Sleep Paralysis -- Unable to Move, Unable to Speak and All You Did Was Wake Up

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Sleep Paralysis -- Unable to Move, Unable to Speak and All You Did Was Wake Up

ST. PAUL, MN -- The alarm sounds and you lie helpless in bed, unable to move or even speak for several minutes; you have a condition known as sleep paralysis.

Two out of every one hundred people experience sleep paralysis at least once a month, according to a report in the April 12 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Sleep paralysis is characterized by the inability to move and speak for several minutes after awakening or just before falling asleep; the disorder can also be accompanied by hallucinations.

"The fear and fascination that many people feel while paralyzed after awakening is described in Melville's Moby Dick and other 19th and 20th century literature," said researcher Maurice Ohayon, MD, DSc, PhD, of New York University in New York, NY.

A passage from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and the Damned transports readers into the mind of a person waking up momentarily paralyzed. "-- I lay there, frozen with the most awful fears, not daring to drag away my hand; yet ever thinking that I could but stir it one single inch, the horrid spell would be broken."

In the study researchers surveyed approximately 8,100 German and Italian participants about their sleeping habits. Approximately 6 percent of the study group experienced sleep paralysis at least once in their lifetime.

The condition can be caused by sleep deprivation, anxiety reducing medications and mental or sleep disorders, according to researchers. Users of anxiety-reducing medications were five times more likely to report occurrences of sleep paralysis.

"People experiencing sleep paralysis on a regular basis should seek medical attention," said Ohayon. "In most cases sleep paralysis is relieved by treating factors which can cause the condition."

Researchers report that people with sleep paralysis often feel sleepy during the day and have difficulty falling asleep at night. Twelve percent of those with the disorder experience their first episode during childhood.

Overall the condition occurs most often upon awakening in the morning. And, nearly 30 percent of participants with severe sleep paralysis experience hallucinations during the episode.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 15,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research.

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Editor's Note: Neurology is now published 18 times per year, with two issues in January, March, April, July, September and October. This study is published in the April 12 issue.