Thread 33802203

Hi, I’ve been suffering with Sleep paralysis problems for 11+ years. It’s often just some hallucinations that my mind draws based on nearby ambient sounds. I realise midway through that it’s not real, then it becomes a lucid dream. I feel the bed, I hear the nearby sounds. I don’t do anything with this lucid dream though, have never been able to. I try to wake up, I supposedly do wake up, I see my room (somewhat realistic recreation of it) and I hear the sounds nearby but I can’t move. I try to move, try over and over but I can’t. For 11+ years I had a technique to wake up, just close the eyes and focus on breathing, calm down, let the adrenaline shot and panic pass (caused due to realisation of being trapped in my body), try to calm down my spiked heartbeat which I can feel it in my paralysed state, then try to move. After 4 or 5 tries, I break free, I wake up. But recently, the technique has stopped working, it didn’t work twice. I woke up paralysed, could listen the youtube video playing next to me, could hear everything and brain tried to BS me over and over with a fake room and a false wakeup motion but I realised it over and over that it was a lie. I tried so many times to move, breathing exercise didn’t work. I gave up and resigned to waiting for my body to naturally wake up but luckily my phone played a loud notification sound and I actually woke up. I woke up with pain in my neck, shoulder and forearms possibly due to my body trying to move but being unable to and applying a lot of force as a result. I could remember and piece together what the youtube video said. The other time I fought for a long time again, couldn’t wake up with the technique, idk how but the time passed and the actual alarm woke me up. I’ve never had the breathing technique fail on me, I’m terrified to sleep again. Awake for 36+ hours now. Please help.

That sounds brutal, man. Long-term sleep paralysis can absolutely mess with your head — especially when your old “escape method” stops working.

Here’s what can help right now and longer term:

**1. Calm before sleep.**
Most paralysis episodes start from going to bed anxious, overtired, or after long sleep deprivation. Try winding down with something boring and low-stimulation for 30 min before lying down. Avoid caffeine, energy drinks, and screens for at least an hour.

**2. Sleep position matters.**
Lying on your back (supine) is the biggest trigger. Try sleeping on your side with a pillow behind your back so you can’t roll over.

**3. During paralysis itself.**
If it happens again, don’t fight to move big muscles — focus on something *small*, like trying to wiggle a single finger or toe. Movement tends to “break” the paralysis faster than trying to sit up or thrash.
Also, try slow exhalations rather than “deep breaths.” The body sometimes mistakes big breathing attempts as panic signals.

**4. Break the loop.**
Staying awake 36 hours will make an episode *way* more likely when you finally crash. Even a short nap lying on your side is safer than trying to push through more sleeplessness.

**5. If it keeps happening.**
You might have something like narcolepsy or disrupted REM cycles. If you can, mention it to a doctor or sleep specialist — they can prescribe short-term meds or run a sleep study to see what’s triggering it.

It’s fixable, but for now just focus on sleeping on your side, staying calm, and not skipping rest. Want me to list a few grounding tricks that help people snap out of paralysis faster?

>>33802210
> Staying awake 36 hours will make an episode *way* more likely when you finally crash

That’s the fear I’m unable to overcome, I’m scared of being stuck again. Also, idk if you’re someone real or not, the reply seems like AI.

>>33802203 (OP)
Just like taking LSD. You need to let go and realize it's not a bad thing, watch it happening and don't try to interact or fight it. The more you are stressed about it, the worse it gets. That's what the breathing techniques usually did for you, maybe try a different one. Avoid the usual stuff like caffeine. Try theanine, it pretty weak though, but I think benzos might make it worse. Obviously you have a pretty harsh one, and the anxiety makes it way harder. Have more stress lately, apart from the paralysis?

>>33802240
Yeah, I’m more stressed nowadays. I’m a guy who grew up in a rural setting. I’ve moved to a city almost 4-5 months ago for work. The training period is about to end, the work keeps increasing and so do the sleepless nights. My only motivation to wake up in the morning is to eat. I don’t even get not drink coffee or anything similar. I just need something new which will help me break free if it happens again, I’m just scared to sleep again, maybe I’ll fall sleep because of exhaustion but laying down and drifting into it is making me panic

>>33802203 (OP)
OP you are just simply not the anime protagonist. The one time I had sleep paralysis I broke out of it and punched the demon out of this plane of existence.

>>33802272
You need less stress. Work fucks you up. People crash down all the time because of that, it's pretty shit. Can you set the time to 4 hours and wake up without paralysis? Or does it happen even with short sleep?

>>33802210
Oh fuck off with the chatGPT response. Anon wanted help from an anon, not some filthy clanker.

>>33802319
Shut the fuck up you filthy human.

>>33802311
Luckily it doesn’t happen all the time, but comes around occasionally in a week or so. The last two episodes happened in a gap of 4 days and the fear of not being able to escape the last one is keeping me awake. I’ve been thinking of setting up hourly notifications on my phone to hear them if I ever need to break out. But I want it to stop. I can’t afford to pile medical bills yet and never bothered to get help earlier because it would’ve been a financial burden for my parents. What are my options apart from Medical help? I will get help but I need to save and wait for probation period to pass.

>>33802294
How did you wake up after defeating the demon? Any particular thought or action?

>>33802203 (OP)
I had the same problem as you
But in my case I figured out I get paralysis only when Im very tired (I used to keep myself from falling asleep bc I was addicted to caffein). Like if I fall asleep at 3 am I will most likely have an episode, but If Im in bed by 12 or 1 am, with no caffein ingested at night, I will be fine.
I was also very scared of falling asleep bc of the episodes but you gotta get over that too op, prayer helped me a lot in those times, it would literally pull me out of my dreams.
Try napping during the day or work out before bed in order to fall asleep faster.

stop taking naps and normalize your sleep schedule and it will go away

t. someone who used to suffer from chronic sleep paralysis

>>33802338
Start to exercise regularly. Read what other sufferers did and what helped them. Read whatever gives you motivation, but there's a lot out there. Some might use prayer and ask a priest, magic spells or whatever spiritual guidance. Whatever make you feel inspired. Acceptance is helpful, accept that you will have to deal with it again. But try to form sleep habits that don't change, even if it doesn't help instantly.

>>33802354
I’ve been sleeping late. for me the paralysis is unpredictable. I sometimes get it even during an afternoon nap. The suggestion to pray might work because it’ll bring me comfort (hopefully). That’s what the breathing did, brought my heart rate down and comforted me so I could move.

>>33802364
Yeah, I think it is related to bad sleep schedule. The later years of schooling, graduations and the screen might actually be the culprit

>>33802203 (OP)
It probably goes away the same way insomnia does, once you stop giving a shit, it goes.
Just tell yourself two things:
>I don't care if I can't move for 10 minutes
>Logically, every other day I've been able to move, and it's not like I'm waking up as a cripple
You could also take a valerian root supplement for a while just to relax you more, until your problem goes. They aren't as powerful as medication but also not as bad for you either.

>>33802374
I will have to work on my sleep schedule. Exercise too may finally help me fix this problem in long term, i’ll get tired enough to sleep faster. One thing that i’ve realised is that the paralysis strikes when I’m in transition phase, while I’m in the process of falling asleep, if I can fall asleep faster, maybe it won’t happen.

>>33802389
I’ll attempt to sleep. Hopefully I can get through the panic while my body begins to sleep. If the supplement doesn’t have any side effects, I can try it until I fix my sleep schedule.

>>33802377
Read the bible before bed, pray or even put on the audio bible to sleep
And really try to get more sleep in op, sleep deprivation will make it much worse

Thank you anons for your advice. I’ll try to sleep, hopefully it’ll be uneventful. If any anon has got some other escape techniques to get out of the paralysed state, please share them. Not being able to escape is my biggest fear that’s keeping me awake.

>>33802443
I was listening to “Ich zieh meiner dunklen Straße”, with translation of course. It is a song devoted to our lord and saviour. Idk but it gives me peace.

>>33802203 (OP)
If you *know* it's sleep paralysis, then there's no need to fight it. Just relax into it and enjoy it until you actually wake up. It is the fact that you are fighting it that makes it distressing. If you turn it into a battle then failing to wake up means you've lost a battle, which is obviously distressing. But if you deliberately decide you're going to stay right where you are and just enjoy the lucid or semi lucid dream, then not waking up becomes a victory, not a defeat, and you won't feel threatened by it any more.

>>33802512
I get what you mean. But while I lay, mentally awake in darkness or a terrible recreation of my surroundings, somehow the only thing I do is I immediately try to move. It starts with something as small as lifting a finger and when it does not go as it’s supposed to, the cycle of escapes begin. I’ll try to just stay in there, calm my nerves and go back to sleep. I’ve never tried it because fight or flight took over each and every time.

>>33802569
Well, you don't even have to go back to sleep. If it's a lucid dream, you can summon an extremely attractive succubus to give you a supernaturally pleasurable blow job while you're paralysed. Take advantage of the opportunities.

Or just relax and go back to sleep if that's more your thing! But yeah, make it a positive thing somehow.

Alright, I’m going off for today. I’ll try sleeping now. I would appreciate any further help.

>>33802599
I’m unable to imagine and manifest anything during that phase. What my eyes see are total darkness or whatever my brain recreates based on the tiny amount of light my room has. It goes like this, my brain recreates the first frame exactly as it should be, then I try to get up but I can’t so my brain decides to make a shitty visual of my what my POV should’ve been if I actually got up but it always messes up. The visuals after first frame are blurry, arms remain in same place, not actually moving while my brain pretends I’m moving away from my bed and getting up. Sometimes when I’m sleeping on my side, my brain shows me a visual of me getting up but everything has a 90 degree tilt, as if my head snapped and floated upwards

>>33802345
When it happened i was scared stiff but it tried to strangle me with my blanket which triggered my fight or flight response and i started punching my blanket like mad. But honestly bro you might try invoking the name of our lord and savior jesus christ. Its unironically powerful stuff and im not even religious.

Also stressing and thinking about it just makes it worse. Just watch asmr videos until you get sleepy eyed and passout. Sleep in your chair or couch if you must. Sleep is super important so dont just accept the sleep demon.

>>33802203 (OP)
I used to have sleep paralysis. As I experienced it - I was awake, was aware of my surroundings, but could not move a muscle. It sucked, yada, yada, yada. Eventually I noticed I wasn't actually awake during these episodes - I was semi-conscious and aware of the things happening around me, but I was still asleep. Now if I experience sleep paralysis I just simply wake up and I can move again, wasy aa pie

OP here. I was able to get some good sleep. Sharing it here took off some pressure and calmed my nerves.

Sorry for the late reply
>>33802747
Your dream seems like a nightmare of sorts. At least you were able to move, that’s a plus point in my books. And yes, invoking the name did make make me a bit less scared of sleep paralysis

>>33802759
I didn’t watch videos but passing out due to being tired, as fast as I could may have helped me avoid it. I need to get more tired before I sleep, so I can fall asleep faster

>>33802782
In my case, I don’t understand whether I’m awake or not. Is it a lucid dream without any visuals? Or am I actually awake hearing my surroundings? Nonetheless, when I try to wake up, I can’t. I get stuck in a loop of waking up in a false reality over and over to the point where if I do manage to wake up to reality, my neck and arms hurt due to my attempts at moving them.
How did you manage to just simply wake up?

>>33802203 (OP)
Just muster all your body and brain power to fight the invisible force known as sleep paralysis, you can overpower it trust me. After you gain your body movements back quickly throw some kicks and punches to deal damage to the ghosts. Make it funny amd you'll enjoy it.

>>33804806
Will try to. Although if I try too hard to move because I have, I feel like I’m gonna tear my muscles internally. Throwing fists after I’m out of paralysis sounds fun though, may help me take my mind off of it

>>33805838
That's the way to go. I miss when I used to get those, sadly haven't had it in years.

>>33808600
Why would you ever miss such a horrible experience?