From hallucinations to the inability to breathe, a Science Alert report details what it is like to experience sleep paralysis.
The idea of not being able to move as an intruder or monster comes your way is classic nightmare material, but for some people, this is their reality. Around 7.6 percent of the world’s population has had at least one attack of sleep paralysis, but for some people, the odds are even higher – a 2011 study found that 28.3 percent of students, and 31.9 percent of psychiatric patients experience at least one episode of sleep paralysis in their lives.
So what exactly is sleep paralysis? The disorder comes in many forms, but generally, those affected cannot move or speak for up to 2 minutes after they wake, or just after falling asleep. Some people also experience the sense of a physical weight being pushed onto their chest, the inability to breathe, unnatural involuntary movements, an evil presence in the room, and visual, auditory, or physical hallucinations.
I have sleep paralysis. I have had it for as long as U can remember all though I did not know what it was until the move Insidious came out. I use to think a spirit was trying to possess me. Even as an adult with a better understandingof it now it is still hard to shake the super natural feeling it brings. It is always an intense fear. I have never seen anything but I always feel some type of presence which is hard to explain. I don’thear anything yet it seems like I am. Sometimes I get the thought or sensation that some evil thing is right there staring dead into my eyes and taunting me. I will think I am awake but wont be, I will hollerfor my mom,who lives 100 miles from me, I then usually wake up shake it off and get completely awake. Tell myself it wasnt real and go back to sleep with a tv or something on. I cannot sleep on my back anymore.