The "I can't move or talk" nightmare, what does it mean?
The "I can't move or talk" nightmare, what does it mean?
Have you ever had the nightmare where something or someone is holding you down and no matter how hard you try, you cannot move, and when you try to scream for help nothing comes out? Believe it or not this is a very typical nightmare, so I wonder, what does it mean?It is also known as sleep paralysis. Google it..you'll find a lot on the topic. I've had it happen a few times during a small period of my life. Very frightening and I've actually related mine to a possible shadow person haunting. Check out my hub on the experience here: http://hubpages.com/hub/Personal-Haunti … -Chapter-2
i ALWAYS have a shadow being near me when i experience this!
The shadow thing, I totally can relate too, I was just saying there's a dark cloud-like abyss that's over head. It doesn't just paralyze you, it terrorlyzes you as u see everything going on around, but can't talk feels like airs been sucked from u.
I had this happen to me a few times. It happens to my brother alot. Your brain is awake but your body is still asleep, that's why you can't move. I think it's called sleep paralysis. When it happens to me now, I just try to relax. Do a google search on it. You'll see how common it is.
This could be either a manifestation from God in which he chooses to reveal himself by giving a vision of an event or something. Sometimes the person will leave their body not being able to move or talk.
COME ON OW ELDER...DON'T START WITH THAT STUFF PLEASE WITH ALL DUE RESPECT
It call sleep "paralysis" Look it up. Uvuse to think it has something to do with demons, But it actually has something to do with your body systems.
I have heard of sleep paralysis but I am going in a different direction. My theory involves the brain and the mind being two separate things.
The Brain = The part that we can explain scientifically.
The Mind = The part that we do not understand and can not explain.
I think the paralysis is actually a safe guard to keep you from traveling too far in to the unconscious mind. Think about it, if we could understand how the 'mind' works the same way we understand how the 'brain' works, we would be able to explain those 'mind over matter' situations where mother's lift cars up to save their children. Or maybe we could find out if there is life after death, without actually dying.
I don't know, I'm just an idiot with crazy theories...I don't think you are an idiot. In fact, I find your theory very plausible.
Your theory is unlikely and completely idioptic.
Adore your theory! Many understand the "Mind Over Matter" theory to be based upon BELIEF. Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't- you're right. I know, I'm steering off of the original topic but it's an awesome powerful virtue.
Have you ever had the nightmare where something or someone is holding you down and no matter how hard you try, you cannot move, and when you try to scream for help nothing comes out? Believe it or not this is a very typical nightmare, so I wonder, wh
I like it - it's a different perspective.
When we dream our brain switches off the connections between it and the nervous system. This is a safety mechanism. If these connections remained active whilst dreaming then we would do silly things like go walk-about while still being asleep. This does, of course, happen with some people: mainly children.
It can happen the other away around too. You can be lying there awake with your brain and nervous system still disconnected. This is called 'sleep paralysis'.
Then there is a sort of half-way stage where you are lying there paralysed whilst aware of the room you are in but still dreaming. We call these 'waking dreams'.I suppose the answer to the question is in what what are you speaking of. It can be of sleep paralysis, as others have said, but perhaps you are trying to figure out what it means in the dream metaphorically?
June 16, 1995 Fargo, North Dakota a woman suffers from sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome brought on by an intense nightmare about a demonic dwarf choking her neck and, as a result, she dies.
Polushd - How did anyone know what she was dreaming about if she died?
I have had dreams like this and trying to run away or scream for help was not working.
One night, actually, early morning, I was having one of these dreams. I was trying so hard to say something in my dream. What I discovered, I discovered by way of waking myself up because I was talking in my sleep and trying to 'run' in bed.
From this experience, for me, I found that when it is difficult to speak or move in my dreams- I am physically doing so while asleep. It's is like getting wires crossed.
If I am talking out loud in my sleep, I can barely get a whisper out in my dream.Interesting, I have heard similar from sleep talkers, I call them.
I been wondering the answer my self.This type of nightmare just creeps me out!
- The Taco Taggerposted 12 years ago
0If you want to look at it metaphorically it could mean that you are just an observer. I personally think that it means I am meant to watch my dream and get something from that dream as opposed to actually participating in my dream and changing and outcome that I am supposed see. Next time it happens, when you wake up, analyze your dream and see if it is trying to tell you something. After all, the subconscious is an interesting place that we don't really understand.
Strangely I posted a similar response (to the one you’re about to read) in the forums.
No one knows why we dream. Studies have shown that our brains turn off so we don't harm ourselves while we dream by walking out into traffic or grabbing a knife and doing jumping jacks etc.
The big question is "why" we dream. Many interpret dreams and to each their own, but here is the leading scientific theory based on studies as to why we dream:
It's a defense mechanism. We dream about possible scenarios that we may encounter. By dreaming of these scenarios (possibly horrid) we are familiarizing ourselves with what COULD happen in real life, so that, when/if it DOES happen in real life- we will be able to cope with it and know how to handle it.
One of the reasons this explanation is so widely accepted is due in part that we do not dream about futuristic scenarios of death. That is, we do not conjure in our dreams a futuristic way to die - not to be confused with dying in an automobile in the future, but rather we do not dream about being killed in a giant pen (that we will make in the future). Moreover, cavemen didn't dream about dying in car accidents.
So... If you're being held down in your dream, this is your mind's way of preparing you for that, if it ever happens. A self preservation/defense mechanism.. I HAVE BEEN SUFFERING FROM THIS FOR YEARS. LET ME TELL YOU I KNOW ALOT OF PEOPLE IN THE WORLD DONT BELIEVE IN BIBLE, BUT THIS IS EVIL SPIRITS DOING THIS. PLEASE PLEASE BELIEVE ME. REPEAT IN THE BLOOD OF JESUS IN THE NAME OF JESUS AND YOU WILL B FRE
My husband has the same experience often, he tells me of the awful evil surrounding him and speaking words of love, light, Jesus & God is the only thing that rescues him from this powerless captivity.
Yes, sometimes fighting a lion at the edge of the cliff. It doesn't mean anything to me, maybe you're too tired and thinking of a lot of things in a negative way before going to bed.
Try inculcating in your thoughts positive and good thoughts before going to bed. I know this is not new, but this works and majority of the people often forget it. Awaken and practice mental gymnastics, by planting good thoughts prior to crashing for the night.
...and, water helps. Every time before going bed, drink a glass of water. That helps.I have had this dream myself, in the form of being overpowered, raped or assaulted, yet I am unable to fight back or defend myself. My screams were silent, and my punches never landed.
A few years ago, I had the same dream a couple of times close together. In the first one, I was able to scream, and my punches and shoves defended me from my attacker. In the second one, I was able to distract my attacker long enough to escape.
The difference, I believe, was the lack of control I had over my own life during the first set of dreams contrasted with a feeling of empowerment and capability I now feel when faced with decisions I have to make.
So my question to you is: what big decision is daunting you, or what influences in your life would divert you from your personal convictions for your life?I can't recall having any of these types of dreams but my husband does have them. The answers posted here are interesting, particularly sleep paralysis. The subconscious is probably also another factor, when daily stuff you're preoccupied with creeps into your mind while asleep and manifests itself through your dreams. The paralysis may be a defense mechanism as some have mentioned here.
Two examples my husband shared with me kind of point to that. The first was when he was still in the Army. they were on tactical manuevers and camped for the night on a forested hill after a long grueling march. He said he felt his rifle being pulled away and he tried to stop from it happening but couldn't move, he tried shouting but no sound came out of his mouth. Next thing he knew one of his men was beside him asking him if he was alright, he was the posted sentry at the time and noticed my husband was like having a seizure and mumbling so he came over and woke him to check if he was alright.
The second he shared with me was during a time I was away travelling on business. We just moved to a different apartment. My husband and our son (9 yrs old at the time) both fell asleep in the bedroom while watching TV. My husband said he then noticed some dark figure trying to climb through the window. He ran to the window and started beating on the person who was halfway through. After some struggling, he found himself awake on the bed in a cold sweat with our son sleeping soundly beside him and the window intact and closed. It was a bad dream but a very vivid one at that.The second example is not the same thing. In it he is actually dreaming. My understanding of the previous scenarios is that the person is not only dreaming they can't move or speak; They ACTUALLY CAN'T MOVE OR SPEAK!
I'm not a psychiatrist, but I was a counselor for years with abuse victims and your husband's dreams sound like the effects of Post Traumatic Stress (PTSD) to me.
I have had the same kind of dream all my life since I can remember. It is one of the most frightening things that happens to me and when it happens I sleep with fear that it will happen again and try not to sleep to avoid it.
I had no idea this happens to other people. I always thought I was dying and as you say would try to scream for help to no avail. The strangest part, as someone else here has suggested, it is as if my mind were awake and my body still sleeping, which I'm sure it was since when I could move again my mental perception never changed. What does it mean? Who knows, maybe I partied to much in my tweens.
- lambservantposted 12 years ago0
I believe sleep paralysis is probably the culprit. All I know is those dreams can be kind of frightening. For about a year, I use to have this dream that someone evil and dark was shaking my bed trying to get to me. It was so vivid, I could actually feel the bed move. I would tell myself I was dreaming and to wake up. But I couldn't move for a long time. The times I was finally able to open my eyes, of course things were fine. But they were very frightening dreams.
The only answer could suggest to is something called "Sleep Paralysis".
I think dreams often mirror what is going on in your subconscious mind. Their purpose is to bring your inner fears, issues and thoughts to light so you can deal with them. I think a dream like this can symbolize that you are feeling a lack of control or that you are feeling repressed, that you are not being heard (hence not being able to speak or take action). It also depends on the context of the dream. It helps to take note of what else is happening in the dream and what objects are present. I have heard it is a good idea to keep a dream journal, as this will allow you to notice any patterns that may develop in your dreams and possibly give you a deeper understanding of them. A recurring dream/nightmare often points to an issue that has yet to be resolved.
DEFINITELY,you feel that you cannot express yourself the way that you want.. So that repression is expressed in your dreams.You've some "demons" or issues that you must face head on and overcome. Darn, this is the BEST & MOST INTELLIGENT respons
It's called sleep paralysis, this happens when you reach deep sleep and wake up. However, you don't actually wake up, you only become conscious of your surroundings. For example, your breathing is abnormally slow, to you because your heart rate, and every function in your body naturally slows down while your asleep. That's why you can't speak. Your brain hasn't sent electrical impulses to the rest of your body to allow you to move or speak, thus you have the "I can't move or talk" nightmare. It's just as common as the sudden flinch when you're half asleep and you "fall."
you`ve lost your voice and..........i dont know the other problems!sorry!ulppssss
This is a classic anxiety dream - I have had many! In my experience this dream shows a deep feeling of powerlessness, and a sense that you do not have control over the things that are happening in your life. It could be time to practise some meditation or yoga, and work out how to help yourself cope better with life's challenges.
Bad dreams are not always a bad thing, I see them as the brain trying to make sense of the things that are happening in life, and putting these feelings in some sort of order.This makes a lot of sesne. Last night I was close to having an anxiety attach before falling asleep and I had this dream twice last night. Very scary!
Second A+ answer, it is a need for you to face your hidden and repressed issues that you may have HEAD ON.
I agree with the 'anxiety'/powerlessness/frustration analysis. Another manifestation of this dream is being unable to catch the bus or get to an appointment on time.. or being in a classroom writing an exam and not knowing any of the answers.
This is a classic anxiety dream - I have had many! In my experience this dream shows a deep feeling of powerlessness, and a sense that you do not have control over the things that are happening in your life. It could be time to practise some meditati
It means you are feeling helpless or not in control about something in your life. Is there a situation that has arisen that you don't know how to handle? That would make you feel as though you can't do anything (your voice isn't be heard so you "can't talk" and your "hands are tied" so you can't move). Figure out what situation in your life is making you feel this way and resolve it. The dreams should go away!
The paralysis theme is about a situation in your life that you feel unable to change; a relationship, a job, a hard decision you are trying to make. It' symbolic.
In my opinion, it will likely due to the stress during the daytime. There might be something that you are unable to resolve the issue. So, your body has the strange reaction that put you in the spot like during the day which had the problem unresolved.
You will be relieved once a solution is found.It could just be a dream, you are trying to work something out in your life subconsciously. Also, in much worst cases it could be a form of Its called sleep paralysis.
I have had this nightmare quite often throughout my life. I believe that it is caused by helplessness. I noticed, in my own life, that when I started believing that I was not helpless in the world nor in my dreams, that I had strength and power within, those nightmares went away.
Some Call it sleep paralysis, others Incubus attacks. from my experience it can seem very real and draining but it can be all in the mind. If you need a psychological cure with a multi faithed spiritual basis, that I found Works (other modern spiritual rights appear not always successful but stressful, based on my research). e-mail me for my story and solution: HunaAloha7@gmail.com
If you dont wish to take a spiritual approach, please keep my e-mail and let me know how you did it, or you may find you need it later.
Thanks,
Best Wishes,
SiI too had nightmares about being caught in middle of dark and trying to scream but nothing comes out.. It was like I was paralyzed and many a times I think in my dream that I m dying..
I'm glad to see that I am not the only one. I don't feel anyone is hold me. It's that I can't move. When I try to relax it feels worse. I struggle to come out of it and make noise. When I was a child my mom would awaken me. Now my husband does it. This is scary and has happened often. I tried to figure out if it was the position I was sleeping in.
Daydreaming may be a reason of these nightmares.
Too much thinking or worrying may develop a fear of helplessness into your subconscious.
REMEMBER!
If your problem has a solution you don't have to worry about it,
if your problem does not have a solution worrying is not going to help.When I was a kid I had dreams like this. One was a lion jumping across a picnic table ready to pounce on me. I could not scream or move. I wake up before making contact with the beast, but I had this same dream often. I thought it was about my problem with being called names at school over being fat. I eventually stopped having the nightmares not really knowing why I had them to begin with.
- epsonok0posted 10 years ago0
This is actualy a moment where true masters of meditation perfect the out of body experience. If you can wake your mind without waking your body and you feel paralyzed then focus all of your energy on lifting an arm. It will feel horrible and tingle and burn. But once free you can tear the whole body loose from itself and float. Believe me I am a Christian but I personally experienced it.
- KenDeanAgudoposted 10 years ago0
Actually it's not a nightmare it's worst than that and the proper word for it is "NIGHT TERROR" it is when you feel that your dreams are near and your feelings raise intense that you sometimes scream, cry, run and got frightened. In some situation, the person did not woke up again if the dream that creates illusion is very real though its not.
I think it is because when we are asleep our mind is disconnected in a way from our body, we sort of lose conscious and all our muscles go to rest. Meanwhile our brains are still active in another state and recognize that our physical bodies are abnormally at rest when compared to when we are awake, so it creates dreams or nightmares trying to make sense or in reaction to, why we are immobilized.
I don't dream most nights anymore, but the few nights that I do, they consist solely of dreams such as this. After some of them, I have done remarkable things for months afterwards, after others I have experienced mild depression and inability to perform simple tasks as occurs in these sorts of dreams. That being said, I think that it doesn't have much implication as far as real world transience.
"To dream that you are immobile signifies feelings of being trapped. Alternatively, it shows that you are too rigid in your attitudes and decisions." - dreammoods.com
Stress it is caused from stress.. And very scary just relax and think ok I am going to wake up now and breath. Once you wake up get out of bed for a min so you don't fall right back into it. Also handle what ever is on your mind if at all possible and if you believe you are not stressed out dig deeper cause your body feels differently than you. Hope your ok.
in my opinion, it maybe someone hurt seriously, or exrerienced something sad .
Thought I was the only person to experience this. Been searching for the answer for years until someone gave me a scientific explanation that seemed somewhat fitting.
Basically, as you sleep and wake, your brain goes through a transition of thought that allows the body to rest(slumber) and awaken. Sometimes, between transitions from leaving your 'dream' state to entering your 'awaken' state, the brain becomes confused and shuts down....everything!!!!!
Think of how your computer may crash from an overload. You typically cannot do anything and therefore have to reboot. Well, the brain operates in a similar fashion. Your recognition of trying to wake yourself in thought is hindered by the brain's lag in reaction time of communicating the act of entering the awaken state to the body, thus causing a momentary shutdown until the system reboot process is complete and all systems are go again. I bet after you awake from such nightmares that you still feel incredibly sleepy but are somewhat afraid to return to your slumber state right away.The condition is called sleep paralysis, this is a condition where one is unable to move for few minutes, usually waking up or falling asleep. Make sure you pursue the following discussed points -
1- Improve your sleeping habits
2- Make use of antidepressants in order to regular sleep cycles
3- Seek treatment for narcolepsy or leg cramps (If any)
4- Treat mental health problems that can result in sleep paralysis
Thanks.As a kid I had a cousin I was extremely close to, she was four years older than I, but some reason we seemed to have a lot in common. There was a time I seen her as much as my own sister, and after our grandma died, unfortunately our whole family drifted apart. At age 13, I rarely seen her, as I prepared to graduate eighth grade, she prepared to graduate her senior year of high school. She took drivers Ed. In school, but after she had a dream she died in a car crash, while she was driving, she refused to get her license. Spring break of 1997, my cousin on her class trip to cancun, I didn't even know she was there, as a matter of fact I didn't find out anything until that Saturday morning, April 5th, around 7:00a.m, while getting ready for church. I was finishing my bowl of cereal, that's when the frantic phone call arrived, my mother in shock, trying to calm the voice on the other end. I sat there assuming I knew everything, suspecting a different aunt, one who some how or reason allowed her child to run a fever for 28 days. When the wordsì "Kristina's drowned" came out of my mothers mouth, my heart sank, my stomach turned, all I could mutter out was, "well is she okay?" In my head I'm thinking no God why her, please let her be okay, but I knew she was gone. Her whole life she had a pool twenty feet from her back door, how was this possible. She'd been the one who was cheering on the side line as I taught myself to swim, later teaching me hardcore back flips off the latter into the pool. How could an undertow be the reason she's not here, and just a month or so before she had that dream.
The night prior to her drowning, I had dreamt a bullet pierced through my wall, my bedroom faced the front yard. I had an agonizing, anxious knots in my stomach feeling, and when I finally fell asleep I dreamt this bullet went through my wall and into my head. I laid in a hospital bed, in a coma but could see myself, and my cousin was crying over me. Who knew it would be the other way around, as I stood staring at the prettiest face I would never see again, I knew a part of me was dying with her.
― Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams “Properly speaking, the unconscious is the real psychic; its inner nature is just as unknown to us as the reality of the external world, and it is just as imperfectly reported to us through the data of consciousness as is the external world through the indications of our sensory organs.”Very simple. While you may want to do some 'action' in your dreams, your 'second nature' gives you the feeling of immobility. Simply to prevent you from falling off the bed or hitting your partner or things like that.
In other words, just like we do the breathing without being conscious about it, our inner system prevents us from doing unwanted things when in sleep.Your subconscious remembers a situation that you had no control over. You hated that feeling, and therefore later had a dream about it. I would suggest keeping a dream journal. Keep a pad and pen next to your bed.
And remember, wake up, don't move, gather your thoughts, then write it down or you will forget all of it.Yah.. sometimes happens with me. You are in a some sort of race, or a zombie invasion, and you are trying yo run, but you run in slow motion. Not really fun in a scary scenario.
OMG!! this used to happen to me a lot and at the time it was happening i was living in a house that I think was haunted. Anyways I always thought apparitions were visiting me in my dreams but some of the explanations here seem to make more sense. I mean I don't know for sure what the true explanation is but I have definitely experienced sleep paralysis. Im so glad im not the only one...its scary when you dont know whats going on and why you cant move or scream or wake up.
It means you are experiencing sleep paralysis while you are semi-awake enough to realize it. Just do a bit of research on sleep paralysis, and you will begin to understand it.
I often had this happen to me , but i don't know why , I also want to know too .
This type of dream happens to me quite frequently. I find that it happens most often to me when I wake up after the sun has come up, say around 5o'clock, and then go back to sleep. I have done research on this and have found that it has to do with your brain thinking its time to wake up, and releasing the chemicals it needs to wake its self up, while your body is still tired and goes back to sleep. With it happening to me so frequently, I have trained myself to remain calm, and gain enough conscientiousness to realize that this is what's happening to me. Now that I can do that, I have been able to turn this horror into an opportunity to lucid dream. While I have not been 100% successful in this, I have been able to have some very short lucid dreams that have originated from this state.
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