What is sleep paralysis?  Modern Western medical thought says that sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from the REM state, but the body is still in the state of paralysis, which they say prevents the body from manifesting movements made in the subject’s dreams and thus causes hallucinations, mostly of “evil presences in the room”. Yet, while sleep paralysis symptoms are clear, they freely admit that very little is known about the physiology of sleep paralysis and that this is at best, a guess.

There are several problems with this theory. One is that if it is generally accompanied by the sense that there is something evil in the room and if it were only the result of people dreaming, even though their body is still asleep, why isn’t there more people reporting all kinds very different dreams as you would expect, as opposed to almost identical experiences with this evil presence.

What is Sleep Paralysis: Other Cultures

The same story, the same feeling and sometimes the same entity are being described by people who have had no contact with one another, or who have ever heard of sleep paralysis before. I think it is helpful at this point to hear what other cultures have believed about what is sleep paralysis for hundreds of years.

what is sleep paralysis

  • In the Persian culture, it is a ghost-like creature that causes sleep paralysis.

  • In the Malaysian culture, they are reported as demonic figures.

  • In Tamil and Sri Lanka, the translation of the term is a “ghost that forces one down”.

  • In the Muslim culture, what is sleep paralysis?  It’s jinns or demons.

  • In the Ethiopian culture some form of evil spirit.

  • In Zimbabwean and Shona culture some spirit—especially an evil one.

  • In Greece and Cyprus, it’s a ghost-like creature or demon.

  • In the Southwest Nigeria region, it’s a demon.

  • In Maltese folk culture, sleep paralysis is attributed to ghosts.

  • In Iceland folk culture what is sleep paralysis?  It’s a goblin or a succubus

  • In Chinese culture, it is literally translated as “ghost pressing on body” and similarly in the Vietnamese culture, it is translated as “held down by a ghost”.

  • Also in Hmong culture, translated as “crushing demon”.

  • In Cambodian, Laotian, and Thai cultures, it is attributed to ghosts.

It may be tempting to dismiss these cultures views about sleep paralysis because we think that our culture has grown out of a belief of demons, but if you have been experiencing sleep paralysis in your life, you know that the demon explanation shouldn’t be thrown out quite so fast; regardless of what you think that you know about how the world works.

What Is Sleep Paralysis: How to Stop It?

I’m going to shoot straight with you! I know what is sleep paralysis, I know how to stop it, and I have seen tons of people beat it for good. So bear with me as I explain all this, because I’m sure that many of you will not like the truth about this, but this will be all the information that you need to know to terminate sleep paralysis for good in your life.

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