Stuck, can’t move, something in the room?
It’s terrifying, but explainable.

Sleep paralysis and false awakenings are some of the scariest experiences you can have in bed— and your brain is very good at making them feel supernatural. This page breaks them down without sugar-coating how freaky they are.

You’re not crazy and you’re not possessed. You’re catching your brain mid-boot.

How it works

What sleep paralysis is—and what it isn’t

Sleep paralysis happens when your mind wakes up faster than your body does. Your muscles are still in “off” mode from dreaming, and your awareness comes back online first.

Why you can’t move

During REM sleep, your brain shuts down most muscle movement so you don’t act out dreams. In sleep paralysis, that “off switch” is still active while you’re partly awake.

You feel pinned, heavy, or glued to the bed.
Breathing feels weird because you’re focusing on it intensely.

Why it feels haunted

When you’re half-awake and terrified, your brain tries to explain the feeling:

Sense of “presence” in the room.
Shadow figures, voices, footsteps.
Sensation of pressure on your chest.

These are common hallucinations, not proof of something supernatural.

Coping

What to do during a sleep paralysis episode

You probably can’t stop an episode once it starts, but you can ride it out with less panic.

During the episode

Remind yourself: “This is sleep paralysis. It will pass.”
Focus on slow, steady breathing rather than the scary visuals.
Try to move something small: toes, fingers, tongue.

Those micro-movements can help your body finish waking up.

After you fully wake up

Sit up, turn on a light if you can.
Take a minute to ground yourself in the room: look around, name objects.
Write a quick note about what happened, just to externalize it.

The more you understand the pattern, the less power it has next time.

Some lucid dreamers learn to turn sleep paralysis into a doorway into a lucid dream. That’s advanced stuff. If you’re currently terrified, focus on calming and understanding first, not on using it for lucid tricks.

False awakenings

“I woke up… but I was still dreaming.”

False awakenings are loop-dreams where you think you’ve woken up, only to wake up again later for real.

How they show up

You “wake up” in your room, everything looks normal.
You get out of bed, maybe check your phone or start your day.
Something feels off… then you actually wake up for real.

Using them (if you’re lucid-curious)

If you suspect you’re in a false awakening, do a reality check.
If it fails (you can breathe with nose pinched, text changes), treat it as a dream.
You can then explore it as a lucid dream, if you’re calm enough.