Sleep paralysis: a terrifying encounter with our own mind

Sleep paralysis: a terrifying encounter with our own mind

Imagine being trapped in a twilight zone between wakefulness and sleep, unable to move or speak. Welcome to the eerie world of sleep paralysis, a phenomenon where the mind is awake, but the body is not. Let's delve into this terrifying encounter.

Sleep paralysis is a condition in which a person awakens from sleep but is temporarily paralyzed, unable to move or speak.

Around 20 percent of people experience sleep paralysis at least once in their life

Neurological Origins of Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis often occurs when we wake up while still in a stage of sleep, called rapid eye movement sleep (REM), during which most vivid dreams occur.

Fear feeds terrifying sleep paralysis

Literature is closer to science than one would think

Becoming a ghost

Sleep paralysis can sometimes cause eerie sensations of floating outside one’s body or looking down upon oneself from the bedroom ceiling.

Control your dreams: a cure for sleep paralysis?

A more radical approach to overcome the fear of sleep paralysis is by “literally” turning your back on the terrifying monster, by sliding into a lucid dream – that is, a dream in which you are aware that you are dreaming.

Seeing a ghost

The creature often appears simply as a dark shadow, similar to the human size and shape.

A disturbance in the brain’s body map

Neuroscientist VS Ramachandran and I recently proposed a neurological explanation for why we see this shadowy creature during sleep paralysis.

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