It’s the middle of the night, and you’ve just returned from a dream to the reality of your bedroom. But something is wrong. A stranger is in your room, silently moving around you. You want to reach for the light switch and shine a light on this intruder, but your hands won’t obey you. As panic floods your mind, your body lies limp in bed, leaving you no chance whatsoever to defend yourself or even scream. In reality, though, you have nothing to fear for your life. The only thing that visited you tonight was sleep paralysis.
Sleep paralysis is a state in which the body is asleep, but the mind remains awake. Sleep is naturally accompanied by muscle weakness. While you’re dreaming, your body may run, dance, or even fly in the dream world, yet you remain lying still in your bed. When you usually wake up in the morning, the paralysis lifts, and you can go have breakfast. But if wakefulness coincides with the REM phase, your body remains immobilized and your mind experiences anxiety. It is estimated that roughly 25 to 30 percent of people experience sleep paralysis at least once in their lives. As if the mere inability to move or speak weren’t terrifying enough, this condition is often accompanied by hallucinations and breathing difficulties. If you’ve never experienced sleep paralysis yourself, try to recall what you go through just before you drift off to sleep. Both falling asleep and waking up, as well as sleep paralysis, are commonly accompanied by auditory and visual hallucinations. However, in the unusual situation of conscious immobility, the brain apparently tends to interpret the emerging visions and sounds as the ominous presence of another person, thereby intensifying the fear and panic until you ultimately experience a close encounter of the third kind right in your own bedroom.
The exact appearance of these figures and the ways in which you interpret their presence are likely influenced by culture. People from different cultures associate sleep paralysis with various mythical creatures or spirits and pass down methods for warding them off. A 2014 study showed that Egyptians were more likely than Danes to attribute the experience to supernatural forces. Americans, on the other hand, may more often see it as a “warning sign” of poor mental health and a threat of brain disease. If society lacks understanding of these ominous nighttime visits, its members may be reluctant to talk about their experiences and may never learn that this is actually a fairly common phenomenon.
What can you do to avoid these encounters with monsters as much as possible? Try to avoid stress and get enough sleep. Stress causes difficulty falling asleep and is linked to frequent awakenings during the night. And it is precisely insufficient and irregular sleep that is the root of the problem. Sleep paralysis is particularly common among those in professions involving long shifts and night work, such as healthcare workers and security guards. Believing in a paranormal explanation for these phenomena probably won’t help much either. Fear of mysterious beings can make the whole experience worse and increase the likelihood of it happening again. If you do find yourself caught in this nocturnal trap, try not to panic and focus on moving a single finger on your hand or a single toe on your foot. It is precisely this small victory over your sleeping body that often helps dispel the waking nightmare.
Sources:
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Adler, S. R. (2011). Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
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Jalal, B., Simons-Rudolph, J., Jalal, B., Hinton, D.E. (2014). Explanations of sleep paralysis among Egyptian college students and the general population in Egypt and Denmark. Transcult Psychiatry, 51(2), 158–75.
