Sleep Paralysis At Work

I'm new here, so I thought I'd share a story about an experience I had (hey, it's the closest I've come to anything like a lucid dream, haha). I've developed a consistent case of sleep paralysis during the last two years, almost certainly due to my job as a night auditor at a hotel. Between working full time and going to school, my sleeping schedule is pretty much crap. My first few SP experiences freaked me out (and still do sometimes), but after I researched them, I found it to be pretty interesting. Now they occur probably twice a month.

But I always wondered how an outside factor would affect the experience. Until just recently, I've always had SP occur at home, when I'm alone. Well, like I said, I work at a hotel, during the night shift. Although I've been doing it for two years and have pretty much gotten used to the schedule, there are still nights when I can't help but recline back and take a quick nap. I usually put a bell up at the front so if that if anyone needs me, I'll wake up when they ring it.

So the other night, I dozed off while watching the security camera. I'm not sure how much time passed, but I heard the bell ring and woke up to go to the front. The only problem was, I couldn't get up. My eyes opened and I could see a couple people standing at the front desk through the security camera monitor. Even with the bell ringing and a sense of KNOWING that I needed to get up to help them, I still couldn't move! Usually during SP I have a sense of fear that I'll never be able to move again, but this time it was more or less aggitation that I was probably going to be bitched out by these guests, haha. I don't think the episode lasted more than a minute, and I was finally able to get up and tend to the guests.

But anyway, that incident just really freaked me out and I just felt like sharing. :P

Ok, so on to a question: I've heard that you can use SP to induce a LD. Is that true? And if so, is there any process? The unfortunate part about SP is that you're usually so determined to move that you don't consider the alternative of going back to sleep (and possibly more).

Wecome brett429.

That is rather a funny incident.
:shock: we could black male you if you like your job. ;)

That would be a bit unsettling.

Heh, I have a similar SP experience. This still freaks me out.

When I was in college I was sleeping in my girlfreind's bed in her dorm room. Well her dorm had experienced a string of rapes and other generally upsetting things (men hiding in women's rooms, etc.)

Well in the middle of the night I woke up and had a sense that someone was being raped in the dorm. The bad part is I could not get up, I was deep in SP and could not move an inch. I didn't know anything about sleep paralysis at the time. I was profoundly upset.

In the morning I woke up and when leaving the dorm a police officer was standing at a door down the hall on the other side of the dorm he told me to wait up and questioned me a bit I told him what room i was sleeping in last night. He went to talk to my girflriend to confirm my story and then let me go. The next day there was a story in the school newspaper that another girl had been raped that night...

Welcome to the Forum. Your experience sounds really crazy. It would have creeped me out. Perhaps you should try and get a better sleep schedule. I know it must be hard going from school to work all of the time, but sleep is essential. Anyway, I am glad that it turned out OK.

Thanks for the replies, guys. :)

Modest Mouse - your experience is crazy! Hopefully it all worked out alright in the end...