Thread: Falling Asleep with my Eyes Open

So, I was on vacation last week and constantly on a tour bus driving around Europe. I spent most of the time on this bus drifting in and out of sleep but one particular time something happened that really freaked me out.
I woke up in my seat, opened my eyes, lifted my head, but suddenly, I felt my head fall back and I was completely unable to control it. I then noticed that I was entirely unable to move any part of my body. I tried to move my head, my feet, my arms, but I couldn't. I tried to catch the attention of my friend sitting next to me, because I could tell I had a frightened look on my face with my eyes wide open and my head flopped over like I were dead or something, but he was asleep. After trying really hard for about a minute, I was able to move my head just an inch which seemed to sort of shake off whatever was happening to me and I could move again. I woke up my friend to tell him what happened but he thought I was just dreaming the whole thing. How could it have been a dream when my eyes were open the whole time?

Can anyone explain what this was?

Originally Posted by Zitrone

So, I was on vacation last week and constantly on a tour bus driving around Europe. I spent most of the time on this bus drifting in and out of sleep but one particular time something happened that really freaked me out.
I woke up in my seat, opened my eyes, lifted my head, but suddenly, I felt my head fall back and I was completely unable to control it. I then noticed that I was entirely unable to move any part of my body. I tried to move my head, my feet, my arms, but I couldn't. I tried to catch the attention of my friend sitting next to me, because I could tell I had a frightened look on my face with my eyes wide open and my head flopped over like I were dead or something, but he was asleep. After trying really hard for about a minute, I was able to move my head just an inch which seemed to sort of shake off whatever was happening to me and I could move again. I woke up my friend to tell him what happened but he thought I was just dreaming the whole thing. How could it have been a dream when my eyes were open the whole time?

Can anyone explain what this was?

This is probably just sleep paralysis, it is said that this happens to everyone at least once in their lifetime

It happens everyytime you sleep, But things like this dont often happen. You are either aware of it and induce it, or your just sleeping. It helps your body not thrash around during a dream. So if your running in a dream, you wont flail your legs around and wake yourself up.