Sleep paralysis is a temporary inability to move or speak that occurs when you're waking up or falling asleep. It's not harmful and should pass in a few seconds or minuets, but cab be very frightening. some have claimed to have sensation that there's someone or something in the room with them (hallucination) some have also said that these hallucinations have a desire to hurt or harm them, some have also said that they hear voices (schizophrenia). only 608,000,000 people (April 2019) have experienced this, this may seem a lot but it's only 8% of the worlds population.
There is no evidence that it can kill you and is not dangerous. "It does not cause physical harm to the body and there are no clinical deaths know to date."
People have described it as many things, some of them are: *"Kind of like you woke up dead." *"More complicated than a nightmare." *"You can't just wake up, you're helpless" *"It feels like someone or something is sitting on your chest"
Demon in the bedroom
The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli (1781) is thought to be a depiction of sleep paralysis perceived as a demonic visitation. Sleep paralysis is thought to be the work of demons, and more specifically incubi, which were thought to sit on the chests of sleepers.
Incubus:
An Incubus is a male demon form who, according to mythological and legendary traditions, lies upon sleeping women and or men in order to engage in sexual activity with them. According to the English dictionary, *"an imaginary demon or evil spirit supposed to descend upon sleeping persons, especially one fabled to have sexual intercourse with women during their sleep." *"A nightmare" *"Something that weighs upon or oppresses one like a nightmare"
The word 'incubus' comes from late Latin meaning "A nightmare induced by such a demon".
