What is Sleep Paralysis?
For most of my life I’ve struggled with a sleep condition referred to as sleep paralysis. What is sleep paralysis? Sleep Paralysis is a strange phenomenon wherein a persons mind awakes from sleep (post REM stage), but their body is unable to move. This meaning that the mind is completely aware and although the person can hear or sometimes see the surrounding environment, their body is literally paralyzed and unable to move.
The most common or logical explanation for this phenomenon is a medical one, which is that during sleep, our bodies secrete hormones that are intended to paralyze our body so that we do not act out our dreams (I would probably be several miles away if I acted out mine). However, the detail about sleep paralysis that is highly disputed and ultimately unexplained is the additional, simultaneous event that is called a ‘hallucination’, or sleep paralysis with hallucinations. This hallucination period often occurs in companion to the phenomenon and is reported to last anywhere from a few seconds, to several minutes (for me it is often at least one minute). What is reported, and in my very own personal experiences, there is an extremely dark or evil ‘presence’ that appears in the room or often on top of your body when experiencing the paralysis stage. This presence is usually described as being unseen or even black in color, and usually it presses down on a persons chest or body while the individual is in the paralyzed state.
I’ve experienced this terrible paralysis stage countless times and each time it happens almost in the same manner, like clockwork. I wake up and realize that I’m awake, but my body won’t move, and even though I remember that it has happened before, I’m still scarred out of my mind. Then seconds later, there is a menacing creature that appears either in the room, or on top of my chest. The fear and emotion inside me is something that I cannot explain in words and definitely cannot relate them to our six senses.
It is not a good feeling whatsoever, but it becomes almost normal for people like me who experience this phenomenon. I partially believe it is a medical issue, but also feel it may be something completely unknown to us. If you research this topic thoroughly like I did, you will find that many people range from believing in the phenomenon being responsible for ghosts sightings, out of body experiences, or even alien abductions. However, I personally believe none of the above, as I think most of the unexplained things in life are just as the term suggests……unexplained.
Sleep paralysis itself is said to be experienced by Millions of people throughout the world, and it also has several different names. To name a few; you may hear the term sleep paralysis also described as; “old hag”, “Crushing Demon”, “succubus”, and in Japan, they say “Kanashibiri”, which basically means to be bound by metal.
I would never wish this sleep condition on you, but chances are that you know what I’m talking about.
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