I had my first run in with sleep paralysis yesterday, and I have to say it was fascinating.
I laid down for a short nap before having to pick my son up from preschool. As I only had about 2 and a half hours until I needed to pick him up, I could easily imagine sleeping more deeply than intended and not hearing the alarm clock... So I went to sleep in a sort of careful state, trying to be especially aware of noises so that I would wake up on time. (This almost always works for me. I can sleep through my alarm with no problems at all if I don`t need to be up, but if I make sure I leave the "Need to be up!" flag in my mind, I wake up easily on the very first sound it makes.
I fell asleep, and something woke me up. (I`m guessing a car sound from outside) I started to wake up, but realized it wasn`t my alarm, so opted to go back to sleep. Then I felt it. Something large and heavy sort of came down on top of me. I could feel it pressing down harder and harder, holding me down. For the first few seconds, I found it frightening.... And then I realized - This is sleep paralysis! The fear disappeared, and I noticed several things. The weight had no specific points. It was even, like a huge lead blanket had been slowly put down on to my body. It was also only on top of me. If something were actually pressing down on me, I would feel pressure from below also, as I would be feeling resistance from the bed. There was none of that, and I was actually quite comfortable. I also wasn`t having any of the breathing difficulties that I would imagine having if something really were on top of me. Maybe this is because I was on my side? Or maybe it was because I wasn`t feeling any fear...
I tried moving, and managed to open my eyes and look up. I was hoping to catch a dreamy glimpse of the dark forms people often report seeing - but nothing was there... And it seemed that the movement broke the spell, and I was able to move. Went quickly back to sleep - and it happened again. I tried to move my arm, but either wasn`t able to or the movement was so feeble that it didn`t make much difference. But it was enough to snap me out of it.
When I went back to sleep again, it happened almost immediately, and I was able to open my eyes and look around a bit at my blurry but normal room. I tried to roll over, but couldn`t, and decided that despite the strange sensation of weight it really wasn`t all that uncomfortable, so didn`t try to snap myself out of it, relaxed, and slept peacefully until the alarm went off.
I wasn`t all that scared - the second I realized what it was, it was more of an experiment to me. But I could easily see how people could be scared out of their wits. I found it quite cool in it`s own way!