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I'm not sure we have it. In order to be a trope, it isn't enough for it to exist in real life, it has to exist in fiction and be used as a story telling convention or a plot device. You might want to look through the Sleep and Wakefulness Tropes.
Edited by WackyMeetsPractical
Sleep paralysis? I read the article on The Other Wiki and I still don't know what that is!
And I Must Scream, perhaps?
My name is Freezer and my anti-drug is porn.
During REM sleep, the skeletal muscles relax to the point where they can't contract (because your brain is doing odd things and if your muscles could respond to those signals you'd be doing who knows what). Some people wake up during those periods and realize that they can't move, hence the term. It's thought to be one of the seeds of the vampire/succubus myth: waking up and being unable to move because something demonic is sitting on you.
The other extreme is sleepwalking and related, which I imagine happen when it works the other way and your muscles are awake but your brain is not
Sorry! It look's like I've confused most of you. I was tired at that time, so I didn't make it more clear . Anyway, it's exactly what Chariset said, it's an extreme inverse of sleepwalking and is just as common .
You can hear what's around you and see what's in front of you. But you have to keep jerking your muscles in order to get up however, most of the time you're much too tired (and scared out of your mind)to do this and fall back to sleep. It's not dangerous to your health in any way. But for most of those who have it, Sleep paralysis can be an inconvienence and cause some serious Accidental Nightmare Fuel. It also seems be one of the main reasons why rumors and myths about being abducted by aliens are so common. It's used as a basis for so many myths that if it doesn't have a trope that clearly defines it. It may need to become a Super trope.
Ironic in that I just helped another troper over two days ago with sleepwalking and Zombie Gait.
Edited by Oreochan "Learning without thinking is labor lost. Thinking without learning is dangerous."
There is an entry for it on And I Must Scream. If you're looking for the aspect of being aware of everything around you but not being able to move, that's your trope.
Hmm, maybe I'll go visit the Real life section. But I meant to put, is that you know what your seeing in front of you, but you do not know the things your hearing is actually true or not. Also, when you almost used up all your energy to finally make your skeletal muscles move enabling you to get up. You may feel like you want to go back to sleep . But after having to go through all that... So any
Edited by Oreochan "Learning without thinking is labor lost. Thinking without learning is dangerous."
We should have a physical paralysis trope if we don't already. And I Must Scream suggests that it's at least semi-permanent and externally imposed. This seems like a different trope — a malfunction of the body which isn't necessarily laid on you by someone else.
Also you are not completly paralyzed, you can move your fingers and toes.
Unfourtunatly, the term sleep paralysis is just so obscure, that the media barely if ever even appear's to know how to portray it.
Edited by Oreochan "Learning without thinking is labor lost. Thinking without learning is dangerous."
Is there a trope for sleep paralysis? I'm just wondering, since a lot of people including this troper have it.
Edit: Here's a link that describe's it much better than The Other Wiki could ever dream of. [1]
Edited by Oreochan