r/Sleepparalysis

I’ve suffered with sleep paralysis for a couple years now however tonight was definitely one to remember. I shut my eyes for 5 minutes still listening to my YouTube video. I then heard a noise so looked in front of me and my room was completely dark (my tv is on but in this moment my room was pitch dark) however a figure was stood at the end of my bed. It was huge. I made sure what I was seeing was real then started to feel the pins and needles sensations (which indicates to me when I’m in sleep paralysis) out of fear I shut my eyes again and couldn’t move for a minute then snapped out of it and my room was back to normal. It fully felt like I seen through to another dimension. I got up to go take a piss and my door was shut. I’ve currently broke my ankle so I don’t shut my door to save me from opening it with crutches.

Maybe I did shut it but I have no memory what so ever of shutting it. If anyone has any tips on how to not get sleep paralysis please share as genuinely one of most frightening things.

After tonight’s episode it brought me back to the time I was on holiday with my mates in Prague.

I fell asleep and was woken up to an alarm + red light flashing in the hostel room we were in. I looked around and my mate was stood up telling me “we have to go” and “we need to get out of here” repeatedly. I kept tryna tell him that I couldn’t move due to being stuck in sleep paralysis but as you know it’s impossible to do so. The strange thing is I could move just at a very very very slow pace. I kept trying to fight it but physically couldn’t. This went on for 5 minutes however felt way longer in my head. I finally managed to move and when I could I sat up with all my strength shouting I CANT MOVE I was met with a pitch black room and everyone asleep in their beds. Was my first time with hallucinations while in sleep paralysis and the fear I felt was surreal. I always get pins and needles while in sleep paralysis is this common ?

From what I’ve read it’s more common that people who’ve experienced sleep paralysis to have had it from childhood. I started getting it around March this year. It’s usually alongside horrifying nightmares, and this sort of cycle of thinking I’ve woken and escaped the horror only to return.

- I think I’m in perimenopause (39F), started HRT around the time it begin but definitely after. Weirdly sleeping better on HRT (apparently oestrogen helps with that) except when I get these episodes.
- I experienced something traumatic last year. The dreams are occasionally on this theme but only broadly, never a reliving of what happened.

I just had one during the day while napping, pinned in bed and felt like my body didn’t work and could hear someone in the room next door. When I finally did manage to wake up there was no one there.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of onset? Did it go away?

I am 27 years old and I’ve experienced sleep paralysis consistently since I was 11 years old. I’d say 4 out of 7 days of the week I go through sleep paralysis if I’m completely sober. I’ve struggled with substance abuse since I was 19 and I had a pill habit before 2020 that caused me to experience sleep hallucinations but nobody else that did these drugs has these same awake dream experiences that I have. I’m very curious if there is anyone out there that is going through this. I am now off the pills but I still get sleep paralysis 7/10 times I am sober.

I looked it up and results told me nose bleeds were unrelated to sleep paralysis and just a coincidence but it happens every time I have sleep paralysis. Not always but most of the time I have the same dream, whenever I have that dream I pretty much know I'm gonna have a nose bleed and sleep paralysis. My sleep paralysis includes me feeling like I'm being suffocated and it feels painful around my chest or like I can't breath. I'm just a bit confused about it, does this happen to anyone else?

I just experienced my first sleep paralysis ever admit was the yuckiest feeling. I think I don’t want to sleep again ever.
I’m in the hospital recovering from brain surgery. I’ve been pumped up on drugs the last few days but reduced the amount quite significantly yesterday because I felt so out of it. So I’m in bed, and in my mind I’m in a bunk bed and my sister is there, climbing over me to get to my shit (iykyk). I realize, I should not be in a bunk but in my hospital bed and a few minutes later she returns and spoons me. I felt the weight of her body on me and it freaked me out. I couldn’t move and tried to scream but couldn’t do anything. I guess I’m glad it was my sister cuddling me and not a demon choking me but this was absolutely horrifying and I’m scared to go back to sleep.

Hi, I’ve never posted on Reddit before but I do listen to a lot of podcasts of reddit stories. I think that’s what might have triggered this. This happened thirty minutes ago and I’m still a bit shaken up about it but I’ll try my best to explain.

So this started at around 12:30 while my roommate (I’ll call him R) was playing video games and I was sleeping on the bed about two feet away from him. Shortly after falling asleep I had a dream that R woke me up and asked me to grab him a snack from downstairs. I thought I was awake because everything around me looked the exact same.
As I walked into the kitchen I realized that the front door was wide open. I quickly shut it and ran back upstairs and asked R if he had opened the door while I was sleeping. I asked a few times but he didn’t answer so I assumed he just couldn’t hear me because of his headset. So I layed back down on the bed and rolled back over to go back to sleep. A few seconds later he finally spoke and told me that something weird had happened to him earlier.
I am very scared of the paranormal but I love to hear about it so I asked him to tell me. He said I wasn’t going to like it. So he leaned in closer to me and got really close to my face and just smiled. This is where things start to get really weird.
I’m going to try not to be graphic. But as he smiled he started kissing my neck really aggressively and I was just felt kind of dazed and confused. This went on for about a minute and I wasn’t mad at it lol😅. That is until I started to hear the clicking of his game controller faintly in the back of my mind.
That’s when I realized I was still asleep and whatever was on me was not R. As soon as I realized I was sleeping I was frozen still and I couldn’t move or speak at all. I was trying to call R’s name for help but I couldn’t. I knew whatever was on me still kissing me and touching me was not the real R. I tried to move or scream or something but I was held down and having a hard time breathing or seeing straight. Everything felt extremely real.
I heard that praying in these situations can help so I tried that and that’s when I could finally start fighting this thing and I could move again. When I sat up I turned around and R was right there still playing his game and I told him everything and I was so scared and shaking. I still felt so dazed and dizzy when I woke up and I could still feel pressure on my neck.
The reason I think this was an incubus is because two days earlier I was listening to a spooky video and this episode was all about incubus(incubi??).
I went into a whole deep dive because I didn’t know this type of thing happened to people so I was curious and wanted to hear people’s experiences.
I think that might have opened up a door to something. I also think that’s why the door was wide open in my dream. I may have opened up a Spiritual door by putting my energy into this type of thing.
Anyways that’s what just happened to me so if anybody has any input or similar experiences please lmk🙏🙏.

I get sleep paralysis very commonly , back to back as well. I was just closing my eyes to fall asleep and I was laying on my stomach holding my pillow, when I heard mumbling behind me and foot steps. I felt a presence slowly touch my arm and slowly lay itself on top of me. I felt their head on my head. I saw a black shadow out of the corner of my eye. I tried to move and cry as I felt it slowly lift off of me. I was shaking very bad when I finally was able to move. I just laid there in shock until I found the courage to look behind me.
I’m really scared to sleep now.

Hi everyone, I’m currently researching sleep paralysis because I’ve been building a project around it, and the more I learn, the more I realize how misunderstood and isolating it can feel.

I’m curious to hear from people who have experienced it personally:

What do you wish others understood about sleep paralysis?
What usually helps you after an episode?
Do you ever track your episodes, triggers, sleep habits, or fear levels?
Would it help to have a safe, anonymous place to share experiences and feel less alone?

Thank you to anyone willing to share.

I’m normally an advocate for sleep paralysis because I think it’s pretty cool once you understand it; but I just had one of the most viscous episodes I’ve had in a very long time.

Won’t really get into what I saw because it doesn’t matter as much..

I knew from the onset this one was gonna be bad and tried to fight it because it “didn’t feel right”, To no avail I’ll say.

I’m in the bed with my partner who knows that I get sleep paralysis and said that she can tell. I tried to quicken my breathing/make any noise so she could tell. She couldn’t. I even tried adjusting myself before I was too far gone, but in all honesty I don’t even know if I moved at all—just think I did.

Like the fucking genjitsu trap it puts you in where you don’t know dream from reality. By that point I could’ve been balls deep in the SP episode and just not have noticed yet.

And honestly it probably wouldn’t have been as bad if I didn’t try to fight out/try and get her to get me out.

Anyways. Just wanted to vent before drifting back off…

Last night I suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion hit me. My chest and body felt heavy, but at the same time my mind felt extremely active, almost overstimulated. The only thing that felt different from the other times I’ve experienced sleep paralysis was how sudden and intense the exhaustion was, like I was being pulled straight into sleep without being able to fight it.

I could feel myself slipping into sleep paralysis, and I kept trying to twitch or move any part of my body to stop it from happening. Every time I managed to snap out of it, the exhaustion would pull me straight back in again. I was so tired that I couldn’t properly wake myself up or get out of bed, so I ended up stuck in this constant loop for what felt like ages, repeatedly falling into sleep paralysis and forcing myself back out of it over and over again. At one point I finally managed to quickly turn onto my side.
That’s when I started hearing a voice repeatedly saying, “He’s behind you.” It felt like that went on forever too.

After that, I honestly can’t even remember how it ended. I just woke up really late today feeling completely drained, empty, and unsettled by the whole experience.

Sleep Paralysis and Spiritual Awakening

This post is deeply personal to me. More like my way of journaling an experience and hear other people’s thoughts about. I seek knowledge and understanding of the experience.

About 10 years ago, 2015, I was going through one of the many rough phases in my life. I was in my first year of university, and had just got suspended from the university’s residence for smoking and drinking alcohol in my room, along other things. My dad rented a place out for me right next to university, only for me to get kicked out from there too because I was dating a girl and we were “loud” in the family section of the complex. My dad decides to teach me a lesson (and save money) by reserving a room for me in a stranger’s 2 br apt. I lived with that stranger for 2 months while i resumed my studies. Needless to say, that person was a filthy parasite of a human. His apt was not clean, and he would let me pay for food without my consent, etc. Anyway, my experience happened there.

I was maybe 2 weeks in this shared apartment, and I started getting sleep paralysis every couple of days. Could not move, or speak, until I woke up. One night while sleeping, I open my eyes and could see the room’s walls, wardrobe, decorations, etc. But could not move my body, i could only move my eyes. After what felt like a 5 mins, I could feel a strange vibration, like a dark energy of some sort. Then this energy grew stronger, and the sound and vibrations grew louder. Until I started hearing loud thumping coming from outside my room. It was not regular thumping as we know it. It sounded and felt like footsteps by someone or something that is not human. The foot steps were slow, and powerful. The sound kept getting closer and I could feel that energy getting nearer to my bedroom. As I looked towards my bedroom door with absolute terror, a shadow began to appear. Until I saw the figure behind those devilish footsteps.

The figure stood there at the entrance of my bedroom for about a minute, facing towards me while i’m about to shit my pants and staring at it in fear. I still could not move or speak. And the energy/ frequency I felt was unlike anything i’ve ever experienced before, like it’s from a different dimension. All I could see and remember was this being’s dark shadow. About 8 feet tall. And its figure seemed to be wearing that hood, like the grim reaper. The thing started getting into my bedroom, approaching me while I was frozen in my bed. One footstep at a time. The loud dark energy coming from it was very strong. Until it stood right next to my bed. It looked towards me for a couple of seconds. Then leaned towards me. At this point, it was right next to my face. It spoke to me with a very deep and unworldly voice. I speak 4 languages and can recognize a familiar language. This was not a language i’ve ever heard before. What’s even weirder is that I remember having understood what it told me. But I do not remember what it was telling me. After about 5 mins of it wispering in my ears. I finally “woke up”. Barely able to catch my breath. Heart racing. Drowning in my own sweat. Looking around me in complete shock and disbelief.

I was traumatized for about two weeks. Stopped going to class. My girlfriend and friends were visiting me to check on me. I had to make sense of what just happened. I looked online for answers, and here’s the scariest part: i’m not the only one who saw that exact being in their sleep paralysis experience. I read a very similar descriptions online by others. After some more research, i found that there are two main explanations to sleep paralysis:

1. Scientific: scientists believe it happens when people lack sleep, their brain confuses dreams with reality, so we start dreaming while we’re awake, like hallucinations.
2. Spiritual/ Islamic belief: there is a Jin called Al-Jathoom, who visits people in their sleep.

The scientific opinion does not explain how different people in different parts of the world would see the same figures. That is just not possible. So I am more inclined to believe the spiritual explanation. My gut feeling tells me this thing was very real. And it was trying to tell me something.

Now in 2026 with all the knowledge coming to surface: Epstein files, Baal, child sacrifices, cloning, reptilians, plandemics, control, spiritual war, inter dimensional beings, “aliens” who are supposedly us from the future, the fermement, and other things, I’m opening up that topic again, to explore further and get a deeper understanding of this experience. But I came out of this experience knowing, without any doubt, that there are other creatures who live with us in this world, that we don’t necessarily see/ hear with our naked eyes (or naked brains).

Thanks for taking the time to read through my journal entry. Let me know your thoughts, politely and with compassion, please. I’m interested especially if you have had a similar experience, or are if you are knowledgable in that realm of the world.

For Context: 24f, have been SA’d as child & adult but not recently. have had sleep paralysis MANY times, even everyday for a whole month a couple years ago. Its usually of a man I’ve never met (sometimes just his silhouette) brutally murdering me and I realize its a “dream” and cant move or talk trying to wake up. I always had a feeling and some tiny tiny memories of an SA happened when I was younger but I could never figure out from who.

I was at my boyfriends house and we fell asleep with him as the big spoon and me facing the wall.

I “woke up” in a dream and he had his arms around me and started feeling me up. It made me feel weird so I told him to stop and he got mad and started doing it harder and grabbed my chest really hard still while spooning. I yelled at him to get off and all of the sudden I was in a completely different setting. At this point I realized it was just a “dream” but couldnt move. I could not see anything but a room with a couch and it felt like i was laying with someone spooning me the exact way my bf was assaulting me except this time I was a child, about 6. I had no idea who was behind me until all of the sudden I hear myself saying “Nona (my grandma) what are you doing?” and then I officially started bloody murder screaming “NONA WHAT ARE YOU DOING STOP IT NONA NONA STOP IT GET OFF OF ME” I never saw her in it because I was facing away while it was happening. I then woke up again and was able to move.

When I was 6 I used to go to her house where she’d babysit and watch us. I’ve never in my life had this thought about her and she passed 2 years ago. I think about her sometimes but definitely not in the past few weeks. I woke up to see my bf snoring loud asf and fully asleep. not even with his arms around me. Im not sure what to think of this at all. I’ve never had sleep paralysis quite like this. I’ve been SA’d in one before but not often and it was by someone I didnt know. If anyone has any opinion or info on absolutely anything pls lmk because now I just feel sick and guitly? for some reason?

So I first got sleep paralysis when I was 17 years old. And I remember it very vividly. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it because it was so surreal to me. It happened that summer of my senior year of high school. I still remember waking up in the middle of the night, not being able to move. I remember being so confused. I tried to get up, but my body was stiff, paralyzed. I tried to move my arms and legs, and they just wouldn’t work.

Then I started panicking but believing it’s all a bad dream. So I think that, but I’m really awake, so it’s perceived as a never-ending nightmare. At the same time, I tried screaming, and guess for who? Yeah, big mommas boy here. I yelled for help, and all that came out was weird, scary mumbling sounds, like my mouth had been sewn or stapled together.

I felt a very heavy presence, a weight on my body. I was cold and sweaty, and yet the temperature in the room felt dense, hot, almost like a sauna. I could feel the cold sweat, Behind my ears pressing on the pillow, I could hear a distorted sound of like a ringing fan slowly spinning. My best guess, my ears had popped.

I remember I tried to crawl away in a paralyzed, stiff position.I felt numb and tingling like when your arm falls asleep. It was such a weird place to be in, both physically and psychologically, because it was as if my mind couldn’t keep up with my consciousness . Then what happened next is something I will never forget. The experience was out of this world. As I lay there, unable to move, with my mumbling sounds coming out of my mouth, I felt like I was being lifted, suspended into the air above my body and bed. The sensation I got all around my body and stomach was that feeling of being scared of heights That’s the best I can describe it.

What happened next: I was now looking at myself from above. I could see myself laying in bed. I thought I had died. It was very strange seeing myself just laying there. As if it was third person view, It was like watching your kill cam in a video game. I was in one spot physically, but my mind was in two places? I don’t know. Anyways, while being suspended near the ceiling of my room, I traveled down the hall to the kitchen i dont know how or why , and I remember being suspended in the middle of the kitchen ceiling for what felt like forever.

Then I traveled back into my body. As I returned to my body, I could hear distorted voices almost like whispers very deep and horrifying. As I opened my eyes into reality, waking up, I could hear my mother calling me I lay in bed.

I got up and was very weirded out by what had happened. I couldn’t understand how she was there because I was alone not so long ago. I guess this whole time, while I was in my sleep paralysis, I had been mumbling for help, and she heard and got very worried and went to check on me. That human intervention certainly helped.

Anyways, what followed after was just bad for me. This happened 3 nights in a row. The second and third time, I was not able to “get out of my body,” but I still got the creepy sleep paralysis sensation of the living nightmare . Those nights to me felt like they were in a loop. Repeating what had happened the night before. It got bad, I was scared to go to sleep. I felt like if I fell asleep, it would just restart over and over again. The lack of sleep that followed also created insomnia.

I had the idea that I wouldn’t get those nightmares if I didn’t sleep long, so I tried sleeping less, but then that started messing with my school stuff. I stopped skateboarding and I was uninterested in all my hobbies. I couldn’t really concentrate. It’s like I wasn’t myself, as if I was possessed or taken over by something. I became obsessed with that experience. It pushed the boundaries of wonder i believe at some point i lost that touch with reality. I started thinking i got some kind of ability that others didn’t , I started isolating myself because whenever someone asked what’s up, I’d bring it up because that was on my mind the whole time.

This experience opened my mind to look into lucid dreaming, astral projection, parallel universes, alternate realities, spirituality, history, and to learn about space and time, mathematics geometry and physics, even biology, trying to understand the nervous system and the brain and how all of this is connected. Searching for that key. I know it’s all because of this experience I was able to see. I overthought it, I gave into it. I know it drastically shaped my life but i have come to terms with it.

whenever im sleepy in afternoon i see a black body appearing and i can't move or speak and if i try to it feels like someone is pressing down on me very hard only happens in my room if i sleep in other room i do not see that thing and it does not happens at night or maybe i don't remember it when i wake up

the context of dreams are different each times and this time it was like the thing wanted to show me something i just start chanting prayer and i woke up

one time it was a white thing sleeping besides me never saw the white one again and its always black thing whenever i try to ignore it the thing applies a pressure to my whole my body it does not hurt much but hurts enough to be scared of the experience i just had

i sleep on my frontside so one time it was on my back once it dragged me out of my bed i couldn't even move my hands to grab the sheets another time i was floating on the air and the thing was just standing there and when i tried to scream no word were coming out (like i was mute)

today it was some flowers and some curving lines in black when i closed my eyes today one time it was a scream whenever i started chanting it just screamed in front of my face like 3-4 times and other times it does nothing and i just wake up

but i think the prayer won't work on it next time because whenever i start the thing either scream or try to show me illusions of different things to distract me??

i honestly dont know when and why it all started out of nowhere but it has happened 7-8 times in total and it only happens in afternoon i don't know what that thing is or what it wants from me

this could be i have some mental illness i made some shii and im just daydreaming about it??? i honestly don't know what to do i don't wanna face that thing again is there any way to stop this

it's my first time writing a post so sorry if it has errors n mistakes

I’ve had strange sleep paralysis’ before, but this was the first time anything like this has happened. I woke up at 4:31 am this morning cause I have work at 5am, and scrolled my phone for like a minute. I had been sleeping in my chair, and after I put my phone down, I reclined and was like “man I don’t wanna work” ykyk.

The dream I’d had before waking up was strange, but not a nightmare. It was about someone with this strange book, and I felt kind of uneasy about it and could never see the cover. That’s all I really remember. While I was reclining, with my eyes open staring at the ceiling, I somehow fell into sleep paralysis. I didn’t know it until I was staring at the cover of the book in front of me, which apparently was a collage of all the people the book had killed. I couldn’t move, and could hear myself whimpering in fear but wasn’t really aware I was doing it until I managed to cry myself free (wiggling toes or fingers doesn’t work for me, I can only hyperventilate or cry to get out of it).

When I checked my phone immediately after, it was 4:36am. Surely you can’t enter REM sleep in less than 5 minutes with your eyes open? My only theory is that I somehow wasn’t actually awake the first time. But it didn’t feel like dreaming at all.

Anyone else experienced something like this before?

I always sleep with the lights on because I'm afraid

Hi, I have nightmares and night terrors, lucid/vivid dreams, sleep paralysis, parasomnia, and cptsd. I’m exhausted and sleepless, have had a hard time being able to sleep for quite a while, often go for a long time without sleeping and it takes a toll on me mentally but when I do sleep it’s awful. I often wake up in a panic all through out the night every little bit, from things like being asleep and it seems like my eyes were already open or atleast halfway/half asleep, having nightmares and night terrors regularly and even when I’ve woken up from whatever I was dreaming about it doesn’t go away even if I turn the lights on it’s so real and it gets confusing as to what’s actually happening and what isn’t. Sometimes think I’m awake and I’m not and get stuck in them for such a long time it feels like I’m trapped in some sort of coma and can’t get out it’s so tiring

This happened to me last night. I was sleeping at the edge of the bed on my right side. I’d taken 10g of melatonin and a nello if that’s relevant.. idk. But I felt someone get into bed behind me and run their hand down my cheek and cuddle me from behind. I didn’t feel frightened, more surprised and kind of eased into it at first. As I realized that I’m home alone I tried to wake myself up by trying to sit up. I only got so far because I was disoriented.. I couldn’t quite make my eyes open? Or focus? Idk. I remember thinking of the melatonin and realizing I’m probably fucked. So I laid back down. After a minute I felt it again, someone in my bed. I turned around to face them without opening my eyes. I remember cupping their face but I didn’t open my eyes because I knew no one was supposed to be here and I didn’t want to startle myself with what I might see as I’ve experienced “regular” sleep paralysis before. I felt hair. I put the cover over their face and peeked and saw hair. A dark dirty blonde maybe brunette, in the light of the tv. I woke up again but was instantly back facing the edge of the bed, sensation gone. I closed my eyes again and again it came back. They spooned me again. Arms over and under me and this time I could feel their face on the left side of my face and their hand holding mine. It was a loving sort of embrace that really made me feel safe honestly. After a minute, I reached up because my neck/back of my head began to tickle (happens to me sometimes) and I felt someone’s hair as I said, “it tickles”. I snapped awake, eyes open and sensation instantly gone.

I’ve been searching the internet since. I think it’s also relevant to state that I’ve been dealing with a pretty traumatic event the past few days. My family doesn’t live close and honestly this is feeling more and more like I just needed a hug.

It’s not day one news of the “evil figure” when it comes to sleep paralysis, everyone always says it like a shadow figure or something like that.

I personally never saw one myself with my eyes, but I can feel someone approaching me in my sleep. This makes me wonder, does their interaction with me have something to do with me? I know the figure is basically a hallucination, so is my brain trying to tell me something? (Like how your dreams relate to your daily life in a way, where maybe you’d get nightmares due to traumatic events and your fears etc)

The figure is not always here, only some of my episodes. My most recent one which was just literally 5 minutes ago so i decided to talk about it. I’m sleeping on my side facing my door, I cannot see anything so far. I feel “someone” entering my room, it sat next to me on my bed, but I could feel hands slipping under me and over me almost like you’re trying to pull someone off the bed by warping your arms on their upper body. I didn’t really feel force of drag, but I did feel it tapping the bed to wake me, and harder when I didn’t open my eyes, that’s when I snapped myself out of my episode forcefully (I do that a lot.)

I just wonder if anyone has experienced something like this? I’ve never seen anyone talk about it in this way, only saying they feel eyes on them or see a shadow person but never “interacting”, is this like normal or is something else wrong with me lol