Intro What if you woke up one morning unable to move with a demon-like creature sitting on your chest restricting your breathing

Hallucinations and Sleep Paralysis.
This Middle Ground between the dreaming and wakeful state is the perfect setting for hallucinations hypnogogic hallucinations occur as you're falling asleep while hypnopompic hallucinations occur when waking up they can be visual auditory or even tactile meaning you can feel something that isn't really there you don't need to have a sleep disorder to have these types of hallucinations so for me personally I have had many auditory hypnogogic hallucinations in my life so I will hear like a really loud sound every once in a while as I'm drifting off to sleep which always just scares me to no end like I will jump out of bed ready to fight as though like I'm some action hero only to find that the room is empty and I look paranoid being stressed overly tired or taking certain medications have all been associated with hallucinations while they're usually harmless they can be extremely disturbing when part of a Sleep Disorder with sleep paralysis hypnopompic hallucinations are the most common meaning the hallucination occur most often when waking up and
The Cultural Associations of Sleep Paralysis
Interestingly there's a strong Cultural Association with the specific hallucination itself.
In the United States you'll typically hear about a demon-like creature sitting on the chest of someone having a sleep paralysis episode but in several Eastern and South Asian countries the experience is described as being tied up or Bound by a ghost or supernatural being.
In New Finland it's commonly described as Old Hag Syndrome which is where an old bag leaves her body at night and sits on the chest of her victims which to me out of context seems oddly specific but regardless of the cultural interpretation the common denominator cross-culturally is chest pressure which makes perfect sense given the respiratory changes that occur during REM sleep breathing just like brain activity becomes more erratic during REM sleep the number of breaths per minute can increase during REM when compared to non-rem sleep but the volume of air going into the lungs can decrease during REM when compared to non-rem sleep the muscle lonia can also affect the muscles of the throat or fings which is what you see here and this can lead to a partial obstruction of the airway if you just kind of relax it right now you can feel these muscles in here during a relaxed State somewhat collapse when you combine these physiological events with dreamlike hallucination it's not that surprising that individuals describe a supernatural being attempting to press their chest into the floor
The Silver Lining though if there is one is that sleep paralysis events are typically short-lived with most just being a few seconds maybe a couple minutes but there have been many reports over the years of episodes lasting 20 minutes or longer which would be utterly horrifying but at the same time even if it's just a few seconds that would be a terrifying few seconds it's important to understand that sleep paralysis is considered a sleeping disorder meaning that if this happens to you it's best to seek out medical help to try and determine what influenced it sleep paralysis is more common in those with pre-existing psychiatric disorders Sleep disorders such as narcolepsy but they also have a higher incidence rate with college students and females now treatment usually isn't too complex it involves making changes to Lifestyle sleeping habits bre management but treatment can vary depending on the individual and may have a varying degree of success while I've never personally experienced sleep paralysis it has fascinated me since high school I've known many people over the years who've had at least one episode and there's just something uniquely terrifying about a supernatural creature just like showing up seemingly out of nowhere sitting on your chest looking you in the eyes and crushing your chest as you watch helplessly the human mind is fascinating thanks for watching everybody as always I appreciate you hanging out with me I'll see you in the next time.