Have you ever snapped awake in the middle of the night, your brain totally alert, but your body just won’t budge? You try to yell or shift, but nothing happens. It’s like you’re trapped in your own skin.
If that’s rung a bell, you’ve probably dealt with sleep paralysis—and trust me, it’s way more common than you’d think. A lot of folks go through it but keep quiet because it feels so bizarre and scary.
It Hits About 30% of Us at Some Point
Sleep paralysis isn’t some rare mystery illness; it’s something tons of people encounter, even if they don’t realize what it is. Basically, it kicks in right as you’re drifting off or coming to, where you’re wide awake in your head but can’t move a muscle or make a sound.
On top of that, you might see weird hallucinations or feel like you’re floating out of your body, which amps up the terror factor big time.
The folks at the Cleveland Clinic explain it as your body getting stuck between sleep and being awake. These episodes are short—maybe a few seconds to a couple minutes—and they’re lumped in with other sleep oddities called parasomnias. Scary as it is, it’s not harmful at all.
Studies say around 30% of people will have at least one run-in with it over their lifetime.
It can strike when you’re nodding off or stirring awake. You might feel frozen, unable to talk, with this heavy weight on your chest, or like you’re detached from yourself. Hallucinations can pop up too, along with sheer panic. Some last just seconds; others drag on for up to 20 minutes.
What’s Behind It?
In that deep REM sleep where dreams happen, your brain basically paralyzes your muscles so you don’t thrash around acting them out. Sleep paralysis is when your mind wakes up first, leaving you aware but stuck in that frozen state.
