Talk:Sleep paralysis

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Archive 1

This article is about Awareness during Sleep Paralysis (ASP), and while I've seen many places where people call it just 'Sleep Paralysis', I believe that is a form of shorthand. The full name more properly describes the phenomena, and distinguishes it from normal REM atonia. --Telecart (talk) 18:20, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Most scientific literature refers to ASP as simply "Sleep Paralysis", as it only physiologically similar to muscle atonia. SP is essentially a sleep pathology. Am I understanding your statement correctly? Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 18:28, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The word "hypotonia" is used in the first paragraph. It links to the REM sleep article, where the word is not used at all, leaving the reader confused about both the definition of the word and its significance here. I suggest replacement/removal. 67.208.104.194 (talk) 17:50, 13 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

From personal experience and articles I've read elsewhere, I thought that there was a frequent association between sleep paralysis and dreams of a black figure - I can see a lot of people describing these experiences in results for a google search of 'sleep paralysis "black figure"', but was wondering if anyone's aware of a formal citation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.27.38.40 (talk) 02:43, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Sleep paralysis article. This is not a forum for general discussion about the article's subject.

Can we just remove those comments? maybe move them? The S/N is getting pretty high here. Kl4m 04:52, 17 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think the recommended Wiki course of action is simply to archive the heck out of this discussion page and 'start over'. But personally, I hope Wiki in general would give a little slack to this discussion page since it -is- such an intense topic. I've had it before and it isn't fun at all. Lots42 13:21, 23 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There, how's that? We can't keep all the issues here forever. Archiving makes them still available, but this (now shorter) page more accessible to the greatest number of users. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 11:20, 24 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

-That image you have is not so good an idea, I assume most people who suffer sleep paralysis will Google(or wiki) the phenomenon straight away and to see that image come straight up is very frightening. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.16.102.111 (talk) 23:27, 7 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Why is there no mention of the effects of SP that the sufferer experiences? The majority of experiences report at least one of the following: out of body experience, loud buzzing in the ears, pressure on the body as if being pushed into the bed, malevolent presence, extreme feeling of dread...

How can you have an article on SP without its non-physical effects? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.131.71.70 (talk) 16:20, 23 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've marked a section globalize/USA because of this fragment: "... in African-Americans panic disorder often co-occurs with sleep paralysis." The article African-American itself discusses at length the intended referents of the term, but the conclusion seems to be that it refers to people living in the USA who have some black African ancestry. There are several possibilities about the sleep paralysis statement:

1. it co-occurs with panic disorder in Africans and people of African descent
2. it for some reason only occurs in such people when they live in the USA
3. it's only been studied in the USA

Probably it should be stated which holds. Thayvian 04:20, 26 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think it's pretty clear that the article is referring to people of african extraction in the USA. It's in the first couple of paragraphs

62.31.228.92 (talk) 20:26, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Provide ISBN to the "Notes"

• Parker Johnston, states after his encounter with sleep paralysis, "I can tell you right now, if I hadn't read about this type of thing earlier, mainly the part about the hallucinations, and known exactly what was going on, what was causing it and what to expect, this would've easily been one of the most nightmarish experiences of my life" and goes on to say that "knowing is half the battle".^[1]

Jclerman 11:22, 13 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I dispute the claim made in the article that "More often than not, sleep paralysis is believed by the person affected by it to be no more than a dream". There's no citation and "it's only a dream" has not been my experience or the experience of anyone I've ever read about. My experience is that SP is so potent because it doesn't feel like a dream and it takes a great deal of mental self-convincing to decide that it really was just a dream and not, for example, a reason to sleep with the lights on and a knife under the pillow and perhaps a nice exorcism of the surrounding area (just in case). --TheCynic (talk) 19:08, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

No, it definitely doesn't feel "like a dream" to the person experiencing it. It feels like being physically attacked or suffocated. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 20:07, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Of course this is all anecdotal - But I concur - I have never mistaken the phenomena for a "dream" - I am fully aware and panic internally. Wisdom89 (talk) 20:10, 23 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I also agree that the "dream" statement shouldn't be in the article (especially if unverified), because it certainly doesn't feel like a dream. Even if their eyes are closed, the person is often conscious as this happens -- which is why if you ever suspect that someone is experiencing it, you should definitely ask them if everything is okay. If all they can do is twitch or mumble, you should move them a bit. -- 4.249.84.87 (talk) 02:58, 6 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I just encountered an xkcd comic[1] that duplicates my own personal experience, and which I assume can't be too uncommon - while in normal people sleep paralysis prevents all normal walking motions, when reacting to a stumble the mechanism seems to be bypassed. I've been woken a dozen times myself this way, from the sensation produced after actually moving in response to a dreamed stumble (though I suppose I can't rule out that some spasm only occurring while asleep simply resembles a stumble and is interpreted as such in the dream just prior to causing wakefulness, though it seems less likely)

To me the word "paralysis" seems altogether inappropriate for this situation. Far from going limp, the muscles work, sometimes overwork, to maintain a fixed position. Perhaps this phenomenon once served to hold our ancestors safely in trees? I remember one occasion during which I took a moment to rest my eyes while reading a textbook, and held it open, balanced on the flat of my hand. Two hours later I was awakened when it fell on me. It is possible for this to cause muscle soreness, should I happen to fall asleep while in the process of trying to get up out of bed or holding up bedding in my arms, for example, and I assume that the phenomenon of a "stiff neck" happens the same way for people who experience it often. I assume also it is the means by which storied sleeping Western gunslingers kept weapons or treasure firmly in hand, if such stories are based in reality.

The ability of this phenomenon to cause soreness depends on the lack of sensation. Actually, it has been my perception that a broad variety of aches and pains one might have before falling asleep are relieved while this is active.

I've noticed that upon awakening, it seems I can retain the "paralysis" in some limbs and not others, simply by not choosing to put forward the mental effort to initialize their movement at first. I haven't put this to any rigorous experiment, but it would seem to be a useful way of narrowing down the biological mechanisms.

Of course, I can't dump comic strips and unsourced musings into the article, but perhaps better info will turn up. Wnt (talk) 00:14, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Did you have anything to contribute to the article? Personal experiences are original research and can't be used in articles. — Frecklefσσt | Talk 13:28, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

As I said... but perhaps observations of this type are tucked away in some of the published literature, so I mentioned these things in the hope I'd jog someone's memory. They're not the sort of thing you can search for quickly at NCBI. Sorry... Wnt (talk) 04:15, 20 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

After many years of waking up terrified as a child thanks to this condition, I realized that it never occured when I slept in a particular way. Have not had a bad night for about a decade. Added a short sentence to the Treatment section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.33.11.70 (talk) 19:45, 16 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry, but we cannot accept information based on personal observations, as that would be original search.--Drat (Talk) 22:23, 16 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A study charting a very strong link between paralysis and the supine pose is accessible via one of the article's existing references ( http://watarts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/prevent.html ). Given the amount of trauma that knowledge of such details could conceivably prevent, maybe more detailed coverage of this article's findings is in order. K2709 (talk) 17:25, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

-Napoleon Bonaparte-Quote: "Ah, my friend, I have had a frightful dream; a bear was tearing open my breast, and devouring my heart!" told his servant. 71.99.110.187 (talk) 13:54, 6 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting, but is it paralysis? I'd classify this as Shamanic dismemberment experience. K2709 (talk) 22:01, 6 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I suffered from this quite often before I was diagnosed and treated for sleep apnea. I found that if I crossed my eyes, the sensation would stop immediately. Should/can I add this to the article? It may help some people. If so, then where in the article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.245.37.82 (talk) 19:51, 8 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry but no, as it would be original research. If you can find a reliable source that has written about it, however, you can add the info and cite the source.--Drat (Talk) 06:22, 9 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I understand now. Thanks for the insight Drat!—Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.245.37.82 (talk • contribs)

Can something be added about lucid dreams associated with sleep paralysis? When I relax during an episode and just 'go with it' instead of fighting it, I often fall into a sleeping dreamstate where I am aware that I'm dreaming and that my body is at home in sleep paralysis mode. The dreams are vivid and intense and I am totally lucid and have partial control over what is happening. The dreams are often highly symbolic with themes such as my own personal power and ability to overcome beings/people who try to exert control over me. I have always won so far. Anyway, I've heard other people on various sleep paralysis forums discuss this connection between sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.13.78.54 (talk) 18:32, 13 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You can't use your personal experiences as sources in the article. These things need to have been written about by reliable, independent sources, otherwise you'll be engaging in original research.--Drat (Talk) 18:53, 13 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I dont know how to format my comment properly (can someone fix it please), but I would like to say this can be most important information about SP. I found this article by reading about lucid dreams and when I saw this page, I made completely wrong conclusion! What I can say from my experience is that SP is a fear of lucid dreams and/or astral projections. If you have it, you should get rid of it ASAP and have a nice life. There's no real reason to be afraid of it and you shouldn't trust them when they say its a ghost or witch or demon or evil spirit...

BTW Google both phrases: "Lucid Dreams" "Sleep Paralysis" and you will have ~10K results, so I would say that these terms are connected even I don't know about reliable sources. 83.12.183.178 (talk) 15:37, 6 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you had a point, I missed it. Did you have anything to discuss about the article? — Frecklefσσt | Talk 20:24, 6 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

This article does need a section about its uses and prevalence in the lucid dreaming culture. Sleep Paralysis is a very strong tool in the procuring of lucid dreams. It is known by oneironauts as the process called WILD. WILD is a process of using the sleep paralysis to enter a lucid dream. it is well-documented as very connected to lucid dreaming, so I would HIGHLY suggest adding either a section about the connection of the two or at least a link to this page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dreaming --Erikkujonson (talk) 20:52, 26 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

note 16 says something about clonazepame being a good treatment for sleep paralysis and refers to Wills, L., & Garcia, J. (2002, December). Parasomnias: Epidemiology and Management. CNS Drugs, 16(12), 803-810. First of all, the citation is incomplete as you can see from the correct citation above. Secondly, I am looking at the article right now and clonazepame is only suggested for Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep Behaviour Disorder (RBD) and disorders of arousal. Both have in common that people MOVE without wanting to while sleep-onset paralysis is about being not able to move when wanting to. I am rewriting the note on how to treat citing this article correctly.

Many sufferers report that when in a state of sleep paralysis, focusing on moving a single body part, e.g. tip of index finger, then finger, then hand, etc, quickly alleviates the paralysis in an accelerated fashion.

I'm sure I've got refs for this somewhere so have fished it out to stop it getting lost. Googling "sleep paralysis finger" certainly backs it up so scientific sources probably aren't too hard to find. K2709 (talk) 17:27, 23 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I'm Polish and in our folklor we call it "zmora". When somebody have 7 daughters, the last one is "her". Zmora during he day is beautiful, but seams absent, but during the night she ripps her cloths, pleats horses' tails and attacks someone, who did something wrong to her, eg. a man, who didn't find her attractive or chose some other woman, or the very woman, which was chosen instead of her. There should be something in old, Polish books, so you could verify this. That's quite old story. Oh, and you can sleep straight with your face up. Aldona, 19/05/09 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.94.82.65 (talk) 17:38, 19 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

131.191.69.28 (talk) 00:25, 5 June 2009 (UTC)Andrew Frisina 06/04/09 "I cant remember if I was asleep or wake but I did see something it looked like shadows of people on the wall lined up, and was feeling like I couldn't breathe like a pressure on top of me . I looked up on the ceiling and there was a shadow with a sneaky smile and I said leave me alone go away and they were gone. I am Catholic and I believe in god , Jesus and it seems like when I go to church a few days later is when I have a bad dream, or I awake with an uncomfortable feeling, I feel scared like someone is watching me, and when I try to go to sleep and turn my head towards the left I hear like a light flick on the wall wall when IIturn my head the other way and I hear it on the other wall. I haven't gone to church in months, but I still pray and believe. Strange. maybe this is all in my mind, maybe I am nuts."[reply]

From Strange Things Anywhere I go^[2]

Either way, it was from awhile ago, but it was still one of the real experiences nonetheless. I think one of the experiences on that same page (if I remember correctly) was actually a case of sleep paralysis, and there may've been a few other cases of sleep paralysis amidst these, but nonetheless. Besides, apparently ghosts suck energy or whatever out of their surroundings, so it's possible there are other things they are capable of doing...

(as good music vibrations are capable of changing around the bodies physiology and/or chemical distribution or whatever and other such things, and bad music is also capable of things, but really good and bad are being used subjectively here, not from the PoV of a creator) ^[3]

... capable of doing other things we are not aware of, such as mess around with the brain signals that are occuring. Anything is possible, is it not?

From the same site... (theshadowlands.net)

"This is not a personal experience, but my brother told me the story and I can vouch for his credibility. My brother made artificial rock work for water features and pools. He went to go do a job for a guy on a farm near Tabazimbi, South Africa. He wasn't staying in the main house but was staying in a sort of servant lodging outside the house, which was a big old house in itself. He woke up in the early hours of the morning to the sound of somebody very hard at work. If you know my brother you should know that it takes a BIG racket to wake him. Any way he tried to ignore this noise and go back to sleep, but it wouldn't go away. Till the point where he lost his temper. Who the hell works at this time of morning anyways when people are trying to sleep? He said he could distinctly hear the sound of sawing wood, as well as someone hitting in nails and all sorts of sounds associated with wood-work. When he got up to quiet the person, he could not find the location of the noise. At first he thought it was the foreman in his room but when getting to his room he had already passed the sound. When he walked back the way he came it sounded like it was coming from his room. And getting there he passed it again. After about 15 min of searching he decided to give up and go back to bed. The next morning at the breakfast table he enquired the house owners to who was making that noise last night, and what they were building at that time? To which they answered "oh, you heard Him"! Apparently there is some ghost that shows up all over the farm in the old buildings, doing some sort of woodwork. Nobody has actually seen him but they hear him quite often, working away. Maybe it's some person who really wanted to build something but died before they could complete it, and is now restless to complete their project. I do believe that there is a spiritual world that we don't know anything about, except that it's there. All religions on earth believes this to some degree or another. I also believe that there are other spiritual beings in existence, good and evil. Ghosts? Maybe some of them are ghosts, but there is also beings that never lived lives on this planet, that were "created" in spiritual form. All religions talks of them too. But I think my brother's experience, and most of those written on these pages are those of ghosts "ex-living people"." From Working Ghost

"When I was about 7 or 8 I saw a little boy that was at least 6. He Had Brown Hair And It Was Short But Old Fashion. He was all white and glowing white. he stood at my door faceing me while i was sleeping. The thing that is odd about is that I don't know how I woke up in the middle of the night. I was toooo frightened to look at the boy, so I pulled the Covers over my head and tryed not to think of it and fell asleep and kept the cover's over my head till I did." From Scary

"Really very simple, i havent had the misfortune of seeing my "GHOST", but on two seperate occasions, while sleeping in my sons room I was awakened unable to breath. And it felt like something was wrapped around my neck. Once I got my composure It went away except for an eerie chiil the air. Noone else in the house has had any unexplained expeiriences other than myself, needless to say I dont sleep in my sons room anymore." From Choking —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.191.69.28 (talk) 00:46, 5 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Unsolicited good faith contribution of a primary source testimony. Whether or not this ends up helping the article, it is not obviously intended as a bad faith edit nor is gross negligence shown by this edit. WP:NEWCOMER. And speaking personally, as a human being, that was an incredibly dickish thing to do, to delete without counsel, explanation, or even comment, this person's hard-earned story given to us in the spirit of a desire to share information, Wisdom89. The following information Restored by Anarchangel (talk) 17:02, 24 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The above information Restored by Anarchangel (talk) 17:02, 24 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No offense, Anarchangel, but what does the experience add to the article? It's someone's first-hand experience, with no references or anything verifiable. It reads like a very accurate description of some sleep paralysis sessions, but none of it can be added to the article.

For the record, I did not remove the content and am not inclined to do so. I simply would've commented on what talk pages are really for: improving the article. But Wisdom89 did explain why he removed the content: "this is not a forum". — Frecklefσσt | Talk 17:21, 24 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I am not obligated to to thoroughly explain such actions as I indicated the rationale in the edit summary. This is not a WP:FORUM. This isn't the place to chat about personal experience, and I think you know that. Wisdom89 _{(T / ^C)} 20:31, 24 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Under Folklore, the analysis of the character 魇 in the sentence below is incorrect, or at the least very misleading:

A more modern term is "夢魘/梦魇" (pinyin: mèng yǎn); notice that the character "魘/魇" (pinyin: yǎn) is composed of "厭/厌" (pinyin: yàn), "to detest", and "鬼" (pinyin: guǐ), "ghost, demon".

In the character 魘/魇, the 厭/厌 component is the phonetic element, i.e. it suggests the pronunciation of the character. 鬼 is the semantic element. To use the standard term, 魘/魇 is a phono-semantic compound. I just confirmed this with a dictionary. The analysis in the article implies that the 厭/厌 component contributes in some way to the meaning, which is false. Especially given this fact, any analysis of this character is of no intrinsic interest. I have thus been bold and removed the incorrect information.

--ZheXueJia (talk) 01:54, 24 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm curious why it doesn't mention sleep paralysis not affecting the eyes. Hence, you being able to open them and look around and realise you can't move. Also, does the paralysis only affect your mind rather than your body, since your only half awake and half asleep and you can't control your body, like you wouldn't be able to when your asleep. That could explain why dreams mesh with reality. Its similar to drunks saying they see things when they are seperated from their senses and the mind is open to influence. Also why is the Folklore section not called the Theory section. The reasons they put out are based on their folklore, but the events aren't fiction. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mwarriorjsj7 (talk • contribs) 09:30, 26 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

About two years ago, I had been taking adderall for some years and began suffering from sleep paralysis mixed with a strong falling feeling. I was falling asleep around the time when the medication began wearing off and was so afraid of it happening that I would wait until I was so exhausted that it would never happen. Once I stopped taking adderall, it eventually stopped happening with the only aftereffect being somniphobia which lasts with occasional upsurges now and again. -Skyler 05:26, 7 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In Romeo + Juliet, Mercutio gives a long monologue about the dream bearing fairy, Queen Mab. The last part of this poem seems to indicate that the fairy queen was the same as the hag, "This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, That presses them and learns them first to bear, Making them women of good carriage: This is she—" The part about maids lying on their backs and being pressed really made the connection for me. ^[4] —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ray.heather (talk • contribs) 17:12, 22 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do we really need a very long list of words in various languages? This, if anything, is LISTCRUFT. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.251.129.177 (talk) 07:23, 14 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The one time I've experienced sleep paralysis was when going to sleep on the night I first tried mephedrone (I have since completely stopped experimenting with drugs, and never took mephedrone after that). Judging by a Google search on "mephedrone sleep paralysis", it looks like others have had the same experience. Could serotonin be playing a part in the condition? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.8.5.196 (talk) 13:46, 15 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

folklore : In korean culture, sleep paralysis is called gawee nulim (Hangul: 가위눌림). In general, "gawee" is a scissors, but isn't here. "Gawee" in the case of sleep paralysis is "ghost" or "the edge of blanket". so "gawee nulim" literally means "being pressed down by ghost or the edge of blanket. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 125.128.185.183 (talk) 07:51, 11 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It is writen in many meditation texts, that long time meditators are able to enter the sleep paralysis state at will, thus being able to remain in meditation for many hours, without feeling the discomfort of the body. Such technique is called Pratyahara, and its purpose is, along with others, to be able to remain awake while the body sleeps in order to better observe the mind. The main point of interest here is that these texts teach that the meditator must "overcome the fear" that first strikes the practitioner, when such experience occur. Once the adrenaline sent by the brain to wake you up sets down, fear and allucinatios fade as well, and the meditator is able to dive deep into his practise. Check the wikipedia text on Pratyahara. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.5.27.162 (talk) 18:39, 1 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

why would the change i made in reference to muhammad having sleep paralysis be removed? this is sabotage. if you look even very briefly about the story at the cave and other recollections of muhammad, you will find that his symptoms match sleep paralysis exactly. is this what you call a wiki? thats ridiculous.. stop sabotaging it.. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.250.81.218 (talk) 16:51, 9 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

At a minimum, you need to provide a reference to say where your information comes from. People can't briefly look at the story like you suggest if you don't tell them where the story is, or even what it's called! Also, it sounds like you are trying to convince people rather than just tell them, and you used a very large section heading for a very small amount of information.

Relatedly, I remember a description of sleep paralysis in the Old Testament too. Does anybody have a reference for that?78.149.140.195 (talk) 17:22, 9 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Job 4:13-15?

"In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face" K2709 (talk) 21:57, 9 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

the section heading could not be avoided, because it does not fit in any other section. it however is a valid point, and should not be deleted. it's not one specific story, but if you'd like i will get citations. but this does not allow someone to delete it, as most of wiki is built on content that has no citation. you wopuld have to delete/revert the entire wikipedia project. I'm not trying to convince anyone. If i were then i would have provided citations. The stories of which i speak are very well known, especially to those familiar with the faith. Honestly, it won't make any difference if I add citations, the radicals will still continue to sabotage it. 64.250.81.218 (talk) 17:35, 9 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm not a radical or a vandal. My revert of your edit was not sabotage. Just provide verifiable references, and your edit can stand. But try to fit it in some existing section. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 19:17, 9 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why would i fit it into another section? this article could well do with citations to artistic and religious people that had this or related disorders. Someone else has already mentioned this in this discussion thread. It simply doesn't fit anywhere else, unless you want it directly in the body of the text as part of a paragraph. I will wait for clarification until tomorrow, otherwise I am putting it back to the way iot was and notifying the admins. 8 years doesn't give you the right to dictate procedure. And yes, it was a verifiable reference, taken from a translation of a hadith, which is supposedly considered the most authentic one, and there are more, you just fail to see reason where it exists which does in fact make you a fanatic. 64.250.81.218 (talk) 21:17, 9 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And why are there other sections in this and other articles with a single sentence, sometimes not even a full sentence? Why don't you go fix something else, like the entire wiki. Seriously. 64.250.81.218 (talk) 21:33, 9 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well. I t has now been 2 days and no response from you. therefore I assume no contest and will be adding the edit again with the reference. i will add more references in the days to come. 64.250.81.218 (talk) 17:25, 11 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The reference you gave was incomplete. Include a complete, proper citation and there won't be any problem. But I'm sure Hadith doesn't say "cleary, Muhammad suffered from sleep paralysis." That is your opinion, and any editor's opinion is original research which we don't do here. If you find an authority who says that Muhammad received his prosephies or visions while experiencing sleep paralyis, fine. As long as you cite the verifiable and reliable reference, we have no problem. But until then, when you include it as you have been doing, it is original research and it will be reverted, and not necessarily by me.

I am not a one-man reverting machine, I'm merely one of thousands of volunteer editors who try and maintain Wikipedia policies. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 13:51, 12 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This will never end with you will it? The evidence is clearly ascertainable from the passage given. That is not NP:OR. That is not the only one, but since I didn't want to waste any more of my time, I waited to see what you would do with it. It is not 'original research'. What you are saying then is that "since no expert testified to such effect therefore the evidence does not stand." That is absurd an unacceptable. You may say it is 'undeniable' that he had SP or a 'related' disorder as is clearly illustrated in that passge. These hadiths are quoted by imams, theologians, historians and other academics alike. If you do not consider this as proof then you are either stupid or ignorant (I apologize for the insult, what i mea to say is blind, but it doesnt seem fitting in this case). Your actions will no longer be tolerated, but since you are hardly worth my effort, it might take me some time before reporting your account. Asking your friends or using anonymous accounts to do reverts for you will also not suffice. Clearly the only one here with opposition is yourself and you must be in collusion with mechamind90 because i find it suspicious how he made the reversion but posted his comment on your talk page instead of this one. odd to say the least. Also, what yiou are saying is that I am not qualified to 'study' the evidence and provide an analysis. You may call this an 'opinion'. You are right in one thing. I may not be an 'expert'.. but my iq is still 138+, which makes me way more qualified that yourself to answer these questions. 64.250.81.218 (talk) 06:29, 13 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

As per NP:OR. "Self-published expert sources may be considered reliable when produced by an established expert on the topic of the article whose work in the relevant field has previously been published by reliable third-party publications. Caution should be exercised when using such sources: if the information in question is really worth reporting, someone else is likely to have done so. Self-published sources should never be used as third-party sources about living persons, even if the author is an expert, or well-known professional researcher or writer."

The simple fact that noone has already done so is evidence that either A. nobody has noticed or B. nobody dares try. If such a paper has even been produced by a professional, which through my research it hasn't, then which journal would publish this information? only in the case of A. would it be NP:OR, but to say that nobody has noticed this is utterly absurd. It is plain to see even to a child. 64.250.81.218 (talk) 06:50, 13 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I should ammend that I am not anti-muhammad. I am atheist. I have nothing against the man. I'm more like gandhi. 64.250.81.218 (talk) 06:56, 13 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I do reverts only under my one user account, Frecklefoot. If you have a problem with my actions, I invite you to report me; I have nothing to hide. But given that I am not the only one who has reverted your edits, I don't think you stand much of a chance of getting me banned, or whatever it is you're trying to do to me. Either provide verifiable references as I and others have stated before or leave your material out of the article. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 14:20, 16 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

the other guy who made a revert was your friend or fan of yours. this is no secret. like i said, he mistakenly posted his comment on your talk page instead of this one. try again. btw, i notice you did not provide an answer to my questions. this simply means that you have no freaking clue what you're talking about. to you verifiable means 'someone with a PHD' and 'someone i can agree with' but it's probably the latter of the 2. 64.250.81.218 (talk) 12:43, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

There is no conspiracy here. I don't know who did the other revert, but I completely agree with it. I didn't answer your question because I couldn't find one in your post that didn't look rhetorical. It's simple: find a verifiable ref for the information or leave it out. I really don't know how many ways I can say this. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 18:07, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

in that case, there is either something wrong with the accepted middle-eastern and south-asian interpretations of this phenomenon (which all refer to a demon) and the hadiths, in which Muhammad describes this same sensation down to the last detail but attributes it to God... 64.250.81.218 (talk) 19:11, 14 April 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I've been going through sleep paralysis for a number of years now, when i asked my dad about it, he said it was a hereditary condition caused by weak muscles in the back of the throat, the muscles fail to move the oxygen through your body so you're unable to move your legs. He said i shouldn't sleep on my back and should sleep on my side, ever since i did that it worked and i stopped having the sleep paralysis, at least not as often, i used to have it maybe once a week or every two weeks but since i stopped sleeping on my back its now more like once every 6 months. Turns out the condition runs in the family and my dad and uncles sleep with some oxygen machine. Siwhat (talk) 08:37, 12 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This is not a discussion board for the condition, it is a place to discuss improving the article. But it sounds like you're describing two different thing: sleep apnea and sleep paralysis. The oxygen machines you refer to are used to treat chronic sleep apnea, not sleep paralysis. And apnea is attributed to weak throat muscles by some. And "oxygen moving through your body" has nothing to do with sleep paralysis.

But like I said, this isn't really the place to discuss such things. Please feel free to bring up any issues that you think would improve the article. — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 15:02, 12 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A source claimed that some scientists have linked sleep paralysis to alien abductions and ghost encounters. Upon reviewing the source, the quoted material mentioned nothing about the physiologists believing that, only that they had tested people who claimed to be abducted by aliens. I deleted the two sentences, because not only was it misquoted, but I do not think the use of Pseudo-Science is helpful to the community, and only spreads superstitious beliefs and misinformation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.125.63.105 (talk) 03:44, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I'll rephrase the first sentence. — Jeraphine Gryphon ^(talk) 07:25, 13 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there, New Zealand also has a version of the folklore around sleep paralysis and I'd like to add it to this page but, being inexperienced around here, I have a few questions people may be able to help me with.

Firstly, New Zealand doesn't particularly fall into the current 'around the world' categories. Should I make a new category or simply add it to the 'closest' one? Perhaps it would be worth hunting down similar myths from other Oceanic or Pacific locations so that such a category would be more worthwhile?

Secondly, I managed to find a few mentions of the folklore here: http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/mrm/mrm06.htm http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-CowFair-t1-body-d4.html http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-BroMaor-t1-body1-d4.html but I have the feeling a proper citation should be something more robust. Should I hunt down the source behind those pages or is there some other step I should be taking?

Thank you very much. WeaponsGradeHumanity (talk) 14:40, 12 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This article's summary paragraph is in desperate need of an "explain this to me like I'm 10" sentence. ~ Booya ^Bazooka 04:27, 23 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

This is exactly what I was going to comment about. The article lacks any concise explanation of the phenomenon. After having read through this article, I think the TITLE is more descriptive than the article itself. --Josmul123 (talk) 13:50, 24 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I've reworked the lead slightly in an effort to make it more informative to non-expert readers. Looie496 (talk) 19:04, 24 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

One thumb up! — Frεcklεfσσt | Talk 21:47, 24 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

(Incidentally, as a neurobiologist, I have to point out that it's the activity of the reticular formation, not neurohormones, that shuts down spinal motor activity.) Also note that spinal paralysis is a REM-related phenomenon (to prevent us from leaping about and crashing into walls as we dream! The reticular formation doesn't "disconnect" the spinal motor output during these lighter stages of sleep, which is why we humans toss and turn. (14a) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.80.53.237 (talk • contribs)

Do you suppose you could fix the errors? Regards, Looie496 (talk) 22:01, 1 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

it is too scary. it may even induce more sleep paralysis in people. if you suffer from sleep paralysis you know what i'm talking about. it's almost like you're doing it on purpose. get the picture off. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.127.245.127 (talk) 08:01, 14 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Buzzing or ringing sounds are also common to sleep paralysis so I was surprised this wasn't mentioned in the article. I will dig out some cites before adding this.--MijinLaw (talk) 01:29, 9 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I was going to ask about this as well. Both my SP experiences have had distinctive audio components to them, and looking around the web it seems many others experience something similar, however I haven't found any good resource to cite about the phenomenon. 166.137.209.170 (talk) 23:02, 5 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Anecdotal I know but my SP experiences have a very large auditory component to them too; would be interested to see referenced material relating to this. Mike _talk 02:12, 6 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

In Norway we call nightmares a "Mareritt" - so I'm guessing that the word "Mare" here is the same as the Swedish and Finnish "Mare" as quoted in the article.

On another note, the english word for bad dreams is "nightmare" , i.e. a conjuction of the words "Night" and "Mare" again.