What is sleep paralysis?

What is Sleep Paralysis?

Sleep paralysis is a condition identified by a brief loss of muscle control, known as atonia, that happens just after falling asleep or waking up. In addition to atonia, people often have hallucinations during episodes of sleep paralysis.Sleep paralysis is categorized as a type of parasomnia. Parasomnias are abnormal behaviors during sleep. Because it is connected to the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of the sleep cycle, sleep paralysis is considered to be a REM parasomnia.Standard REM sleep involves vivid dreaming as well as atonia, which helps prevent acting out dreams. However, under normal circumstances, atonia ends upon waking up, so a person never becomes conscious of this inability to move.