Sleep Paralysis
Information from www.ghostweb. com
Sleep paralysis is often described as being held down by an invisible force and can be extremely scary to the person being held in this confinement state. This sleeping disorder is most often associated with demonic or malevolent activity because the disorder 'feels' like someone is holding or pinning you down, thus preventing you from being able to move or to scream for help. According to Sleep Disorder Doctors, this disorder is common.The IGHS gets reports describing this very event with the person suggesting the event was demonic in nature. They describe being held down, attacked, choked or sexually molested. In every case the 'victim' has not consulted a doctor about a sleep disorder, but they have contacted a priest or minister for an exorcism. It appears that their religious views color their vision of reality. Often this irrational fear is paramount to the fear held by the people during the Middle Ages and during the Salem Witch Trials. The people did not understand so they condemned and destroyed what they did not understand. However, once this disorder is recognized, the demons depart and we understand the nature of the disorder. We all have nightmares at one time or another, yet we do not claim our nightmares were real demons attacking us. We understand that nightmares are fragments from our subconscious mind leaking into the conscious mind and that they generally can be symbolic, not actual.Unfortunately, our imaginations have been programmed by Hollywood films, such as 'The Entity' that suggest that we should expect some kind of evil demonic creature to terrify us if we should find ourselves being pinned down in bed by an invisible force. We must break free of the singularity of this mind set if we are to understand what is happening by this sleep disorder. However, this is not the case. Instead of being held down or choked by some demon, we suffer a sleep disorder, not an attack by a figure from the depths of hell.For more information about this sleep disorder, visit Sleep Disorder and Sleep Paralysis and Associated Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic Experiences.
From ABC News.com
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/sleepparalysis990411.html
Sleep Paralysis Leaves You Scared, Frozen
By Claudine Chamberlain
ABCNEWS.com
In the words of singer Sheryl Crow, it’s “a bizarre and twisted feeling where
you feel completely paralyzed.” That’s followed by terrible fear — a
heart-pounding, sweaty feeling that you could die any second.
The terror that Crow described in a 1996 interview with Rolling Stone magazine is known as
“sleep paralysis.” It’s a state of being awake but completely frozen,
unable to move or speak. It usually strikes just after waking up, but can also occur just
before falling asleep.
Crow described getting to the point “where you are sure you are going to die.”
Other sufferers have nightmarish hallucinations. They see dark, hooded figures looming
over them as they lie helpless in bed. Some women report feelings of being raped. Others
see bright lights and swear they were abducted by aliens.
No Doctors, Please
ABCNEWS.' George Strait reports on a simple way to snap out of sleep paralysis.
RealVideo
(download RealPlayer)
Sleep experts have long known about sleep paralysis, but research in the latest issue of
the medical journal Neurology offers them a better idea of how common it is and what the
risk factors might be. According to a new study, roughly 6 percent of all people have had
at least one episode of sleep paralysis, while slightly less than 1 percent have at least
one episode a week.
Sleep expert Dr. Maurice Ohayon and colleagues came up with those figures by asking 8,100
people in Germany and Italy about their sleep habits. Ohayon, a researcher the University
of Montreal, says he would expect the prevalence rate to be about the same in other
countries, too.
Few people report the problem to a doctor. “Probably, the fears of being considered
mentally ill are more powerful than the will to know what was happening,” he says.
While some hallucinations may be powerful enough to trigger anxiety or depression, the
study should reassure people who worry that their sleep paralysis indicates a brain tumor.
Ohayon said that in most cases, sleep paralysis is not linked to neurological disease.
What’s Risky?
While 6 percent of the population may sound small, Dr. Michael Thorpy of Montefiore
Medical Center in New York City says that’s fairly sizable for a sleep disorder.
Sleep apnea, when breathing stops during sleep, occurs in only 4 percent of adult males.
Narcolepsy registers a scant .05 percent.
In addition to finding out how common sleep paralysis is, Ohayon discovered that the
problem is about five times more likely to hit people taking anti-anxiety drugs such as
Xanax and Valium. People on these medications may want to try a different prescription as
way of treating the sleep paralysis.
For others, the problem is often tied to sleep deprivation, a consequence of being
overtired. The study also found that sleep paralysis often appears as a secondary problem
for people with sleep-robbing mental illnesses like severe anxiety and bipolar disorder,
also known as manic-depressive psychosis.
Sleep paralysis strikes during the transition between dreaming sleep — called REM
sleep for its telltale rapid eye movements — and being fully awake. During REM sleep,
experts say, your body keeps you safe from acting out on your dreams by temporarily
paralyzing you.
The Truth is Out There
Sometimes, your brain doesn't’t fully switch off those dreams — or the paralysis
— when you wake up. That would explain the “frozen” feeling and
hallucinations associated with sleep paralysis, says Dr. Max Hirshkowitz, director of the
Sleep Disorders Center at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Houston.
The effect lasts anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes, but it feels like forever.
“The biggest effect is they’re scared to death, and if you add an hallucination,
it’s even worse,” he says. “The very first thing to do (in treatment) is
let them know it’s not going to kill them. They’re not going crazy, they’re
not going to be permanently paralyzed.”
Hirshkowitz says he suspects that many people who claim to have been abducted by aliens
were really just suffering from hallucinatory sleep paralysis, since the “alien”
descriptions are so similar to what’s described by patients. In an era before Roswell
and The X-Files, he says, people would have said they were being visited by spirits or
dead ancestors.
From http://www.castleofspirits.com/sleep.html
Have you ever been asleep and suddenly woken only to be paralyzed, seen a dark evil
shadow looming over your bed, felt someone sitting on your chest or body holding you down
trying to choke you, or perhaps heard strange noises and felt an eerie feeling of evil
descending upon you? Chances are you are more than likely a suffered a Sleep Paralysis.
Symptoms
Paralysis whilst entering or exiting REM sleep (dreaming).
Total body paralysis, with sparing of respiration and eye movements. It lasts from seconds
to minutes and can be a bizarre and usually terribly frightening experience.With the
paralysis you can experience some of these common things:
A feeling of being choked or suffocated
A feeling of someone pinning you down or sitting on you (your chest in particular)
Being able to hear noises including footsteps and voices close by
Being able to see beings or dark shadows surrounding or standing near the bed
A frightening feeling of evil descending upon you
Shaking of the body or rumbling sensation (ringing) in the ears
A feeling of untold evil surrounding you or trying to suffocate you
Noises such as knocking or banging on the walls
The feeling of being in a dream like state but yet thinking you are awake
I'm sorry to say that all these symptoms mean that you are most probably not being
abducted by aliens or experiencing a spirit visitation or a paranormal event. They are all
symptoms of the sleep disorder known as Sleep Paralysis (SP). When you sleep your brain
shuts off the signals from your brain to your muscles therefore you don't get up and act
out your dreams. For people with sleep paralysis, you come into consciousness before your
brain returns control of your muscles which in turn makes your feel paralyzed and gives
you the symptoms that sometimes are very frightening and realistic.If you suffer from this
disorder you are not alone, it's actually quite common and it's estimated that quarter of
the population of America suffers from it. It's a hereditary disorder so if you are
suffering from it chances are that someone else in your family is also suffering from
sleep paralysis and not owning up to it.I can't find any logical reason as to why most
cases report a feeling of being choked, suffocated or someone sitting on their chest - but
it seems that being in this state brings out your very worst fears. Some sufferers have
reported such things as loud banging on the walls, spinning objects in front of their
face, dark evil figures standing over the bed, calling out of their name, and the most
common is a feeling of evil descending upon them. It is generally thought that some people
who believe that they have been abducted by aliens whilst sleeping at night such as in the
story "Communion" could actually only be sufferers of this phenomenon. Some
people use Sleep Paralysis to induce Lucid Dreaming or Astral Projection, although most
people have no idea how to induce an episode of Sleep Paralysis.Sleep Paralysis can be a
symptom of another sleep disorder called Narcolepsy. This is a more severe sleeping
disorder and would need treatment by a Physician.The visions you see and the things you
hear whilst in this particular state are just sensory hallucinations that are very
difficult to distinguish from reality.....think of it as being awake but having a
nightmare that is terribly realistic. In the eastern U.S. & Canada in the 19th Century
people would say that the Old Hag came last night and sat on their chest during their
sleep. But however no matter how much danger that you think you are in you cannot be
harmed whilst in this state, even though you feel as if you are being choked or suffocated
- no harm will be done!Being involved with the paranormal myself I find that Sleep
Paralysis is one of the most common ghost stories I hear - people always start telling me
how an evil spirit was sitting on their chest at night trying to choke them - I always
stop them and to their great disappointment tell them about Sleep Paralysis. It's sad to
see someone's face fall when you know that they've been telling all their friends and
relatives for years how they had an experience with an evil spirit. People quite often
refuse to believe it's Sleep Paralysis - but I'm afraid to say it's a scientifically
proven thing - there is untold evidence available on the net regarding this condition -
People don't want to believe because it all seems to real. I have suffered Sleep Paralysis
myself on various occasions and I can say that YES it is realistic and YES it is difficult
to believe that you are not going to suffocate and die, but believe me if you let yourself
go and fall back asleep, you'll wake up later thinking it was all a dream - with no harm
done to yourself.A Few Suggestions on How to Escape Sleep Paralysis
Willing yourself to make a sound or at times just moving your finger will help you to get
out of this state
Travel at least 350 miles away
Scream out loud and carry on after you wake up for a while
Sleep in a hammock that automatically swings all night
Seek professional help - there are actually many drugs and treatments used for this
condition such as antidepressants or monomania oxidase inhibitors
Strategic napping
Regulation of sleep/wake scheduling
Scheduled vigorous exercise and avoidance of sleep deprivation
Vigorously move the eyes, then flutter the eyelids, and then move the facial muscles
I find that shaking my head does it every time - I get scared and feel as though I'm not
awake properly so I start dreaming of shaking my head from side to side
Many will tell you that you need to cry out the Lord's name and that will save you - but
to be honest you could call out Mel Gibson's name and you'd still come out of the
paralysis and not be eaten by an irate demon. SP usually only ever lasts a few minutes and
rarely has any negative effect - it's virtually a harmless state to be in - just very
frightening.