I believe the story of a Black Hag who sat on the chests of her victims as they lay in beds used to be widespread across northern Europe.
This experience is commonly explained by sleep paralysis, which occurs when the brain is in the transition state between deep, dreaming sleep and waking up. My suggestion is that this is an evolutionary safety measure whereby our brain temporarily stops our muscles responding so that we don’t cause ourselves self-harm by acting out our dreams. Presumably in cases of sleep paralysis the muscle switch isn’t turned back on again quickly enough and the sleeper wakes up temporarily paralysed. Perhaps sleep walkers have the opposite problem because their muscle paralysis switch isn’t turned on again properly?
I have a friend who is bipolar, with paranoia and psychoses, but unmedicated. He frequently mentions sleep paralysis. His wife confirms this to be true and says on occasion she needs to slap his face to “get him back”. It sounds very frightening.
I’m not sure of the origin, but since the hypothalamus is the sleep center, could it be a mal-function (or protection response) of the organic mind vs. an emotional occurence?
SteveH, I am a sleep walker. I have no recollection of my walks, nor do I dream during my outings. My somnambulation always occurs while I’m deeply asleep, usually 2-3 hours before I waken. It only manifests when I’m extremely anxious or worried. I only know its happened if someone tells me or if I am woken by some outside stimulus while up. (Like grasping a cold door knob to outside. Yes, I did. )
I’ve experienced sleep paralysis both as I’m falling asleep, and as I awake. It is always associated with a nightmare. My waking state of mind has no obvious relationship with the nightmare or paralysis.
So, I doubt the two sleep phenomenons are related.
I, too, have sleep paralysis. If you visit this link http:www.stanford.edu/~dement/paralysis.html there is a page from Stanford U. that gives an indepth look at this problem. It is written for lay people, and even includes a anonymous survey that will help you understand your individual experience much better. Great page. You can simply type in sleep paralysis in your search engine and come up with a lot of pages. One thing Stanford does say is that this phenomenon is completely normal. Some have it a lot, others not so much, but it is very common.
Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards, SteveH, we’re glad to have you with us.
When you start a thread, it’s helpful to others to provide a link to the column you’re discussing. Yes, it’s on the front page now, but in a few days it will be deep in the abyss of Archives. So, providing the link saves searching time, and also helps keep us on the same page. No biggie, I’ve provided the link in your first post, and you’ll know for next time. As I say, welcome!
PS - Thanks, Khadaji for the later link, before I got here.
Always occurs when I go to sleep. At first it was scary, as if I was being held down. I am fully awake, but can’t move at all. I usually can’t see or see much (dark room and I sleep under the covers). Once I learned what it was it wasn’t so bad, but it seems to last a long time and sometimes after awhile it feels like someone is grabing me or diging into my skin. At that point I try to fight but nothing happens until finally I regain control. It comes and goes, can have three epsiodes in a week then nothing for weeks at a time.
I was going to recommend Dement as well. Cecil was rash in suggesting narcolepsy and epilepsy. Much of the ignorance of sleep disorders is correctly put to rest by Dement and his research and it’s a good thing that the good doctor has put it in terms everyone can understand and that can help those who suffer from them.
Cecil says Ritalin is a non-amphetamine. Really? I thought it was one.
Note to the editors: Can the dates to the additions to the column’s be added? I assume they are in the same year, but not sure if some are responses to internet traffic. For instance, is this drug in testing being tested now or back then. See what I mean.
Ritalin (methylphenidate) and amphetamine (methylphenethylamine)
are distinct, though chemicaly related.
The easiest way to find out if the online classic column has been updated since it appeared in book form is to read the book. Lucky for you, More of the Straight Dope (published in 1988) is back in print and can be purchased from The Straight Dope Store (otherwise known as Cecil’s House o’ Values) or from fine booksellers everywhere. The online version of this particular column looks the same as the book version to me, though I didn’t do a complete word-by-word comparison. That’s not always the case; sometimes the online version is updated, usually without any indication of when the updating was done.
The active agent in Ritalin is dextro-methylphenidate, which has a similar structure to amphetamines. Both are phenethylamines, which comprise the largest class of psychoactive pharmeucticals, including many stimulants, hallucinogens, and antidepressents. Ritalin is non-habit-forming in the dosages typically prescribed for ADHD, depression, and sleep disoders, and tends to behave fairly well in combination with many other drugs, excepting MAOIs and tricyclics (which tend to be fairly disagreeable and potential toxic with a wide range of other drugs and dietary substances anyway.)
I used to experience sleep paralysis regularly as a child and adolescent, especially when awakening after a long sleep (which, for me, would be about 5-6 hours). It was disturbing and sometimes terrifying, all the more so for the trouble I got into because of it. It hasn’t happened to me for years, but then, I rarely sleep more then 3-4 hours a night and restlessly at that. I can’t fly in my sleep any more, either, though.
Frequent lucid dreamer, especially in the wee hours of the morning right before the alarm goes off.
Man, I hated that sensation of sleep paralysis. They always seem to coincide with dreams where I’m late for school/work and I have to use herculean effort in even the most mundane of tasks. Then I realize, “Crap. I’m still in bed, aren’t I?” :mad:
Even worse are the dreams I get of needing to pee, and trying to find a toilet! One of these days I have a sinking feeling that I’ll wet the bed.
I’ve had sleep paralysis before, but it usually occured after a nap in the afternoon. It was scary at first, but I just got used to waiting until my body got itself sorted out. It hasn’t happened in a while.
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