I have a question about nightmares?

Question

Has anyone ever had the sensation that during sleep your brain was awake but you could not quite wake up or move your body as though you were still asleep--does anyone know the name of this condition, its causes or how to stop it--the old wives tales say that it is a witch or ghost riding you LOL

Answer 1

Yeah, I had it for years but it stopped for some reason. I would be home alone and would hear strange footsteps coming toward my room and was powerless to move or scream, but my eyes would be wide open. Then I would fall back to sleep and wake up ok. I don't know the name of it.
Maybe its just another form of nightmares like some people are flying in theirs or falling to the ground and just before they hit, they wake up.

Answer 2

Some facts:-

Nightmare is a frightening dream or dreamlike experience that awakens a sleeper. After awakening from most nightmares, the sleeper can recall the dream that caused the fright. Another kind of frightening sleep event, called a night terror, occurs without a true dream. The sleeper awakes terrified early in the night, often with a feeling of pressure on the chest. Night terrors occur during the first hours of sleep. True nightmares occur later, during dreaming sleep.

Nightmares may occur in times of severe tension. They have been experienced by many soldiers in combat and by persons withdrawing from alcohol or certain other drugs. All children between the ages of 2 and 6 probably have some nightmares. Some nightmares seem entirely real to a youngster after awakening. Most adults do not have nightmares. Frequent nightmares among older children or adults may indicate a physical or emotional problem.

Answer 3

That would be sleep paralysis.

During sleep, a person is paralyzed from the neck down in order to keep the person from acting out his/her dreams, but normally, being asleep, you don't notice. If you wake up, however, sometimes the sleep paralysis doesn't immediately go away.

As for stopping it, you really might as well wait for it to go away: it's normal (apart from the fact that you know it's happening) and harmless.

Occasionally you might see a witch sitting on your chest keeping you from breathing or something. This is a more extreme version of the same thing: you're actually able to breathe (and doing it), but your attempts at breathing harder or faster fail, making it seem like you're not breathing at all. The witch is a hallucination created to explain the feeling of not being able to breathe. Again, no matter how scary it may seem, it's harmless, and you just need to wait for it to go away.

Also, the more scared you are that it'll happen, the more likely it is to happen, so don't be afraid when it happens!

(By the way, just wondering: were you sleeping on your back when it happened?)

Answer 4

yeah, man, I have had this type of dream. Its like someone is holding you in a sleep embrace. The odd part is that you know you are sleeping just as if you were awake. You know you're having a nightmare and you want someone to wake you up to stop the nightmare but nobody can hear you yelling. You keep trying to come awake but your mind is being held in sleep mood. Scary.

Answer 5

Well if you have had a relative die in the last couple of yrs, then it could be a spirit, happened to me , very strange creepy feeling it gave me. My Grandfather died , we were very close, but I did´t have the chance to say goodbye. so one night I went to bed closed the bedroom door as normal went to sleep, then it must have been about 4 in the morning when I woke up. I felt frozen from head to toe all the hair´s on the back of my neck were standing up, I tried to reach for the light to switch it on . I could see that the bedroom door was open just a little , then I saw the out line of a person standing there . I said to my husband switch the light on there´s something or someone in the room . he was fast a sleep, again I said switch the light on . then this warm air past my face , my husband woke up & said what´s the problem , did´t you hear me calling you ,? Yes , he said just this minute . told him , he said I was just dreaming . but I know I saw what I saw so I think it must have been my Grandfather coming to say goodbye.

Answer 6

I know exactly what you're talking about. It's so weird!!