Sleep Paralysis: What Is It & Can It Cause Death?

Linked to several sleep conditions, sleep paralysis is a liminal state between sleep and wakefulness in which a person is partly conscious but unable to move due to a loss of muscle control; occasions of sleep paralysis regularly involve hallucinations. This paralysis, though explained in various ways throughout history, is now frequently linked to REM sleep – a stage of sleep that inhibits the function of motor neurones producing REM sleep atonia.

Back in 2011, a review found that 7.6% of the world’s population will experience at least one episode in their lifetime. Although this is particularly frightening and unpleasant, it’s not harmful to your health.

It’s a commonly asked question with multiple theories. And although a range of causes leads to someone experiencing it, experts haven’t yet found a clearly defined source for the cause of sleep paralysis. However, several inducing factors are:

• Destructive sleeping patterns, such as suffering from sleep deprivation and not scheduling enough time for shut-eye.
• An irregular sleeping pattern, such as if work night shifts or suffer from narcolepsy.
• Poor mental health, such as stress, anxiety, depression and certain prescribed medications.
• According to the NHS, sleeping on your back can also be linked.
• If you are miserable, you may be one of the few genetically predisposed to experience paralysed sleep. Although, this is extremely rare and can be cured through therapy.

Overnight, our brain goes through several different sleep cycles, all crucial stages of sleep for the brain to rest, recover and prepare for the next day. One of these stages is REM sleep, otherwise known as Rapid Eye Movement sleep or deep sleep. During this phase, our brains send our bodies into complete paralysis to rest.

This is when things can go wrong. During this period of paralysis, you can wake up while still stuck in REM sleep. This means you can see your surroundings but not move a muscle. The person experiencing sleep paralysis may or may not hallucinate whilst ‘stuck’ in their bodies due to the terrifying nature of the experience.

Due to the disconnect between your brain and body, it’s common to experience unsettling and terrifying hallucinations while in paralysis. According to Very Well Health, common hallucinations include seeing a dark figure in the room or bright flashes. Others have reported seeing animals or colours, and some have even seen a version of themselves looking back at them. That’s why this condition is often called The Demon of the Bedroom.

Unfortunately, there’s no concrete way to escape this sleeping disorder, and you must try not to panic and trust that you will wake up. However, there are some things you can try to help bring yourself out of it quicker:

• Focus on moving one body part; experts recommend hands or feet. Try to make a fist to help bring blood flow back to your hands and give you something to concentrate on.
• Keep your breathing steady. When you sleep, your breathing is suppressed, so it may feel like you’re suffocating during sleep paralysis. Try not to hyperventilate and keep calm as you wake up.
• Make a plan for it. If you are a frequent sufferer, making a plan can help ground you – try counting or reciting something.
• Don’t panic. One of the worst parts is the panic and fear, which can worsen if you fight against your body. Try to keep calm as if you are in a dream and go back to sleep.

Unlike sleepwalking, the general advice is to help someone wake up if they have sleep paralysis. Technically, they are awake but need help connecting their brain and body. Sleep paralysis also feels like it’s going on for much longer than it is, so helping someone come out of it quicker will stop them from feeling as distressed. You can talk to or shake them slightly to help eliminate the paralysis.

Yes, unfortunately, sleep paralysis can be widespread in children. This is because they are processing a lot of information, and their brains are still developing. However, they may not be able to articulate what they are experiencing. Night terrors are also common for kids.

The best way to help your child suffering from either is to establish a healthy bedtime routine with as little stress before sleep as possible.

It was considered the work of demons – specifically incubi and succubi – which would sit upon the chests of sleepers and lead to sensations of suffocation. The Old English term for these demons is the mare from which nightmare is derived. Sufferers of this condition were often said to be ‘hag-ridden’, and it is this term for sleep paralysis that roots the state in folklore more than 4000 years old.

Medical science has not, of course, decided to declare the reality of demons. However, this population, among which otherwise healthy men with a median age of 33 were dying in unexpectedly high numbers from SUNDS, held a sincere belief in a nightmare spirit called the dab tsog. Combined with the stress the idea induced during instances of sleep paralysis, this superstition is believed to be a possible contributing factor in their death.

Potentially experienced by as much as 8% of the population, the first clinical description of sleep paralysis was published in 1664 by Isbrand Van Diemerbroeck. This Dutch physician described it as an Incubus or Nightmare. Still, despite more than three centuries of study, a definitive cause of sleep paralysis has yet to be found – through a study published in 2021 may have confirmed suspected links:

We identified a population of glycinergic neurons in the ventral medulla that plays an important role in inducing muscle atonia during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep […] Genetic silencing of this pathway resulted in REM sleep without atonia and a decrease of cataplexy when applied to narcoleptic mice.

While it will take a while before statements can be made conclusively, there is at least hope that the cause of such experiences may soon be identified, creating more targeted treatments a possibility.