Strange dream...?

Question

Well last night I was confused and scared...

I dont know if it was my dream or real...

This is how it went...

I was laying on my bed, and i felt like someone had sat on the bed at my feet.

I looked at it with the corner of my eye, and it looked like a man, but it was more like a shadow of it.

I tried to turn on my back, and look at it more clearly, but i couldnt move. i was like paralyzed i tried so hard to move but i could only move my eyes. I tried to yell or talk but nothing came out. I felt it start to crawl up towards face. i was breathing real hard, and then right before it got to my face, i heard my grandma go to the restroom ( which she does like everynight ) and the thing disapeared, i started to regain my movement and i was scared to death, i looked at the time and it was 1:24 AM . I tried to go back to sleep by closing my eyes thinking its a dream, but then i fell asleep.

BUT i woke up like it felt like a good night sleep, i wake up at 1:30 AM the same night...........

Answer 1

Your dream was a night terror and occurred in a semi-lucid state of dream-sleep.

There may be no clear reason for it.  You were likely not sleeping deeply when it occurred and something in your sleeping environment may have fed the imagery and senstations you describe.  The noise of your grandma's activities probably did startle you awake - and you likely had been 'paralyzed'.  When we awaken slightly from a dreaming state we often find ourselves still in the throws of 'sleep paralysis' - very normal occurrence that is not noticed when dreaming finishes before full wakefulness.

Consider your surroundings where you sleep.  Is the room well ventilated and clutter free?  Are your bed covers sensible and neatly made-up prior to bed time?  The sleep environment has much to do with dreaming - and what kind and intensity of dreaming we experience.

Also consider any other potential stressors in your life - school, job, relationships - you name it, all carry potential for things that keep the mind too jumpy at night.

The oddity of time elapsed and sense of having slept long (only six minutes) also is not unusual.  Our minds are wonderfully complex - and real time passage means little compared to what the mind can synthesize.  In a real passage of six minutes one can quite well gain a brief but deep, restful sleep that would give a momentary sensation of being well-rested.  The test would be to get up and find out how quickly your mind and body inform you that you truly have not had enough rest yet.  This kind of pattern is usually present when there is fatigue, stress and distraction.  The deep sleep comes in response to intense need - and the premature waking comes in response to the mental cycle of fatigue that still plagues at this point.

Consider these points to see if they help explain what you experienced.  There does not truly seem to be a material - or even spiritual - creature that invades your quarters, only something suggesting it through the dim awareness that comes in the semi-sleep that results from distraction, fatigue and such.

All the best to you.

Answer 2

It's called "the old hag syndrome"  Look it up.  I've had similar experiences awhile  back.

Answer 3

It's sleep paralysis.

"Sometimes your brain doesn't fully switch off those dreams - or the paralysis - when you wake up,"  

"That would explain the 'frozen' feeling and hallucinations associated with sleep paralysis." According to research, the effect only really lasts from a few seconds to as long as a minute, but in this half-dream half-awake state, to the victim it can seem much longer.

Answer 4

yeah its happenend to me to first time it happened it sacered the c**p outta me but know i know its perfectly normal see it happens cause youwake youreself pretty quickly but you brain isnt fully awake yet so your body cant move cause your brain doesnt tell it to move well it actually that has a name i just cant remember it anyway that happened to me when i was like 8 years old and there was this really ugly thunderstorm and yeah i couldnt move i felt that i couldnt even breathe its a really nasty thing but dont worry its normal but the man you say well maybe it was your imagination or part of it when it happened to me i saw that one of my dolls moved but i think i was just seeing things... dont worry its normal youll be ok