Demons in your room

[Hi, it's Jere here again and since my sister won't be blogging for a while (SPM and all) I thought I'd just let you know about some research I dug up some time ago, trying to figure out what occurred to me one fateful night.]

Has this ever happened to you?


Two weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with my back glued to the mattress, wondering what time it was. But it was only when I tried to roll over so I could check check my watch that I realized that I couldn't. I couldn't move, I couldn’t even open my eyes. I was a frozen, skinny, hunk of flesh. But I knew I was awake because, well, I could think. And not potatoes coming alive and eating you kind of thinking. Proper thinking. 

And it gets freakier. I could feel someone pressing against my chest and constricting my breathing. My eyelids felt like stone so cracking them open was a lot like opening that jar you left at the back of the fridge for months. But when I finally succeeded in prying my eyelids apart, what I saw (HOLY CRAPP) made me freak out - On my chest was this human form in a hoodie trying to strangle me. 


I could feel its icy cold hand wrapped around my neck and starting to tighten in grip. My eyes flew shut and I said a short prayer hoping that the evil entity - Or whatever it was - would go away (Right, because that works all the time in movies). The rest was a blur, I don't know, maybe I was in shock. But the next thing I knew, it was morning, sunlight streaming in and not a freaky hooded perv in sight.

When we were younger, adults used to tell my sister and me that there was some sort of otherworldly explanation: Demons, ghosts, possession, the works right? So after that  night, I did what any self-respecting adolescent of the 21st century would do. I Googled it. 

A Sleep Paralysis is possibly a hereditary disorder in which one experiences very frightening seconds or minutes of [Blah blah blah] total body paralysis with little respiration and eye movements (1). A victim in this state feels [Hurm hurm hurm] awake, but he cannot move or speak (2). In addition to the immobility, the common symptoms include feeling choked or suffocated, hearing strange noises like footsteps and voices, seeing beings or dark shadows, and feeling an existance of someone in the room (1). Although these symptoms often direct the victims to believe in ghosts, mistransmission of neural signals in the brain causes Sleep Paralysis. When a person sleeps, his brain sends signals to inhibit any muscle contraction (3). If he comes into consciousness before the brain sends signals to activate muscle contraction, he cannot move his body, and consequently, become "paralyzed"(2).

-Hiro Takahashi 

See? Nothing but Old Hag Syndrome.

Turns out all I was experiencing was Hypnapompic (As you are waking up) Sleep Paralysis. Huh. Guess I'm not so special any more.

So give it to me short and sweet. What is sleep paralysis?

Basically, sleep paralysis is when you find yourself unable to make voluntary movements except your eyes either when you’re falling asleep (Hypnagogic), or waking up from it (Hypnapompic) for a period of time. Sometimes, hallucinations are also associated. Like Hooded Perv over there.

Here’s the real kicker though: We all experience sleep paralysis - also known as "nonreciprocal flaccid paralysis" (Is it just me or does that sound like a really really big turn off? Really? Just me?). During REM sleep, our brain sends signals to prohibit any muscle contractions. It's what keeps us from acting out our dreams so you don't see people on the news walking into rooms and chopping people up. At least not on a constant basis. 

And it's caused by....?

According to Wikipedia (Because everyone knows that Wikipedia never lies), the most plausible causes of Sleep Paralysis or Old Hag Syndrome are

• Sleeping in a face upwards position [Check]
• Increased stress [Check]
• Sudden environmental/lifestyle changes [Check]
• A luccid dream that immediately precedes the episode [Check]
• Excessive consumption of alcohol coupled with inadequate sleep [No wait what? Me? Pftt...]

Doing The Edward.
Bet you wouldn't mind this in your room

Hold on, Lucid Dreaming? What's that?

Again, I'm glad you asked. Lucid dreaming is when you’re aware that its just a dream...when you’re dreaming. A lot like Inception. 




So how do you incur lucid dreaming more often? One of the techniques that works for me is to check your watch or clock as often as possible during the day until it becomes practically habitual. That way, when you're dreaming you’ll know it isn’t real because you'll notice that the hands on every clock or watch look blurry (Which they usually do in dreams, as do faces). 


Also you could try waking up 5 hours after you sleep then stay awake for about 15 minutes before going back to sleep. This will trigger Rapid Eye Movement sleep (Or REM). Then you’ll start dreaming xD

Out of body experience anyone?

But it's not just about getting the shite scared out of you. As it turns out, there might be an added advantage to Sleep Paralysis. Studies show that people who suffer from conscious sleep paralysis have an advantage if they want to have out of body experiences. 


You know those shows where Girl In Coma inadvertently oversees Boyfriend Of Girl In Coma express his undying love/ cheating the pants off her with the nurse?


Well it's something like that.

There's still a crapload, however, that science can't explain about the mechanisms of our brain. And even though the current hypothesis appears to reject the possibility of ghosts on this matter, we can't completely rule out the possibility of ghosts or demons affecting one's behavior. 


However, it's safe to say that like many unnatural occurrences (E.g. love) you can pin the blame on your brain for this.

So now I'd like to know, how many people out there have experienced SP before? Anyone?