Sleeping paralysis reason

If you have ever woken up but were unable to move, saw shadows, or felt something heavy on your chest that seemed like it was holding you down, you have likely experienced sleep paralysis. The experience can be frightening, and it can feel like it lasts for several minutes. Despite this feeling, the condition will go away in a few seconds, as your brain completes the process of waking up and restores movement to your body. • Sleep paralysis may occur in anyone, regardless of gender or age, but there are a few conditions that make it more likely. • Research shows that sleep paralysis has a genetic component. People who experience the condition several times have close family members. • Situations that cause stress and sleep loss are also associated with an increased risk of sleep paralysis. How Can Sleep Paralysis Be Prevented? Generally, your brain will paralyze your body while you sleep so you do not act out your dreams as you enter deep, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and REM stages of sleep. When you wake up as normal, your brain restores movement to your body as your consciousness returns. If you snap awake out of deep sleep or a dream, it is possible that your brain has not completely restored the connection to move again. For the most part, sleep paralysis is a random occurrence that will happen on rare occasions in your life. Some people are more prone to experiencing it than others due to genetic factors, sleep deprivation, age, and underlying medical conditions. If...

Share on Pinterest Sleep paralysis — waking up without being able to move or speak — can provoke feelings ranging from mild anxiety to outright terror. Because hallucinations often occur at the same time as the paralysis, this psychobiological experience feels supernatural to many people. Here’s what research has revealed about this common sleep disturbance. Though it can be frightening to feel that you can’t move, sleep paralysis isn’t actually dangerous to your health. Some studies indicate that around It’s an age-old phenomenon: One Dutch doctor documented a patient’s terrifying sleep paralysis back in 1664. He explained that his patient felt as if the devil was lying on her or a great dog was sitting on her chest. When she tried to throw it off, she couldn’t move. Sleep paralysis is an almost universal experience. People in cultures all over the world have used their own folklore to explain the phenomenon. In Newfoundland, Canada, people traditionally call it “old hag” syndrome because it feels as though a witch-like creature is perched on the chest. According to a similar Nigerian tradition, a demon-woman pounces during your dreams and renders you motionless. In Japan, sleep paralysis is explained as a spirit seeking vengeance by suffocating you in your sleep. And in Brazil, the culprit is a roof-dwelling crone named Pisadeira who attacks those who sleep on their backs while their stomachs are full. In the 1781 painting “The These varied cultural representations all h...

Is Sleep Paralysis a Symptom of a Serious Problem? Sleep researchers conclude that, in most cases, Over the centuries, symptoms of sleep paralysis have been described in many ways and often attributed to an "evil" presence: unseen night demons in ancient times, the old hag in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and alien abductors. Almost every culture throughout history has had stories of shadowy evil creatures that terrify helpless humans at night. People have long sought explanations for this mysterious What Is Sleep Paralysis? Sleep paralysis is a feeling of being conscious but unable to move. It occurs when a person passes between stages of wakefulness and sleep. During these transitions, you may be unable to move or speak for a few seconds up to a few minutes. Some people may also feel pressure or a sense of choking. Sleep paralysis may accompany other sleep disorders such as Sleep Paralysis Causes Just why or how it happens isn't clear. Researchers believe sleep paralysis is caused by a disturbed rapid eye movement cycle because it mostly happens as people are falling into or coming out of REM sleep. During that stage, their brains normally paralyze their muscles anyway -- so they don't act out their dreams . But during sleep paralysis, the sleeper is awake, or half awake, and so is aware they cannot move. Studies show that between 25% and 50% of Americans have had sleep paralysis at least once. Many people who have it also have narcolepsy , in which they fall asleep un...