THE DISTURBING TRUTH ABOUT SLEEP PARALYSIS : EXPLAINED
Ever woke up in the middle of the night…not knowing what is actually going on…with the feeling of fear and terror rapidly arising inside…seeing someone unfamiliar staring at you…sensing danger and trying to escape the situation… finding yourself unable to even move a muscle or squeak a sound off from your throat…the impending horror of unable to call anyone for help…understanding that the only thing you could do is to close your eyes from reality and finding yourself waking up the next morning?
YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
Welcome to the haunted world of sleep paralysis.
WHAT ACTUALLY IS SLEEP PARALYSIS?
Sleep paralysis is nothing but a condition in which a person experiences inability to move or speak temporarily on waking up from sleep and is accompanied by the feeling of terror of someone lurking near the person or is in the room, watching them from a distance and hearing sounds that no one else heard.
It is like your worst nightmare coming alive before your eyes. People see ghosts, big fanged, blood thirsty animals and even intruders standing behind the door or curtain, or even a person watching you from your window.
Sleep paralysis usually lasts somewhere from few seconds to minutes but there is nothing to worry about! It is not a serious problem and 8 to 50 percent of the population has already experienced sleep paralysis before you.
WHAT CAUSES THESE REALITY NIGHTMARES?
Sleep paralysis usually occurs when a person suddenly wakes up when his brain is passing between the stage of waking up and sleep. Scientifically speaking, when you sleep, your brain relaxes your voluntary muscles and puts it in a stage of temporary paralysis so that you won’t react to your dreams ultimately protecting you from external injuries. This period is called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep. REM sleep usually lasts for about 90 minutes after which your brain switches to NREM sleep. And this is where something goes wrong.
A person who experiences sleep paralysis usually wakes up before the transition from REM to NREM is complete leading to partial REM and partial NREM. The cells capable of sending signals that allow complete arousal from sleep state is hampered by the signals sent by cells that keep brain in sleep state. So, the brain overlaps with the characteristics of both sleep patterns ie., voluntary muscle paralysis of REM sleep and alertness from NREM sleep leading to paralysis, complete alertness, seeing hallucination, hearing sounds leading to strong sense of horror and fear. A person might experience this till the transition from REM to NREM is complete.
WHAT YOU MAY EXPERIENCE DURING SLEEP PARALYSIS?
During sleep paralysis, you will suddenly wake up from your dream. Your eyes would be wide open and you can pretty much see what is around you and where you are, but can also see other things people in the same room cannot see. Intense emotions such as panic and horror will arise as you find out that you are unable to move or even shout for help — being completely frozen. You will feel extremely vulnerable to the surrounding. Your sibling or your family might be sleeping next to you but you would not be able to move a single muscle in your body to ask for help. As you look around with fear and terror, you might see someone standing near your bed, staring and glaring at you, or sitting on your chest leaving you gasping for air or you might see someone behind the curtain, door or watching at you from your window and you remain completely frozen in time. You will try to scream your lungs out but can’t. You might also see big fanged blood thirsty creatures coming near you. You might hear shattering and whispering sound that will make chill run down your spine. The only thing you could do is to close your eyes hoping not to see those images and yet you see them. The impending feeling of pain, horror and vulnerability, the sense of hopelessness may drive you to a feeling of slow death. The next thing you realize is that you woke up the next morning thinking “What the heck was that?”
This is what sleep paralysis feels like and it might be even worse for some people. One thing you must know is that even if you are conscious you can’t wake your body up. Very minute amount of people who have experienced sleep paralysis can move their finger or face muscles managing to snap their body out of it. The part which makes it completely scary is that the hallucinations occur when your mind is completely alert with your eyes wide open. So, you ultimately believe what you see!
Sleep paralysis is definitely not a serious problem or a disease of any kind. So feel free!
Studies indicate that most people experience sleep paralysis at least once in their lifetime, though the experience differs from person to person.
History of mental illness, narcolepsy, sleep deprivation and stress are found to be the major triggering factors for sleep paralysis.
IT HAS BEEN AROUND THE WORLD FOR A VERY LONGGG TIME!
Many folk legends indicate sleep paralysis in their own ways.
Sleep paralysis is known as ‘Kanashibar’ in Japan meaning ‘Bound up with mental’, ‘Ghost oppression’ in China, ‘Alien abduction’ in the US, ‘Devil riding your back’ in Africa, ‘The terrifying jinn attack’ in Egypt believing that jinn may even kill its victims, ‘The ghost pushes you down’ in Cambodia believing it to be a dangerous visit from deceased relatives and ‘Pandafeche attack’ in Italy depicting a ghostlike spirit or a cat like creature sitting on a person’s chest, trying to suffocate them.
Sleep paralysis is also depicted in one of the paintings of Henry Fuseli as ‘The Nightmare’ (1781) showing a demon like figure sitting on a woman’s chest when she is asleep and is perceived as demonic visitation during sleep.
Before these advanced scientific developments, sleep paralysis was widely considered to be the work of demons, specifically the night hag, which sits on the chest of sleeper suffocating them in their sleep. It is also called as the ‘mare’ that comes at night and hence the word ‘nightmare’ came into existence.
IT WONT HAUNT YOU FOREVER!
Know that it is just a dream and it is perfectly OK.
Avoid sleeping on your back! Because experts have found a correlation between sleep paralysis and sleeping on your back.
Avoid eating something very rich in flavor or foods that are difficult to digest the night before bedtime which can potentially trigger a nightmare.
Sleep paralysis will be once in a lifetime experience for most of the people, but for some, it can be quiet common and tragic.
Have you experienced anything like this before? Share your thoughts with us below!
