You begin to lay down after a long day at work you close your eyes and doze off to sleep you sleep as normal but then you begin to wake up and you open your eyes and you are completely aware of what’s is going on but you are unable to move. you begin to become frighten and attempt to cry out for help but you are unable to say a word and as you began to lay there you start to see strange and nightmare things that feel so real, this scary experience is called sleep paralysis.
Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon in which a person will find they are temporarily unable to move or speak when they wake up, paralysis can last from seconds to minutes but to most it can feel a lot longer. During this experience many people are frighten and scared and even think they are being killed or maybe even possed. [ Different beliefs on sleep paralysis ] Many different cultures have different stories on why sleep paralysis happens.
While sleep paralysis is not harmful many people who experience sleep paralysis are frightened that they are in danger. any people have said they seen aliens or evil shadows coming at them because during sleep paralysis you can also hallucinate. Arielle Pardes shared her experience in an article sharing her experience of sleep paralysis and she said in the interview that as soon as she began to wake up her entire body was frozen she could not call for help at all. She then explains how her heart starting racing and she began to see shadows coming down on her she had also said it could of even been a witch or a man but whatever it is she saw she could not do anything but lay there helplessly (Arielle pardes, 2015) .
In China they call it gui Ya and they believe that it is caused by a ghost and in west India they call it kokma and they believe sleep paralysis is a ghost baby who sits on your back and that is why you cannot move. So many different versions on to why it happens but many people just won’t accept the scientific answer that our bodies are still asleep Sleep paralysis once happened to a filmmaker named Rodney Ascher after his experience he went on a mission to seek others who had experienced sleep paralysis and in his films he shared their experience.
The big question that many people ask is how and why people experience sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain and body aren’t quite on the same page when it comes to sleep. During rapid eye movement (REM)sleep, dreaming is frequent, but the body’s muscles are relaxed to the point of paralysis, to keep people from acting out their dreams. Stress can also cause sleep paralysis. But even with providing someone with this information many people still believe there is a evil presence and that is why It is happening to them.
Most likely people with strong religious beliefs will always continue to feel it is connected with an evil presence and that the devil is doing that to them. According to Dr Simon Kyle “people who suffer from sleep paralysis commonly report feeling immense pressure on their chests during episodes, adding to their feelings of anxiety during the paralyzed state and can result in breathlessness. Unlike the rest of the body however, which remains paralyzed throughout, the ability to move the eyes may in fact be preserved.
It is completely normal to experience sleep paralysis from time to time, however when it becomes frequent and distressing or is associated with other symptoms of sleep-wake disorder, then it may require treatment” (Dr Kyle. ) It has been said that Sleeping in an upwards position on your back and sleep Alcohol consumption also increases your chances of having sleep paralysis.
The best way for someone to understand sleep paralysis and why it happens is to understand what naturally happens to us all as we go to sleep and what goes on with our brain as we are sleeping. Sleep paralysis is most likely to occur if we fall asleep really fast and we skip the REM stage of sleep which is supposed to happen first. Our bodies lock up as we fall asleep, putting our muscles to rest and then Our brains releases a chemical called glycine and Gaba, that causes us to become paralyzed so that we do not act out anything in our dreams.
If our bodies did not do that and someone was having a violent dream and they were fighting in their dream and there mind did not lock their body they would be swinging and yelling and doing almost everything they are doing in their dream. No one wants to be climbing off the wall or even sleep walking or maybe even falling off the bed so it’s important that our bodies do this so that we can lay down peacefully and dream and even sleep in silence because we could also be doing a lot of talking in our sleep without our brains doing the releasing the chemical.
As we begin to wake up usually our bodies and mind are in sync but I if your mind and body are not in sync and you wake up before your body does you will feel paralyzed but it only means that your body is still in the process of waking up and that our brain is still releasing glycine and gaba. the crazy part in this is if this is the normal process of how we sleep then where does the hallucinations come from?
Well as we are in shock waking up to not be able to move or talk during this stage apart of us is still dreaming and because you are waking up before your body does you are shock and scared and begin to panic and this I believe creates a nightmare because we are already still sleeping. I believe in this experience the reason most of every see different things is during the sleep paralysis we see has to do with what we believe in. If you are someone who believe in demons you are most likely to see demons coming at you and if you believe in witches and ghost then you will most likely see that also.
In an interview blah blah once said in her experience with sleep paralysis she saw an old family member that was dead and is the reason she does not believe the scientific answer to what goes on with people when they are paralyzed upon waking up. As many people feel the same way also. Many people would see real life things during sleep paralysis so is only natural that they would think it is more than just our minds locking our bodies as we sleep. And because of this they have a really hard time falling asleep at night because they are terrified they will have another sleep paralysis experience.
Page Break SLEEP PARALYSIS [PREVENTION ] sleep paralysis is more common in people who are sleep deprived, getting the right amount of sleep may be seem to reduce the number of sleep paralysis experiences and Although it does not affect everyone, it does occur. as i first started to learn about sleep paralysis, i wondered how many people get over having sleep paralysis and how they are able to go back to sleeping peacefully at night and not worrying about demons or ghost or whatever it is they are terrified after having their experience. fter doing further research many people who get sleep paralysis have said they choose to believe in the scientific answer of sleep paralysis vs the supernatural reason.
While others decide to embrace it. Joseph Ghaleb, 2011) explained that he was tired of being afraid and was tired of thinking there was an intruder and wanting to break free from this fear because it was a struggling for him to even get up in the morning from having an terrified night of sleep. That is when Joseph decided to stop being afraid of sleep paralysis and he would try to better understand the experience.
He then explained how during his last sleep paralysis experience he would go along with the things he was seeing and that he would embrace whatever was coming at him and to not fear it. When he woke up that morning he was relieved and felt a lot better and calm and not in fear. By embracing the experience it got better for him and he had learned that there was nothing trying to kill him and the shadow that he was seeing was himself and after that the dreams he was having became something he wanted to explore more.
Many people have different ways on how they get over the fear and some are still till this day unable to get over the fear. If you have tried everything and still unable to get over the fear then another idea would be to see a doctor about sleep paralysis and get advice from them on how you can get over the fear of waking up. Page Break SLEEP PARALYSIS CONCLUSIONS I myself has never experienced sleep paralysis, however reading about it and hearing from people who have had it even shocks me.
On one should ever have to experience sleep paralysis because it can be a very extremely frightening to wake up to that is why it’s important to decrease stress level and to take care of ourselves Healthwise and a good night of sleep to prevent ever having to experience it. I also believe that people should not let the fear of what is said in their household or religion to take over them. We should all do our own research on it and ask around and watch others who have experienced and educate and have an open mind to what sleep paralysis is because living in fear is definitely not the answer.
I will definitely continue my own research on sleep paralysis, people who have also never experienced it should maybe look into it as well so that if it did ever happen you would be prepared and know how to handle it instead of laying in fear that someone is killing you or that a demon is coming to possess you. I think the hardest part about learning about sleep paralysis is the things you do find because some people strongly believe it has to do with demons while others say it is demons for views and attention.
Anyone who has ever experienced sleep paralysis be sure to do your own research and learn about it on your own and to not believe the first thing someone tells you or what is because you could also end up living their fear. Seeing a doctor is also good to do if you are just really terrified don’t know what or who to believe. I am glad to have done research on this topic because now I am able to share with others who could have experienced sleep paralysis and think they are really be haunted by ghost or attacked by demons.
