A rational explanation for this?

Question

Sometimes, at night, I hear someone breathing as if they were in my room, but there's no one but me. I've thought it might come from the people upstairs or from my parents' room, which is beside mine, but the breathing is too clear to come from outside.
It's driving me crazy, though it never lasts too long.
Is there a logical, physical, non-superstitious reason for that? I.e., something in the architecture of our building.

I suppose I'm mentally OK, though stressed. I'll take your advice.

I don't think it's my own breathing's echo, it sounds absolutely independent. Its rhythm is quite different, like that of a sleeping person. Normally I hear it when the room is dark. Today I've turned on the light and it has stopped.

At night I always close the window and the room looks absolutely normal. It has no holes or pipes.

I move, I lift my neck from the pillow, but I still hear the sound.

No lungfishes around, I don't think they can climb stairs and get through locked doors.

I'd like to get serious answers. If you have none, just shut up.

Answer 1

Are you mentally OK? You could be hallucinating.

Another better possiblity is that your room somehow could be
configured as an echo chamber, meaning that your room might
have a shape that reflects your own breathing back to you.
Test this out by stopping and starting breathing and noting
if what you hear stops and starts with it.

Alternatively ... do you hear the breathing if you turn on the lights?
Could be someone is watching you or you have some kind
of air connnection to another room through a vent that enables
you to hear it. Get up and track it down? Try getting a recorder with a microphone and turning up the volume.

But ... it could be there is a monster under your bed too! ;-)

Answer 2

Perhaps you are hearing the sound of your own blood coursing through your carotid(s). When you lay your head on a pillow to sleep, your neck is partially on the pillow, your ear is pressed into the pillow, and any sound coming from your neck will pass through the pillow and straight into your ear. When you turned off the light, perhaps you moved just enough to disrupt the pathway of the sound.

I hear this sound, and I don't like it. You would think it would be in sync with your breathing, but it is not. Therefore, I use a machine that produces "white noise" to mask the sound, and I am no longer bothered by it. Perhaps you could try one, also.

ADDENDUM: Then it's obviously a ghost or a monster under your bed. Or it could be a lungfish; I think they can walk. Maybe a lungfish has decided for some strange reason to harrass you.

Answer 3

Without knowing the architecture of your building, it is difficult to know whether the sound could be due to characteristics of the building itself. Some buildings do "breathe", but I don't think they actually sound like the sort of breathing people do. Sometimes, there can be "hidden" ducts in buildings such that sounds from far away are transmitted directly to other rooms. When I say "hidden", I mean that there may be a pipe leading to your room (water pipe or gas pipe) which carries sounds, or an air conditioning duct or vent perhaps.

I would not be overly concerned, while it may seem strange, it sounds to me as though whatever it is, is trying to sleep too!

Sleep tight.

Answer 4

No explanation immediately comes to mind. Is the sound possibly coming from outside? Does it depend on whether a window is open? What happens if you leave a small light on?

Answer 5

Maybe you're actually dreaming it. One of those half-awake, half-asleep dreams, when you feel like you're awake, but your sub-conscience is already off to dreamland. Do you have any siblings that could be playing a trick on you? That is a weird one, does it happen when you sleep with the lights on? Good luck. :)

Answer 6

you just heard ur breathing, maybe your room was so enclosed