Sleep Paralysis
A while ago I used to get sleep paralysis. It used to happen to me a lot. Just last night I looked it up on the internet for the first time. Before last night I didn't even know what it was called, or if it happened to other people much. And now I know what causes it (I had guessed what caused it pretty accurately). Luckily it hasn't happened to me in quite some time. It's really terrifying. And it would last for a really long time. Some websites I looked at say that it normally only lasts for a few minutes. For me it literally felt like hours. I'm sure it felt longer than it actually was, but it had to have been at least been a half an hour. I'm lucky though, because some people get it with their eyes closed, and with Hag's syndrome they feel like someone is sitting on their chest. They think they will die because their chest will get crushed. I had a version of Hag's syndrome, but it wasn't like someone was on my chest. And i always got it with my eyes open. But i couldn't move my eye balls, or control my blinking or breathing. I would want to scream so bad, but I couldn't make a sound.
"People frequently report feeling a "presence" that is often described as malevolent, threatening, or evil. An intense sense of dread and terror is very common. The presence is likely to be vaguely felt or sensed just out of sight but thought to be watching or monitoring, often with intense interest, sometimes standing by, or sitting on, the bed." That has to do with Hag's syndrome. I knew it was irrational, but that's what I felt. Especially since I couldn't move my eye balls, I couldn't look over to see if someone was there or not. I was so shocked to find that this is a part of it, that other people get it. I thought I was just crazy. I got a little teary eyed when I read this. Makes me feel like I'm not so alone.
"REM sleep begins with signals from an area at the base of the brain called the pons. These signals travel to a brain region called the thalamus, which relays them to the cerebral cortex - the outer layer of the brain that is responsible for learning, thinking, and organizing information. The pons also sends signals that shut off neurons in the spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis of the limb muscles. If something interferes with this paralysis, people will begin to physically "act out" their dreams - a rare, dangerous problem called REM sleep behavior disorder. A person dreaming about a ball game, for example, may run headlong into furniture or blindly strike someone sleeping nearby while trying to catch a ball in the dream." So sleep paralysis is when this paralysis is happening when it shouldn't be happening. Sleepwalking (or talking, or twitching) is when it's not happening when it should be happening.
http://skepdic.com/sleepparalysis.html
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html
"People frequently report feeling a "presence" that is often described as malevolent, threatening, or evil. An intense sense of dread and terror is very common. The presence is likely to be vaguely felt or sensed just out of sight but thought to be watching or monitoring, often with intense interest, sometimes standing by, or sitting on, the bed." That has to do with Hag's syndrome. I knew it was irrational, but that's what I felt. Especially since I couldn't move my eye balls, I couldn't look over to see if someone was there or not. I was so shocked to find that this is a part of it, that other people get it. I thought I was just crazy. I got a little teary eyed when I read this. Makes me feel like I'm not so alone.
"REM sleep begins with signals from an area at the base of the brain called the pons. These signals travel to a brain region called the thalamus, which relays them to the cerebral cortex - the outer layer of the brain that is responsible for learning, thinking, and organizing information. The pons also sends signals that shut off neurons in the spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis of the limb muscles. If something interferes with this paralysis, people will begin to physically "act out" their dreams - a rare, dangerous problem called REM sleep behavior disorder. A person dreaming about a ball game, for example, may run headlong into furniture or blindly strike someone sleeping nearby while trying to catch a ball in the dream." So sleep paralysis is when this paralysis is happening when it shouldn't be happening. Sleepwalking (or talking, or twitching) is when it's not happening when it should be happening.
http://skepdic.com/sleepparalysis.html
http://www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html