Thread: Some questions about sleep paralysis

I have never experience SP, and although I don't want to, I want to be prepared in case I do. (I know I sound silly but I get scared really easily)

If you start hallucinating, is it very vivid, or something you are only half aware of?
Lets say someone came up to me right now, while I'm fully conscious, and whispered my name in my ear. Would it feel like that? Completely vivid and clear?

And if tonight I had SP and decided to try and stay calm to reach lucidity, how long would I have to stay calm? (I know how it depends on the individual but what is the general time?)

And lastly, what are the chances I will experience SP without attempting any WILDS or anything like that? Just natural, regular sleep. Would the chances increase now that I know about it and have been thinking about it?


Answers are GREATLY appreciated

Originally Posted by VampireLime17

I have never experience SP, and although I don't want to, I want to be prepared in case I do. (I know I sound silly but I get scared really easily)

If you start hallucinating, is it very vivid, or something you are only half aware of?
Lets say someone came up to me right now, while I'm fully conscious, and whispered my name in my ear. Would it feel like that? Completely vivid and clear?

And if tonight I had SP and decided to try and stay calm to reach lucidity, how long would I have to stay calm? (I know how it depends on the individual but what is the general time?)

And lastly, what are the chances I will experience SP without attempting any WILDS or anything like that? Just natural, regular sleep. Would the chances increase now that I know about it and have been thinking about it?


Answers are GREATLY appreciated

You're right. You do sound silly. You have nothing to fear but fear itself.

Of course it varies from person to person, but when I hallucinate, it's extremely vivid. When I hear things, it sounds completely real. To the point that sometimes I wonder if what I am hearing is real or not. It's almost never anything scary but when it is I just KNOW it's not real.

The time it would take for your REM cycle to begin and thus dreams to form depends greatly. If you attempt a WILD without having any sleep prior, I'd say you'd have wait 90 minutes or so, and the dream would be of low quality (assuming you made it that far without losing consciousness...). If you sleep for 5 hours, give or take, and then attempt the WILD, you would probably only lay for 15 minutes at most (after you have tricked yourself into thinking you are asleep). You do not need sleep paralysis to successfully WILD. I have never experienced sleep paralysis in it's true form.

The chance of you experiencing sleep paralysis without attempting a WILD is very unlikely. I think you would have to wake up from a dream prematurely. The chances of you being in sleep paralysis is no greater than if you didn't know about. However, you may recognize it for what it is if it does happen. In this case, you will be happy to know that everything you are experiencing is only in your mind.

Good luck (with WILDing, not sleep paralysis... it's harmless... really...)

EDIT: Oh and feel free to ask any more questions you may have. I'll answer them if I can.

Okay that helps alot
I'm not afraid of it anymore.
Thanks soo much!! I feel better about it now. I actually attempted a WILD this morning but I got impatient. And their were people moving around in my house making noise.

I've had it for years so I've figured out how to overcome it. Its as simple as this know that your not gonna die from it. The trick is to decide that your just gonna endure whatever the hell happens during this bizarre sleep paralysis stuff. Its good fun cuz you get to challenge yourself. I'd never heard about it so I just thought it was a normal part of going to sleep. One night I was fascinated by it and decided I wasnt gonna wake myself up no matter what happened so I bypassed the fear, ignored the weird sensations and to my surprise ended up in a lucid dream. As simple as that.

What happens with me is I get bursts of irrational fear and a sense of imminent danger which sends me running if I'm not determined. The fear and sense of danger passes after a few seconds then the weird sensations come on like feeling jagged objects poking me in the back. That lasts for about 2 minutes then I somehow end up then at some point I start dreaming and I'm lucid obviously. Its tricky stuff sleep paralysis I'll admit that. I still fall for the illusory sense of danger.

For me, sleep paralysis lasts about a minute, and it feels like parts of my body go numb, or vibrate, kind of like driving on a bumpy road. Sometimes visual hallucinations, many times audial. Snaps to a dream seamlessly. Nothing to worry about.

And if tonight I had SP and decided to try and stay calm to reach lucidity

You have sleep paralysis every night, multiple times per night. It's natural. Also, the goal is not "to reach lucidity," but "to reach a dream." If you are aware of the fact that sleep paralysis is an illusion, then chances are you'll still be aware of the illusion once it converts to a dream.

My experience with sleep parylysis usually occurs when I have rolled over onto my back. I wake up but I cannot move my body at all. I hear a very high patch ringing noise. Also audio if any is present lika radio sounds very distorted.

As far as hallucinations go I see shadow people.

They look like that are pretty freaking scary IMO overall I'm not a big fan of the SP experience

I think I just came very close to SP, trying a WILD for the first time. I had taken some vicodin tonight and I found that it made it very easy to relax and keep from moving for about 15 minutes. I had a few auditory hallucinations and was getting some uncomfortable twitching and aches in my arms and legs.

I suddenly started remembering everything that I read on this forum about SP being terrifying and got very scared. A small click in my room suddenly scared the hell out of me and I ended up opening my eyes and basically giving up, I was too freaked out. I knew that my fear was for nothing, since I was basically afraid of becoming afraid. It sounds stupid but I had a really dreadful feeling.

Does this sound like I was close to SP? Can anyone offer any advice for overcoming these bursts of fear?

Good job, you got close. You just have to cancle out everything but your mind. Act like you are nothing but a thought. No body, no nothin. Count your breaths and imagine the number in your head. This should keep your mind awake until your body sleeps.

Also, the first time you enter SP, you might not realise it's SP. This was the case for me. I started hearing things before the body feeling set in, so I got scared and woke myself fully. So, sometimes it just takes getting used to.

Unless you wake up in SP. That is different, and you should know it's SP from enough research. There is nothing to worry about.

Originally Posted by VampireLime17

If you start hallucinating, is it very vivid, or something you are only half aware of?
Lets say someone came up to me right now, while I'm fully conscious, and whispered my name in my ear. Would it feel like that? Completely vivid and clear?

There are 5 types of hallucinations. Visual, Auditory, Intruder, Body experiences, and "The old hag".

Visual is like seeing things that aren't actually there. Some see small things that don't really effect them at all, and others see really bad things. I've never seen anything bad personally.

Auditory being like what you described. It can even be as bad as someone screaming, which is something I've never heard personally.

Body experiences would be like your body falling through your bed, or feeling as if someone is touching you.

"The old hag" is pretty common. Some people have it bad enough to where they actually see some kind of monster/demon/witch sitting on their chest. The old hag makes it feel as if you aren't breathing or having trouble breathing. A big weight on your chest.

The last is the Intruder. It's that feeling that someone is there but there actually isn't anyone.

And if tonight I had SP and decided to try and stay calm to reach lucidity, how long would I have to stay calm? (I know how it depends on the individual but what is the general time?)

I'm not sure there is a general time. As you said, it depends on the person, but if I had to guess, I would say less than 30 minutes?

And lastly, what are the chances I will experience SP without attempting any WILDS or anything like that? Just natural, regular sleep. Would the chances increase now that I know about it and have been thinking about it?

I believe people reach SP in their life atleast twice without actually trying to gain it. I'm not really sure your chances would increase, but since you know about it, you may try to actually gain it.

But really, you won't always see hallucinations, or hear things or anything. It really just depends on the person.

Also, sleep paralysis is not the cause of these hallucinations. Hypnagogia is. It's the state the mind is in when you are falling asleep. It's trying to determine what is reality and what is dreams.

Hypnopompic is the state the mind is in when you wake up. It's when the mind is trying to figure out what are dreams and what is reality.

Sleep paralysis is when the body paralyzes itself outside the REM cycle.

I hope I answered your questions and any other questions people may have had. If you would like to know anything else on SP, don't be afraid to ask me.

People often think sleep paralysis is the cause of hallucintions and what not. I just want to make it clear that it is not the cause. I do realize that there are some people who are aware of the Hypnagogia state, but still say SP. I don't have a problem with this, just wanted to throw it out there...

I heard something smash one time and I was like "great I reached SP without even trying" and then I fell asleep and in the morning my mom asked me if I heard the blind fall off its hook last night. It was quite the fail.