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No Sleep 'Til Sunrise

by Brandi Rain Werner
(Houston, Texas.)

Last night I had my first experience ever with Sleep Paralysis. I was in the midst of a really frightening dream, and I remember I was trying to yell out in the dream and I couldn't speak. So I kept screaming the same sentence with my mouth never opening, until all of a sudden the atmosphere virtually changed from where I was in my dream, to the exact room I was asleep in.


From the events of the dream I was still in a frantic state. It felt like my eyes were spinning around but I could see everything perfectly... So I tried to yell out again and it wasn't working. I just remember that I kept yelling until it finally came out loud. And then I couldn't move any part of my body. So I was laying there trying to get myself up until it worked.

The first thing I realised was how sweaty I was.
Then I just got up and ran out of that room crying...

And for about a half hour after that I had to stay wide awake pinching myself because it still
felt like my eyes were spinning, and I feared that if I fell back asleep it would happen again.

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Welcome! This site is continuously being created by students of Dr. William C. Dement's Sleep And Dreams course at Stanford University.

We made this site as a call to action for people all over the world to live healthier, happier, safer, and more productive lives by learning about their own sleep. We have faith that reading the information provided on this site will motivate you to be smart about your sleep deprivation and strategic about your alertness in order to live life to your fullest, most energetic potential.

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More Sleep Resources

The Zeo

A revolution in personal sleep tracking, the Zeo is a wireless headband that transmits your brainwaves in realtime to a dock (pictured here) or your smartphone. The result? You can wake up and see exactly what stages of sleep you were in during the night! Unprecedented personalized sleep knowledge.

Sleep Paralysis: A Dreamer's Guide

Sleep Paralysis Treatment Book

Ever woken up paralyzed? A surprising number of us have, believe it or not. But few know the actual causes of this phenomenon, and fewer still how to exert control over it. Dream researcher and sleep paralysis expert Ryan Hurd shares breakthrough insights into how to do just that.

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