It's the middle of the night and you're sleeping.
Suddenly, you wake up, but you can't move. Your eyelids don't open, and you can't move your arms and legs. You can't even move your fingers.
Breathe hard and feel a heavy weight on your chest.
This horror lasts for minutes, but it seems like hours pass by.
It may seem like a scene from a horror book, but it is actually an episode that can happen to many people in real life.
It's time to learn more about this phenomenon.
These symptoms stem from a strange phenomenon called "sleep paralysis".
While various social and psychological factors can affect sleep quality, a 2011 article combined 35 studies with a total of 36,000 participants where the authors found that 7.6% of the general population experience sleep paralysis, rising to 28.3% in groups at higher risk, such as students who have a disordered sleep pattern and 31.9%. of people with mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression, experience such episodes.
Daniel Denis, PhD candidate in the field of cognitive neuroscience and researcher of Sleep Paralysis, explains the whole situation in its entirety: “When you are experiencing sleep paralysis, you yourself are conscious. The idea is that your mind is awake, but your body is not responding. But if the brain is smart, why can't the body move?
It's all about the three or four stages of sleep. It is possible to dream in all stages of sleep, but dreams experienced in the REM stage seem to be more vivid and real. The brain is extremely active during REM sleep but the body is not. Although researchers are not sure why, many believe that the body does not operate outside of the dream. This is called REM atonia. REM atonia continues even after awakening.
This experience lasts a few seconds to a minute, however, in rare cases, some people need 10 to 15 minutes to regain movement. There are different types of sleep paralysis, but it is worth noting that it is not a health problem, but a very active brain game.