Sleep Paralysis

Possibly one of the most terrifying things ever happened to me last night. My roommate has had this cough for like a week now, but last night she started having an especially bad coughing fit around 3 AM. At about 3:30 I got out of bed to get my ipod and listened to that for the next 45 minutes trying to drown her out. Finally she fell asleep but I was wide awake. around 5 I started falling asleep, but as I did I guess my body fell asleep and my mind didn't. I was literally paralyzed. All I could move was my toes. I fought so hard just to say my roommates name, but my teeth would only move a centimeter apart and no sound would come out. I could hear this buzzing noise that sounded like hundreds of people talking at the same time but I couldn't understand anything they were saying. After probably the longest ten seconds of my life I was able to mutter "Jenny". It was barely audible but it broke the spell and I was able to move again. Jenny didn't wake up. So I got out of bed and called my mom to see if I was dying, she told me to go back to sleep hahah. I googled "sleep paralysis" which I had remembered learning about in psychology junior year and realized that was exactly what was happening to me. The part I had never heard about in psychology was that some people believe that this happens because your soul hasn't returned to your body yet. These people weren't ancient Greeks either, they were mentioning God and his angels. I didn't really know if I believed that or not (and I still don't). Probably not, because I could still think I just couldn't move. But I got back into bed and read for about an hour. Around 6:30 I finally decided to go to sleep again. This time I woke up about a half hour later and as I was waking up, it happened again. The humming, the not being able to move. I was calmer this time, but it also lasted longer. Even though I knew what it was, I was still terrified. The feeling of just not being able to move, to be completely helpless. I snapped out of it again and fell back asleep. Needless to say, I skipped my 9:25 this morning and woke up at 11 making it a three day weekend for myself.