Old witch syndrome, or sleep paralysis: causes. How to get rid of it, how to cause it? Attack by evil spirits or old witch syndrome

Sleep paralysis- the pathology is not quite common. Most of practicing doctors consider it almost a variant of the norm, traditional healers explain the symptoms as a violation of the natural balance of certain matters surrounding a person, and metaphysicians and adepts occult sciences We are sure that sleep paralysis syndrome (SPS) is a sudden physical fitness a communication channel between the real and other worlds. Boring nightmare, explained solely chronic fatigue and lack of sleep, you say? Perhaps this is so... It is much easier to pretend that sleep paralysis, which is popularly informally called the syndrome old witch, is a normal physiological reaction of the body to certain external stimuli. Therefore, you should get rid of it as soon as possible (any psychiatrist will prescribe treatment), and not bother yourself with otherworldly myths and legends...

But if the question is “is old witch syndrome dangerous?” brings nothing but a smile to your face, we suggest holding off on drawing final conclusions and reading the article first. It is not quite ordinary, since it is built in the form of questions and answers without using the traditional scheme of presenting material “symptoms - diagnosis - treatment”. Why, you ask? Let's figure it out together.

“My mother came into the room where I always sleep. Without turning on the light, she approached the closet with old and useless things and took something from one of the shelves. Woke up (after all, it’s 3 o’clock in the morning) I ask her: “Mom, did something happen?”, but she doesn’t answer. I try to get out of bed and turn on the light, but my body seems to be numb. The next morning I tried to find out what it was. Mom says that she actually went into the bedroom, but I was fast asleep and, of course, could not say anything. She also advised me to see a doctor who will help me get rid of nightmares”...

What is sleep paralysis syndrome?

If we stick to the point of view official medicine, then the old witch syndrome is the awareness of the inability to move. It occurs at the moment of falling asleep or awakening, and the few symptoms are limited to a subjective and short-term feeling of suffocation, a nonspecific sleep disorder and very in rare cases- narcolepsy. You can get rid of it by normalizing your daily routine, mandatory ventilation of the bedroom and selecting a comfortable pillow.

Unfortunately, numerous eyewitness accounts (we cited one of them above) give many reasons to doubt the absolute truth of the official point of view. Parsing alternative versions is beyond the scope of this material, but one thing is for sure: sleep paralysis is not as “simple” a problem as it might seem at first glance.

Can this pathology be considered serious?

Formally no. Sleep paralysis is no more dangerous than one of the many nonspecific sleep disorders, of which there are dozens. Demons, sorcerers, witches, alien abductors and ghostly, ethereal beings that appear in our world every night are just an echo folk myths and legends. On the other hand, deny the possibility that restless night on the verge of reality and sleep may be caused by not entirely “ordinary” reasons, but it is still impossible.

Does the disease have a conditional risk group?

Phrases like “sleep paralysis is most common in teenagers, but can also occur in men and women.” of different ages"(may readers who appreciate literate Russian language forgive us) describe the situation with a potential risk group in the best possible way. And if we put aside their complete illiteracy, we have to admit that everyone can “get sick”. But in addition to the “exclusively informative” age factor, somnologists also identify other possible reasons:

• a sudden change in the usual nightly rest schedule;
• daytime stress is not compensated by the quality and duration of sleep;
• some mental pathologies(eg bipolar disorder);
• chronic stress;
• physiologically unnatural body position during sleep;
• restless legs syndrome;
• narcolepsy ( severe attacks daytime sleepiness, aggravated by various psychophysiological disorders);
• side effect from taking medications;
• toxicological or drug addiction.

“I wanted to get up, but it was all in vain. Feelings of hopeless despair and physical anxiety, very similar to childhood nightmares. I couldn’t wake up in them either, but at the same time I was awake and tried unsuccessfully to scream”...

What happens with sleep paralysis?

Everything here is very individual, but the generalized diagram looks like this. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain wakes up at an “unscheduled time” (phase REM sleep), but the body remains completely immobile for several more minutes. We will not describe the corresponding physiological mechanisms in detail now, but there is a common misconception among people that such disorders do not require special treatment, should be considered false. After all chronic lack of sleep(regardless of what caused it) can lead to the most sad consequences. Therefore, you should not ignore seemingly “harmless” symptoms.

Are there any clinical manifestations of SSP that require special attention?

Of course, sleep paralysis (like any other “disease”) must have its own symptoms. But in this case, the word “should” should be taken almost literally, since there are no obvious manifestations of BSC. These (albeit with a very big stretch) include the following:

• heightened perception of smells, tastes, touches and sounds (it is better not to raise the question of how real all this is);
• a feeling of vibration or trembling throughout the body;
• a logically inexplicable state between sleep and reality, getting rid of which is not at all as easy as it seems ( effective treatment assumes massive drug therapy, which is not always acceptable);
• bright and colorful dreams, practically indistinguishable from reality (often these are strange nightmares, when a person believes that he has already woken up). Sleep paralysis in this case is often a sign of serious nervous or physical stress, treatment of which should be started as soon as possible;
• extremely realistic sound images, somewhat similar to hallucinations (music, laughter, everyday sounds);
• a persistent feeling that there is someone behind your back (in the room, behind the curtain, but in any case somewhere very close).

How can one diagnose SSP?

Generally accepted (or, according to at least, any reliable) criteria that would make it possible to make a diagnosis of “sleep paralysis” still do not exist. Moreover, a considerable part of practicing physicians do not consider SSP to be an independent nosological unit at all. Consequently, talking about diagnosis in this case can be done with great reservations. But if you are serious and ready to put up with the caustic remarks of others, you can look for a somnologist or psychotherapist who will certainly ask the following questions:

• How long have you been complaining of sleep paralysis?
• What were you sick with as a child?
• Is your professional activity with mental or physical overload?
• What medications have you taken in the last few months?

Is it possible to cure SSP and how dangerous is it?

Even if we agree that the old witch syndrome is a pathology, it is certainly not deadly. Therefore, in most cases, some specific therapy is not required, and the patient will be offered a non-burdensome set of general strengthening and supportive measures:

• full 8-hour sleep;
• mild antidepressants to normalize the psycho-emotional state;
• treatment accompanying pathologies And chronic diseases which can cause sleep problems;
• minimizing the risk of excessive stress and stress.

What recommendations do you have for those who have chronic sleep problems?

In addition to the above list " therapeutic measures", you should adhere to a few simple rules:

• One of the most common pieces of advice is to try not to sleep on your back. But most sources are silent on how this can be achieved, so it’s worth showing your imagination;
• during the half-sleep phase, try to think about something abstract, and not concentrate on furnishings or people who may enter the bedroom;
• if you wake up and the morning is still far away, do some simple exercises, walk around the apartment or drink a glass of water, and then try to fall asleep again;
• if sleep problems become constant, consult a doctor: he may consider it necessary to prescribe mild sleeping pills or recommend certain remedies from the arsenal of traditional medicine;
• try to give up evening snacks;
• may be useful for a short period of time an evening walk(but only if it does not end at 11-12 pm).

Almost half of the world's population has experienced the phenomenon of sleep paralysis at least once in their lives.

Have you ever experienced panic fear: be it phobia or anxiety before skydiving? But imagine that the biggest horror of your life could be waiting for you in the comfort of your own bed.

Auditory and visual hallucinations, attacks of suffocation, complete immobility of the body and a clear awareness that you are not sleeping - all these are signs of sleep paralysis, a phenomenon that, by the way, is quite common. In fact, about half of the people on the planet have experienced bouts of sleep stupor at least once in their lives, and many experience this nightmare regularly.

Trying to figure out what it is, I found two points of view, each of which has the right to life. One of them is formed on precise scientific research, on the secrets that it hides human brain; the other is a mystical version of what is happening.

Let's take a closer look at what the scientists' side hides behind them.

Sleep paralysis is a state of complete immobility of the body upon awakening during REM sleep. A situation where your brain is already awake, and your body is in a relaxed state: you cannot even move a finger, you cannot scream or open your eyes (but, despite this, you can see your room). The most terrible thoughts come to mind when this happens for the first time: clinical death, coma. But all fears are, in fact, groundless. After 2 minutes, all signs of paralysis disappear and you actually wake up. According to modern specialists, it is harmless, although unpleasant. Therefore, the fear of going crazy, falling into lethargy or dying has no basis.

Sleep paralysis occurs several times more often when sleeping on your back than in other positions. The likelihood of sleep stupor when sleeping on your side, especially the right, is quite low. Personally, this is exactly what happens to me; I absolutely cannot sleep on my back!

The phenomenon of night paralysis and suffocation is popularly called “old witch syndrome.” A person suddenly feels as if something heavy is falling on top of him, suffocating him, preventing him from breathing. This is a condition in which a person lying on his back is in the so-called drowsy state. He suddenly realizes that he cannot move or scream. This state can last for several seconds, very rarely a little longer. Having come to their senses, these people often talk later about the feeling of the presence of something terrible, dangerous, and evil. In such cases, panic and feelings of fear are very common.

Sleep paralysis is possible only with natural awakening. If awakening occurs abruptly (under the influence of factors such as an alarm clock, bright light in the eyes), sleep paralysis does not occur.

But the most unpleasant thing in a state of stupor is still hallucinations. I want to analyze this phenomenon from the side of mysticism and paranormality.

There are opinions that during a sleepy stupor you seem to find yourself in the astral plane (parallel world), where various entities live: ghosts, brownies, spirits and demons. During hallucinations, a person may hear music, noises, stomping, and voices. And what does he see! There is no limit to the variety.

The most common myth is the belief that this condition is the work of a house-elf. They say that he sits on the back or chest and begins to choke, thus he warns of impending trouble or joy.

Muslim folk tradition connects this phenomenon with jinn.

But seriously speaking, many people often experience a state of sleep paralysis, some even specifically strive to cause it, experiencing irrepressible interest. By the way, the practice of this phenomenon is called nothing less than “ lucid dream", and attribute it to another completely unexplored ability of the human brain.

Ways to combat this disease vary from person to person. General method- This is, first of all, maintaining a good sleep schedule. Eye movements help many people cope with an attack. thumb right hand(for right-handers) or tongue. Others, on the contrary, are helped by calmness and the most complete relaxation of muscles, thus weakening negative emotions and experiencing a gentle exit from the state of sleepy stupor. Some begin to think or count something, actively developing brain activity(I begin to read the prayer). You can also try to make a moo from the nasopharynx, since it is impossible to open your mouth. For others, it helps to sort of raise their head up (the angle between the plane of the back and the back of the head decreases).

Often, attacks of sleep stupor go away with age.

At-risk groups:

1. People with suggestible, non-standard or weak psyches.

2. Introverts (inward-oriented people).

3. People with strong nervous system in a state of extreme fatigue.

I learned about the old witch syndrome several years ago, when this same syndrome happened to me. And it was like this.
I lived in an ordinary apartment, on the seventh floor. The house is unremarkable, without any creepy stories. Well, except that not so long ago before the events I describe, the upstairs neighbor died. She drank heavily, and in her dream she had a stroke. So she lay in bed for 3 days until her husband came out of his alcoholic stupor and noticed that his wife would not get up.
When I was little, I felt comfortable in our apartment, but as I grew older, I began to feel that something was wrong in the apartment. You walk down a long corridor at night without turning on the light, and you feel that someone is looking at your back. Or, out of the blue, during a thunderstorm, a musical mug will start playing in the kitchen (those New Year's mugs that turn on when something hot is poured into them). The parquet floor creaks again.
I always similar phenomena I explain it to myself with physical laws: the expansion of a tree due to a temperature change, or something in the mug shorted out under the influence of a thunderstorm. The milk turns sour, which means that some processes are going on. So, back to the old witch syndrome.
I'm sleeping. I wake up for some unknown reason and feel fear, I immediately wanted to get out of bed and turn on the light. I try to get up, but it doesn’t work. The muscles do not obey, and at the same time there is a feeling that someone is pulling on the legs. I notice a dark spot in the corner, near the closet, and immediately try to explain to myself that it is a chair or one of the things. dark spot floats out of the corner into the moonlit center of the room, and it becomes clear that this is definitely not a chair. Tall silhouette in a cloak with a hood. The face is not visible, instead there is gaping darkness. The shadow slowly floats across the room, as if time has stood still. I try to scream, but I can't make a sound. Thoughts are quite clear, although they rush around in my head, knocking on my temples. The shadow leans over me, leaning over my frozen body, and touches my neck. No pain. There is only the feeling that someone is sucking the air and, in general, life itself out of you. I make an incredible effort to say something. My tongue moves around in my mouth with difficulty, and in a half-whisper, wheezing, I say, turning to the Shadow: “Help me!”
I still don’t understand why it didn’t occur to me to say a prayer or something else. I asked my tormentor for help, and he disappeared!
I shook in the kitchen and continued to sleep with the lights and TV on.
In the morning I told myself that it was a dream. Some kind of nonsense. I went about my normal activities until it was time to go to bed. Mom was at home, so she decided to go to bed without light, after drinking a sedative.
I wake up at night from the wild cold, lying on my side. I wanted to pull the blanket over myself, but my hands again wouldn’t obey. The room is cold, so cold that steam comes out of your mouth, as if in the cold. Inhuman fear appeared again, causing the small fluff on his back to stand on end. It's a very strange feeling when the small hairs on your back rise and stand on end. Like cats who fluff their tails to appear bigger and more dangerous. The hair on my head clearly began to move.
I feel with my back that someone is standing behind me. He stands and looks at me. I lay there for about five minutes, not moving and pretending that I was even sleeping. The obsession disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. The rest of the night I slept with my mother, who was pretty surprised that her eighteen-year-old daughter came to the side. It was so calm next to my mother that I immediately fell asleep and never woke up.
After these two cases, I read similar information on the Internet and found the following.
The name of this phenomenon indicates old belief that witches usually sit on their victim’s chest, which is why many consider such cases to be the result of the action of otherworldly forces. People also say that in this way the old witch is trying to pass on her knowledge and sins to you, otherwise she will not be able to die.
Personally, I like another theory, according to which the brain, waking up before the body, feels muscle stiffness, sometimes accompanied by auditory and visual hallucinations.
Thank God, this never happened to me again. Sleep paralysis was replaced a few years later by lucid dreaming, which is much more pleasant and does not cause feelings of fear and horror.

It's really very scary, we know. For those lucky women who have never experienced something similar, we’ll tell you. You wake up (or fall asleep), and suddenly a feeling of inexplicable horror comes over you. This could be the feeling of someone's presence in the room, a rustling sound outside the door, or even a voice. At the same time, you cannot move. You are fully awake, awake, but unable to move, as if your body were your coffin. After a few seconds or minutes it goes away, you jump up, turn on the light and try to catch your breath.

The mechanisms of paralysis are known

When the REM sleep phase begins, our brain, in order to protect ourselves, turns off some regions that are responsible for movement. Not for any movement, of course, but for active ones. That is, if a saber-toothed tiger is chasing us in a dream, we do not jump out of bed and rush at full speed, wherever our eyes look. When we wake up, these departments, accordingly, turn back on. But sometimes a malfunction occurs, and motor functions do not immediately turn on when a person wakes up. We woke up, but the brain did not have time to “turn on” all the necessary functions; it did not figure out whether we were sleeping or already awake.

Ideally, a person should awaken during the stage of slow-wave sleep; during this period, the body rested and prepared for exploits.

There can be many causes of sleep paralysis

And they all relate to certain sleep disturbances:

• disruption of biorhythms (for example, due to a flight to a different time zone);
• lack of sleep due to stress and anxiety;
• depression;
• sleeping in an uncomfortable position (on your back or with a limb lying down);
• bad habits;
• taking certain medications - neurometabolic stimulants, antidepressants;
• mental disorders and diseases;
• genetic predisposition.

But, to be honest, no one will tell you the exact reason.

It occurs when falling asleep or waking up

Sleep paralysis can be hypnagogic (occurring during the period of falling asleep) and hypnopompic, which manifests itself, in fact, during the moments of awakening. The first type is less common; it usually occurs when the body is already “asleep”, but the brain remains awake.

Hallucinations can sometimes occur during sleep paralysis.

Unlike the nightmares we see with eyes closed during fast phase sleep, hallucinations during sleep paralysis can occur even when your eyes are open. As such, pictures are quite rare, but the feeling of someone's presence in the room is a fairly common occurrence. Often this is triggered by panic, which grips a person who realizes that he is unable to move.

It doesn't last long

From a few seconds to - maximum! - a couple of minutes. This time may seem like an eternity to you, but in reality everything happens very quickly. To calm down, try counting to yourself.

Sleep paralysis is not dangerous. Almost

There is no evidence that sleep paralysis can cause any health problems. But. It can be quite frightening, and if a person suffers from cardiovascular disease, paralysis can have a negative impact on their heart. Another danger is lack of awareness (it is from this danger that we are now saving you), when a person, experiencing sleep paralysis, is convinced that not everything is fine with his psyche.

If this happens, what should I do?

First, calm down (yeah, easy to say!) and start, for example, counting out loud. Realize that this is a temporary and harmless condition. The main thing is not to resist the paralysis, otherwise there may be a feeling of suffocation, and we don’t want that. Even out your breathing, try to count your inhalations and exhalations. As an option, try moving your tongue, for example. Perhaps your body will wake up faster this way.

To avoid sleep paralysis - sleep!

Most the right way make sure this doesn’t happen to you - optimize your work and rest modes. Lack of sleep and stress can easily cause sleep paralysis. So go to bed on time, turn off gadgets a few hours before bed, take a relaxing bath and don’t overeat before going to bed.

For centuries, people have been convinced that sleep paralysis is caused by demons, evil spirits and other forces hostile to humans. Now we know that there is a reason for everything scientific explanation. Almost.

Good night and good dreams!

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent and the Merciful!

Probably every person at least once woke up from suffocation, horror and in an immobilized state. Others experience this almost every night, which makes them afraid to go to bed. In any case, the phenomenon is quite familiar - according to statistics, it occurs in four out of ten people. So probably everyone has an idea about him - if not from own experience, so from the stories of the “victims”.

The stories are usually the same in plot, but may differ in details. For example, one of my relatives told me that he first saw a black spot approaching, and only then experienced paralysis and suffocation, as if the “spot” lay on him and suffocated him. Others note the accompanying auditory and visual hallucinations: “I woke up from a child’s laughter and saw some creepy creature knocking on the window. I screamed like crazy and tried to ask my brother to wake me up, but to no avail. Because I couldn’t open my mouth or move.”

In medicine, this phenomenon is defined as sleep paralysis... or old witch syndrome. “It comes at night, when a person is about to fall into a peaceful sleep, or in the early morning, immediately after waking up. They fear her, she is invisible, but clearly felt, she is silent, but objects and furniture react to her movements by creaking and ringing, almost half of the inhabitants of the Earth are familiar with her. This is an old witch, or rather, old witch syndrome or, in medical terms, sleep paralysis.”

From a medical point of view, sleep paralysis is not a sign of illness; it is a natural biological phenomenon provided by nature for our comfort. When we sleep, our body sleeps with us - we can run, jump, fight in our sleep, but the body remains in place, inactive. Doctors believe that sleep paralysis occurs due to “out of sync awakening.” That is, consciousness has already entered a waking state, and the body is still in a dream. In other words, sleep paralysis occurs when the body “did not have time” to return to reality synchronously with consciousness. It's similar to how your computer sometimes freezes when you give it a few different teams simultaneously. In this way, for a split second (usually from a few seconds to two minutes, although it seems that it lasts about 10 minutes), our body “freezes,” usually immobilized in the throat, abdomen and chest.

Sleep paralysis is associated with a disorder of REM sleep. This is the phase in which extreme activity of brain cells (dreaming) is accompanied by a lack of muscle tone. That is, motor neurons are switched off in spinal cord, causing temporary paralysis that prevents movement during sleep. And if a person wakes up at this time, he cannot move or perform any actions.

From an Islamic point of view.

Sleep paralysis is familiar to most Muslims, but we have our own methods of influencing and getting rid of it. “A smoke-like creature was holding me. I began to say, “I take refuge in Allah from the damned shaitan,” and it let me go.” In Islam, this creature that “strangles, gets angry, whispers something with a disgusting voice and laughs” is known as Al-Jasum. According to Ibn al Manzur, “a qaboos (demon, evil spirit, nightmare) that comes to a person at night and attacks him while he sleeps is called al-Jasum.” He was also mentioned in his medical book “al-Qanon”: “It is also called al-khanik, and in Arabic it is called “al-jasum” and “al-naidalan.” Al-Qaboos is a disease that a person feels in a dream, when he imagines that something heavy is pressing on him, squeezing him and cutting off his breathing, so that the person cannot speak or move, and he is almost suffocating because his Airways clogged. When this goes away, the person immediately wakes up. This is a precursor to one of the following: epilepsy, paralysis or mania. This applies if we're talking about O physical reasons, and there are no other non-physical reasons."

Professor Hasan Shamsi Basha divided qaboos into two categories: temporary and recurring. Temporary - one that occurs either due to “fumes rising to the brain through the respiratory tract when you first go to bed, such that the person feels panic,” or due to the use of medications (arazrabine, antidepressants, beta-blocker, Lyphod B, after stopping taking tranquilizers). And recurrent - occurring due to the influence of evil spirits.

In the next part, in shaa Allah1, we will talk about precautions that can be taken to avoid the “visit of al-jasum”.