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Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis is a disturbing sleep disorder. It's a combination of cruel mind-body tricks responsible for countless reports throughout history of demons, alien abductions, ghostly visitations, and other terrifying night-time hallucinations.

Here's a typical paralysis nightmare experience:

The experience can last anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. It doesn't always invoke visions of evil entities, but this is a common feature. Sufferers have seen witches, ghosts, shadow people, aliens, angels, fairies and even cartoon characters. It can happen every night or it may never happen to you at all.

But what causes this bizarre and ominous chain of events?

Sleep Paralysis: The Causes

The basic cause of this real medical condition is REM atonia, a natural process which happens to everyone every night. REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement (the phase of sleep most often connected with dreaming) and atonia means lack of muscle tension.

REM atonia is an essential sleep mechanism. As you fall asleep, it cuts off the electrical signals between your muscles and your brain so that you can sleep peacefully each night. In short, it stops you from acting out your dreams.

Sleep paralysis occurs when your mind (for the most part) wakes up, but your body remains asleep. However your brain believes that you are still in the dream world, so it continues to implement REM atonia, while also simulating vivid hallucinations (dreams). Unfortunately, because the paralysis state creates a sense of fear, the hallucinations often turn ugly very quickly.

It's common enough that half of the world's population may experience this condition at least once in their lives. The condition is more likely to arise if you are under stress and/or have disturbed sleep cycles due to shift work, narcolepsy, sleep deprivation, jet lag, and other sleep disorders.

Sleep paralysis can also be induced deliberately in order to induce certain types of lucid dreams, out of body experiences and astral projection.

If It's Just a Dream - Why So Real?

If sleep paralysis is just a dream, then why does it feel so real?

Some of the effects ARE real. This state is a very clever merger of waking consciousness with the dream world. It's an unbelievably cruel mind trick.

For instance, the footsteps thumping towards the bed are often a distortion of the sound of your own heartbeat, pounding wildly in your chest due to all the adrenaline. Hearing your assailant breathing unnaturally is common too - thought to be the sound of your own gasps for breath in this panicked state.

The feeling of your body being paralyzed is real, too. Releasing yourself from the grip of the paralysis is one way to end this terrifying situation (see below). However, the perceived difficulty to breathe properly is what causes many people to imagine an entity trying to harm them (by stopping them breathing or crushing their chest). It's important to remember here that the effect is psychosomatic.

Thankfully, the evil entities are NOT real. But for sufferers, this is not always easy to accept. People write to me describing their episodes, believing they have genuinely encountered beings from another realm. Even after I explain the true nature of sleep paralysis and the ability to dream vividly when conscious, some people remain convinced that this state is really a gateway to hellish dimensions.

All I can say is this: as with lucid dreaming, the fact that your conscious brain is roused during sleep paralysis makes everything feel extremely realistic. Do not underestimate the power of the conscious dreaming mind! If you have ever experienced a false awakening (dreaming of waking up) you will understand this.

Sleep Paralysis in Other Cultures

This is not a new condition. Sleep paralysis has existed in folklore from many different cultures for centuries - perhaps millennia.

In Japan, they call it "kanashibar". In Newfoundland, it's known as "the old hag" who visits you in the night. In China, they know it as "ghost oppression". Even artists have depicted this ghoulish night-time disorder: see The Nightmare by John Henry Fuseli.

It's no surprise that native folklore shapes the nature of sleep paralysis hallucinations. In America, it was only after flying saucers were popularized that people reported vivid alien abduction experiences, where aliens paralyzed and probed them in their bed at night.

In Mexico, more than 90% of teenagers know the phrase "a dead body climbed on top of me" to describe the nightmare entity. And in African culture, it's known as "the devil riding your back" where demons have sex with people in their sleep.

This all tells us that sleep paralysis is a common human condition, and the hallucinations can be shaped and molded based on your expectations.

How to Stop Sleep Paralysis

Psychology researchers are learning more and more about this age-old condition. Some people have a greater predisposition to sleep disorders, and these are the ones that should avoid anything which messes with their sleep cycles, including night shift work, overtiredness, jet lag and sleep deprivation.

If you have been experiencing sleep paralysis recently, there is good news: in the majority of cases, it goes away on its own. Only a tiny fraction of the population experiences chronic episodes. So try to isolate the factors that may have caused this recent bout and stop disturbing your sleep cycles.

During an episode, there are things you can do to stop sleep paralysis in its tracks. It depends on the severity of your condition but most people find they can focus on a specific task - like breaking the paralysis - to help overcome the fear.

Here's how to stop sleep paralysis in simple steps:

1. First relax your body into the paralysis... don't fight it forcefully as this will create panic and increase the chance of negative hallucinations.
   
   
2. Try to gently wiggle your fingers and toes. These tiny movements will eventually tell your brain that your body is awake and it will stop the atonia.
   
   
3. At the same time, try to move your eyes by blinking and looking around the room. Again, the goal is to establish movement to fully awaken you.
   
   
4. Try to move your lips and facial muscles.
   
   
5. If your breathing feels restricted by the paralysis, remember that you have been breathing fine like this while asleep. Focus on breathing as deeply as you can and not letting panic overtake your thoughts.
   
   
6. Keep your mental state positive and calm. Focus on relaxing thoughts - can you imagine a beach or distant location in the sun? Some people find it helps to sing in their mind as this instantly raises your positive energy.

Maintain these goals for the duration of the sleep paralysis. Sometimes you will find it wears off in a few seconds. Other times it may appear to get the better of you but stay strong and focus on those tiny movements. As soon as your brain receives adequate signals that you are awake, it will shut down the REM atonia, you will be able to move your whole body again, and the hallucinations will disappear.