nina wrote:
<quoted text>
it's interesting to read about myths and then discover the cause
there's a sleep disorder apnea that can also cause a kind of a paralysis/paranoia that someone's in the room
this is often the cause of alien abductions or hag visits,(depending on the culture, in the west it's aliens, in Africa, it's hags how come to do nasty things to you)
when your mind isn't getting input and you're low oxygen, your brain will make stuff up
Found this :

"Sleep paralysis is most often associated with narcolepsy, a neurological condition in which the person has uncontrollable naps. However, there are many people who experience sleep paralysis without having signs of narcolepsy. Sometimes it runs in families. There is no known explanation why some people experience this paralysis. It is not harmful, although most people report feeling very afraid because they do not know what is happening, and within minutes they gradually or abruptly are able to move again; the episode is often terminated by a sound or a touch on the body.

In some cases, when hypnogogic hallucinations are present, people feel that someone is in the room with them, some experience the feeling that someone or something is sitting on their chest and they feel impending death and suffocation. That has been called the “Hag Phenomena” and has been happening to people over the centuries. These things cause people much anxiety and terror, but there is no physical harm."

It's actually not related to apnea, which is when you actually stop breathing for a short time, usually due to obstruction or neurological problems (obstuctive apnea vs central apnea). Just imparting some of my respiratory knowledge on ya. Don't get to do that often here. LOL

But sleep paralysis is very interesting in the fact of how it could relate to some myths.