Sleep paralysis

The sleep paralysis, sleep paralysis or sleep paralysis is the almost complete inability to move the body during the dream phase. Prevents this natural process that experienced in the dream muscle movements are performed in the real world. The sleep paralysis is not consciously experienced as a rule, since it is terminated when waking up without delay. Excluded from the rigidity are the respiratory and eye muscles. Due to the occurring eye movements, the sleep phase, occurring in the dreams, even as REM sleep ( REM = Rapid Eye Movement - Rapid eye movement) called. The sleep paralysis can be interrupted by physical touch.

Involuntary Experience

The sleep paralysis can last about the dream out into the wax phase. In these cases, one speaks of a security attack. It's practically the opposite of narcolepsy ( "sleep attacks "). In a few people, this happens regularly. However, while they are all muscles, including the eyelids, unable to move, but the depth sensitivity is no longer identified with a dream body, but with the paralyzed physical body. It is possible that open the eyelids involuntarily and blink reflex typically in a row. Some people have a feeling of suffocation in this state, because they do not feel their breathing. Some succeed, with extreme willpower to move toes or fingers and so actively to solve from the paralysis. Others sleep again. This state of consciously experienced sleep paralysis usually lasts no longer than two minutes to.

Often there is the mind during the paralysis still in a sleepy state so that he can again begin to dream with open eyes. This means that you projected dream content visual and tactile nature seamlessly on the actual sensory perceptions of open eyes and the weak body sensations. It is not uncommon also auditory misperceptions on which can take a wide range: noise, hum, crackle, sound of footsteps, bang and explosion noises etc. more complex sounds ( such as the ringing of a telephone or the ringing of the door bell ) to music and voices. The auditory events can occur without external cause or by external - usually completely different nature - sounds are triggered.

Some people have the ability, from a state of sleep paralysis a so-called out of body experience ( OBE ) bring about. In this the Paralyzed has the impression of being able to leave his physical body behind in order to move to a second non-material body by its environment.

People who experience sleep paralysis for the first time consciously, but usually do not get the idea that they could be even "responsible" for what is happening around them. Once they realize that they are paralyzed, many comes over a primal fear of being exposed, and this is likely to project the fears. So anyway, many explain the process in retrospect.

The sleep paralysis can in a medical sleep lab (there are in many hospitals ) be clarified.

Conscious inducing

By lucid dreams an awareness of the paralyzed body can be achieved. Here, however, usually does not succeed to open the eyes and therefore there are no hallucinations. Instead, come and go dream sequences behind closed eyes. The same applies to the WILD technique, in which you let fall to sleep the body, but in spirit without interruption concentrates a lucid dream initiates.

Frequently experiencing Clear dreamer a so-called false awakening. Then you may feel with your eyes open lying in bed, actually feel vaguely the physical body and begin now, for example, dream images in her bedroom dreamed to project. The scenario can therefore be experienced identical in content, such as the typical sleep paralysis hallucinations, but is many times less intense. For the connoisseur of both states these are therefore distinctive.

Out of body experiences

The conscious experience of sleep paralysis is, in particular in connection with the above-mentioned perception of sensations in the state of hypnagogia, considered by some groups of people as a sign of an imminent out of body experience.

Epidemiology

Sleep paralysis occur as one of the symptoms of narcolepsy, a rare neurological disease. Then you belong to the so-called narcoleptic tetrad. About 40-50 % of patients are affected. Because the sleep-wake regulation is disturbed, which is actually bound to a sleep phase sleep paralysis can occur at the transition from wakefulness to sleep ( hypnagogic form) or at the transition from sleep to wakefulness ( hypnopompic form).

Isolated sleep paralysis can sporadically ( at about six percent of the population at least once in your life ) or with familial clustering occur without narcolepsy.

Sleep paralysis is not rare. An Iranian study from 2004 showed that about 25 % of students surveyed have received at least once in their life a sleep paralysis, which they witnessed.