Common Sleep Disorder Leaves People 'Paralyzed' & Terrified

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Imagine being deep in a good night's sleep only to wake up scared out of your wits and seemingly paralyzed.

It's a disorder that's more common than you might think.

"It's just really terrifying," Lilly Altamirano recalled.

"It was probably the [most scared] I've ever been," said Tim Hall.

Instead of sleeping peacefully, these people say they're often plunged into a world of terror, waking to a literal nightmare and unable to do anything about it.

The disorder is known as "Sleep Paralysis." People who suffer from it are awake, but unable to move.

Altamirano has had it since she was a child.

"Sometimes it's a prison. Sometimes my body's a prison," she said.

Hall had only one episode, but the experience is still vivid.

"All of a sudden I wake up, and I couldn't move at all," he said.

What makes it even worse - these people also experience horrifying hallucinations at the same time - often images of scary, menacing, shadowy figures that seem very real.

"When I see them coming toward me, I just like, I am terrified," Altamirano said.

"It's like being tied up in a straitjacket, and then you feel like there's a stranger in your room," Hall explained.

Researchers said sleep paralysis occurs when the body is moving from rapid eye movement, or REM sleep, to wakefulness. For reasons not understood, the transition is not completed. The person is awake, but the body's ability to move is not yet activated.

Researchers said anywhere from 5 to 20 percent of people experience it in their lifetime.

"Something like that happens, you don't forget it so quick," Rodney Ascher said.

After Ascher experienced it, he made a documentary that he said touched a nerve.

"A lot of people have written to me to say they're really relieved to see something like their experience reflected back at them," he said.

"It's a frightening feeling, yes, definitely," sleep expert, Dr. Divya Gupta said.

While frightening, sleep experts say the disorder is not harmful and there are ways to get through it with less fear.

"It will usually pass if you just relax or try to initiate some movement with your hand, or with your toes, or your fingers that will help you to snap out of it," she said.

Sleep paralysis often occurs during periods of sleep deprivation and stress. Establishing a regular sleep schedule helps, as does sleeping on your side instead of your back.

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