Is This Normal?
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A fee years ago i was staying up late watching You Tube videos and my body randomly stopped moving. Ive done some research and figured maybe it is sleep paralysis, but i am not sure because every time it happens I am wide awake and it is always at night. A few minutes ago it happened again. I woke up at 4 AM but i now get sufficient sleep most of the time. my eyes were closed and i could only barely move my fingers. I tried to pinch myself out of it because some type of movement ends it, but i cant move so it is hard. I was not on my phone when it happened. I have never given in to the shut down feeling because I feel as if i might die. As this happens, I usually get a tingling feeling throughout my entire body. This time unlike every other, I heard voices like I was in a school cafeteria but I could not tell what any of them were saying. As soon as it stopped, they went away and the only noise I hear is that of the fan. Please help?
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lily65668 jordana82944
Posted
What you describe is classic sleep paralysis. I've had it for more than 50 years, and can confirm that it's completely harmless - even if it can be a bit alarming at times. It can start at any age, but the most common age of onset is between 15 and 25. Reading between the lines of your post, I suspect you fall into that age group.
Most people will have one or two isolated episodes in their life, but an estimated 2-5% of the population will get it on a regular basis.
You're doing all the right things to try and break out of it, though I know from personal experience that they don't always work. You don't need to worry about dying if you give in and go back into it. We all do that sometimes, especially when we're very tired. I've done that many times since my episodes started in 1967, and can confirm that I'm still very much alive!
The only downside to giving in is that you're likely to end up back in the same state. This isn't dangerous, but if you want to avoid it you should sit or stand up the instant you come out of an episode, however heavy and lethargic you feel - and we all feel that way immediately afterwards.
Concerning the voices and the tingling sensation, this is also quite normal. These are both hallucinations. About half of regular sleep paralysis sufferers (including me) hallucinate during episodes. These hallucinations can affect any of your senses. My own hallucinations are mainly tactile (touch) or vibration, though I occasionally hear things like running footsteps, doors banging etc. My father's sleep paralysis hallucinations affected just about all his senses - including smell. He frequently saw unpleasant sights during attacks, and smelled them too!
Which brings me to another point: sleep paralysis is strongly hereditary. However, like all these genetic glitches, it has to start somewhere. My father, at least two of his siblings and my grandmother all had it, and all hallucinated. It might therefore be worth making discreet enquiries around your family. A word of caution though: some families don't like to talk about it because they're afraid it's a sign of mental illness. (Which it most definitely isn't, of course.)
You should be able to bring the frequency of attacks under some kind of control by identifying your triggers. These are different for everyone but a few of the more common ones are: getting overheated during the night; stress; sleeping too much (or, paradoxically, too little); certain foods or drinks taken too late at night; and (sorry!) sleeping close to electronic equipment. Oh, and recreational drugs are also a good way to trigger attacks. Oddly enough, good old-fashioned cannabis seems to be the main culprit.
The above are only a few suggestions. We all need to find our own triggers then try to avoid them as far as possible. In my own case, my main triggers are overheating in the night and sleeping too much. I'm far more likely to have an attack when sleeping late in the morning or taking an afternoon nap.
This is just an overview. If you have any further questions don't hesitate to post them here or send me a private message (click on the envelope icon under my ID). Sleep paralysis is nothing to worry about. As I'm sure you've worked out for yourself, it's just a minor brain glitch some of have, that can easily be managed.