[Marcus]

Marcus asked the Naked Scientists:

Hi my name is marcus and I am 23 yrs old.

I have had sleep paralysis since I was very young. I no longer fear the intensity the condition. but there is one thing that starting to happen to me that I have not been able to find when researching about this condition online.

When it happens to me now I have an "Overwhelming" amount of energy pulsating through my brain.. and it is no hallucination. I can feel my neural pathways and neural transmitter almost ready to explode.

If you can help me in any way I would love to even talk about it.

What do you think?

[Evie]

This is probably because sleep paralysis is related to REM sleep, in which your neurons will be firing rapidly.

On Sleep Paralysis:

Physiologically, it is closely related to the paralysis that occurs as a natural part of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is known as REM atonia. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the bodily paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully conscious, but unable to move. In addition, the state may be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations (hypnopompic or hypnagogic) and an acute sense of danger [3].

On REM Sleep:

Physiologically, certain neurons in the brain stem, known as REM sleep-on cells, (located in the pontine tegmentum), are particularly active during REM sleep. The release of certain neurotransmitters, the monoamines (norepinephrine, serotonin and histamine), is completely shut down during REM. This causes REM atonia, a state in which the motor neurons are not stimulated and thus the body's muscles don't move.

From Wikipedia

[Andrew K Fletcher]

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?action=search2

Him Marcus, this topic has received quite a lot of attention. You might find these other threads of interest.