"At first I thought I was possessed,” Zenab reveals. “I would be mentally awake but incapable of moving my body. Scared, I would cry to myself and beg for someone to wake me up.”

Zenab, 30, is a trainer and teacher who experiences sleep paralysis, defined as a temporary inability to move or speak that occurs when you’re waking up or falling asleep. It’s not harmful and passes in a few seconds or minutes, but can be very frightening. “The elders in my family advised me to visit a spiritual healer and I did everything anyone endorsed. I wanted to cure myself of this phenomenon which was making me afraid, vulnerable and powerless.”

Zenab went to her general physician who recommended consultation with a neurologist. Fortunately, he finally dispelled all notions about djinns and supernatural elements at play.

When your mind wakes up but your body is still asleep can be a frightening experience for some

“According to the neurologist, I was suffering from sleep paralysis and I was instantly relieved to hear that,” she says. “I wasn’t going crazy, I wasn’t possessed and it wasn’t a breakdown,” recalls Zenab, sharing how the thoughts of what the problem might be had been tormenting her earlier.

This is an example of how a clear diagnosis can help relieve a patient and normalise a potentially frightening and puzzling experience. “As a society, we tend to hastily attribute undiagnosed or unexplained occurrences to the supernatural,” says Zenab.

“The doctor prescribed a relaxant and it helped me fall asleep. But even when I slept it wasn’t a deep, satisfying sleep. I would wake up feeling unrested. However, with time, the sleep paralysis episodes became fewer.”

She shares how she had always relished her sleep. Being a working woman and juggling her career with a joint family, she would crave a soothing shut-eye at bed time, but since her sleep disorder she had begun to dread sleep.

“It’s harrowing when the body and mind stop coordinating. When the mind doesn’t want to sleep yet the body is spent. That’s when the mind plays a game with you. When the medicines did not help me relax or feel rejuvenated, I began to research on the internet for remedies.”

Out of the innumerable antidotes she experimented with, one seemed to work for her. “I found it on YouTube,” she shares. “I began to massage my feet with olive oil.” The logic behind this therapy is that the soles of the feet end up being the most exhausted part of the body and if you relax them, sleep paralysis can be avoided.

Then Zenab decided to alter her sleep schedule. “I used to be a night owl and would read late into the night, but I started going to bed early and tried to follow that schedule religiously so that I got six to seven hours of proper sleep. I also started eating a light dinner two hours before going to bed or just a lukewarm glass of milk. ”

In hindsight, Zenab believes that the two years when she was plagued with episodes of sleep paralysis occurred in a phase of her life when she had an extremely exhaustive routine physically and was under great mental stress. “Maybe that’s what triggered the attacks of sleep paralysis. My body was tired and yearned for sleep, yet, my mind was still agitated and refused to be silenced,” she confesses. “I could see the signs of an impending paralysis attack if I was very tired and my shoulders and neck started to ache.”

“One thing I have done personally is to stop worrying about tomorrow. I try to stay on top of my priority list rather than bend over backwards for others,” Zenab asserts. “I have started reading to relax myself and eating healthy.”

“One thing I have done personally is to stop worrying about tomorrow. I try to stay on top of my priority list rather than bend over backwards for others,” Zenab asserts. “I have started reading to relax myself and eating healthy.”

Brian Sharpless, a clinical psychologist and research fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London, talks about how good sleep is an indicator of good health in his book Sleep Paralysis. He writes that approximately six to eight percent of people will experience sleep paralysis during their lives and the highest rate is found among students and young adults. Lack of empirical attention and limited data show that a minority of people experience repetitive episodes of sleep paralysis.

Sharpless explains that, in sleep paralysis, with the exception of the eyes, no other voluntary muscles can move. He also records in detail how hallucinations are a part of a majority of sleep paralysis episodes in the form of an eerie presence or sensations.

Sleep specialists reveal that sleep paralysis happens when parts of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep occur while you’re awake. The REM is a stage of sleep when the brain is very active and dreams often occur. Apart from the eyes and muscles used in breathing, the body is unable to move, possibly to stop you acting out your dreams and hurting yourself.

The reasons for the above could be sleep deprivation or erratic sleep patterns. Some other causes could be intoxication, low serum potassium levels or even abrupt withdrawal from certain prescribed medications.

Even though parasomnic activities such as sleep-walking, sleep terrors and nightmare disorders are recognised, sleep paralysis is boxed under ‘parasomnia not otherwise specified.’

Sharpless also records how attributing it to spiritual or demonic occurrences is understandable as sleep paralysis occurs usually at night and is accompanied by the feeling of a cold presence and a weight upon the chest.

Although the term sleep paralysis was only coined two centuries ago, evidence of its existence dates to ancient Greece in the second and fifth centuries. Historical research reveals that sleep paralysis has a reference not just in psychology but also in folklore and mythology.

Perhaps the ancients considered sleep paralysis as a ‘nightmare’. But for people such as Zenab who have experienced sleep paralysis, it can be way more frighening than a nightmare.

The writer is a freelancer

Published in Dawn, EOS, June 23rd, 2019