Sleep Paralysis - Ghost on Your Chest?

You're asleep and awake at the same time.

A bad dream? Not exactly.

It's definitely not a dream.

Why?

Because you're conscious.

You're fully aware of the terrifying situation.

And yet you are unable to move or speak.

It feels like something is pressing you down to the bed.

Frozen. Your body is paralyzed.

Sometimes you can see the light in your room.

Sometimes you can even hear your mom talking.

Sometimes you hear strange noises that's not even there.

Sometimes you see things.

Sometimes you even feel an unwanted presence around you.

It feels so real.

And you're feeling choked.

You're short of breath.

You're feeling like you're helplessly going deeper and deeper.

You try so hard to scream.

When you do, you feel like you already scream so loud.

But you know for sure that nothing comes out from your mouth.

Mortal fear.

Extreme panic.

It scares the hell out of you.

Ever experienced these things? Lucky if you haven't! And don't you ever want it. It's called Sleep Paralysis (SP). There are so many terms for this phenomenon. One of them, which is the most familiar to me, is "tindien" (Javanese) or "ketindihan"- where the locals believe that an evil spirit is actually "sitting" on you. There are stories about how some people had died from it.

Forget about being superstitious for a moment - there's actually an explanation from the modern science: When you sleep, your brain sends signals to inhibit any muscle contraction for the sake of having your body to fully rest. SP occurs when you come into consciousness before your brain sends signals to re-activate your muscle contraction - hence you cannot move. The noises or images you see or hear are merely hallucinations as a result of brain activity. In conclusion, sleep paralysis is when your REM sleep is simply malfunctioning.

Now explaining about the mysterious deaths: it is caused by the extreme muscle atonia during Sleep Paralysis, which is so severe that even the cardiac muscles and the diaphragm paralyze - leaving the victim with strong breathing difficulties and should straggle in agony.

I've had countless times of SP since I was in junior high school. I was constantly having the ordeal almost every night - making me used to it that sometimes I don't bother anymore. The scariest SP I have ever had is when I could hear a man's evil laugh on my left ear and a woman's on my right. They were laughing so loud - I could see the light in my room and there were dark shadows resembling faces. Faces that I was not familiar with - making the hair on my back stand up.

There was a time when my mom and dad went to see a priest. He said that there were evil spirits in my room and he already made them go away. Believe it or not, I stopped having SP for a few months. Coincidence? You decide.

Another time when I was sleeping in a hotel in Singapore with my sister. I had a sleep paralysis, woke up, changed sides with my sister. The next morning, my sister told me she had sleep paralysis right after switching sides with me. Another coincidence? I don't know.

I can't remember having sleep paralysis in Melbourne. After two years of not going back to Indonesia, I had my first SP a few nights ago and I hated it. I hate the heavy feeling and being scared to death. My question is : why SP now? Why Indonesia? Is it because the level of superstition in Indonesia is so tense? Or is there something to do with psychology? Can science really explain this?