dream symbol

Sleep Paralysis Dream Meaning

There may be a physical cause for dreams in which you find yourself unable to move or sense anything; it is called sleep paralysis. During REM sleep when dreams are most frequent, your brain shuts down your body’s nerve impulses, notably to the limbs, to prevent you from acting out the drama of your dreams. However, should you gain some awareness during sleep paralysis, your unconscious mind may mirror your physical actions in your dream. There may also be a physical cause for some falling dreams; such dreams may be triggered by a muscular spasm called a myoclonic jerk that typically occurs just before you are fully asleep. Dreams in which you suddenly step into nothingness are believed to be associated with myoclonic jerks. [1]

What Do You Think About This Dream?

Sources and Authors

  1. The Element Encyclopedia by Theresa Cheung [Back to dream]

What does Sleep paralysis mean in a dream?


There may be a physical cause for dreams in which you find yourself unable to move or sense anything; it is called sleep paralysis. During REM sleep when dreams are...

Learn more about the meaning of Sleep Paralysis

Paralysis can signify a sense of spiritual inadequacy, the inability to create movement, and inertia. There is a condition, which sometimes occurs during psychic development, when sleep paralysis – a...

Learn more about the meaning of Paralysis

Many dreams feature a form of paralysis. Part of this is physiological, because the brain paralyzes the body during REM sleep; this is because there is so much brain activity...

Learn more about the meaning of Paralyzed

Not being aware, avoidance of feeling or looking at something, surrender of waking self. Idioms: lose sleep over, sleep around; put it to sleep; sleep in; sleeping panner; sleep like...

Learn more about the meaning of Sleeping

Paralysis in a dream means corruption in one’s religious life, or introducing innovations to one’s religion and suffering the consequences of playing with God’s words.(Also see Paralysis, Physical fitness)

Learn more about the meaning of Physical Paralysis

Dreaming is an intriguing process, and while we often focus on the stories our minds create, there's much happening in the brain and body during this time. Below are some...

Learn more about the meaning of Physiological Effects On The Body While You Dream

We typically spend more than two hours each night dreaming but there is much that scientists do not know about how or why we dream.Freud, who greatly influenced the field...

Learn more about the meaning of The Science Of Dreams

Vision: Watching a paralyzed person means difficult times ahead. Projects are being delayed. You are paralyzed: your plans are (or going to be) interfered with. Be patient and careful! See...

Learn more about the meaning of Paralysis, Paralyzed

To dream you sleep or slumber, is evil to all except those who are in doubt or expectation of some danger, for this delivers them from pain and care. To...

Learn more about the meaning of Sleep

This is a wonderful, peaceful, quiet dream, and sometimes even romantic. This may be a sign that you may need more peace and quiet in your daily life. Or maybe...

Learn more about the meaning of Paradise

Night terrors are not nightmares. In fact they are not even dreams. Also known as sleep terrors, night terrors occur during non-REM sleep, not during REM sleep when the majority...

Learn more about the meaning of Night Terrors

As you age, your sleep patterns change; so too will the time you spend dreaming and the subjects of your dreams. By their mid-forties, many people begin to go to...

Learn more about the meaning of Aging And Dreaming

Alcohol can have a significant impact on sleep and sleeping patterns. Under the influence of alcohol, the quantity of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep decreases and Stage 4 sleep increases,...

Learn more about the meaning of The Effect Of Alcohol On Sleep

A dream that one is immobile can symbolize an inner inflexibility, especially with regard to resolving one’s problems. It can also mean that the dreamer feels trapped. People afflicted with...

Learn more about the meaning of Immobility

A dream in which you find yourself deformed in some way is most likely a selfcritical dream; its interpretation will depend upon what body part or body parts are disfigured.If...

Learn more about the meaning of Deformity / Dismemberment / Paralysis

If you woke up from your dream sweating with fear and had the feeling that some force was crushing your chest, causing you to struggle to breathe, this may represent...

Learn more about the meaning of Incubus / Succubus

During experiments to monitor the brain activ­ity of animals and humans while asleep, it was noted that the brain seemed to move through a series of levels of activity. In...

Learn more about the meaning of Active Sleep

Most people who have kept a dog have witnessed it bark while it is obviously dreaming. Calling out during a disturbing or active dream is common to humans also. Some...

Learn more about the meaning of Talking In Sleep

To be trapped in a dream suggests you feel trapped by your current circumstances. It means you feel unable to see a way of escaping your current problems.• It reflects...

Learn more about the meaning of Trapped

It seems that they do, although we can’t know for sure. All we can measure is whether or not they have REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is more or...

Learn more about the meaning of Do Animals Dream?

Oswald (as related in his book Sleep) observed active rocking in some children and adults during sleep. These rocking movements were very powerful, occur­ring at a rate of one per...

Learn more about the meaning of Sleep Rocking Ian

If one sees himself turning in his sleep and putting his face down, or resting on his stomach in a dream, it means that he will turn away from his...

Learn more about the meaning of Turning In One’s Sleep

Dr Ernest Hartmann carried out studies in connection with people who have stable sleep pat­terns. His aim was to define whether waking events influ­enced people’s need for sleep.For instance, a...

Learn more about the meaning of Premenstrual Tension

Sleepwalking or moving is an attempt to put a dream into action. Most likely you have grown out of the habit, if you ever had it, but if an occasion...

Learn more about the meaning of Walking And Talking In Your Sleep

Adaptive theory speculates that species-wide sleep patterns developed as a way of adapting to the environment. Grazing animals, for example, sleep relatively few hours a day in short bursts. According...

Learn more about the meaning of Adaptive Theory

While we sleep, our brain constantly remains active, passing through different phases or steps. Sleepiness This first step occurs just before we fall asleep, as we transition from wakefulness into...

Learn more about the meaning of The Five Phases Of The Dream

(Sleep) To doze or fall forward on one’s face in a sleep in a dream means going astray.

Learn more about the meaning of Doze

Talking whilst asleep is a relatively common sleep disorder. The subject matter being talked about tends to be harmless. It may also make no sense at all. At other times,...

Learn more about the meaning of Talking In Your Sleep

REM sleep is recognized by tiny twitches of facial muscles and slight movements of the hands. Blood pressure rises, breathing and heartbeat become faster, eyes dart rapidly around the eyelids...

Learn more about the meaning of Rem Sleep

Very common with some people, especially during adolescence or times of stress. Sometimes accompa­nied by hallucinations. Sleep walking is normal as an occa­sional event in children.If the child is agitated,...

Learn more about the meaning of Sleep Walking

The Balm for Weary Minds "Sleep is the balm for hurt minds, nature’s great second course." - William Shakespeare Sleep is an absolute necessity for our physical, mental, and emotional...

Learn more about the meaning of The Hows, Whys And Whats Of Sleep And Dreams

In a dream, sitting means inactivity, idling, failure, disappointment, paralysis and for an old woman, it may mean ceasing to bear children.

Learn more about the meaning of Sitting

E. and Kleitman, N. Aserinsky, while working under Kleitman in a sleep study laboratory, was the first to observe the rapid eye movements (REM) now known to occur dunng dreaming....

Learn more about the meaning of Aserinsky

(Health) Physical fitness in a dream denotes the opposite in wakefulness. On the other hand, it could meanenjoyingblessings.(Also seePhysical paralysis)

Learn more about the meaning of Physical Fitness

(Inactive, Latent, Languid) In a dream, a log represents a chronic illness, or paralysis. As for a butcher or a shoemaker, a log in a dream represents money and profits.(Also...

Learn more about the meaning of Log

It's a widespread phenomenon that more than half of individuals have little to no recollection of their dreams upon awakening. This leads to a common misconception that they don't dream...

Learn more about the meaning of Enhancing Dream Recall: Simple Techniques And Strategies

To dream of having a stroke indicates a probable organic malfunction, and a medical checkup would seem advisable; a dream of someone else suffering a stroke indicates news of an...

Learn more about the meaning of Stroke

There have been many claims that one can learn while asleep—possibly with the aid of a re­corded series of suggestions or information being spoken from a speaker under one’s pillow....

Learn more about the meaning of Learning While Asleep

The scientific exploration of dreams is known as oneirology. This field delves not only into the content or meaning of dreams but also the intricate mechanics behind them. It examines...

Learn more about the meaning of The Art And Science Of Dreaming

In ancient times, nightmares were thought to be caused by evil spirits. The word, in fact, derives from a Scandinavian legend in which a ‘nacht-mara’—the ‘mara’ being a female demon—came...

Learn more about the meaning of The History And Science Of Nightmares

The observation of animal sleep patterns has long been of interest, dating as far back as 44 B.C.E., when the Roman natural philosopher Lucretius described “the twitching movements of dogs...

Learn more about the meaning of Sleep In Animals

People who experience nightmares may find themselves jolting awake in the middle of the night, often able to recall the terrifying dream that disrupted their sleep. Nightmares are common during...

Learn more about the meaning of Understanding Nightmares And Night Terrors

The poppy is a symbol of death and regeneration. Remembrance Sunday is known as Poppy Day in Britain because people wear plastic or paper poppies as an act of remembrance...

Learn more about the meaning of Poppy

In the most straightforward terms, dreaming is the process through which your brain processes and consolidates memories. This information is encoded into easily retrievable symbols. Dreaming is essentially a mental...

Learn more about the meaning of Decoding The Dream Realm: What Processes Are At Work In Our Minds?

Born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky on 18 March 1877, died Virginia Beach, January 1945. Cayce was an uned­ucated man who found he could put himself into a sleep state in which...

Learn more about the meaning of Cayce, Edgar

In 1937 through the use of the electroencephalograph (EEG) measuring tiny electrical brain impulses, Loomis and his associates discovered that the form of brainwaves changes with the onset of sleep.The...

Learn more about the meaning of Science, Sleep And Dreams

In almost all the mythological stories, petrification is the gods’ punishment for a gaze that has crossed the permissible limit. In this case, the dream is indicative of a guilty...

Learn more about the meaning of Petrification

Many people are convinced that they do not dream. ‘My head hits the pillow and I’m out for the count’, they often say, ‘and when Iwake up in the morning,...

Learn more about the meaning of How To Remember Your Dreams

Being or feeling helpless or vulnerable can represent: An actual feeling of helplessness or vulnerability or a desire for help in a particular aspect of your life.Losing power or control...

Learn more about the meaning of Helpless

No one has yet discovered the function of dreams in our lives. Some scientists believe that we sleep in order to dream, because dreams tidy all our emotions. Different experiments...

Learn more about the meaning of Anxiety

Unlocking the Meaning of Dreams and Embracing Your Vision for the Future When we close our eyes at night and drift into slumber, our inner world awakens. In the depths...

Learn more about the meaning of Symbols

Animals exhibit a wide range of sleep patterns. While lions may slumber for two to three days at a time, some antelope sleep for only one hour a day. Dolphins...

Learn more about the meaning of The Fascinating World Of Animal Dreams

Role you play in the bedroom; also, sleep, rejuvenation are needed.See Bed.

Learn more about the meaning of Pajamas

Sleep patterns vary markedly across different age groups, with people sleeping progressively less soundly in later life. Stage 4, or deep sleep, in particular, practically disappears among the elderly. Studies...

Learn more about the meaning of Age And Dreams

Jung, Hadfield and several other dream researchers believe the dream process is linked with homoeostasis or self regulation (see Man and His Sym­bols, Jung; Dreams and Nightmares, Hadfield; Mind and...

Learn more about the meaning of Compensatory Theory

The image of the creative energy of the dreamer.See Lamb, Sleep.ASTROLOGY: The meaning is “I am.”

Learn more about the meaning of Aries

Warning dream. Desperation, but also experiencing and waking, as opposed to the image of Sleep.

Learn more about the meaning of Scream

If you dream of waking from sleep, this may be a symbol of a new awareness that is either already dawning in your life or needs to be allowed to...

Learn more about the meaning of Awakening

A temporary place to sleep without total privacy, i.E. School, hospital visitor’s quarters, etc.

Learn more about the meaning of Dorm

This animal symbolizes sleep, passivity, and laziness. However, it also is a sign of patience in the face of adversity.

Learn more about the meaning of Marmot

A symbol of demonic activity around you and your family with intentions of stealing your peace, sleep, joy, and love, Jn. 10:10

Learn more about the meaning of Thief

Productive stage in life, particularly when the furrows are clearly visible. It may be the symbol of a fertile woman or mother (Gaia, the earth mother, and also Demeter). Pointing...

Learn more about the meaning of Field (as In Cornfield)

Since sleep is a way of leaving the busy world behind, a bed can represent a form of spiritual sanctuary and a sense of purity.

Learn more about the meaning of Bed / Bedroom

Boredom, tiredness, unconsciously trying to say something—yawning is a movement arising from the self- regulatory process.See sleep movements.

Learn more about the meaning of Yawn

A to Z Dream Interpretation