What is sleep paralysis?

“Sleep paralysis is an inability to move your body when you wake up,” explains sleep expert Dr Kat Lederle. “Typically it lasts for a few seconds or minutes, but it’s a very scary experience for anyone to wake up and not be able to move your body.”

Charlie Morley, an expert in sleep paralysis and author of Wake Up To Sleep, says that the condition can occur in the middle of the night, but usually happens as people are about to awake for the day. “In sleep paralysis, your mind is half awake. You can sense some things from the outside world but your physical body cannot move. You may also experience hallucinations that feel like real imaginary scenes playing out in front of you,” he says.

Sleep problems: how do you know if you have sleep paralysis?