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| The Nightmare, by Henry Fuseli (1781) |
Imagine waking up to find you can't move a muscle. It's dark, but you're sure you feel a presence in the room, hovering near your bed — or perhaps sitting on your chest, crushing the breath out of you.That supernatural thing we all at one point or another in our lives felt ... it was all in our minds. Every time. Every kid who dies and sees heaven ... nope. Every ghost in your grandparents' house ... wasn't there. Every inexplicable sound, transcendent vision, or mysterious touch you felt in the dark ... they all have an explanation, you just didn't know what it was.
This weird phenomenon is known as sleep paralysis, and a new study finds that understanding why it happens helps people feel less distressed after an episode. Believing that sleep paralysis is brought on by the supernatural, on the other hand, makes people feel more unnerved.
It's all in our minds. And perhaps, all you zombies are only in mine?
