Sleep paralysis, aliens and the devil

Someone who suffers from sleep paralysis may be under the impression that they have had an out-of-body experience, been abducted by aliens or even had the devil visit them. Nothing is wrong during the day, but at night....

You wake up, usually in the middle of the night or very early in the morning, unable to move and feeling that something or someone - an invisible force - is lying on top of you and clasping you tightly. Around you, you perceive dark shadows or shadows. Speaking is not possible, instead an uncontrolled humming or growling is produced. You get the impression that an invisible evil force wants to take possession of you, which only makes you panic more.

Recognisable? Often such a situation lasts no longer than a few minutes, although it often seems to last much longer to the person in question himself. An attack by the devil, demons or evil spirits is definitely not it. But... what then?

Sleep paralysis

Although such an experience can be quite frightening, fortunately, nocturnal possession does not occur. When we go to sleep, our whole body relaxes. So does the brain, so that at some point during our sleep we enter our REM sleep. REM is the abbreviation for Rapid Eye Movements. During this phase, behind our closed eyelids, our eyes move back and forth at lightning speed.

In this REM phase, we also experience our dreams. Relaxing the brain causes certain parts of the brain to shut down so that we do not make the movements we make in our dreams, such as sitting, walking, running or waving our arms, in real life too.

A person suffering from sleep paralysis, however, because of a brief moment of 'short-circuiting' in the head, has the eyes during this state of relaxation open rather than closed. The limbs feel heavy and often one experiences if there is something or someone on top of him pushing him back into bed or hugging him tightly.

This feeling is caused by the part in the brain that controls movement being switched off. So one is 'paralysed', so to speak. Because the REM sleep phase is also still in full swing at that time, one may suffer from hallucinations. One dreams with one's eyes open, making certain dreams seem like reality.

Hallucinations

Because one cannot move at this time, giving the impression that an invisible force is sitting or lying on top of the body, one may be overcome by panic. This panic may in turn cause one to dream even scarier dreams, which will also make one experience these dreams as real and make the alleged nocturnal possession seem deceptively real.

Since the eyes are open at that moment, one may therefore think that what takes place in the dream is actually seen in the (sleeping) room. These involve hallucinations that can be enormously frightening. Think of:

• footsteps
• feeling touched or lifted when this is not actually the case
• seeing shadows, shadows or 'ghosts'
• hearing voices or other noises
• opening and closing of doors or windows
• seeing yourself lying in bed as if you yourself were floating somewhere above in the room

Being temporarily unable to move, unable to speak and feeling that a visible or invisible malignancy is present, during the moment of sleep paralysis, the fear and panic feeling becomes even greater which can also cause breathing problems. Hyperventilation, panting, gasping for breath or emitting strange sounds may then result....

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