What's it like to wake up with sleep paralysis?
The idea of not being able to move as an intruder or monster comes your way is classic nightmare material, but for some people, this is their reality. Around 7.6 percent of the world’s population has had at least one attack of sleep paralysis, but for some people, the odds are even higher - a 2011 study found that 28.3 percent of students, and 31.9 percent of psychiatric patients experience at least one episode of sleep paralysis in their lives.
So what exactly is sleep paralysis? The disorder comes in many forms, but generally, those affected cannot move or speak for up to 2 minutes after they wake, or just after falling asleep. Some people also experience the sense of a physical weight being pushed onto their chest, the inability to breathe, unnatural involuntary movements, an evil presence in the room, and visual, auditory, or physical hallucinations.
Sleep paralysis is related to your rapid eye-movement (REM) sleep and the body going into a state of atonia. Atonia paralyses the muscles of the body while sleeping - probably to stop the dreamer from lashing out, or acting out their dream in bed. The feeling of paralysis occurs when you wake before REM is finished, or fall asleep and go straight into REM. This means that your body stays paralyzed, but your mind is awake.
Obviously this is exceptionally scary for those who experience it, but for some people, things can get even worse.
The hallucinations caused by sleep paralysis are not well understood, but could be due to a hyper-vigilant state or emergency response activated in the midbrain when a person feels vulnerable to an attack. This heightens the activity of the nerves, so the paralysis - and therefore helplessness - appears to cause increasingly vivid effects.
Although today’s scientists haven’t got all the answers, we do know that it isn’t due to demons, spiritual possessions, or cheap wine. It's often brought on by interruptions in regular sleeping patterns, and there does appear to be some kind of genetic component.
Although many of us are likely to experience sleep paralysis in our lifetime, at this stage, there’s no cure or treatment available, and scientists are still working on understanding the condition. But it is important to remember that although these episodes can be terrifying, they will pass, you’re not in any actual danger, and the episode itself will usually only last a few seconds.
Reference:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3153991/
Study:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3156892/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3153991/
Article:
http://www.sciencealert.com/here-s-what-happens-if-you-re-unlucky-enough-to-contract-sleep-paralysis
#neuroscience #sleepparalysis #REM #brain
Kyle Macland Nope! It happened to me to have a few experiences like this, more than 10 years ago and i could not to explain myself what happened at that time... Is not the wine for sure! :))
ReplyDeleteThose demons...
ReplyDeleteNot something you have experienced, I hope?
ReplyDeleteThis has happened to me!! :O
ReplyDeleteI didnt have any halucinations though.
It was a scary feeling but nice to feel 'different' than usual. If it doesnt damage my body I wouldnt mind if it happens again lol its cool
I have night terrors from time to time. When I was younger, they were pretty scary. Now they're just really annoying. I usually get the evil presence scenario.
ReplyDeleteI had this happen a couple of times in my late teens.
ReplyDeleteI had read about night terrors and sleep paralysis from psychology, but that didn't make the first occurrence any less frightening. I could see or feel a dark clawed hand reaching in from the window to hold me down for what was probably only 30 seconds or so.
More frightening than but still not as confusing as sleep walking.
Are there any updates to Die Traumdeutung? In symbolics of the subconscious.
ReplyDeleteNever experienced such thing...and I rather keep it that way ;)
ReplyDeleteI actually liked more "On Dreams" than original Die Traumdeutung. You can read it online or download it here: https://archive.org/details/ondreams1914freu Gjermund Gusland Thorsen
ReplyDeleteA dictionary of symbols in dreams would be up my alley; if it's somewhat substantial. The common acceptance of a white house as your own body, etc...
ReplyDeleteAre there no works more recent than Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung on this topic?
I don't think so...but if you find something I'd like to know. Merci :)
ReplyDeleteIt says a lot about them, and the philosophers of times long past, that we still cite them. Humans in some fundamental ways haven't changed for thousands of years
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, I had many of these experiences; however, I learned to conquer this feeling by not fighting it. I seem to have a predisposition for these occurrences, but at a subconscious level, a part of me knows when it's time to relax - by doing this, the feeling immediately subsides.
ReplyDeleteThis happened to me a few times as a child but has not happened since childhood. I never knew what to make of it until taking a pysch class in college and the prof talked about night terrors. Reminded me of those times as a kid waking, able to hear and look around but otherwise unable to move, feeling as if I were suffocating. Only once did I ever hallucinate another presence, that time I thought I had demons trying to possess me.
ReplyDeleteNot only is it nightmare material. It is the very root of the word 'nightmare'. A mære (old english) is an incubus, "an evil female spirit afflicting sleepers with a feeling of suffocation," what we now know is caused by sleep paralysis. The name later became nightmare (middle english) and later the meaning shifted from the incubus itself to the suffocating sensation and eventually to current meaning of just any bad dream.
ReplyDelete