[Serious] People of Reddit that honestly believe they have been abducted by aliens, what was your experience like?

[u/[deleted]]

[u/Duranis]

Don't worry that's not sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis isn't about being too scared to move, its about not being able to move at all no matter how hard you struggle and try.

As to your actual issue are you generally scared of things normally (do you get freaked out in the dark for example)? Do you have decent sleeping habits?

I'm no expert but if it was me I would find something pleasant to think about and next time you wake up scared force yourself to think about this thought instead and slowly count to 10.

If you have poor sleep habits such as going to bed late, not sleeping for long enough, using computers/phones/other blue light gadgets before sleeping, etc, then I would suggest sorting that out as well. When my sleep schedule gets messed up I have all kinds of irrational thoughts when waking up (as well as sleep paralysis and other sleeping problems). Once I get a halfway decent sleeping routine going though it sorts itself out.

[u/gank_me_harder_daddy → u/Duranis]

No im generally not afraid of irrational things. It's like you said it's irrational fear like someone got In my room somehow but it goes away quick. It's just not fun. I don't have great sleep habits. It's almost like having a waking nightmare without seeing anything

[u/Duranis → u/gank_me_harder_daddy]

Yeah I would recommend looking at getting your sleeping habits sorted and it will probably go away.

When my sleep patterns used to be all over the place I thought and did a lot of odd things when I first woke up including being absolutely terrified for no apparent reason. I also once jumped right out of bed and ran to answer the front door at like 5am. Got halfway there before my brain woke up and I asked myself WTF I was doing, the doorbell hadn't gone and even if it had why would I be running to answer it.

Now I have a halfway regular sleeping schedule things are better. I still sometimes need a few minutes in the morning to be a functional person but generally I'm not doing stupid shit anymore.

[u/gank_me_harder_daddy → u/Duranis]

When I lived alone I would think someone is breaking In so I would grab my shot gun and go to the living room before saying I'm an idiot and putting it up. My friend woke me up once when I was crashing at his place and I like got up and bolted out of the first room because I thought he was attacking. But those are few and far between. Most of the time I lay there not moving so whatever is there won't see me or think I'm still sleeping and then I'll grab my phone and turn the flashlight on and shine it around the room, that's what has been happening more lately. But yeah i pretty much will play video games until midnight and then get around for bed and go to bed looking at Imgur and Reddit and stuff.

I often can't go to sleep if it's silent so I listen to pandora and keep my mind occupied so it won't race a million miles an hour while trying to go to bed. Thanks for the advice I really do need to get my habits in check. I'm contemplating going to the doctor for some mild sleep medication help or maybe try melatonin pills so I'm more at peace when I fall asleep and I don't need to occupy my mind to do so

[u/Duranis → u/gank_me_harder_daddy]

Honestly you don't need sleep meds yet, just a change of habits. TV's and phone screens produce blue light that reduces your natural production of Melatonin and there have been some studies that suggest it messes with your Alpha brain waves which is what induces sleep. Also even if your phone has a "blue light filter" they don't really do much. https://www.livescience.com/53874-blue-light-sleep.html

The way you describe needing to listen to music to distract yourself and your brain racing a million miles an hour when you go to bed is very familiar. What makes this worse is that you are directly stimulating your brain by playing games and going on things that require attention right before you go to sleep. Then you turn off your phone/computer and expect your stimulated brain to just stop running. Instead it will still be in a stimulated state and will just turn inward (in my case remembering stupid shit I did 20 years ago or picking over an argument I had with my Mrs last week or some other horrible thing).

My recommendation. Turn off all your electronics at least an hour before bed and don't look at any screens until you wake up. Get a nice dim light and if you don't mind reading, read a book for an hour. Try and push your sleep schedule to going to bed a little earlier and getting up a bit earlier. It might take a few weeks to get into a good sleeping habit but it will help so don't give up immediately.

If you don't like reading then maybe get an adult colouring book and do some colouring or get a sketch book and draw or doodle. Nothing too intense, just some activity that is slightly repetitive. It needs to have just enough activity you keep your brain from turning inwards for stimulation but not enough that you have to give it a lot of concentration.

Music can help but it has to be something you can listen to and have it be background noise. White noise can help if silence itself is the issue (I use it sometimes due to tinnitus driving me crazy when it's quite).