Sleep Paralysis, Fear, and Rationality

[DuoDex]

I recently happened upon quite a trove of disturbing pictures on imgur. After further investigation, they were determined to be portraits of "an intruder", the eponymous creature reported to be in the room of those who suffer from recurrent sleep paralysis.

I proceeded to delete my history, and clear my mind by petting the cat, as this reminded me of a brainless scientific "experiment" I once carried out, the sordid details of which I will not reveal here (yet). However it has left me with a severe fear of the dark, which I had not previously experienced, a violent reaction to any sort of horror movie, and, of course, the occasional episode of actual sleep paralysis.

So, I'd like to discuss the meaning of "fear" and "rational thought". Recently, I have been a proponent of the groups that state that fear is just an evolutionary instinct evolved to help us survive (fear of the dark, the unknown, spiders, etc.). All of those make good evolutionary sense, as the human eye is not well-developed for sight at night, the unknown may contain dangers that the human brain does not know how to process, and spiders are just plain icky. The episodes of sleep paralysis have served to convince me of this, as it demonstrates the utter inability of rational thought - I KNOW that nothing is there, but I still can't even breathe - instinctual response is overriding my consciousness as it has been demonstrated to do in other moments of "extremity".

n.b. I will not be providing any drawings of my "intruder" in the the interest of both mine and others' personal privacy.

[RainDreamer]

Fear is one of the few things that can short circuit your rational thinking and send you to a place you never want to be in. I can rationalize in my mind that a cockroach is harmless, good for the environment, clean up after our mess, being an important link in the ecosystem, and all that. But if one happened to land on me, I would forget all of that and run screaming, nuke the place with pesticides until I see dead roaches, and douse myself in hot water + wash my clothes a few times. It is not something that can be controlled.

[HafCoJoe]

You aren't the only one who's heard this described before... It's a terrible and horrific thing which I've been trying to blot out of memory myself. Though I don't know anyone personally who has had this I've heard several stories. I didn't even know there was anything posted on imgur recently about it. Just know that you're not alone and there's a nice place on the internet where people are always happy to chat. Like this one! Best of luck m8.

EDIT: On another lighter note, I've noticed that your avatar is no longer tipping his hat. It's making me strangely melancholy.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Avera9eJoe

[MinimumSky5]

I think that now we humans (at least, in the developed world) live a nice, cushy life compared to our neanderthal ancestors, our fear circuits will lock on to anything now, no matter how dangerous it is. I remember when I was younger (and still now, to an extent) I used to have a morbid fear of UFO's and aliens, of all thing! Completely irrational, but nothing to be ashamed of

[Harry Rhodan]

I proceeded to delete my history, and clear my mind by petting the cat, as this reminded me of a brainless scientific "experiment" I once carried out, the sordid details of which I will not reveal here (yet). However it has left me with a severe fear of the dark, which I had not previously experienced, a violent reaction to any sort of horror movie, and, of course, the occasional episode of actual sleep paralysis.

I once was experimenting myself with at least one technique of inducing lucid dreaming and it usually ended in a state of sleep paralysis. At first it was a horrible situation but with time and experience the fear lessened and while it never went away completely it was at least partially replaced by being irritated and just plain angry with the whole situation.

[PB666]

I think that now we humans (at least, in the developed world) live a nice, cushy life compared to our neanderthal ancestors, our fear circuits will lock on to anything now, no matter how dangerous it is. I remember when I was younger (and still now, to an extent) I used to have a morbid fear of UFO's and aliens, of all thing! Completely irrational, but nothing to be ashamed of

In that context how do you explain post traumatic stress disorder.

I don't think the problem is cushy lives, I think we are surrounded by fear mongering media and politicians. I get a great deal of peace just by carefully selecting the channels on my digitsl TV.

The other problem is people should have campfire time out before sleepy time, lights down low, lots of orange light and turn off the friggen media.

[Starwhip]

Okay, first off, I saw those images last night as I was browsing Imgur before bed.

Anyone who hasn't seen them, if you want to sleep tonight, don't look for them. :/

I do not believe that I've ever experienced sleep paralysis. But when I was younger I had moments where I'd just lock up in the presence of fear, couldn't move, could hardly breathe. Fully awake, though. Is this close or is there more to it?

Instinct can often overrule rational thought as well. Evolutionary survival sense is very powerful.

[Exploro]

Okay, first off, I saw those images last night as I was browsing Imgur before bed.

Anyone who hasn't seen them, if you want to sleep tonight, don't look for them. :/

I do not believe that I've ever experienced sleep paralysis. But when I was younger I had moments where I'd just lock up in the presence of fear, couldn't move, could hardly breathe. Fully awake, though. Is this close or is there more to it?

Instinct can often overrule rational thought as well. Evolutionary survival sense is very powerful.

What is it with people wanting to see creepy things right before going to bed? Even I sometime will see the creepy videos from youtubers like Danger Dolan an hour or so before I go to bed...and thus should not be surprised at being jumpy to every single noise I hear in the middle of the night.

Anyway what you experienced is basically sleep paralysis. I have had many episodes similar to this. For me I began experiencing this type of parasomia almost 12 years ago. The initial experience is alarming. But once you know what it is; that it is not an alien abduction or a demon entering into your midst, each subsequent event isn't so frightening. I don't experience it much anymore but it does still happen from time to time.

[Robotengineer]

I know someone who has had issues with this. I'm curious, does it make you not want to go to sleep at all?

[ComradeWolfe]

For those who experience it: How does it end? Do you eventually regain control while conscious, or do you fall back asleep and wake up later on?

Also, I'm curious about the "intruder" images you guys refer to. My own searches of imgur revealed a lone picture of someone dressed as slenderman. Out of respect for the OP's wishes, please don't post any links here but if anyone can enlighten me with pics or a description via PM (the contents of which will remain confidential) I would appreciate it.

[Dkmdlb]

We need a link please.

[vger]

I had what was apparently my first encounter with this just a few weeks ago. I'd already been having difficulty sleeping for weeks, which no doubt contributed to this. And I'd been sleeping on the couch so as not to disturb my wife with constant restlessness. And on top of that, I had a nasty cold. I woke up laying on my back, and glanced over to the adjacent couch and as real as everything else in the room, someone was there. My entire body jerked into a hardcore fight/flight panic attack and as soon as that happened, the image was gone.

[problemecium]

Heh, I just saw that imgur album myself last night.

I've had sleep paralysis one time in my life, and fortunately "The Intruder" did not appear. Whether that was due to luck, my own stable psyche, or having my head embedded in blankets is hard to say ^^;

I experienced the oft-cited symptoms of being conscious, but feeling really heavy as if a heavy blanket were holding me down, but I found that if I mustered a bit of willpower I could make myself move anyway. It only took maybe half a minute to self-diagnose, conclude that the best recourse was to go back to sleep, and follow through on that.

On the topic of my fears... I was an odd child who watched the Alien series when I was something like 3 and, rather than being scared, thought it was the coolest thing ever. But the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey gave me nightmares xD

So conventional scary things like monsters, shadowy specters, darkness, etc. don't really scare me, but the laws of physics breaking down seriously does. When I used to be big on Minecraft, as another example, Herobrine didn't spook me nearly as much as did the Far Lands.

[vger]

So conventional scary things like monsters, shadowy specters, darkness, etc. don't really scare me, but the laws of physics breaking down seriously does.

I think there's more to being afraid of the dark than simply, "What if something is hiding in the shadows?" The way I see it is the brain is constantly trying to interpret what the senses are telling it. This is why sensory deprivation chambers can more or less serve as a hallucinogen. In the case of darkness, there is so little visual detail to work with that the brain is left with much larger blanks to fill in (this also allows us to dream). What the brain decides to put in the dark corner of the room is probably just luck combined with environmental influences on your upbringing.

[lajoswinkler]

It happens because for some people, sometimes, parts of the brain don't go to sleep or wake up fast enough. Such people usually have much easier access to lucid dreams. It might be a symptom of underlying pathology, though. If it happens often, I'd visit the neurology department.

It's one of the things that are responsible for the development of superstition like demon lore in all cultures.

Our consciousness is not a single entity. It's layered, the layers can shed or build up, and there are deep things inside you that never show up on the surface. Drug usage can help them rise up and get lodged there forever and some things should stay under the carpet where no one can see them.

[Mitchz95]

Is this the one? http://imgur.com/gallery/TQyW5 (Click at your own risk, of course)

[jwenting]

sleep paralysis is just a phrase to indicate a very light dream cycle in which the brain is ALMOST awake while the body is rigid (which is normal for a body during REM sleep as protection from involuntary movement while dreaming).

What if anything you see, hear, smell, whatever in that state (if anything) depends on what the dream's about.

Myself, I sometimes (and without my medication often) experience similar things early during my sleep (without my medication my sleep cycle is seriously messed up as a result of narcolepsy), to the point where my brain perceives the room around me as if I were fully awake, a state I remember clearly when waking up even though the actual dream I never remember.

Result is that I may on waking up remember seeing the clock in my bedroom show 2 in the morning even though an EEG taken during the night shows me asleep from 11 in the evening to 5 in the morning.

[DuoDex]

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnrichford.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F09%2Fshadowman-31.jpg&f=1

Do not click after 8pm.

Personally my issues with this tend to ensue when I am very tired, or if I am worried, and if I am sleeping with someone else.

Usually these hallucinations fall into an "uncanny valley" as the image I linked and the album others have linked do (no embeds pls) - a corrupted, semi-familiar figure. Recent visitors to my room have included Evil Cat, Mad Scientist, and the Wife from Hell.

Also, I posted this at 1:30am in the morning, and didn't know about it until now. Interesting.

[Randazzo]

Also, I posted this at 1:30am in the morning, and didn't know about it until now. Interesting.

Well, I do hope the sleepwalking Doctor divulges the experiment details, as I am highly curious, but I imagine it's too traumatic to ask conscious Doctor about. I've had three episodes of hallucination in my life, one terrifying, one not, and one ridiculous and "assisted". These drive my curiosity.

[windows_x_seven]

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fnrichford.files.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F09%2Fshadowman-31.jpg&f=1

Do not click after 8pm.

Personally my issues with this tend to ensue when I am very tired, or if I am worried, and if I am sleeping with someone else.

Usually these hallucinations fall into an "uncanny valley" as the image I linked and the album others have linked do (no embeds pls) - a corrupted, semi-familiar figure. Recent visitors to my room have included Evil Cat, Mad Scientist, and the Wife from Hell.

Also, I posted this at 1:30am in the morning, and didn't know about it until now. Interesting.

Mad Scientist, as in, Mad Rocket Scientist?

Things just got spooky.

[RocketscientistV]

I'm curious as to the nature of the experiment mentioned in the OP.

[Ten Key]

When I was a child, one of my friends had a large trampoline in her backyard. A group of us were playing on it one day, and someone landed hard at just the wrong moment, bouncing me up far higher than was safe. I have a vivid memory of looking down at the roof of her house, along with the realization that I was not going to land on the trampoline and that I was probably going to land on my head.

My next bit of memory is of me standing in my friend's kitchen. I was later told that I did a bit of a tumble, landed on my shoulders, bounced up into a standing position and walked into the house. I don't remember doing any of those things. If I'd had to think about it, I probably would have broken my neck.

I think the brain's "fight or flight" system is really on a hair trigger, and it absolutely can and will snatch control away from you if it sees something it perceives as a threat.

[lajoswinkler]

Don't click after dark.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/horrifying-house-guest-shadowlurker

[lajoswinkler]

I think the brain's "fight or flight" system is really on a hair trigger, and it absolutely can and will snatch control away from you if it sees something it perceives as a threat.

It's not the brain and you. You're the brain, too.

It's just lower functions that take over in certain situations, as well as reflexes calculated in your spinal cord.

[Slam_Jones]

As someone who feels the (admittedly, very odd) compulsion to scare myself silly every few months, I like to look up creepypasta and the like. If anyone has any links to the pics OP was talking about, feel free to PM them to me. I don't sleep much anyway

As for why I like to scare myself sometimes, I really don't know. I believe it has to do with survival instincts: if you're scared, you're more alert to dangers, and more likely to survive. Sure it doesn't make nearly as much sense in today's world (you're not as likely to be eaten by a wolf in your own home, for example) but I guess I need to satisfy that weird urge once in a while.

The only person I've met who has had night terrors is my oldest brother. He only described one time (he woke up, couldn't move, couldn't make any noise, but felt like there was a presence in his otherwise empty room). Never had one personally, and I used to be terrified of the dark.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Slam_Jones