{"id":36472,"date":"2025-07-30T17:58:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/articles\/cant-move-2\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T17:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T17:58:20","slug":"cant-move-2","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/articles\/cant-move-2\/","title":{"rendered":"can’t move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hi Rebecca\u2014 <\/p>\n

<\/span>The formal name for what you are experiencing is Sleep Paralysis, and fortunately, it is not dangerous or even anything to be overly disturbed by. During each of our REM (dreaming) periods of sleep, the body becomes temporarily paralyzed so that we don\u2019t act out our dreams. Occasionally when we wake up after dreaming, though, our bodies don\u2019t wake up with us\u2014they \u201cstay asleep.\u201d When this happens, we give commands for movement to our bodies, but our bodies won\u2019t respond. Naturally this is disturbing and we can panic\u2014we fear we will never get our movement back. These experiences usually are ended by a bed partner touching the body and nudging it to full wakefulness, or, as in your case, by a seemingly superhuman effort by the dreamer to awaken. <\/p>\n

<\/span>Sometimes we only partially arouse while the body stays paralyzed, and we continue dreaming. This is when sleep paralysis is very confusing. For example, we can awaken and see the outlines of our room, but then we may also dream that we see an intruder. Intruder dreams are common in conjunction with sleep paralysis, and they are known to be exceptionally frightening. <\/p>\n

<\/span>Occasions of sleep paralysis typically are infrequent enough\u2014and of short enough duration when they do occur\u2014that sleep doctors do not prescribe medication to prevent them. Sleep paralysis can be annoying and frightening, but most physicians prescribe relaxation during the event, coupled with a patient will to awaken oneself. <\/p>\n

<\/span>The trick to getting comfortable with these experiences is to recognize that they are <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span> entirely natural. They last only a minute or two (most last only a few <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span> seconds), and no one has ever \u201cstayed paralyzed.\u201d Try to keep <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span> yourself calm during the experience. Also, after you get more <\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span> comfortable, you may even try to enjoy these periods of consciousness mixed with REM sleep\u2014known as lucid dreaming\u2014and see if you can\u2019t make a happy ending to your dream \u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Back to original dream<\/a>
Back to Sleep Paralysis page<\/a><\/span>
<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[3226,3248],"class_list":["post-36472","articles","type-articles","status-publish","hentry","category-better-sleep-answer","category-sleep-paralysis-better-sleep-answer"],"acf":{"article_id":"1497"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/36472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/damwebserver.com\/dreamdoctor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}