paralyzed in sleep but not sleep paralysis?

Hello all,

I didn't sleep well last night. I got about 4 hours of sleep (I went to bed around 1 and had to up at 5 for work). I tossed and turned all night and probably dozed off here and there. It was one of those nights were you feel like you were awake all night, but you did actually go into a very light sleep for a little bit. I attribute my poor sleep to having a Redbull too late in the day :embarrassed: .

Anyway, During the night, when I was awake/asleep (mostly awake, I remember thinking about how terrible work was going to be due to me not being able to fall asleep), my body went paralyzed. I felt it happen and was very aware of it. I was able to eventually move my leg and shake myself out of it and flip from my back to my side. Almost immediately it happened again. During this time that I was paralyzed, It felt as though my body was buzzing. I could feel vibrations from head to toe. I also felt a lot of pressure on my pelvis/hips. Almost as if someone was sitting on me. It didn't hurt, it just felt weird.

I normally would have just brushed this off, but this is the second time it's happened. The first time was maybe a month and a half ago under very similar circumstances. I tossed and turned all night and I had to be up early. Except the pressure on my pelvis the first time got painful. The first time I thought I was going into some sort of sleep paralysis so I tried to wait it out to see if I could maybe lucid dream for the first time (I'm not too familiar with lucid dreaming so excuse me if my logic is incorrect). That's when the pressure on my hips got painful.

Does anyone know what this is? Thanks!

It's REM atonia. In a normal night's sleep, your muscles go limp (no muscle tone, hence "atonia") during the REM phases. Actually it's not so much the muscles themselves but the nerves connecting them to your brain. But furthermore, sleep isn't on big on-off switch. There are many different body systems that transition in and out of phases of sleep. And when you disturb one system (your conscious attention, with the energy drink), the other systems are still trying to follow the normal pattern. So things get out of sync and you experience things like this. It's a sensation that your body isn't familiar with so it might get interpreted as tingling, clenching, a heavy weight, or weightlessness, even pain. It's all in your head though. Your nerves are sending unusual signals and your brain is trying to make sense of them.

In truth, it is the same thing physiologically as sleep paralysis, just to a different degree. We usually reserve that term for a very strong paralysis that continues after waking.

You are somewhat correct that these sensations are associated with a particular lucid dreaming technique. It was worth a shot -- even if it just piqued your interest -- however, your situation was not exactly ideal. Lucid dreaming starts with good quality sleep. If you are interested in lucid dreaming, stay a while on these forums. I'd suggest starting here:

http://www.dreamviews.com/induction-...cid-dream.html

Thanks for the reply! I was wondering if it was some form of sleep paralysis, but I was thrown off because it happened again almost immediately after changing positions. I'll definitely stick around and look into WILD. I have tried to lucid dream before and improve my dream recall by keeping a dream journal but I could never commit. Not having time in the AM interfered due to school and work. But now that I graduated, I'll have to try again. Thanks again for clearing this up!