Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis is a temporary overlap between REM sleep and wakefulness. During REM the body is deliberately paralysed to stop us acting out dreams; in sleep paralysis, awareness returns before that paralysis lifts, so you are conscious but unable to move or speak for seconds to a couple of minutes. Vivid hallucinations - a presence in the room, pressure on the chest, or a sense of floating - are common and are dream imagery intruding into waking perception. It is more frequent with sleep deprivation, irregular schedules, shift work, sleeping on the back, stress, and alcohol. Around 8% of people experience it at least once, and a minority have it repeatedly. Isolated episodes need no treatment beyond reassurance and better sleep regularity. Frequent episodes, particularly alongside daytime sleepiness or sudden muscle weakness triggered by emotion, warrant assessment for narcolepsy. Supplement evidence is essentially absent; the useful levers are sleep timing, sleep duration, reducing alcohol, and treating anxiety where it is driving the pattern.