I had a strange thing happen to me one night about six months ago. I was having a dream that I was in my room and was looking around.  I heard a knock at the door, but something told me not to open it.  When the door began to open, I saw a huge man standing there.  I ran to shut the door and tried to move the furniture in front of it so he wouldn’t get in.  I thought he was going to kill me.  I ran around the room putting more stuff in front of the door, but he kept banging on the door.  I tried to get out the windows but they wouldn’t open.  There was no way out of the room and the man was getting through the door.  I never felt so trapped! 

Now, I have an uncanny way of realizing I am dreaming and waking myself up.  So, I did just that.  In my dream, I sat on the bed and starting telling myself to wake up.  After I woke up, I felt like someone was in my room and they were pressing down on my chest to the point where I almost couldn’t breathe.  I tried to move, but couldn’t.  I tried to scream, but I couldn’t.  I was aware of where I was, I could hear my husband snoring, I could see the time on the clock, but I couldn’t move.  I knew I wasn’t dreaming, and thought maybe there was someone that was trying to hurt me.  I tried to scream, pinch my arms, kick, but nothing worked.  I thought the man in the room was going to hurt me.  And I didn’t understand why my husband couldn’t see him.  Then, about a minute later, I could move.  I turned over and sat up in bed breathing like I just ran a marathon.  The pressure on my chest disappeared and no one except my husband was in the room. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t move 60 seconds ago, and now I was completely fine.

What had just happened to me?

It’s called Sleep Paralysis. Sleep Paralysis includes a temporary paralysis of your arms, legs and head, including the inability to speak, but your mind and eyes can still function.  This usually happens when you are drifting off to sleep (called hypnogogic or predormital form) or just waking up (called hypnopompic or postdormtal form).  This usually follows a dream where you would feel like you are trapped and most often happens when you are sleeping on your back.  The symptoms are:

§         A feeling of someone in the room

§         A heavy pressure on your chest

§         Not having the ability to move any part of your body

§         Not being able to speak

§         Usually a feeling of terror or evil

Sleep Paralysis is associated with narcolepsy (A neurological disorder that causes a person to fall asleep suddenly and lose control of their muscles).  If you don’t get enough sleep, have a lot of stress in your life, or your sleep is routinely interrupted, you may suffer from Sleep Paralysis.  It usually begins with adolescents with episodes that may occur as often as once a week for six months then once every month for several years.  Then it slowly disappears and it may only occur once every few years.  Sleep Paralysis can begin to happen more rarely at 17 years old and very rarely occurs to people over 30.  Over half the population suffers from this disorder at least one time in their life.    Although it is a scary experience, it is usually not harmful.  There have been some cases in Southeast Asia where healthy young teenagers have died in their sleep.  Autopsies were performed stating they died while gasping for breath, yet they did not move and there was no evidence of a struggle. 

There have been many cases of Sleep Paralysis where the person may see, hear, smell and/or feel things in their environment.  There have been reports of people seeing geometric shapes with different colored lights illuminating them.  Also, some people have reported feeling someone sitting on the edge of the bed or touching their hands and feet.  Some reports include people hearing whispers of one or more people talking and ending with a loud bang.  Some people believe Sleep Paralysis is the explanation for alien abductions, “out-of-body” experiences, and visual hallucinations including having experiences where people may see a family member or friend that has passed on visiting them in their bedrooms.  

Sleep Paralysis dates back several years, has history in all different cultures, and has been explained through myths and legends.  Here are a few examples.  The Incubus is an ancient creature that is described as a half-man, half-beast that attacked humans in the dead of the night.  People described the attacks as extreme pressure on their chest and being paralyzed.  The Old Hag is another demon that attacks in the night, usually involving extreme pressure on the chest and some describing the attack as being choked or bitten.  There have also been cultures that have reported the Demon of the Night that attacks by sitting on people’s chest and covering their mouths so they cannot breathe.

There have been studies on new parents, which found that Sleep Paralysis is more common with mothers who breastfeed (who need to be up every two hours) then with mothers who don’t (because both parents can share the responsibility).   There have also been studies of children who do not have any siblings or are the oldest of the siblings having more episodes of Sleep Paralysis then the children that have siblings or are the youngest of the siblings.  In my research I have come to the conclusion that Sleep Paralysis is more common to pre-teens and young teenagers because of the pressures that come with puberty; including high-school, relationships, driving, and looking forward to their own independence.  I also feel that it continues through the college years and the beginnings of a new career and doesn’t slow down until the person is settled because of the same pressures.

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