Have You Ever Experienced Sleep Paralysis?

By Elton Camp
Of this state have you ever heard?
Youre paralyzed, cant say a word
Cant move no matter how you try
You wonder if youre about to die
This causes an extreme fright
sually when asleep at night
!cary hallucinations may be there too
"nother presence youre sure is true
#or centuries this has ta$en place
#rightened people had it to face
"bruptly you can move once more
"ll is as it has always been before
%f you $now what this spea$s about
The following youd read, no doubt
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% am not the author of most the following' %t is information % gathered from the %nternet
about sleep paralysis that may interest you if you have experienced this and didnt $now
what it was'
This is a phenomenon that has been $nown for centuries and is very common although
seldom discussed' % experienced this myself fre(uently as a teenager and it continued on
occasion well into adulthood' % as$ed our family doctor about it and he scoffed at me,
obviously thin$ing % was ma$ing it up' "pparently he had never heard of sleep paralysis'
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 !ha$espeare+s Romeo and Juliet, and alien abductors' "lmost every culture throughout
history has had stories of shadowy evil creatures that terrify helpless humans at night'
,eople have long sought explanations for this mysterious happening and the
accompanying feelings of terror'
This paralysis' %t is not harmful, although most people report feeling very afraid because
they do not $now what is happening, and within minutes they gradually or abruptly are
able to move again- the episode is often terminated by a sound or a touch on the body'
%n some cases, when hypnogogic hallucinations are present, people feel that someone is
in the room with them, some experience the feeling that someone or something is sitting
on their chest and they feel impending death and suffocation' That has been called the
./ag ,henomena0 and has been happening to people over the centuries' These things
cause people much anxiety and terror, but there is no physical harm'
1uring sleep paralysis the persons feels awa$e but is unable to move' You might have
even felt afraid but could not call for help' !leep paralysis may leave you feeling
frightened, especially if you also see or hear things that aren+t really there' !leep paralysis
may happen only once, or you may have it fre(uently && even several times a night'
/eres the explanation* 1uring sleep, your body alternates between 234 5rapid eye
movement6 and 7234 5non&rapid eye movement6 sleep' One cycle of 234 and 7234
sleep lasts about 89 minutes' 7234 sleep occurs first and ta$es up to :;< of your
overall sleep time' 1uring 7234 sleep, your body relaxes and restores itself' "t the end
of 7234, your sleep shifts to 234' Your eyes move (uic$ly and dreams occur, but the
rest of your body remains very relaxed' Your muscles are )turned off) during 234 sleep
to prevent you from acting out the dream and possibly hurting yourself or another person
sharing the bed' %f you become aware before the 234 cycle has finished, you may notice
that you cannot move or spea$' This is sleep paralysis'
p to as many as four out of every =9 people may have sleep paralysis' This common
condition is often first noticed in the teen years' >ut men and women of any age can have
it' !leep paralysis may run in families' %t is not dangerous and the hallucinations that
often accompany it are not real'
%t came as a great relief to me when % learned about sleep paralysis some years ago, so %
?ust had to share the information in case anybody else was experiencing it and didnt
$now what it was' !leep paralysis can be a frightening experience'