Old Hag Syndrome: A Look at Sleep Paralysis (video)

By Bryce Baker

Many people have suffered from Sleep Paralysis at some point in their life and never realize there is a name for it. Others suffer from Sleep Paralysis regularly and research it, struggling to find a cause of Sleep Paralysis.

For those who dont know, Sleep Paralysis is the inability to move voluntarily that some people experience either right before going to sleep or directly after waking up.

There are two types of Sleep Paralysis,Common Sleep Paralysis CSP, and Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis (HSP). The major difference between the two types of Sleep Paralysis is that Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis is accompanied by frightening hallucinations, feelings of intense fear, and the strong feeling of an evil presence. Almost all cases of Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis occur when victims are sleeping on their backs.

Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis has been documented all through human history and almost every culture has its own legends behind it. Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis is often called Old Hag Syndrome, due to the common accounts of seeing or sensing the presence of an Old Hag often putting pressure on the chest or choking the victims.

Some accounts of Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis describe a small gremlin or demonic being sitting on the chest. There are still quite a few incidents of Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis that report a black cat on top of the victim stealing their breath, this may be the source of many of the superstitious beliefs in some countries that cause people to be afraid of cats and keep them away from their houses.

A particularly interesting thing to note about Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis, is evidence shows that Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis will often effect an area like an epidemic. Many cases will be reported in a short period of time when no cases had been reported prior. Studies show that some areas can remain affected for years, but most only weeks or months. This is something science has not yet been able to explain. Old Hag Syndrome also seems to run in families, I can say this is true for my own family.

Sleep Paralysis is just a sleep disorder in the eyes of the medical community. But many who have experienced Sleep Paralysis. particularly Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis find it hard to convince themselves that an outside force is not at work, this is including myself.

In my own case this is mainly because my particular experiences with intense Old Hag Syndrome were sometimes shared; meaning others that were close to me would report similiar Sleep Paralysis experiences on the same nights without me ever mention anything about Sleep Paralysis to them before. Shared experiences are sometimes occurs with Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis, and this is a fact even the medical community acknowledges and cannot explain. And aside from that, my episodes of Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis subsided and were immediately followed by paranormal activity in my house. This paranormal activity was particularly severe and it is my belief that it was directly linked to my prior episodes of Sleep Paralysis. The paranormal activity eventually went away, and I wont go off the subject of Sleep Paralysis entirely by going into too much detail. But I will say that some of the worst examples of this paranormal activity involved physical attacks by unseen things while wide awake, consisting of slapping, and scratching.]

I am not dismissive of scientific, rational explanations of things. I would have loved to comfort myself by believing that Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis was simply a sleep disorder. But the nature of these attacks and the events surrounding them forced me to doubt that. I didn't necessarily believe that ghosts or demons were behind it, although at times I seriously considered it, all I really knew is that some outside influence had to be the source of my sleep paralysis. It is perhaps needless to say that I have since been eager to learn the real cause of Old Hag Syndrome.

Some of the things the medical community claims are likely causes of Sleep Paralysis are going long periods of time without sleep, insomnia, stress in daily life, irregular sleeping schedules and even lack of exercise.

While I am sure this is true for Common Sleep Paralysis, I doubt these are the causes of Old Hag Syndrome, maybe contributing factors at most. But if you are suffering from any form of Sleep Paralysis, it may be worth it trying to address these issues to see if it will act as your cure for Sleep Paralysis.

Recent scientific studies on Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis has suggested that most reports of Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis occur in areas when there is little to no geomagnetic activity. The absence of geomagnetic activity has also been linked with reports of paranormal activity. As well as infrasonic sound waves in other studies, that are sometimes created by geological activity. This could explain why HSP seems to occur geographically, and people having shared experiences. And given the fact it could also have something to do with paranormal activity, I find this an interesting and highly possible explanation.

Its obvious to me there is alot to be learned about Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis and undoubtedly the effects subsonic vibrations and geophysical activity has on us. But regardless of what you think causes Hallucinatory Sleep Paralysis, be it the Old Hag, medical disorders, genetics or geomagnetic fields.

One thing is undeniable, Sleep Paralysis is a strange and horrifying occurence that leaves many questions unanswered.

Source: Yahoo Voices