Drewmanad - It sounds like you are either very, very lucky to have good experiences with sleep paralysis, or that you have never had an actual sleep paralysis episode. If you truly get sleep paralysis episodes and enjoy them, you are in the minority.
While you may have good experiences with it, that is incredibly rare. Most people cannot relax and definitely would never call this sleep disorder a "gift". Most peoples experiences are absolutely terrifying. Most people feel a dark presence around when they are in an episode and other confusing, very frightening things going on around them, threatening them while they lay there unable to move. I have had hypnopompic/hypnagogic hallucinations of a dark, terrifying presence jumping on my chest and suffocating me while I lay there unable to move, and other even more disturbing ones that I wont even type out.
Sometimes I will have this over and over and over again in one night, and it completely fucks my sleep up. There have been times in my life when I was younger where my sleep paralysis has gotten to bad that it has actually interfered with my day to day life. I would HARDLY call it a gift. This isn't like lucid dreaming or astro projecting. While you may find it pleasant, you are VERY lucky because most people who deal with sleep paralysis have absolutely terrifying experiences and cannot just "relax and enjoy their 'gift'". It's pretty hard to relax when it feels like something is on top of you smothering you and you can't move. 8) Until you've experiences what I, and most others do during sleep paralysis, don't even judge.
Anyyywayyys... I've had sleep paralysis since I was 8, I'm 22 now. I can remember the first time I got it like it was yesterday. I didn't start getting the sleep hallucinations until after the first few years. I never knew what it was or that other people got it until I was 17, and finally googled "sleep paralysis" and found out it was a condition, and that other people had it too. I grew up in a religious atmosphere and was once told by someone at my church that it was the devil, which made it all the more frightening. Now that I know what it is, it is easier to deal with when it happens but its definitely still a terrifying experience. I also noticed the older I got the better I got at forcing myself out of them.
I hate sleep paralysis, but I do find it incredibly interesting (to research, NOT to experience) in that I think it gives some insight into human consciousness.
A couple things I find really interesting, is that My mom used to get sleep paralysis when she was younger but it eventually just stopped in her 20s, and my 18 year old blood niece, who was adopted to a family at age 5, and reunited with us 11 years later also gets it badly. Last I read, they suspected it could be genetic but weren't sure yet - but obviously it can be, because what are the chances that all 3 of us in the same family have it? Also, my niece and I find that sometimes doing MDMA/ecstasy can trigger episodes. Not always the next night after doing it, but within a few days. No other drug has ever triggered episodes for me except e. Last year, I did some AMAZING ecstasy and had bad sleep paralysis for the following week - EVERY fucking night. I finally went and got some benzos and it stopped.
They think that sleep paralysis happens when you wake up during your REM cycle (in which you are paralyzed to prevent you from acting out your dreams) and you're awake but the paralysis is still there, which makes a lot of sense. Kind of like the opposite of sleep walking? So, I'm guessing that maybe certain drugs, like MDMA and opiates, or etc maybe fuck with your sleep cycles and triggers episodes in some people? I've heard of some people who NEVER get sleep paralysis unless they do MDMA. Its strange...
