9 Ways to Wake Up From Sleep Paralysis
Posted by Ryan Hurd on April 29, 2010
Sleep paralysis is the terrifying feeling of being held down after just waking up or going to sleep. You can’t move or scream, and sometimes this paralysis is accompanied with the certainty that someone –or something — is in the room. Quite simply, sleep paralysis is one of the most horrifying experiences in life, because we know we’re awake but can’t believe what appears to be happening to us.
The truth is, sleep paralysis is a biological event and it can be often prevented by attending to lifestyle choices, but making new habits can take time. So how do you wake up from sleep paralysis tonight? There’s not a lot of information available. Below I compiled 9 ways to get out now, adapted from the Sleep Paralysis Kit.
Note: Because this is such a personal thing, some of these tactics will work for you, and others won’t. Choose the ones that make the most sense to you intuitively. Think of these strategies as tools in a toolbox to bring out when the conditions are right.
1. Don’t Fight
If you feel like you are being held down and you can’t move, do not fight back. This actually will intensify the experience. Not only is fighting back likely to increase the feelings of being held down (so much that it may seem like you are being crushed), but fighting back will also increase the fear, thus triggering the emotional centers of the brain and strengthening this lucid nightmare. Controlling fear is the most important skill during these moments.
2. Surrender and Go with the Flow
Instead, try to relax when you notice SP starting to happen. Prepare an affirmation like “This is SP and I am okay.” If you feel pressure on your chest, see if you can “go with” the pressure rather than against it. It’s like winning a fight by having no resistance. For example, for me, I often feel like I’m being pushed into the mattress when I have SP. I let myself go, and mentally “pull” in the direction I am being pushed. What happens is I then “pop” into a full-on dream, or I can wake up directly.
3. Wiggle your Toe
Another excellent tactic that works for many people is to try to move an extremity, such as a finger or a toe. Most of the feelings of paralysis are in the belly, chest, and throat. So focus all you attention on the toe and try to move it back and forth. In many cases, this will break the paralysis.
4. Clench your Fist
This is a variation of the toe wiggle method. Clench and unclench your fist.
5. Focus on your Breath
An easy way to stop these nightmares is to do some controlled breathing. Controlled breathing does several things at once. For starters, it lessens the feelings of chest pain that sometimes accompany SP. Breathing is autonomic like the heart’s beating or digestion, so it’s not paralyzed like the big muscles in our arms, chest and legs. But breath can be controlled with attention or be affected by severe fear, which may be why SP sufferers “forget” to breathe when under attack. If you can control your breath, you can control your fear. Simply draw your breath in at a normal rate, and exhale fully, using all of your lung capacity. Notice that you can breathe fully without obstruction. This technique will keep you calm as the SP runs its course and then you will wake up without any trouble. A few moments of focused breathing with a strong intention to wake up is effective.
6. Lean into Love to Find Courage
Now is also the time to lean into unconditional love. For many, the surest path is in religious or spiritual beliefs. Regardless, focus on a figure that you admire and love. Think of someone who calms you down—someone who you associate with peace, love and safety. This could be Jesus, the Dali Lama, or someone you know personally. In my first SP nightmare when I was fourteen years old, I thought about the love and respect I had for a girl in my class. Embarrassing but true! It worked: the feelings of oppression and evil dissipated immediately. In this case, true love really does conquer all.
7. Getting Help from your Sleep Partner
If someone shares your bed, you can tell them about your SP attacks and what to look for when you are having a nightmare. For example, my wife used to shake me awake whenever I began to breath heavily and irregularly in my sleep. As it turns out, she was waking me up each and every time from an intense SP nightmare. Now when this happens, I tell her not to wake me up, because I actually use SP to go into a lucid dream.
You could also have your partner respond to a verbal request. This only works some of the time, because some people cannot speak in paralysis. But some can. Choose a short word that is easy to say. “Help” is a good choice. When you’re in paralysis, focus your attention on your throat and say “Help.” Don’t try to say it as loud as you can; what may happen is that your imagination will take over and you will only say the word in your dream. Instead, say it forcefully but without screaming.
8. Coughing for Help
A variation of using your voice is to try to cough into wakefulness. Like breathing, coughing can be autonomic or consciously regulated. By coughing on purpose, you can jar yourself awake.
9. Write out the Plan
The suggestions above all have helped hundreds of people get out of SP and get some sleep. Not every tactic will work with you. But having too many tactics in your mind can actually be counterproductive. So it is important to make a plan, almost like the fire escape plan you may have for evacuating your family home in case of emergency. Write it out; this will cement the plan in your mind and make it easier to remember when the paralysis comes on strong.
10. The Ultimate Method I know — I said 9 ways, but this is the single best way to wake up from sleep paralysis and it’s really in a class of it’s own. When you realize you are in SP, scrunch up your face. In other words, make a face like you just smelled something bad. Snarl and squint. Do this two or three times in a row and the paralysis will break IMMEDIATELY. I’m not sure why it is so effective, but unlike the pinky wiggle, this method is foolproof.
After you wake up, get out of bed immediately and turn on a light. Wash your face with cold water. If you just stay in bed, the chance of sliding right back into sleep paralysis is pretty high.
For more information about preventing sleep paralysis from occurring in the first place, as well as how to get over the fear of SP, check out my Sleep Paralysis Kit. This $19 multimedia digital kit also covers the science, psychology, and history of SP, as well as methods for using SP to have lucid dreams and other extraordinary experiences.
CC Image credit: Ornoth @ Flicker.
Tags:dream paralysis, sleep paralysis, stop sleep paralysis
Filed Under: sleep paralysis
I only remember this hapening to me to different places, I have told a few people and they thought I was making it up or just dreaming. : ( I was asleep and the phone was ringing and I went to answwer it and couldn’t move or say anything all I could feel is tears running down my face and try to scream for my mom!!! When I was younger I used to fear loseing my mother when we slept. she has send give her Her
Give her,her inhaler. i don’t know why i always was so scared of her dying. but this was one of the most horrifying experiences ever!!! And it happened to me again and it felt like there was a man standing over top of me and I was awake and could not move. that was the second time in two different houses….. thank you for this info I thought I was crazy but now I know
Good morning everyone,
Honestly i am same i scared to sleep everytime attack me.the SP im tired i want sleep as a normal I’m tired to fight this problem, when i feel sleep 5 minutes i can’t even move my whole body and no voice come out of my mouth takes 20 minutes to fight this SP.every night before i go bed i pray but still oh god im tired of this sometimes i wanna give up really tired of this anybody can help.me this problem also i am.from.south korea need help from you all …help me please now i am 35 years old i been suffering this SP 25 YEARS FROM NOW PLEASE HELP ME….GOD BLESS YOU ALL AMEN
Just sleep on your side, never get sleep paralysis on side, i am guaranteed to get it on my back
Somebody can help me….please anyone knows how to fight this SP really im 35 years old now still suffering this SP over 25 years old I’m tired of this please help me guys
Angel,
I have SP every once in a while as well and I am 27 years old. I use to get scared by it, but lately, i have been reading the bible (the gospels of Jesus) and this makes my fear go away when I wake up. I would suggest reading Mark and use the time when you wake up unable to move to pray. It is now actually one of the most peaceful times for me. Hope this helps.
go to the doctor! they can help since there are effective treatements
and im so sorry it must be terrible! just remember nothing happening is real
This paralysis happens to me from time to time, for example, I just experienced it today. It was an afternoon nap and as I woke up, my body was still sleeping. I even opened my eyes and saw a mix of reality and dream, I could not move. I even had to consciously breathe, it looked like I can even stop breathing if I wont do this.
However after thirty seconds or so, I gained control and was able to wake up fully. As I was researching this topic, it looks like the brain is still sending signals to the body as in the REM stage, when it should really be out. Quite a difficult experience sometimes. Bw, nice article
Why do you guys make such a big deal out of it… honestly i have had this for many years. when i was smaller i thought it was a ghost coming from my bedroom mirrors.. the easiest thing to do is just go back to sleep… just let it all go, stop resisting and try to sleep it off..
Glad to know what it was. It feels like your in a coma. You know you are dreaming but can’t get up.
Thank u so much, for years I experienced similar and different degrees of this. I never knew what it was or what to term it- and thus I never spoke of it. My ‘way out’ is actually struggling though because when I let myself go with the flow it intensifies to the point where I feel crushed. Thank u I been looking for this.
this happen to me last night. i wasnt afraid. i was like fuck the devil and went back to sleep
In my case when im at SP state . I force my toungue to open my teeth . And it works everytime
This started happening to me. It feels like something is laying on the corner of my bed where I can feel the bed go down then it feels like something or someone is holding me down so hard like if its crushing me. I can open my eyes but I can’t move or talk. I get so scared and try to scream but I can’t . My mom said its a spirit but I was never the person to believe in that. She said to light a candle and when it happens again to say the our father prayer till I can move. She also said not to be scared that they chose me for a reason… I’m not sure what to believe anymore just that I’m terrified about falling asleep. Someone help!
I hope it ain’t a spirit this happens to me all the time
i am 40. When i was 20+ sp made me lost my jobs, i heard my alarm clock ring but cannot move for HOURS!
When i was a child i could always wake up (from normal dreams)by just open my eyes! i wish i can still do it.
Last night, something roused me but I could not wake, the dogs were barking all night off and on, also waking my husband, I felt someone or somethings were there, I was completely unable to see anything except maybe a squint of my husband. Even my eyelids felt paralyzed. My whole body could not move but was in a relaxed state of sleep. I felt like someone was paralyzing me in some strange way of body control. I was so calmly sedated while in the supposed sleep paralysis but was freaking out in my brain and no where else. I did not feel held down but more like sedated all over to the point where I could not come out of it. I tried like hell to snap out of the feeling, working against it and I think at one point i might have grabbed something from the night stand and threw it across the room to try to wake my husband up to help me. I tried to wake my husband but could not. He had been awaken several times as well and finally went down and slept on the couch from a certain point because he was suspicious of the dogs barking off and on and being concerned someone was trying to break in. I fell back asleep at somepoint after giving up. Again I found my husband in bed around 4 am after I saw my son walking or sleep walking to my room to climb into bed with us (9 yrs old) and he awoke me several times due to his playing or thrashing in my bed (I remember seeing his legs and arms thrashing or playing maybe so I thought), I went to the bathroom, went potty and came back and he was sleeping calmly and was not awake as I had thought. I also had the feeling of time going very slow all night and of waking up several other times for no reason.
Is it sleep paralysis or something else? My husband says he can’t explain what the heck was going on at our house last night but he thought it could be an intruder.
my mum keeps having these attacks and tonight she has has 2 where i have heard her moaning and shouting my name and i have rushed into her bedroom and shook her awake, shes usually hot and sweaty. So i will make her a cup of tea and get her her book or get in bed with her, but on this night my close friend who knows me and my mum very well was staying and we have been up all night and sometimes doing shifts where one will sleep and the other will watch television or something,so we can keep an eye on her, thankyou for these tips, we will tell her, she struggles a lot and tries to shout and bang on walls and stuff, thank you. I am only 12
If somone could email me some more help i would greatly appreciate it.. i jave had these dreams b 4 in the past but for the last month it has been an everyday thing i dred going to sleep an in my dreams its like i can rationalize everything i have even screamed for help.. i dont know what to do anymore an every time it happens it feels like . somthing is doing it to me or in the room.should i see a dr or a preist
Hi, I’ve been getting sleep paralysis for almost 4 years now and every time I get it it gets worse. There was one where I was pregnant with my now 2 year old daughter, where I felt I was laying on my belly and could not move because there was a man sitting on me
I couldn’t talk and it was hard for me to breathe. I was scared for my baby but then I started to wiggle my toes and snapped out of it.
ive been getting this for a long time but today i slept in the afternoon and this sleep paralysis happened to me more that 7 times i freaked myself out and i would shake its weird and it scares me to death!
I was having SP for more than 25 years. When I was younger it happened almost every night which make me scared to sleep, it usually only happened when I static at bed. But when I was older I already get used to it, so everytime when I suddenly awake and can’t move, I will continue to sleep and relax as if nothing is happen. It works everytime! My SP was getting more serious when I get older, sometimes feels like somebody beat my chest. And the worse was I feel like I already wake up and doing all sort of house work and talking with people but feel my body and head very heavy, I know something was very wrong and I was struggling to wake up. Sometimes when I wake up I found out that my pillow was blocking my airways. It is very dangerous and I could kill myself. And this new experience make me scared to sleep again.
This jus happened to me also and i was asleep on my back as well i could feel myself sliding off the bed and then sliding sideways off the bed, and i could see it but i was asleep. I could also hear my kids playing in the other room i tried screamin at them but i couldnt talk…it was way to wierd
Last night I had experienced something that wasn’t normal. I fell alseep & all of a sudden I felt a whole lot of pressure on my body . It felt as if someone was holding me down. I couldn’t move, but my eyes were open. I couldn’t turn my head, I couldn’t yell. My cat was next to me & iheard her hissing. Then iheard a voice right by my ear & it said “your not going to be able to get up” and a grunting sound. Then it laughed but it sounded so evil. I tried my hardest to get up & icould hear my self mumbling. Then isaid f**k you it sounded clear & it let me go. My heart was pounding my body felt drained. I’ve never experinced anything like this before it wasnt usual.
I get this quite frequently as well as night terrors I know some people sleep walk but nope not me I was cursed with sleep paralysis and night terrors to figure in fact I just woke up from sleep paralysis so frightening I swear I felt like someone was in my room and I couldn’t wake up so terrifying like he was humming to me or something but it can’t be real. The terrifying part is you feel like someone is trying to harm you. Be brave, stay positive. Talk with honest people that no about this not sceptic a that will blow it off as a joke. It’s real and it’s not fun at all I would know.
Hi all,
I will try quenching my face, but the thing is I can’t move an ounce, let alone speak a little word. I cannot breathe and this just freaks a lot!!! till am able to wake up.
I just took a nap early this afternoon and could not get up. Before I fell asleep I could feel a presence in my apartment. I opened my eyes and saw my dad standing there looking at me. I wanted to go hug and talk to my dad but couldn’t. I lost my dad in Dec from suicide and nobody knows why he did it. I feel like something was there and my dad was helping it to leave cause about 20 seconds later I woke up. Im still scared to go to bed tonight.
I get sleep paralysis a lot, and when it happens, have always gone with the idea of breathing deeply and trying to move a finger or toe, (a bit like Kill Bill – “Wiggle your big toe!”). My biggest tip which I read on an article once is never, NEVER, literally, NEVERRR, sleep flat on your back. Always try to sleep on your front or with your face pointing towards the floor as much as possibly – I can’t remember the scientific reason but generally when I wake up with sleep paralysis I am led on my back. FACEPLANT THE PILLOW – that’s my technique.
I am glad to know that I am not the only one.:-)
I’ve just had the worst experience ever, not sure if I was awake or asleep but felt like I was awake, I couldn’t move, or talk or breathe….what the hell!! I don’t want yo go sleep