On YouTube:
Published on Jul 25, 2013 by TEDEducation
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-terrors-of-sleep-paralysis-ami-angelowicz
Imagine you’re fast asleep and then suddenly awake. You want to move but can’t, as if someone is sitting on your chest. And you can’t even scream! This is sleep paralysis, a creepy but common phenomenon caused by an overlap in REM sleep and waking stages. Ami Angelowicz describes just how pervasive (but harmless) it is and introduces a cast of characters from sleep paralysis around the world.
Lesson by Ami Angelowicz, animation by Pew36 Animation Studios.
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😉 I suffered these attacks on tri daily and a bi weekly basis from the age of Seven (1966) to my last episode in 1997? I sought out one Physician after another because of this and no one knew what to think or make of it.
I was however diagnosed with Sleep Apnea in 2004 and was told that could have triggered these attacks…
Here’s the weird part, consciously, on most accounts, I always knew when I was going to have an episode, the restlessness, the extremely loud ringing in my ears, the rise in my body temperature and timidness were all indications of an oncoming attack, It was something I just learned and grew aware of later when these episodes were going to happen, and on most accounts, just prior to my getting settled in for sleep.
I have also awaken with my sleeping garments inside out, and suffered some rather nasty scratches and bruising on my person that my wife also found perplexing and troubling, being in the manner that they were made and especially how they ran vertically down my back from my shoulders.
We had thought perhaps that I was sleep walking, and being from the South, was getting scratched up in the briar patches and or by the Cypress trees near bout, or that maybe my wife was doing this to me in her sleep, but could find no tracks leading in or out side during these times, and would had because it was raining out the night these particular scratches appeared???
These are the things that scared me the most, the not knowing or having a [plausible explanation] `the Doctors were absolutely stumped by it…
There have been times since, when I feel them coming on, but they seem to dissipate, whether by my controlling them while conscious or unconsciously I just don’t know. But I do know that I have yet to have another full blown episode or attack.
You can bet that when I received this article in my inbox, it took my breath away, and is possibly suffered me. I was glad to have a name for it as well. “But harmless, it’s not, this can really wreck havoc on a person psych, the not knowing what to expect or what it is we are suffering from or by for that matter, can bring on a lot of paranoia and apprehensions to say the least.
And as I mentioned, I did also suffer from deep scratches and some serious bruising as there are much more to the symptoms than I can go through here so it’s by far completely harmless.
It can be very troubling to someone not knowing what they are experiencing and not having a name or cause for it???
Great article 1389….Thank you and can now do a little more research on this…
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