Sleep Paralysis

[RobertoME]

There was a time where I was having nightmares constantly, awful nightmares to be honest. It were getting worse every night. Until one particular night, I went to sleep as always and after a few hours, I started having nightmares again. So I woke up, but this time something was different; my body was paralyzed and I swear I was still in some sort of sleep hallucination. Imagine my reaction when I realized I wasn't able to move a muscle and at the same time I was aware I woke up. I tried to scream so anyone could help me and my mouth was sealed. The first time something like this happened to me and I was in shock. This keep happening for the following weeks and were getting worse every night, it was a horrible experience.

I did not know what was going on, so I get worried. I looked into the Internet and I found all crazy things about this. The most crazy explanation was that this happen due to a ghost or an evil presence is restraining you, being the reason why you can't move or scream. I'm a bit sceptical about ghosts or evil presences; so I kept looking for a reasonable explanation. Eventually I found that the causes is due to stress, or other medical reasons or disorders. At the end these episodes were scary, but I did not want to use sleep pills, so I decided to sign up in to the gym and after a nice routine of exercise, I slept like a baby so this was my solution up to day.

So I want to know your ideas or suggestions about this, maybe we can share best practices to sleep better and know if any of you have experienced similar episodes of sleep paralysis.

[SunsetRunner]

I personally believe if the body is doing something out of the ordinary or showing physical signs of something out of the ordinary it's usually related to diet or stress. There was a time when I was sleep walking. My husband said I would go in to the living room and sit down going from seat to seat until I went back to bed. This had to be related to stress that I was having at the time, but it eventually stopped. I began exercising and eating better for a different reason, but the sleep walking began to decrease and then stopped all together. Exercise elevates mood so I would think exercising is a great stress reliever.

[RobertoME]

Thank you for your comments. I believe you are right @SunsetRunner, at that time when I was experiencing these episodes of paralysis, I was under a lot of stress due to a tragedy it happened in my family. 

So I agree with you, exercise its a great stress reliever. Its great how much benefit you can have from being active, because at that time I was feeling tired, even when I was not doing any type of exercise. Now that I spend almost 3 hrs in the gym, Instead of feeling tired and sleepy, I feel a lot better and with more energy.

[creepingjennie]

You may have a sleep disorder such as narcolepsy. Sleep paralysis is very common in narcolepsy. Talk to your doctor.