Oh snap! I can’t move | Sleep Paralysis

Let me tell you a tale today, well, actually  a real phenomenon stranger than fiction.  
 
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“I can’t move … oh God I can’t move!!”, panic was slowly gripping my heart. 
“Why can’t I move?”
 
Lying on the bed, I tried to shake my hands one more time, but not even the fingertips responded. I lay there still, silent, listening to the loud whirr of the ceiling fan. The last thing I remember doing was snuggling in the blankets and going to sleep, but it seems now my body was still resting while the brain was awake. Terrifying thoughts started bubbling in my mind, starting from Ghosts to Coma.
 
“What if I tried going back to sleep?”
 
After few moments (which felt like eternity) I was sleeping again. The next thing I remember was waking up in a jolt. I shook my arms and legs, blinked a couple of times. 
 
A vague sensation of helplessness and fear was still registered in my mind, but I couldn’t tell if the incident was real or a nightmare. I ignored the feeling, thinking it to be a lone scenario. Until it repeated, the next afternoon and kept happening, inconsistently though, for a year or so.
 
After that I did what every person on earth does, Google. It’s a condition called Sleep Paralysis – happens when the body is unable to smoothly transition between stages of sleep. 
 
“Sleep paralysis is a feeling of being conscious but unable to move. It occurs when a person passes between stages of wakefulness and sleep. During these transitions, you may be unable to move or speak for a few seconds up to a few minutes. Some people may also feel pressure or a sense of choking. ” Source
 
That was about 5 years ago and is the reason why I stopped sleeping during afternoons or oversleeping in general. It happened during times when my stress levels were beyond normal.
 
I wish it had given me some supernatural power, similar to reading mind or moving things like Magneto, but sigh… nothing like that happened.
 
Did you ever experience anything like this?
sleep paralysis
Blog-A-Thon Prompt – Stranger than fiction

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69 thoughts on “Oh snap! I can’t move | Sleep Paralysis

  1. Oh wow ! This was stranger than fiction. Personally, I haven't experienced it yet or maybe I have, and I haven't taken notice. Thanks for sharing though. Will be watchful next time. 🙂

  2. I too have experienced this, and it happened twice in the same week when I was really young! I was so scared I never spoke about it to anyone, till I read an article about it in the newspaper! I was so relieved to finally feel normal 😀

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