Sleep Paralysis: The Original Nightmare and How it Became a Medical Phenomenon

Sleep paralysis is when a person finds themselves in a state of conscious paralysis as they are falling asleep or waking up. It is often accompanied by shallowing breathing, visual and auditory hallucinations, and a sense of terror. Sleep paralysis has a rich folklore consisting of sleep demons, spirits, and curses some of which are still told to children today. This thesis will explore a timeline of this folklore that involves modern day sleep paralysis, a history of sleep science, and how they collided resulting in the official diagnosis of sleep paralysis as a sleep disorder.