Sleep Paralysis
The truth about night monsters
There’s so much I want to say but I can’t say em just yet because this article should be at least three minutes long — I mean you came all this way.
What I am writing about here is something many have experienced and up until a couple of years ago, I thought that it was one of the worst things that could happen to a person. Don’t judge me; I’m Nigerian and there is usually a superstitious explanation for everything. Although in this case, I realized that the scary meanings attributed to sleep paralysis didn’t exist only in my motherland, but also in a lot of other places in the world.
From incubuses to ghosts, to la chupacabra, stories had been told and are still being told of the evil spirits that ‘pressed’ down on humans as they slept; making it impossible for them to move from their beds in the middle of the night — chills have been sent down thousands of spines and holy water bottles have been emptied over thousands of beds (94% of those holy water bottles were opened in Nigeria — but I digress). However, this evil has not backed down.
Okay, I’ve stalled enough and I’d like to get to the matter now. But it’s pretty scary ain’t it? You wake up in the middle of your sleep and you are totally unable to move — then there all these sounds and ideas in your head that something terrible is about to happen… It’s convenient to believe that there are evil forces at play and the experience may even turn an atheist into a seeker but what if I told you that there was really nothing to be “spooked” about? I want us all to sleep peacefully and save on holy water so let’s do this.
WHAT IS SLEEP PARALYSIS?
According to some guy/gal at Wikipedia, Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which a person is aware but unable to move or speak.[1][2] During an episode, one may hallucinate (hear, feel, or see things that are not there), which often results in fear.[1] Episodes generally last less than a couple of minutes.[2] It may occur as a single episode or be recurrent.[1]
WHAT CAUSES IT?
If you follow that guy/gal at Wikipedia, there is talk about necrolepsy (or something that sounds similar) but basically here is the deal. There are these chemicals that are produced by the body and these chemicals have the duty of paralyzing us so we don’t act out our dreams — pretty cool huh. But in some cases (such as extreme tiredness or that necrolepsy thing), our body wakes up while the chemical is still doing its thing — yikes! This results in our inability to move despite being awake and of course, making it really hard to reach for that holy water — oh wait! you already used your last batch… Yikes!)
In such a state, a person who is unaware of what’s happening may become — who am I kidding? Will become so scared that they could even manufacture hallucinations as to what is causing their state. People have reported seeing all sorts of spiritual beings trying to harm them during sleep paralysis but as we can see now, it is purely induced by fear.
HOW TO HANDLE SLEEP PARALYSIS
Ever since I found out the actual cause of sleep paralysis, it is not that it stopped happening, but all the fear associated with it went away. If I wake up and find myself unable to move, I don’t struggle with my body, I relax all my muscles and let myself go back to the crazy dream I must have been having to be paralyzed in the first place. There are times old habits want to slip back up and I find myself thinking scary thoughts, but I immediately remind myself that there is nothing to be scared of and I will say that not one demon has 'pressed' me since.
IN CONCLUSION
Sadly, many people think their fear is real and as such choose to cling to the idea of sleep paralysis being a “spiritual” attack. Even when the science is presented to them, I still hear “that makes sense but the devil still uses it as an opportunity”. What can I say? I hate those guys!
Truth is liberating and many of the events we attribute to negative paranormalism(is there such a word?) will lose their ability to scare us once we stop being afraid; and most times, it is ‘truth’ that can take away that fear.
The Truth will set you free
Truth is liberating and I hope that after reading this, there is one less thing to fear.
Sleep paralysis is a bodily response and relaxing through it is the way out. There are no ghosts unless the ones we imagine for ourselves. Let me know your experiences with this.
NB: The actual term is Narcolepsy:- It means a brain disorder that involves a decreased ability to regulate sleep-wake cycles.
