Curious Corner

Have you ever woken up suddenly in the middle of night terrified from a nightmare, only to realize you can’t move or even speak? Those who have never experienced this might think it sounds like something straight out of a horror movie – all made up, but believe me it is real. For the people who have not experienced it firsthand , let me paint a more vivid picture. Imagine yourself in your worst nightmare – say, falling from a cliff, getting hit by a car, being chased by ghosts or whatever is your poison. Just imagine yourself gripped in absolute fear. And then bam! You wake up and realize it was just a dream. You breathe a sigh of relief but then again double bam! You realize you can’t move or even call someone for help and then even worse nightmare begins. You feel absolutely helpless and unable to do anything.

This absolutely frightening experience, the panic and the feeling of sheer helplessness will give any horror movie a run for its money. It’s a hell of an experience. 

Sleep Paralysis

This condition  is called sleep paralysis – when the person is conscious and aware but unable to move or speak, a kind of temporary paralysis that might last from a few seconds to a few minutes. It blurs the line between sleep and wakefulness. There are other ways in which it can manifest such as a feeling of difficulty in breathing or a sensation of pressure on the chest as if someone is sitting on you. There are many myths in various cultures around the world behind the cause of this involving all kinds of supernatural entities. Some Indian legends even link this condition with spiritual experience. On the other hand medical science has various hypotheses, out of which some are more accepted than others.

Theories

Researchers are not yet very clear on what causes sleep paralysis but a more accepted theory is that it happens due to disturbance in the Rapid Eye Movement(REM) cycle. As it mostly happens when someone is going in or out of REM cycles. During the REM cycle we generally have vivid and intense dreams and during this time the brain paralyses our muscles so we don’t start acting out our dreams. However during sleep paralysis somehow this mechanism keeps working even when we are awake and conscious. 

My Experience

I have personally experienced sleep paralysis many times over my life, right from my childhood to current adult life. I don’t know exactly how many times but I could definitely remember the last few. And also there have been few phases in my life where they happened a lot more frequently than normal. However I have noticed that for the last 2-3 years, ever since I have started doing meditation and yoga their frequency has decreased a lot. I am not sure exactly how meditation helps but it is something that I observed in my personal case with sleep paralysis. 

Many people experience this condition of sleep paralysis in their life and infrequent occurrence of such episodes is not harmful and may be the result of over-stress and disrupted sleep cycles. However if it’s recurring in nature and is causing serious problems then one might need to see medical experts for help. One fascinating thing that I have observed around me is that the condition of sleep paralysis is still shrouded in mystery and a lot of people are not aware about it. One reason is definitely this doesn’t happen to everyone but in my opinion people often shy away from talking about such things. And there could be many reasons behind this from cultural taboos to simply a person’s inability to explain this weird and unbelievable phenomenon. For those who have not experienced this, ask around you will definitely find some of your near and dear ones who will share their story with you. And also try to uncover the cultural myths surrounding the condition of sleep paralysis around you.