Okay, so I don't get "night fears" too often. Actually, I don't remember any cases in which I might have had them in the past. This is why what happened to me last night was an unusual situation for myself.

I work nights, so I sleep during the day. I sometimes have a hard time sleeping (since it is light out), so I have to watch my caffeine intake. Yesterday I had only a tiny bit of caffeine at least 8 hours before I tried to sleep, so that was not a factor.

I laid down, and was able to fall asleep very quickly. But, I awoke, what seemed to be only a couple of minutes later, with this irrational fear of having people look down at me while naked. I felt very violated..... and naked.. but I was wearing clothes. I was wearing boxers, so this nakedness was all in my mind, I think.

The odd thing, is that I was unable to go back to sleep for at least five hours later. It seemed as if I was scared of something.....

Any suggestions, or similar experiences? I have no logical explanation for what seemed to be fear on my part.

Huh, very interesting. The only thing I can think of is that mabye when you fell asleep you had sometype of wierd dream and when you woke up you didnt remember the dream.

mabye the dream had something to do with being stared at in the nude?

I dont know but it might explain your temporary fear of being looked at in the nude.

I had the sensation that people were standing over me... it was very hard to explain... And I'm not quite sure that it was fear of being nude, but just a sheer wave of terror... unexplainable. But, a definite being watched feeling.

Nothing has ever happened to me to warrant this fear, and it did not continue once I woke up.

I really don't have nightmares, and I can very rarely remember my dreams at all. The unusual part of this experience is that not enough time had passed for me to really enter the dream state. When I woke up in a panic, I noticed that only 15 or 20 minutes had passed since I laid down. I thought dream state was impossible in this short period of time.

Dude, I would suggest you ntry to get back on normal time...I have had friends who were so screwed up from working nights they still talk about it years later..good luck.

Very interesting idea of sleep paralysis.
I have never attempted to lucid dream. But, this is something I am going to attempt after my birthday (which is in less than 2 weeks). After my bday, I am going to stop all of what I perceive to be clouding behaviors, such as alcohol and other inebriants. I'm also going to attempt meditation and astral projection.

But, I have never tried any of the above.... I can't even really remember my dreams!

I work in the Hotel Business, so it is quite an easy job. Krav is going to be my bday present to myself, and hopefully that along with stopping certain behaviors will provide me with a rebirth of some sorts.... /shrug