Sleep Paralysis: You're Awake, But You Can't Move

[mfcorey1]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/what-is-sleep-paralysis-_b_7131030.html

Have you ever suffered an episode of sleep paralysis? It can be a tremendously frightening experience, one you're not likely to forget. You wake from sleep immobilized, unable to move your body or turn your head. You try to make a sound, but you can't open your mouth. You feel short of breath, with a strong feeling of pressure on your chest, weighing your body down. You feel a deep sense of dread or danger -- maybe you even feel there's a strange presence in the room.

As frightening as it is, sleep paralysis -- one form of parasomnia -- isn't actually dangerous, nor is it typically a sign of a serious condition. Sleep paralysis is one symptom of narcolepsy, but many instances of sleep paralysis aren't an indication of narcolepsy or another sleep disorder. Episodes of sleep paralysis can last for a few seconds or as long as a few minutes. Sleep paralysis can occur when you are awakened from sleep, and it also can occur when you're in the process of falling asleep. What's behind this difficult sleep experience? The cause of sleep paralysis isn't known. But it appears likely that many instances of sleep paralysis occur because of difficulty transitioning between different sleep stages, particularly moving in and out of REM sleep.

During REM, the body goes into a state of paralysis known as REM atonia. This is a normal part of the sleep stage, when major muscle groups and most voluntary muscles are paralyzed. One important function of this paralysis may be to protect the body from injury during sleep. REM is a sleep stage when much active dreaming occurs. Without the paralyzing effects of REM atonia, we might act out physically in response to our dreams. In certain sleep disorders, including REM Behavior Disorder, the normal paralysis of REM sleep doesn't work as it should, and people act out physically -- sometimes aggressively and violently -- in sleep.

[longship]

1. It happens more often when one is sleep deprived.

It is a normal neurological effect. Unfortunately, some people interpret it as some kind of a magical or transcendent experience, when it is just ones brain acting like a brain does, albeit a bit out of the optimum. The effect is called hypnagogia and is not uncommon. I have had one myself, and I was extremely sleep deprived at the time.

The lesson about such things is when the brain is not functioning normally one can be fooled. The best lesson to learn about this is that it happens more often than one might think, even when the brain is fully functioning at its best. Not just during a hypnagogic hallucination, but your brain fooling you pretty much at any time. To learn how the brain works is to learn skepticism about a lot of kooky claims.

Nighttime alien abductions? More likely a hypnagogic hallucination. And yes they are vivid and can be scary. In earlier days they might have been called an Incubus (or Succubus), or the night hag, or ghosts, demons, or whatever. Ones brain fills in whatever cultural narrative fits the apparent experience. However, it is all nothing but a construction of the brain.

It is a very interesting experience, especially if one knows what it actually is, the brain malfunctioning a little bit.

[CTyankee]

4. I hallucinated when I was in the hospital recovering from surgery...

it was a long haul to getting better. It wasn't scary but I was definitely in a hallucinatory state where everything and everybody was different from reality...the nurses, everyone who was checking me. I thought it was the anesthesia but the doctor later said it was caused by sleep deprivation.

[jberryhill]

7. When I am over tired, it makes me afraid to sleep

I've had several episodes of it over the years, and noticed that it happens in those circumstances before I knew what it was. Finding out what it was took the edge off, but whenever I've driven myself for a long time, I get into a cycle of being so anxious it will happen that I dread going to sleep.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. I've always known the phenomenon to be referred as "Night Nurse's Paralysis" because it is due to...

... sleep deprivation and irregular sleep patterns.

[merrily]

2. Thank you for this. I honestly thought everyone was like that.

When I am asleep and, say the phone rings, my first sensation is of having no idea what is happening or what I should do to make it stop. In a second or two, I get all that, but then I cannot move to get the phone. Eventually, some one else picks it up or it stops ringing and I fall back to sleep very quickly.

I assumed everyone was like that if awakened suddenly.

As it happens I do have another sleep disorder--not narcolepsy, though. But I have not reported it to my doctor. I've been trying to work myself up into discussing it because I don't really want to take any medication and I don't know another way of treating it that I have not already tried.

So, thanks again. Now, if and when I work myself up to telling my doc about the other sleep disorder, I can tell him this as well. If I had not seen your post, I would never have known it was not normal and therefore would not have mentioned it.

[penndragon69]

3. it happened to me once as a child

And man, was it terrifying !

[Cryptoad]

5. Sounds like a bad Drug experience

i had back in the sixties,,,,,,,,

[unblock]

6. happens to me about once a year.

at some point i learned not to be terrified

also i realized that any touch would instantly wake me fully. i realized this when i had it once as a teenager and our cat came over and started to sniff my face. it was terrifying seeing the cat come right up to my face when i was paralyzed, imagining that he could scratch me or do whatever and i couldn't move. but the instant his nose touched mine i woke fully with a start.

my parents didn't believe i had it until once my mother came into my room with laundry. i woke but couldn't move. for the next several minutes i struggled to move and then finally woke fully with a start. my mom insisted i must have had a bad dream, but then i detailed for her every movement she made over the previous several minutes, including going back out to get her coffee, pause to look out the window, etc., my parents believed me after that.

[frogmarch]

9. Yes! Usually it's

around the same time I'm having bouts of exploding head syndrome.

At least when my head explodes it's over in a second or two, but sleep paralysis can last for several minutes, until I fall asleep and wake up again. I especially hate sleep paralysis, but it doesn't scare me any more, now that I know that aliens haven't come for me or that Jesus isn't really standing over me, ready to cut out my brain.

[Lilyhoney]

10. Video of cat who had sleep paralysis pathways severed.

Glad I could find a video. I remembered seeing this several years ago.

[cyberswede]

11. Fuseli captured it very well in 1871

and 1802