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Ever woke up in the middle of the night with a feeling of dread slowly encapsulating you, but you’re totally terrified, unable to move and not able to speak/shout.
This is what sleep paralysis is. You are getting sleep paralysed.
Sleep paralysis can often occur in one of the two transitions—when you’re falling asleep or waking up (the reasons for which are still pretty much unknown).
The body must go into REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, and must come out of it. Sleep paralysis happens when your body has trouble making this transition. If it happens when you’re falling asleep—it’s called ‘hypnagogic’ sleep paralysis. Whereas if it happens while waking up, it’s called as ‘hypnopompic’ sleep paralysis.
No matter how much you try, even if you consciously know that you’re undergoing a sleep paralysis—you can’t wake your body up. A very miniscule amount of people can slightly move their fingers, wiggle their toes or facial muscles, which eventually helps them wake up the rest of their body.
But, as been said, majority of people have to wait this out. The episode can last from somewhere between 20 seconds to a few minutes.
The experience is always highly individualistic and differs from person to person. That being said, young adults and people with a history of mental illness are more prone to it.