Overview of Sleep Paralysis: A Personal Experience

I awakened one morning nearly ten years ago completely unable to move a single muscle in my body. A complete and utter feeling of panic seized my mind as I felt something or rather someone coming for me. Their footsteps were closing in with every beat of my heart. My mouth parted to scream but nothing came out. Oh, the feeling of not being able to simply turnover and hide beneath the covers nearly drove me insane. Suddenly time had run out for It was there with me in the room. I couldn't see It. I could no longer even hear It, but I knew It was there. My goal was to not move. I would not even dare breathe in a single breath. It was waiting for me nonetheless and as if sensing what my plan, the being pounced on me and my body was wracked with quaking tremors from head to toe while the air was stolen from my lungs.

I seemed to black out temporarily for this time when my eyes focused again, I was able to wiggle my toes, move my feet, shift my arms and yes, finally speak a single word. The instant I realized I was free of the dream, I sat straight up in my bed to survey my surroundings. I was reassured by the ticking of the clock on the wall and the chirping of mocking birds outside of my window that everything was okay.

This might sound like a simple bad dream, but what I later learned after experiencing at least twenty dreams that were similiar in nature was that I was a victim of sleep paralysis.

Defined as a condition characterized by temporary paralysis of the body shortly after waking up (known as hypnopompic paralysis) or, less often, shortly before falling asleep (known as hypnagogic paralysis), sleep paralysis affects approximately 30% of the general population and may be associated with narcolepsy. The mind is a magnificent organ that normally paralyzes the body during sleep to prevent us from acting out in response to our dreams. Some of us have the misfortune of awakening in the midst of this paralysis. As a result, we cannot move a single muscle in our body. We cannot even scream out. The only thing our body continues to do for us is to breathe.