Thread: If sleep paralysis is true, why are you able to wake someone up immediately with loud noises?

That's a good question. I would like to know why too.

I think the main reason is that you are shocked, unlike when you wake up and find yourself in SP sometimes. I think it also has to do with how tired you are. Not sure if you noticed, but, you get SP much faster if you are tired and it mostly happens when you are going to enter REM sleep

Sometimes when I'm asleep I get awoken by somone closing the bathroom door, but I am in sleep paralisis but i can move somewhat

Think about it this way, if sleep paralysis weren't true, you'd be kicking moving and talking in your sleep every time you started dreaming about walking kicking ect.

Just because you're not feeling the "old hag" or the "presence" doesn't meant it's not happening, because it's happening every time we sleep. Have you ever had a dream where you're running or fighting, and everything seems to be in slow motion? Some people think that's due to the bodies acknowledgment that it can't move at the moment because of sleep paralysis

sleep paralysis only happens during REM sleep. so if you´re in deep sleep and someone slams a door you wake up and can move immediately.
I think another reason is that our brain and body takes this as a threat and of course reacts in a flee or flight way...meaning you NEED to move.

Originally Posted by Dissociation

sleep paralysis only happens during REM sleep. so if you´re in deep sleep and someone slams a door you wake up and can move immediately.
I think another reason is that our brain and body takes this as a threat and of course reacts in a flee or flight way...meaning you NEED to move.

Sleep Paralysis happens outside of REM sleep, not during. The sp you're thinking of is Rem Atonia, which is when your body is paralyzed during REM.

You're don't always go into Sleep Paralysis when you're falling asleep.

It may just be the body's defense mechanism telling you to "get up" and to make sure you're not in any trouble.

Originally Posted by slayer

Sleep Paralysis happens outside of REM sleep, not during. The sp you're thinking of is Rem Atonia, which is when your body is paralyzed during REM.

You're don't always go into Sleep Paralysis when you're falling asleep.

It may just be the body's defense mechanism telling you to "get up" and to make sure you're not in any trouble.

thanks for the correction, I didnt know there are different sleep paralysis! I only knew of the one during REM, so you´re not actually doing what you´re dreaming about.

Originally Posted by Dissociation

thanks for the correction, I didnt know there are different sleep paralysis! I only knew of the one during REM, so you´re not actually doing what you´re dreaming about.

I think most lucid dreamers are happy to use the term "sleep paralysis" in the same way laberge does, as a short hand method of describing when your body "goes to sleep".

Originally Posted by slayer

The sp you're thinking of is Rem Atonia, which is when your body is paralyzed during REM.

Wait, then what's the difference between REM Atonia and Sleep Paralysis? In both, your body is paralyzed...correct? Or is it that there are different degrees of paralization?

Your body is paralyzed during both, save for your eyes and diaphragm.
In REM atonia, during REM sleep, this paralysis prevents you from acting out your dreams. During this time you are asleep, most likely dreaming, and your experiences are internally generated.
When it occurs when you are awake, in Sleep Paralysis, it can be accompanied by a wealth of hallucinations including visual, auditory, heightened fear, a sensed presence, difficulty breathing or pressure on the chest, and strange bodily experiences like falling, floating, shrinking, vibrating, etc. as you lay in your bed.
Check out this well written thread for clarification.

Slayer's answer is absolutely correct.

Okay, I gotcha. Thanks Shift and Slayer!

One time I was jolted awake by a noise, and I found my legs and arms were completely numb. Was this perhaps sp that didnt wear off? I moved them, got up and stumbled around. It wasnt like it was just asleep from being layed on, I was laying on my back with my legs straight out.

Originally Posted by Alski

One time I was jolted awake by a noise, and I found my legs and arms were completely numb. Was this perhaps sp that didnt wear off? I moved them, got up and stumbled around. It wasnt like it was just asleep from being layed on, I was laying on my back with my legs straight out.

You could have been having a dream that involved something physical like running. This is just my guess because one time I had a dream I think I was running or something, and I woke up feeling sore and it wore off in like 5 mins.

To answer the threads question, again just a guess, I think it has to do with outside influence. A real person (not hallucination) barges through your door, you wake up. These hallucinations that happen during sleep paralysis doesn't exist outside the mind causing no effect on waking. If anything sinking you back into the sleeping/dreaming phase.

Since my theories have sort of triggered criticism and correction, ill say it again. These are just my assumptions, I'm not saying it's true.

Btw, based on my textbook, people do report dreams from NREM sleep. Somone I think Slayer said that Sleep Paralysis doesn't occur during REM sleep. REM Atonia does. So I guess this would make since if Sleep Paralysis occured during NREM. I'm still a little confused though.

if you don't believe SP is true, pick up a good book "Exploring The World Of Lucid Dreaming" its scientifically proven in a sleep lab..

Originally Posted by Psylis

Think about it this way, if sleep paralysis weren't true, you'd be kicking moving and talking in your sleep every time you started dreaming about walking kicking ect.

Just because you're not feeling the "old hag" or the "presence" doesn't meant it's not happening, because it's happening every time we sleep. Have you ever had a dream where you're running or fighting, and everything seems to be in slow motion? Some people think that's due to the bodies acknowledgment that it can't move at the moment because of sleep paralysis

Wait, you don't move when you kick or anything? Is it just me?

For example, if I fall down stairs in my sleep, I wake up and I move in a stair-falling motion when I wake up, usually scared. I noticed it happened to my cousin too, and he told me and lol'd about it. This usually happens about 30 minutes after I fall asleep though. (light sleep)

Not to mention, the many times my sister died in my dreams () I wake up in complete shock, having my hand over my chest, breathing heavily. Y'know - how people wake up from a scary dream in the movies.

But I don't deny the existence of sleep paralysis - I guess it effects some people harder than others. My mom wakes me up for school manually - by poking me, and I don't feel sleep paralysis. Heck, I may even put my blanket over my head when I'm still actually sleeping.

I see a lot of "oh yes SP is real" comments but the question the OP posed still stands (and I support it, since it's a really good question).

If SP is supposed to stop you from physically acting out your dreams, why, then, if a maniac wearing a Jason-mask and wielding a chainsaw bursts into your room, are you able to basically bolt straight out of bed and run for your life? I know that most people don't experience SP when they wake up naturally, but it seems to me that that's because the body "knows" when it's waking up, and thus by the time you're aware that you're awake, the SP has worn off and you can move. Why doesn't it act any differently when you're forced awake, is the question.

REM atonia- paralysis in REM sleep.
SP - paralysis when you're awake.
Now, how much more common is REM atonia than SP? Much more. Relatively few people get SP.

REM atonia always happens in healthy people, and it shuts off when you wake up or exit REM, as it's supposed to. Much more rarely, when someone is woken up like this, it stays on. They're not sure why yet. And these people get SP.

It's not that difficult of a question. Slayer answered it correctly way back when.

I think that the dreams (or your body for materialists) try to anticipate the environment around you with a plausible event for every sensed event that your body encounters. And maybe the events that wake you are those which your body can not anticipate.

Yeah Slayer and Shift got this one covered

Here's just another thought..

Originally Posted by nobodycares

Someone slams a door and you wake up immediately. Why aren't you in sleep paralysis?

Maybe someone slams a door and it wakes you up and you do wake in SP, you get confused and frightened and no longer care or remember what woke you up...

I say this, because I get SP atleast once a month. It'll be in the morning, out of the blue. It is very possible that my phone went off, or a door slammed or something woke me up, but in that state, that is the last thing on my mind...

Kind of like the whole "does a tree make a sound when it falls if no one is around"

i cant go into SP no matter how hard i try its annoying
how the hell can i WILD if i cant go into SP??!

how the hell can i WILD

You wake up because its in human nature (and almost any animals nature), we had this "ability" from the beginning and we will always react that way because of our nature. Just imagine man 15000 BC sleeping somewhere, we would be such easy targets for predators if we didn't had that ability. Its defensive mechanism that helps you to stay alive in numerous situations (fire, earthquake, predators, robbers..you name it).