Causes and signs
Sleep paralysis is an unpleasant phenomenon that each of us has encountered or probably will face at least once in our life. It occurs due to a violation of “REM sleep paralysis” – a natural function of the body that does not allow us to make sudden movements in a dream, get up or fall out of bed. People who do not have REM sleep paralysis suffer from somnambulism (sleepwalking). And those in whom it is observed even in the waking state are faced with sleep paralysis.
This state is called so not for a catchphrase – during its onset, a person is really unable to move, while remaining conscious. The fact is that at this time the brain has already woken up, and the body is still susceptible to blocking any actions due to the phase of REM sleep. This can last from a few seconds to a couple of minutes.
There are two main types of sleep paralysis – isolated sleep paralysis and recurrent isolated sleep paralysis. The first one can be encountered only a couple of times in a lifetime, but the second one “visits” regularly, up to twice a month.
Sleep paralysis can be associated with insomnia or sleep deprivation, as well as a violation of the regime – for example, due to shift work or falling into a different time zone.
“In a dream, a demon choked me,” or A little about hallucinations
Perhaps the most unpleasant consequence of sleep paralysis is hallucinations that affect all the senses, including (horror!) The sense of touch.
You’ve probably heard a bunch of stories from different people in which mysterious entities figured. “I was choked by a brownie”, “I opened my eyes and saw a monster”, “There was a ghost in my room” and many other interpretations of night hallucinations.
Some during this state really manage to open their eyes, which cannot be done in an ordinary dream. Moreover, creatures from hallucinations often try to harm a person (and he, as luck would have it, is immobilized). This formed the basis of many mystical stories and religious phenomena. For example, the US National Library of Medicine conducted a study on sleep paralysis in 2005 and found that hundreds of cases were attributed to it when people considered themselves victims of alien abduction.
Sleep paralysis is reflected in the culture. The famous series of paintings “Nightmare” by the artist Heinrich Füssli is considered to be inspired by sleep paralysis, during which a person feels strong pressure on the chest. The demon sitting on the chest of a sleeping woman is the personification of this unpleasant sensation.