Author: Siwi Setya Utami
Sleep Paralysis:
Mystical or Medical Phenomenon?
Do you believe
in ghost? What happen when they disturb your sleep? Sleep paralysis is one of
sleep disorder. It is a condition when a person is awaken from sleep but cannot
move nor speak, and commonly experiences a sense of threatening presence. Sleep
paralysis suddenly comes to a person’s sleep and gives a bunch of feelings such
as scariness, anxiety and panic. The sufferer also experiences a pressure on
the body or chest, rapid heart rate, and occasionally shortness of breath. It seems
like the ghost does it by sitting or choking the sufferer, covering the mouth,
and tying the body with the rope. Although people believe that sleep paralysis
occurs because of the ghost, actually it has medical reasons such as irregular
sleep cycle, sleeping in supine position, and the brain activity.
During sleep,
paralysis occurs because of the irregular sleep cycle. Normally, people follow
the sleep cycle properly. Sleep cycle consists of five stages. Stage one is in
charge of light sleep. Stage two, three, and four are in charge of deeper
sleep. Last, stage REM is in charge of deepest sleep. After following those
stages, people go back to stage one to wake up. But in the sufferer’s
condition, transition from stage REM to the stage one is not fully completed.
So he or she is a half in stage REM and a half in stage 1 that means a half in
the deepest sleep and a half in the light sleep. The state in the deepest sleep
means the body is not awakened yet so that is why the sufferer cannot move nor
speak. Otherwise, in the light sleep, the brain is already awakened so that is
why the sufferer can see or think.
Sleeping in
supine position may cause rapid heart rate during sleep paralysis. During stage
REM, sleeping in supine position causes the atonic muscle of tongue and
esophagus collapse the airway. It causes difficulty of breathing and creates sensation
of pressure or feeling of being choked. They lead to panic and desperate
attempts to regain the control so that the heart rate becomes rapid.
There are two-brain
systems contribute to sense of fear of the ghost. The most prominent one is
amygdala, the body’s fear center that watch one’s surrounding for threats and
response to perceived dangers. “As Cheyne sees it, REM-based activation of this
system triggers a sense of an ominous entity lurking nearby,” (Bower, 2005).
Another area of the brains attributes the experience to various things and flashes
out the evil presence, depends on one’s culture and belief. For example, most
of Indonesian attribute to genie that oppresses the body. So it is just a
hallucination that comes from brain activity.
In conclusion,
irregular cycle, sleeping in supine position, and brain activity underlie the
phenomenon of sleep paralysis, not the ghost. Those statements above clearly
stated why sleep paralysis seems like the ghost who does it all. So, do not be
scared to sleep paralysis because it is a sleep disorder that the ghost has
nothing to do with.
Works Cited
Adler, S. R. (2011). Sleep
paralysis: Night-mares, nocebos, and the mind-body connection. United
States: Rutgers University Press.
Bower, B. (2005).
Night of the crusher. Science News, 168(2), 27-29.
Vargas, V. (2010). Sleep
Paralysis: Witnessing the transformations of the psyche. (Dissertation).
Pacifica Graduate Institute.
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