ita, what you're describing sounds a lot like night terrors/sleep paralysis. Which is when you're dreaming but you think you're awake and paralyzed. I used to get those a lot. I would wake up all freaked out with a thumping heart and everything because, my version of the night terrors came complete with not only the belief that I was awake and paralyzed but, also, that someone was on top of me.

I hate that shit.

So far as I know, it's just that the mechanism which keeps your body from responding to your brain's commands while you're asleep (and thus running and shouting and, say, pissing just because you dreamed you were doing it) hasn't shut down properly (much like Windows).

OK, I should just toss out (recycle) all the articles I've printed out for school that I'll never need again, right?

Yes, Jesse, you should. Release the clutter.

It just seems like such a waste. Ah well -- the cost of printing was included in my tuition, so.

hasn't shut down properly (much like Windows).

So far as I know, it's just that the mechanism which keeps your body from responding to your brain's commands while you're asleep (and thus running and shouting and, say, pissing just because you dreamed you were doing it) hasn't shut down properly (much like Windows).

You just made me snort, Emily.

Fwiw, I get chronic heart palpitations. They suck, but my doc checked rhythms ekg and said it's just nerves.

So far as I know, it's just that the mechanism which keeps your body from responding to your brain's commands while you're asleep (and thus running and shouting and, say, pissing just because you dreamed you were doing it) hasn't shut down properly (much like Windows).

I think I read that it tends to be more common when you wake up out of a deep sleep. And then your half-asleep brain flips out and tries to figure out why you can't move, and it hardly ever comes up with pleasant theories like, "I must be buried in kittens!"

Someone theorized that a fair number of alien abduction stories spring from this, because a lot of them start out with people waking up and discovering that they're mysteriously paralyzed.

Someone theorized that a fair number of alien abduction stories spring from this, because a lot of them start out with people waking up and discovering that they're mysteriously paralyzed.

Yeah, I've heard this.

If only your other scenario was more common.

"I was abducted by kittens!"

my version of the night terrors came complete with not only the belief that I was awake and paralyzed but, also, that someone was on top of me.

Someone theorized that a fair number of alien abduction stories spring from this, because a lot of them start out with people waking up and discovering that they're mysteriously paralyzed.

There's also theories about how this contributed to strong witchcraft and demonic entity belief throughout human history because of this senation of some sort of person or presence being on top of you while its happening. People have even reported seeing someone on top of them.