Sleep Paralysis - Night-Mares, Nocebos and the Mind-Body Connection

Shelley R. Adler

Rutgers University Press

2011

192 páginas

6h 24m

ISBN-13: 9780813548869

Sleep Paralysis" explores a distinctive form of nocturnal fright: the "night-mare," or incubus. In its original meaning a night-mare was the nocturnal visit of an evil being that threatened to press the life out of its victim. Today, it is known as sleep paralysis-a state of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness, when you are unable to move or speak and may experience vivid and often frightening hallucinations. Culture, history, and biology intersect to produce this terrifying sleep phenomenon. Although a relatively common experience across cultures, it is rarely recognized or understood in the contemporary United States.