A German online survey of people who have experienced sleep paralysis.

An online survey of 380 people who had experienced sleep paralysis at least once found that more frequent episodes were associated with more phenomena, emotions, and perceived shapes during the event. Some individuals appeared to habituate and de-dramatize the experience with higher frequency. Contrary to expectations, neither general stress nor poor sleep hygiene correlated with episode frequency. Women reported more phenomena and emotions overall, more intruder and incubus-type episodes, and were more likely to perceive concrete forms like human figures. They also reported more fear, especially fear of going crazy. These exploratory findings require replication.

Study at a glance

Abstract

We present some key findings from an online survey on isolated sleep paralysis. The aim of our study was to get a differentiated picture of the correlation between the frequency of sleep paralysis and several phenomena (symptoms, experiences) as well as factors correlated with these phenomena. We also investigated the role of gender in relation to the experience of sleep paralysis. We used a selected sample of subjects who had had at least one sleep paralysis experience, with a total of 380 subjects. On average, the participants experienced 10-20 sleep paralysis episodes. We found high and expected positive correlations between the frequency of sleep paralysis experiences and the amount of phenomena, emotions, and perceived shapes and forms experienced during sleep paralysis. An increased frequency of sleep paralysis also appears to lead to habituation and de-dramatization in some affected individuals. Interestingly, significant correlations are missing where one would have suspected them based on the previous hypotheses. Neither self-perceived general stress nor poor sleep hygiene appeared to influence the frequency of sleep paralysis. We found highly significant gender differences in some items. Women reported more experienced phenomena and emotions overall, had more frequent sleep paralysis experiences of the intruder and incubus type, and were significantly more likely to perceive concrete forms such as human figures or people they know. They were also more likely than men to report experiencing fearful emotions, especially the fear of going crazy. Most of these findings were based on exploratory questions; they require replication for validation.