Harvard neuroscientist Baland Jalal has dedicated his career to demystifying sleep paralysis, a complex brain phenomenon that he describes as a profound, albeit frightening, window into the human mind. In his book, The Phantom Mind, Jalal argues that examining this state—where the boundary between sleep and wakefulness blurs—offers essential insights into how consciousness, perception, and the sense of self function. He notes that the brain’s ability to contemplate its own existence, along with concepts of spirits and science, remains a miraculous yet often overlooked capability. Yet you hold it in your hand and it seems so trivial. A brain glitch that can fill its host with terror so palpable that it can cause lasting trauma. “What you get very close to in sleep paralysis,” he says, “is that subjective world of the mind, jalal’s passion – the subject that drove him to become a scientist – is sleep paralysis. He should know – he’s spent 271 pages trying to do so. But studying the mechanics, he says, doesn’t damp down the mysteries of consciousness. “For me, actually, I’ve become more spiritual and interested in the world of mystery and, I want to say supernatural, but dimensions that are intangible, by studying something like sleep paralysis.”, he may wear a lab coat and examine brain regions and neurochemicals. I wake up, lying in my bed in my familiar bedroom with its comforting laundry smell, but I can’t move. Or being possessed, but the monster approaches in a whirlwind that overwhelms my senses until it engulfs me and I am either dying. Eventually, I am able to move and the room is quiet again, but I struggle to believe it wasn’t real. One night, it happened every time I started to fall back asleep and I ended up too scared to drift off again. It was impossible to convey how visceral it had felt, when I told friends what had happened. Jalal had similar experiences when he was a teenager. “ I grew up in a ghetto-like neighbourhood in Copenhagen,” he says. “Then one day, when I was 18 or 19, I was lying in my bed, and this ghost was trying to kill me. But he knew they wouldn’t believe him. “I thought, I have to figure out what’s happening, he wanted to tell his parents. Obviously she couldn’t move, but she literally saw herself turning into a monstrous creature.”, one girl he tells me about could see herself in the mirror in her room. “Lying there. He went to the American University in Cairo. “I was lucky to get scholarships and I studied this phenomenon day and night. According to this happens in the brainstem,”, Jalal. “Occasionally, as the sensory cortex, the perceptual part of the brain, awakens, you have this wakefulness emerging and mixing with the brain. They join the dots to tell us a story of what’s going on based on the information available.
Statistically, up to one in five people will experience an episode of sleep paralysis, a condition marked by the inability to move while remaining conscious. Hyperreal visions at least once, he writes that up to one in five people have experienced these semi-waking.
Despite its prevalence, public awareness remains limited.
For those unfamiliar with the sensation, the experience can be particularly traumatic. During a typical episode, a person may regain consciousness while still in bed, feeling physically immobilized while experiencing a terrifying, malevolent presence in their room. Jalal recounts his own adolescent experience in a Copenhagen neighborhood, where he encountered a spectral figure during an episode that left a lasting impact on his scientific trajectory. Now it’s in the room and all I can do is tense up and try to repel it with sheer will. It’s not unusual for people to open their eyes during an episode and look around the room.
The neurobiology behind these experiences involves a misalignment between brain states. During REM sleep, the body naturally experiences paralysis as a safety mechanism to prevent physical movement during dreams. Sleep paralysis occurs when this state persists or re-emerges during a partial awakening. The level of alertness during these episodes is heavily dictated by the prefrontal cortex; when this region shows variable levels of activation, the individual may feel partially awake yet physically trapped. Or supportive Subreddit, to consult, i experienced it often during my late teens when there was no internet.
Jalal explains that the sensation of being watched or suffocated often stems from the brain attempting to interpret its own paralysis. In this vulnerable state, the brain may hallucinate threats, creating the sensation of a predator nearby. These hallucinations are distinct from standard dreaming because the individual feels awake while perceiving them. Jalal identifies the amygdala—the brain’s emotional hub—as a primary driver; heightened activity in this area amplifies feelings of dread and horror, often transforming the hallucination into a demonic entity or, in some cases, a doppelganger.
The psychological impact of these episodes is significant. Anxiety is a frequent trigger, and the experience can exacerbate existing conditions or even lead to post-traumatic stress disorder. A 2004 study highlighted this by measuring elevated heart rates in participants as they listened to recordings of themselves recounting their most intense episodes. The sense of overwhelming terror is chemically linked to the activation of serotonin 2A receptors, which are also influenced by certain psychedelic substances. He puts this down to the same receptors – “which are doorways by which cells can communicate” – that psychedelic drugs bind to.
Distortion of body image is another key component of these episodes. Jalal describes cases where individuals report seeing themselves from an outside perspective, such as looking into a mirror and witnessing their own physical transformation. This confusion of agency—where the sense of self becomes fragmented—reveals the fragility of our internal reality. For some, the experience is so potent that it shifts their fundamental belief systems, with even staunch atheists occasionally questioning their worldview after an intense episode.
Management of the condition remains an active area of research. While some people attempt to escape the paralysis by wiggling a toe or finger, these efforts can occasionally backfire and intensify the experience. Small-scale pilot studies, including research conducted in Italy on narcolepsy patients, have shown potential for reducing the frequency of episodes by approximately 50 percent through specific interventions. Despite the limited data, Jalal continues to pursue research into the cognitive impact of these experiences, suggesting that the intersection of neuroscience and subjective experience may hold further truths about the limits of human perception.
