Have you ever while drifting asleep had the feeling of falling followed by a sudden jolt that wakes you up? That experience is the onset of sleep paralysis, when your body stops all movement so that while you dream you do in fact stay perfectly still despite whatever actions you dream that you’re doing.

According to a Science News article by Bruce Bower (07/09/05), many different supposedly supernatural phenomenons such as alien abductions, out of body experiences, asphyxiation by monsters, might be blamed on the unusual sensation of being lucid while sleep paralysis sets in.

In fact, several hundred years in the past, the term nightmare actually referred to a mythological entity known as the hag who would sneak into a victim’s room and crawl onto his or her chest crushing their lungs. Mare was derived from the Anglo-Saxon merran, meaning to crush.

I’ve definitely experienced sleep paralysis nightmares of being held down by some unknown evil, unable to breath and with no sound coming out when I screamed for help. I have actually woken up by my own yelling. I also on one occasion wake up to find that I really couldn’t move, panicking until I realized I’d wrapped and trapped myself in the bed sheets.

As scary as being frozen and unable to move may be for a dreamer for those who don’t experience sleep paralysis it’s a nightmare for anyone who has to sleep nearby.

Jay Schadler reports on ABC News (07/26/06) about a serious problem for some couples called sexsomnia or sleep sex. These individuals have been known to attack their bed partners during the night tearing off clothes and holding their loved ones down by force. The next day, they remember nothing of the event.

University of New Hampshire research psychologist, Mike Mangan explains, “Basically, what you have is a sexually motivated body and a cortex that has switched off. When that’s switched off, you have a sexually active body that is having its way.”

Talk about strange bed fellows, it sounds as if the next time I’m lacking for rough action, I should head down to the sleep lab for some nocturnal nooky.