Some times when I cant fall asleep I will either count from 100-0 or just count until I fall asleep. Two times in the past two weeks I have felt the feeling of the numbers falling deep into my head, like I could watch them fall and they seemed to feel like they were falling in the frontal lobe. In my head I would reach for them and I couldn't grasp them, I cant even explain it. When I would open my eyes I would just feel, separated I don't know thats the only way I can explain it... Can anyone give some insight?
Greetings, Give this a read over and tell me if it helps. Definition of Sleep paralysis Sleep paralysis: A frightening form of paralysis that occurs when a person suddenly finds himself or herself unable to move for a few minutes, most often upon falling asleep or waking up. Sleep paralysis is due to an ill-timed disconnection between the brain and the body. The symptoms of sleep paralysis include sensations of noises, smells, levitation, paralysis, terror, and images of frightening intruders. Once considered very rare, about half of all people are now believed to experience sleep paralysis sometime during their life. Sleep paralysis strikes as a person is moving into or out of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, the deepest part of sleep. During REM sleep the body is largely disconnected from the brain leaving the body paralyzed. Sleep paralysis is the result of premature (or persistent) mind-body disconnection as one is about to enter into (or exit from) REM sleep. Sleep paralysis occurs most often after jet lag or periods of sleeplessness that interrupt the normal REM patterns. It affects both sexes equally and occurs at all ages but is most common in teenagers. Sleep paralysis can be familial and may be genetic (inherited) in some cases. An attack of sleep paralysis is usually harmless and self-limited. It tends to be over in a minute or two as soon as the brain and body re-establish connections and the person is able to move again. However, the memory of the terrifying sensations felt during sleep paralysis can long endure. (Some scholars believe that sleep paralysis may account for some of the old claims of attacks by witches and the more recent "reports" of nocturnal abduction by space aliens.) A rare fatal form of sleep paralysis may, it is thought, underlie the cases of healthy teenagers, mainly in Southeast Asia, who die in their sleep, sometimes after fighting for breath but without thrashing around. Sleep paralysis goes by a number of names, including the "old hag" in Newfoundland (for an old witch thought to sit on the chest of the paralyzed sleeper), "kokma" in the West Indies (for a ghost baby who jumps on the sleeper's chest and attacks the throat), "kanashibari" in Japan and "gui ya" or ghost pressure in China (because a ghost is believed to sit on and assault the sleeper). Medically, sleep paralysis is sometimes called waking paralysis, predormital (before-sleep) paralysis, postdormital (after-sleep) paralysis, and REM sleep atonia. - Source: Medicine Net, Inc., http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=9806 Yours Truly, Sam_Spade
That's not sleep paralysis, that's just you falling deeper asleep but keeping your mind awake. If you're interested in seperating the mind from the physical body, you should look up astral projection.
Huh... weird, that's pretty much the definition of Sleep Paralysis... Any logically consistent reason to suggest there be a dichotomy? Sorry, but if you're going to try to post this nonsense in the Science and Nature sections... I'll have to contest that this isn't science. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LONDON, Aug. 24 (UPI) - British and other European researchers have found a way to induce out-of-body experiences using virtual reality goggles. The researchers, who used the goggles to mix up sensory signals to the brain, said the studies suggest a scientific explanation for a phenomenon often thought to be a figment of the imagination, the American Association for the Advancement of Science said Friday in a release. The scientists said the sight of their bodies located somewhere else plus the feel of their real bodies being touched simultaneously made volunteers sense that they had moved outside of their physical bodies. The findings, published in the journal Science, suggest out-of-body experiences may be created by a disconnect between the brain circuits that process certain types of sensory information. In a study by Henrik Ehrsson of University College London and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, volunteers viewed recorded images through their headsets. In the other study, by Olaf Blanke of the Ecole Polytechique Federale de Lausanne and University Hospital in Switzerland, volunteers saw images of their own bodies from the perspective of someone behind them. The studies said multi-sensory conflict is a key mechanism underlying out-of-body experiences. - Source: http://www.blacksunjournal.com/about/ - Study source: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/317/5841/1048 I hope you learn something new! Yours Truly, Sam_Spade
Okay, Sammy Spade, you wanna play this game. Alright, lets do it. Huh, weird, not really, did the OP ever mention any form of paralysis at all? No, I don't think so, so throw your little definition out the door. Maybe because astral projection is something many people are able to do whenever they want. And of course you're gonna try and give me that "Where's your scientific evidence?" bullshit. Well obviously astral projection is a personal experience in which, no one but one's self can contest for, so no known scientist can prove whether it's real or not unless he astrally projects himself. And lastly, your article doesn't even have any evidence, just some stuff about discovering some goggles, it even says SUGGESTS, that doesn't prove shit. So Sammy, if you want to try to tell me astral projection is bullshit, your going to have to try a bit harder. I hope you learn to learn your shit before you talk about it and not just ramble some random bullshit! Have a nice day! Grape Astral Projector, himself.
Obviously people can hallucinate. In that sense, astral projection is real. But if you try to say that astral projection is anything more than a hallucination, we scientists will call bullshit.
It's "Sam" Full body paralysis does not need to occur. In fact, it rarely does, most people are "knocked" out of sleep paralysis by a muscle spasm. Notice I just asked the OP if it helped explain his experience? Yes, well let's go with Vostibackle's proposition; hallucination. It sure seems to be the answer with the least necessary entities to explain the observed phenomena. That's bullshit? Wow, here I go thinking that empiricism has some kind of validity behind it. Well you see what you did by invoking infalsifiability for your claim? Not to mention that this same argument can be used to any type of mental process. Unfortunately, it's not so easy to make actual evidence disappear. By claiming "It's subjective, therefore totally unknowable!", you render any objective knowledge at all useless. You rule things out based on the smalled bit of perceive subjectivity.... namely because you're wallowing in infalsifiability. Actually it does. Unfortunately, the article is intellectual property of it's author and as such, you need to be a member of the journal to get access to it. It's largely how these research studies are funded. You can get the full article here with a subscription to The American Association for the Advancement of Science. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/sci;317/5841/1048 Now, This happened to be republished in Canada under the Canadian Medical Association Journal which is where I originally read it. If you have access to Pubmed, it's reference number is 17717177 . Now if you can actually get your greasy little hands on a copy of this research paper, and if you can actually read a scientific research paper, you might understand a little better. No, the VR goggles are just the mechanism to stimulate these kind of psychological process. Much less invasive that exploratory neurosurgery. Well that's actually not entirely true. The research paper comes to some definitive conclusions about the processes that they document on MRI scans, and really fully illustrate with solid experimental methodology that the describe phenomena of out of body experiences CAN fully be explained by natural and purely physical brain processes. Now, the reason the author of the abstract, and myself neither use the word "proof" is because a "proof" is something that needs to be repeated and done so numerous times. We would call this a "preliminary confirmation" of Dr. Ehrsson's hypothesis. It gets even better when we consider that this research paper was published over a year ago, and the peer-review has support Ehrsson's findings and have been pretty much immaculate. It's as solid of a research paper you can get. I understand it doesn't mesh with your personal world view, but evidence should be stronger than internal dogma. Astral Projection is bullshit. Maybe I've just shown you that I do. I'm sorry I've unsettled your emotional stake in this claim. Known that there is nothing person about this. I just go with objective evidence and no subjective anecdotes. Yours Truly, Sam_Spade
Yeah, fuck reading that, because it's obviously just a super big scientific wall of shit. Ah that's all I needed to read, EVIDENCE or BULLSHIT, ladies & gentleman.
wtf are you all talking about? Making a mountain out of mole hill. Some common plain sense advice is all that was needed.
I used to experience something like this when I was young. It hasn't happened for quite some time. Happened as I was falling asleep. My body would be paralyzed and I knew if I feel asleep I'd be at the mercy of something. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was...this something. I'd fight to keep my eyes open and stay awake, staring at the light bulb. I'd remember the experience but not what followed once I fell asleep. When I heard of alien abductions; it hit a chord but when it comes down to it, I don't believe in the phenomena.
Sam_Spade does not know how to reply? I think I get an award or something. Sorry for the hostility, it was not needed.
No I was not in sleep paralysis, I could move and did not feel scared or anything. And this isnt after REM its before I even fall asleep.
Well you would know best. The other one that comes to mind is some mild form of NREM Parasomnia. Either way, the disassociation you experiences is not an uncommon experience, especially when sleep is involved.
Most likely you are just starting to fall asleep and what you are seeing is your mind slipping away from reality, most likely right before Hypnagogic Imagery.