First of all. What is sleep paralysis?
Sleep paralysis is the temporary inability to move nor speak upon waking or falling asleep.
Why does it happen?
During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep the brain has vivid dreams, while the muscles of the body are essentially turned off. While sleeping, the muscles are unable to move so that the person won't be able to act out dreams with their body. Sleep paralysis happens when a person wakes up before REM is finished.
Symptoms?
Anxiety, hallucination or paralysis
Is this experience frightening?
This experience is extremely frightening, it is the sensation of not being able to move or speak. Your body is utterly useless against anything that can happen due to paralysis, it can happen up to seconds, minutes or in some cases, even hours. Our minds work with us but works also against us, and in this state most people tend to hallucinate (as one of the symptoms) or experience panic attacks. Some even feel the sensation of choking and those who experienced this event have all said they see a dark figure pushing down on their chest, making it difficult to breathe. You can try and scream all you want, beg for somebody to come and wake you up from this vicious cycle. Unfortunately, this isn't the case that happens. Your desperate screams just sound like a pressurized heavy breath to others.