Out of Body Experiences with SP

I found some really interesting studies regarding the relationship between out of body experiences (OBEs) and SP. I have personally never experienced an OBEs,
but I know many have, so I hope this sheds some light on some of your experiences.

quoting with links from some sites for your review

"To the sleep researcher, these strange phenomena are
remarkably reminiscent of another curious experience, called
sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis occurs sometimes when a person
is waking from or falling into REM sleep, the state in which most
vivid dreams occur. During REM sleep, the muscles of the body,
excluding the eye muscles and those responsible for circulation
and respiration, are immobilized by orders from a nerve center in
the lower brain. This prevents us from acting out our dreams.
Occasionally, this paralysis turns on or remains active while the
person's mind is fully awake and aware of the world.

Some of the experiences people have reported during sleep
paralysis are: "I feel completely removed from myself," "feeling
of being separated from my body," "eerie, rushing experiences,"
and hearing "hissing in the ears," and "roaring in the head."
These events appear to be much like the OBE sensations of
vibrations, strange noises, and drifting away from the physical
body (Everett, 1983). Fear has also been described as a common
component of sleep paralysis (see the "Question and Answer" in
NightLight, Vol. 2, No. 1 for a discussion of overcoming fear in
sleep paralysis.)"

Another 
idea is that they are hallucinations, but this requires an 
explanation of why so many people have the same delusion

I found this statement accurate, why are so many people having the same delusions??????????????

Understanding the nature of this widespread and potent
experience would no doubt help us better understand the
experience of being alive and human.

Again here they are coming right out and stating they do not understand

WHAT DO WE KNOW NOW?

Our two studies have compared the frequency of OBEs in the
two types of lucid dream, and surveyed the relative frequency of
OBEs and dream-related events in a large number of people. We
have thereby learned that when OBEs happen during lucid dreams,
they generally happen in lucid dreams that arise from brief
awakenings in REM sleep, and that people who have certain special
dream experiences are more likely to have OBEs that people who do
not. These dream experiences include returning to the dream state
after an awakening, lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis.

Proof that some or even most OBEs are dreams is not enough to allow us to say that a genuine OBE is impossible.

However, inthe interests of lucidity, if you have an OBE, why not test to

see if the OBE-world passes the reality test? Is the room you are 
in the one you are actually sleeping in? If you have left your 
body, where is it? Do things change when you are not looking at 
them (or when you are)? Can you read something twice and have it 
remain the same on both readings? If any of your questions and 
investigations leave you doubting that you are in the physical 
world, is it not logical to believe you are dreaming?

I found this paragraph to be quite interesting, that genuine out of body
experiences are not
impossible and steps to take to test yourself.

I found this report http://www.lucidity.com/NL32.OBEandLD.html
OTHER WORLDS: OUT-OF-BODY EXPERIENCES AND LUCID DREAMS
by Lynne Levitan and Stephen LaBerge, Ph.D.

That is far as I got tonight on their report, but found it was quite interesting,
and good enough to share.

This is from wikipedia
One in ten people has an out-of-body experience at some time in their lives.[5]
OBEs are often part of the near-death experience, and reportedly may also lead
to astral projection. Those who have experienced OBEs sometimes claim to have
observed details which were unknown to them beforehand.[6]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out-of-body_experience

I find this strange as well, to observe details that were not known to them
beforehand....so who knows..
time for the twilight zone show music.  I personally am happy to not have
had a OBEs, as the sleep paralysis was quite enough for me,
but then again, I might be missing out.