what actually happens inside your body when your in a sleep paralysis
In: 6
Doctor here
Im not sure what you mean by inside the body, but sleep paralysis is just the way the brain stops us from acting out our dreams
When we enter REM sleep, the brain signals muscles in the body to relax and stay relaxed, to keep us from acting out our dreams. When we leave REM, the brain stops sending the signals to our muscles to stay relaxed.
People who wake up in a state of sleep paralysis just have some lag between when the brain leaves REM sleep, and when it tells the arms and legs they can move again
When we enter the “dream” phase during sleep, our body switches off the connection between brain signals and muscles in the spinal chord. During sleep paralysis the body fails to switch it back on quickly enough when we start regaining consciousness while waking up, so it feels like we’re paralyzed.
It’s a little like switching from speakers to headphones at night so you don’t annoy your roommates at 2am in the morning. Then you go to sleep and forget about it.
When you wake up the next morning and try to play a video it has no sound. Confused you try to change the volume … you panic and think your sound is broken.
Until you realize that you have to connect the speakers.
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