Sleep is really weird when you think about it. You kind of shut down, but not really. Your brain is actually really active despite your body looking like it is out for the count. Your memories change after sleep, and to top things off you hallucinate vividly (dream) throughout the night. Where there is weird stuff there is good and interesting science to be done! That is why I find it really interesting 🙂
Hi Chicken McFlurry (cool name). I did actually write a response to your question earlier but it might have not made it past the moderators because it also contained a link to a creepy picture. I will answer again minus the creepy picture! Sleep paralysis is indeed very interesting. When we sleep our brains go through different sleep stages, like a car changing gears. This process is not always smooth and sometimes the brain can get temporarily ‘stuck’ between gears. Sleep paralysis occurs when Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, the stage most associated with dreaming, gets mingled with wakefulness. In REM sleep your bodies’ muscle tone is at it’s floppiest. If we wake up while still partially in REM sleep it can feel quite uncomfortable as your body is still floppy, but it passes quickly. The reason I included a creepy picture last time is because a lot of cultures across the world describe very similar sensations related to sleep paralysis and I showed you one of the paintings used to show this!
Thank you! Sleep paralysis sounds quite painful and not very common. But why does the paralysis have to be creepy? I heard they’re like a realistic sleep that’s hard to wake up from ..
I think the sensation is sometimes really confusing, and may account for people thinking they have been abducted by aliens and other weird things. A common ghost story across cultures is that an old woman or demon will come into your room at night and sit on your chest, so that is definitely creepy!
Comments
anon-188268 commented on :
Do you study sleep paralysis that’s an interesting subject on sleep for me. If so do you agree that it’s interesting and why?
Alex commented on :
Hi Chicken McFlurry (cool name). I did actually write a response to your question earlier but it might have not made it past the moderators because it also contained a link to a creepy picture. I will answer again minus the creepy picture! Sleep paralysis is indeed very interesting. When we sleep our brains go through different sleep stages, like a car changing gears. This process is not always smooth and sometimes the brain can get temporarily ‘stuck’ between gears. Sleep paralysis occurs when Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, the stage most associated with dreaming, gets mingled with wakefulness. In REM sleep your bodies’ muscle tone is at it’s floppiest. If we wake up while still partially in REM sleep it can feel quite uncomfortable as your body is still floppy, but it passes quickly. The reason I included a creepy picture last time is because a lot of cultures across the world describe very similar sensations related to sleep paralysis and I showed you one of the paintings used to show this!
anon-188268 commented on :
Thank you! Sleep paralysis sounds quite painful and not very common. But why does the paralysis have to be creepy? I heard they’re like a realistic sleep that’s hard to wake up from ..
Alex commented on :
I think the sensation is sometimes really confusing, and may account for people thinking they have been abducted by aliens and other weird things. A common ghost story across cultures is that an old woman or demon will come into your room at night and sit on your chest, so that is definitely creepy!