I woke up to find a demon at the end of my bed: One woman's terrifying account of a sleep disorder that afflicts millions
By Alice Grebot
Last updated at 11:56 AM on 08th December 2009
Hannah Foster was lying in bed with her eyes open. She could see by the clock that it was 3am, but something was very wrong - she couldn’t move a muscle of her body. Even worse, she could sense something pressing down on her and she was struggling to breathe.
Consumed by panic, she tried to scream, but nothing happened.
It felt like a nightmare, but she knew that it wasn’t, because she was too alert and she recognised her green flowery duvet and the wooden floor of her room.
Unrest: Hannah Foster has terrifying dreams
Suddenly, she was able to move again and the feeling of pressure vanished. But she was left terrified, shaking and gasping for air.
‘It was like nothing I’d ever experienced before,’ recalls the 25-yearold from Brighton. ‘After a normal day at work, I went to bed around 11pm, as always, and the next thing I remember is waking up, basically paralysed.
‘It was terrifying. And the more I panicked, the more it felt like I couldn’t breathe properly.’
What happened to Hannah might sound like something from a gruesome horror film, but it is in fact very real - she was experiencing a fascinating phenomenon called Sleep Paralysis (SP).
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Just as surprising, it is very common, explains Chris French, Professor of Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London. Studies suggest that around 40 per cent of the general population experience SP at least once in their lifetime.
‘During an SP episode - which can last for anything between a few seconds and several minutes - a person is in a state where they are half awake and half asleep; sometimes they are able to open their eyes, but they’re aware they can’t move,’ he says.
An unlucky few can have repeated attacks in one night or several times a week. In extreme cases, people can find their lives heavily disrupted by SP.
‘Sufferers may be reluctant to talk of
their experiences, for fear of being shunned or ridiculed as “crazy”,’ he says. ‘This can lead to social isolation and even marital breakdown.’
Sleep paralysis occurs during the REM (rapid eye movement) period of sleep. There are five stages of sleep, during the first four your brain and heart rates slow down.
Then you enter a period of REM sleep - the fifth stage - where your brain is active and you experience-vivid dreams. ‘During this time the muscles are temporarily paralysed, probably as a protective mechanism to stop the sleeper acting out their dreams,’ says Professor French, who is the leading UK authority on the subject.
‘But with SP sufferers, for reasons we don’t understand, something goes awry with the process and the sleeper becomes consciously aware of that temporary paralysis.’
Being unable to move is disturbing enough in itself, but around 5 per cent of people can also experience horrific visual hallucinations of dark shadows, lights or monstrous figures; a sense of something or someone else in the room; a feeling of pressure on your chest; and difficulty breathing or hearing footsteps or voices.
Some suffers can have hallucinations about movement - such as being touched or dragged down the bed. It has even been suggested as a real cause, due to reports of alien abduction in the U.S.
Hallucinations: Hannah sees a demon-like figure during som