically oversleeping. It may be some kind of "wake up" mechanism. Perhaps the mind uses some kind of system to test which point in the sleep cycle the body is in, maybe trying to assertain if it is time to wake up and face reality. Generally REM is going to occur when we are at a stage in the sleep cycle closest to waking. Perhaps intense physical dreams are more likely the later we sleep in. The mind starts charging the nervous system with more and more intense signals, testing or perhaps waiting, for the body to reach a weaker, less inhibited state, at which point the physical body responds to this nervous system bombardment, and reacts in a dramatic movment enough way to wake us up. Just a random theory really, but it could be a mechanism to override the lazyness of us little hairless monkeys wishing to sleep in longer than is good for us. The only thing I find incorrect with this hypothesis may simply mean I'm a genetic freak. But, I only remember getting this while falling asleep for the night, and I slip in so much it ought to be illegal. I'm talking 12-16 hours of sleep sometimes.

[NightWatchman]

There was something today on NPR's This American Life about a guy who would wake up strangling his wife in bed. I only got to hear the intro, though (they also talked about someone who was afraid to go to sleep because she suffered from sleep paralysis)

[JamesLD]

same thing happens to me sometimes when im falling asleep. like the other night i was falling asleep and i guess it was hypnogogic imagery but i started seeing images that i was playing basketball and when i shot the ball my hand in real life jerked forward.

[Hazel]

Haha, happens to me all the time. I've hurt myself and others because of it. Once I was sharing a bed with my brother in a hotel (we were on vacation) and I dreamed that I pushed him off a pier. In reality, I punched him in the back.

[MikeMk]

Paralysis is normal. May be 1/2 of real practioners had that experience I can tell what you can do if this will happend again: Complete Relaxation The more active a practitioner is while in LD, the better. Conversely, if there is less activity, the quality of LD declines, allowing for an easy exit. Thus, in order to leave the LD, the practitioner only needs to completely relax and ignore any perceived sensations, actions, or thoughts. A practitioner may also recite a prayer, mantra, or rhyme, since that helps the consciousness to be distracted from the situation more quickly. Of course, one needs to calm down and try to get rid of the fear, which in and of itself is capable of keeping such a state going. Periodically, the practitioner should try to move a finger in order to check whether attempts at relaxation have had an effect. Concentration on a Finger A practitioner experiencing sleep paralysis should try moving a finger or a toe. At first this won’t work, but the practitioner has to concentrate precise thought and effort on the action. After a little while, the physical finger will begin to move. The problem with this technique is that the practitioner may accidentally start making phantom motions instead of physical movements, which is why an understanding of the difference between the two sensations is necessary, since it is often not very obvious. Concentration on Possible Movements The physiology of sleep paralysis and dreams are such that when the practitioner is in one of these states, some actions are always associated with movements made in the real body. This is true when moving the eyeballs, the tongue, or while breathing. If the practitioner concentrates attention on these processes, it is possible counteract inhibitions to physical movement; as a result, a sleep-paralyzed practitioner will become able to move in reality. Reevaluating the Situation Under normal circumstances, deliberate exit from LD is not the norm. Deliberate exit is commonly caused by certain fears and prejudices. If a practitioner is not able to activate the body using other emergency return techniques, a careful consideration the possibilities offered by the phase is recommended. There are many interesting and useful things that can be experienced in LD. Why ruin the possibility of great opportunity because of a baseless fear?

[Shift]

Because it's only when it's become truly baseless that it seems baseless.

[Mini Man56]

This has happened to me only once. As I was opening a screen door in my dream I woke up, and found myself on my knees with my arm extended as if I had just opened the door. What I'm wondering is how the heck I had gotten on my knees from a laying down position. I hadn't done any motions that would've caused it while in the dream, and since that's true, getting up like that would require some form of physical awareness, right?

[destinationmoon]

If it happens alot, it sounds like REM behaviour disorder, but possibly a mild case. I'll add a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REM_Behavior_Disorder

[Hidden]

Am I the only one who hasn't had this happen? -thinks back- No, I don't remember ever moving my actual body during a dream or waking up in the same position as when I was dreaming. Maybe destinationmoon is right and all of you have RBD.

[KingYetiTeffa]

I've had this a few times that I remember before. The strangest time though, I was just at the start of a lucid dream (probably from an accidental WILD thinking about it) and I went to move but felt my real body move, which I could feel was waking me up. So I had to kinda taken on a passive view for a while, just watching stuff happen without being able to move, until I basically drifted deeper into the dream and could eventually move freely. What was particularly fun about it was that when I was just viewing, my mind decided that I was on a rollercoaster, so I was zooming about this landscape while still remaining rigidly still. This happened during a lie-in, which I generally do all the time at the moment. So I had a full nights sleep, had woken up, and was just drifting in and out of sleep for a coupla hours. Though I've also had the reverse paralysis as you put it at the end of a normal nights sleep, waking up performing the action I was about to perform in the dream. I seem to remember waking up spitting at one point, though I can't remember why I was going to spit in the dream. Not a nice way to wake up.