What is Sleep Paralysis?

The human brain is a strange thing. One of its most strange capabilities is that it blocks sensory information while we sleep. The reason for this, evolutionary speaking, is to ensure the safety of the sleepers and make sure that they don’t wake up every five minutes during the night, startled by sounds or what not. But this can misfire at times meaning that, for a short amount of time during sleep, the brain stops receiving sensory input from the body. Sounds can get blocked out and so can sights. All you are basically conscious of is your own breathing and heartbeat. This period of sensory deprivation is known as sleep paralysis.

During a sleep paralysis episode, people can hallucinate. This can include seeing a menacing figure sitting on their chest or they may even feel that some sort of force is holding them down. The hallucinations can also be auditory, with people hearing disturbing voices or sounds. Some visits seem to last longer than others, and the paralysis itself can range from barely perceptible to quite intense. The intensity of the paralysis pretty much depends on how frightened the person is. If they are not scared, then the sleep paralysis will be very mild with only slight twitching and muscle contractions being experienced. And of course, the more scared a person is, the worse the experience will be.

Sleep paralysis can be quite a scary experience for people and although many have no real problem with it, some develop intense anxiety and paranoia. This is because during sleep paralysis episodes, people believe that they are either awake or dreaming when they are actually still in bed asleep.

How common is Sleep Paralysis?

“In a study done in the 90s, it was found that close to 5% of the population has experienced sleep paralysis at some point in their lives. Only 1 out of every 100 people have it constantly throughout their life.”

The study used sleep paralysis as a diagnostic tool for diagnosing what they called “psychiatric disorder”. The psychiatric disorders that this study’s hypothesis predicted were depression, anxiety and somatic complaints. The two most common of these that the symptoms of these disorders share are sleep paralysis and nightmares. Also, another study done in the 80s showed that 50% of people who experience sleep paralysis do so more than once a month. This statistic alone shows how common sleep paralysis is, or at least it did until today.

Can a Succubus Or Spirit Cause Sleep Paralysis?

“Although there is no way to know for certain, there are two main theories regarding how the paranormal can cause sleep paralysis. The first is that all sleep paralysis episodes are caused by a ghost. A ghost can be a real person or it can be a very powerful supernatural being that wants to scare the person into believing in it’s existence.

The second theory is that sleep paralysis may be caused by an evil entity called a succubus. This entity is a powerful demon that has a specific mission to seduce people into imagining things that are not real. The purpose of this hallucination is to drive the person insane. This succubus would also have the ability to make any dreams that they want appear.

In conclusion, no one knows for sure why sleep paralysis happens and what causes it. Some believe that sleep paralysis causes life long problems with hallucinations and other disorders and others believe that it is only a one time thing. Some believe that there is a ghost or other evil entity that is responsible for causing sleep paralysis and some believe that it is caused by hallucinations. It remains to be seen what the truth behind sleep paralysis really is, but we might never really know.