Sleep Paralysis or Dream about sleep paralysis?

[stevie123]

After a long vivid non lucid dream, the dream changed to a creepy room in a log cabin that was black and white and in a lightning storm and immediately after i found myself in bed in a similar cabin type room. I remember feeling very anxious and afraid and then a figure walked by the window and as it did so it lit up and i heard a large boom (the kind u hear in movies when something startling happens) as it lit up. At that point I realized oh i think this is sleep paralysis, after which i began hearing some quiet creepy voices in my head and i kinda just sassed them but after that things went black for maybe a couple minutes and i woke up... my understanding is that sleep paralysis is something that happens in the middle of sleep not the end so my question is was i actually experiencing it or simply just dreaming about it?

[Erii]

Probably just a dream. But it's also possible you were slightly awake, and the SP bleeds into the dream. That has happened to me multiple times.

[DeepThort]

You often experience sleep paralysis if you are woken during a REM cycle. Your body is paralysed during REM sleep and takes some time to fully wake up if this phase is interrupted. It can also occur just prior to sleep if you are fatigued enough to drift quickly or even directly into REM sleep from waking. This pre sleep paralysis is one technique used for WILD, DEILD and the more controversial astral projection. When you woke up were you still paralysed? If you were then it is likely that you were experiencing sleep paralysis. On the other hand, if paralysis was experienced only in your dream then this was probably not sleep paralysis as there is no known correlation between sleep paralysis and dream paralysis (after all, our most vivid dreams occur during REM cycle when we are certainly paralysed). If as Erii says, you were partly awake then either is possible. I would suggest that you would be the best judge of your own condition. I hope this is some help.