Paralyzed
I was listening to the radio this morning and learned an interesting little tidbit that solves one of the great mysteries of my life. Several months ago, I was lying in bed and I dreamt that a very scary ghost was in the bedroom with me. I woke up from this dream and was still scared, so I tried to call for my boyfriend, who was in the living room. To my horror, I could neither move nor speak. This scared the CRAP out of me, and I started panicking inside. All of the sudden, however, I could speak and move again. I decided in my own head that I must have still been asleep and dreaming when I tried to call for him, but that never really sat right with me. It was prefectly clear, and there was no becoming awake transition between being able to move and not being able to. Maybe, I thought, there was a ghost in my room and it possessed me so I couldn't move or cry for help!Well, on the radio this morning I learned that while you dream, your brain releases a chemical that paralyzes your skeletal muscles. This is why you don't "act out" your dreams as you sleep. People who sleepwalk have a disorder where their brains don't release this chemical like it's supposed to. The DJ was asking the "sleep expert" about a very similar situation to mine, where he had woken up and couldn't move for a few seconds. The expert explained that what simply happened was that the brain accidentally kept releasing the chemical for a few seconds after it woke up. Very interesting!
I feel better now knowing that I wasn't possessed by some demon ghost in bedroom that night.
posted by Jen @ 8/15/2005 06:43:00 AM
1 Comments:
I've had that paralyzing thing happen to me, before. I decided that I had still been asleep, and that's why I couldn't move.
I like this explanation, better.
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