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Knowing that you're sleeping and dreaming

Knowing that you're sleeping and dreaming

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Originally posted by Cheshire Cat
I often dream that I've just come awake and I'm paralyzed. I'll scream (that soundless scream) and scream and no one will help me (or no one is around) and then I'll scare myself awake (in the dream). This happens over and over again until I wake up. It's no wonder that I don't like going to sleep.

~ Cheshire Cat 😀
It sounds like you're drifting in and out of sleep, and you don't remember the sleeping bits. If that's the case the paralysis is real but rather short-lived. I've had this: I woke up in the middle of the night to find I couldn't move, and was awake just long enough to feel trapped before dozing off again. It was weird - I wanted to wake up fully but couldn't, because I couldn't speed up my breathing.

Here's a question for everyone: many people, when they wake up, will have some memory of their last dream and of the waking process. But how many people can remember the process of losing consciousness and falling asleep? It would be nice to know how it works so I can repeat it when I'm having trouble sleeping. The nearest memory I've got is of fainting: after the event I remembered everything up to blackout, as I remember falling over and I apparently woke up as soon as I hit the floor.