Four years ago, I first encountered with a buzzing sound, and then a 'shadow', and then a white spirit, and then voices, and then suffocating and then I couldn't move and finally, two nights ago, I was hit full spiral when I saw two haunting figures on my bed.
1) A kid who said " I can still hear the noise".
2) A dark, broad faced man.
And today, while I was taking my afternoon nap, I heard voice and I felt paralysed yet again.
Enough is enough lah.
I did my research, and felt like how the heroes of scary movies feel when they look up symptoms on the internet except this time, I wasn't faced with some scary shit but instead, a scientific reasoning.
:
A person may wake up and find himself unable to move or speak as if he is frozen. He also may hear footsteps, see a ghost-like creature, or feel someone sitting on his chest. Throughout the history, people considered this phenomenon as work done by evil spirits. However, the modern science can explain the terrifying event as a Sleep Paralysis.
A Sleep Paralysis is possibly a hereditary disorder in which one experiences very frightening seconds or minutes of total body paralysis with little respiration and eye movements (1). A victim in this state feels awake, but he cannot move or speak (2). In addition to the immobility, the common symptoms include feeling choked or suffocated, hearing strange noises like footsteps and voices, seeing beings or dark shadows, and feeling an existance of someone in the room (1). Although these symptoms often direct the victims to believe in ghosts, mistransmission of neural signals in the brain causes Sleep Paralysis. When a person sleeps, his brain sends signals to inhibit any muscle contraction (3). If he comes into consciousness before the brain sends signals to activate muscle contraction, he cannot move his body, and consequently, become "paralyzed"(2).
Understanding more neural concepts of Sleep Paralysis, some researchers now hypothesize that a very rare condition called Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome (SUNDS) may closely relate to Sleep Paralysis (1). Upon the death, a SUNDS victim produces no body movement even though he experiences a myocardial infarction and strong breathing difficulties and should straggle in agony (5). The death may be caused by the extreme muscle atonia during Sleep Paralysis, which is so severe that even the cardiac muscles and the diaghragm paralyze (5).
(I get sleep paralysis way too often :S)
This caught my interest too:
How to Lucid DreamThe most basic definition of lucid dreaming is "being aware you are dreaming while dreaming". Most lucid dreams are about things you want to happen. Although most people know they're lucid dreaming, you can change your dream to how you want it to be. Lucid dreams usually occur while a person is in the middle of a regular dream and suddenly realizes that she or he is asleep and must be dreaming. The person is then said to be "lucid", and may enter one of many levels of lucidity. At the lowest level, the dreamer may be dimly aware that he or she is dreaming, but not think rationally enough to realize that events/people/actions in the dream are not real/pose no threat. At the highest level, the dreamer is fully aware that she or he is asleep, and can have complete control over his or her actions in the dream. However, with low mental control your decisions could be biased not by your opinion, but by your brain. You can control your dreams using the lucid dreaming methods that follow.
Causes
Although there are several theories, the actual cause of sleep paralysis is still unknown. However, several factors have been identified that may increase the chances of having an episode:
•Sleeping in a face upwards or supine position
•Irregular sleeping schedules; naps, sleeping in, sleep deprivation (haha, thank you debate)!
•Increased stress
•Sudden environmental/lifestyle changes
•A lucid dream that immediately precedes the episode.
I think I know why whenever I get it, I wake up feeling so tired:
•Don't fight it and it will pass. Fighting against it makes it worse than it is.
(I always fight it off. I actually remember even KICKING the ' ghosts' away)
•Always remember that sleep paralysis is a medical phenomena and just that. Do not associate it with supernatural things like ghosts and evils. It will only make it worse. Keep reminding yourself that it's just a medical phenomena.
(HAH. The minute I get up, I see "Shutter" "The Eye" and all these scary things in my head and don't sleep for hours)
Oh well, :) anyone else facing the same problem?
#147.
2 hours ago