Sleep paralysis is terrifying. Interestingly the brain waves during sleep paralysis show that it is a state between sleep and wakefulness. Learn more in this video.

Sleep paralysis refers to an inability to move while waking up. Conscious experience of this paralysis is often associated with frightning hallucionations. Up to 50 percent of people will experience sleep paralysis at least once in their life. However, only in about 5 percent of people is sleep paralysis a regular event.

In this episode the different types of sleep paralysis phenomena and experiences are explained and whether they are best described as a dream or hallucination. Different types of sleep paralysis include the intruder hallucination, incubus hallucination and vestibular-motor hallucination.

This will be followed up by describing a number of research studies that have investigated sleep paralysis. First, scientific evidence for muscle atonia will be discussed. Then, two electroencephalography, or EEG, studies will be described that investigated brain waves during sleep paralysis. Finally, imaging studies will be discussed that identify different brain regions.

At the end, factors that may aggrivate (or not) sleep paralysis will be mentioned.

In the next episode we will discuss another type of conscious dream: false awakening loops.

Time stamps:
0:00 Sleep paralysis intruder hallucination story
0:37 What is sleep paralysis?
3:22 Sleep paralysis types
8:39 Is sleep paralysis related to lucid dreaming?
9:34 Neuroscience research of sleep paralysis
17:01 What causes sleep paralysis?

References/Resources
Denis D. (2018). Relationships between sleep paralysis and sleep quality: current insights. Nature and science of sleep, 10, 355–367. https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S158600

Denis, D., French, C.C., Gregory, A.M. (2018). A systematic review of variables associated with sleep paralysis. Sleep Med Rev 38, 141-157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2017.05.005

Mainieri, G., Maranci, J-B., Champetier, J., et al. (2021). Are sleep paralysis and false awakenings different from REM sleep and from lucid REM sleep? A spectral EEG analysis. J Clin Sleep Med 17(4), 719-727. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.9056.

Takeuchi, T., Miyasita, A., Sasaki, Y., Inugami, M., Fukuda, K. (1992). Isolated sleep paralysis elicited by sleep interruption. Sleep 15(3), 217-225. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/15.3.217.

Valencia Garcia, S., Brischoux, F., Clément, O. (2018). Ventromedial medulla inhibitory neuron inactivation induces REM sleep without atonia and REM sleep behavior disorder. Nat Commun 9(1), 504. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-02761-0

Narrated by: Miles Wischnewski

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