How does sleep paralysis work?

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It’s such an odd thing to happen and it absolutely baffles me. I use to get it bad when I was younger, but not much anymore. What “conditions” need to be met for it to happen, and why do certain sleeping positions control whether we have it or not? (Most people who get SP claim to have slept on their back)

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2 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s just the body doing its thing while trying to sleep.

We dream while in REM sleep, so a part of us falling asleep is the body being chemically disabled while we sleep, for the most part. So we don’t go flailing about and shit.

Sleep paralysis is just the mind being aware of that ‘disabled’ state before going completely to sleep, or waking up quick enough to sense the body’s disabled state.

Anonymous 0 Comments

When asleep, your brain releases serotonin to help bring your body to atonement, or otherwise be paralyzed while you sleep so you’re not physically acting out your dreams. People who have an imbalance in serotonin during sleep will have conditions like, talking in their sleep, sleepwalking and sleep paralysis.