Insomnia has devoured the night. Anguish has kept you awake longer than usual. But since rest is needed, one ends up falling into the arms of Morpheus. After a few hours of sleep, you wake up. You open your eyes, you recognize the place, you hear what is happening around you… You try to move but you can’t. Your body does not respond. Anguish takes over you to the point that you have a hard time breathing. You try to react, to ask for help, to achieve a minimal gesture that breaks the rigidity that has paralyzed you. Until, suddenly, your body obeys your will again. You regain mobility, you can breathe calmly again. The nightmare is over.
Does it look familiar? Is about a sleep paralysis, a sleep disorder that occurs during the transition period between sleep and wakefulness. That is, at a time when the mind «is awake» but the body is not. This status can last from a handful of seconds to a few minutes. But those who have suffered from it assure that these are very distressing moments. Even so, there is no reason to be alarmed: it is only our mind that is playing a trick on us.
In many cases, for those who regularly experience this paralysis, the anguish of not being able to move comes accompanied by hallucinations. From the sensation that there is some presence in the room, through multiple visual, auditory and tactile hallucinations: sleep paralysis can become a real open-eyed nightmare.
As bizarre as it may seem, this phenomenon is very common. It is estimated that this disorder can affect on a recurring basis between 5% and 8% of the population. In its sporadic variant, it could manifest in a percentage greater than 50%. That is, according to the statistics everyone could suffer from it at one time or another in our lives. A phenomenon that, according to recent studies, would affect more intensity to the students.
Causes: when and why it occurs
This phenomenon has been studied from various disciplines and methodological approaches. Still today there is no clear consensus scientist about the reason for this disorder. The most accepted hypothesis has to do with a REM sleep disturbance which would produce an overlap of deep sleep and wakefulness. From this perspective, sleep paralysis would occur when sleep patterns are disrupted and lead to paralysis. Other studies have also pointed to factors such as Imbalance of neural functions or even with the melatonin regulation to explain this phenomenon.
Although it is true that we do not know exactly why this disorder occurs, different studies point to the possibility of explaining when it happens. In this sense, there are many investigations that point to the possible triggers. Situations of anguish, pressure or emotional stress It could be the turning point that ends up giving rise to this distressing phenomenon. A certain certainty has also been observed between sleep paralysis and other disorders such as anxiety or depression.
On the other hand, recent studies have also focused on investigating this sleep disorder in relation to mental health relationship with mental health of those who suffer from it. In this line, one of the most striking results is the high incidence of this phenomenon in young students that, moreover, they play sports. In these cases, sleep paralysis was also associated with symptoms of depression.
fantastic representations
Related news
Historically this sleep disorder has been related to paranormal phenomena such as demonic possession, astral travel, or even alien abductions. That is why, in popular culture, we can find innumerable descriptions of this sleep disorder associated with the world of the unknown. Fantastic stories to investigate a mystery that has finally been solved by science.
These same narratives, transferred to the current context, have given rise to a large number of films and documentaries in which episodes of sleep paralysis are described. Example of it, The nightmare: he Netflix Documentary in which this experience is described.