![]() ![]() Sleep paralysis is a common occurrence that, according to a 2011 US study, affects almost 8% of people regularly.ĭr Alon Avidan, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at University of California, Los Angeles, told Quartz that visions of spiders and insects are also common among sufferers. frequently, he or she sees a shadowy or indistinct shape approaching and becomes increasingly terrified”, Adler writes. In the field of sleep research, “this experience is termed sleep paralysis: an individual, in the process of falling asleep or awakening, finds himself or herself completely awake, but unable to move or speak. Almost all of those Alder interviewed were familiar with dab tsog and 58% of them said they had experienced a visitation themselves.īut the Hmong were not the first group to have such a record of such visitations.Īmong the Canadian Inuit, the word uqumangirniq described this awake-but-paralysed feeling, while the Japanese call it kanashibari. The group all testified to experiencing common nightmares, which featured a figure they called dab tsog, a malevolent force that came during the night, pressing on a victim’s chest and attempting to suffocate them. However further research conducted in the decades since has concluded that Sunds deaths may have a different root cause, known as Brugada syndrome, a genetic condition which is affects people of Southeast Asian descent typified by irregular heartbeats and – as with the spate of cases which interested Adler – an increase in the risk of sudden death. Over the next decade nearly 100 more deaths followed, all with a similar profile.ĭoctors gave the condition a name: “sudden unexpected/unexplained nocturnal death syndrome,” or Sunds. In a four year period from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, 18 otherwise healthy young Hmong men who had moved to the US died suddenly in their sleep. “The entity has stalked human beings throughout history, not merely within a particular society or during a specific time,” says Shelley Adler in her book Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection.Īdler became interested in the way nightmares differ across cultures after reading about the unusual nocturnal deaths of several ethnic Hmong refugees who had emigrated to the US from Laos. For about as long as written records have existed, “people have described a frightening night-time vision that paralyses them with fear and seems to suck the breath right out of them, often by pressing directly upon their chest”, reports Quartz. ![]() The phenomenon has attracted widespread attention, inspiring documentaries on the subject and the launch of a dedicated blog, The Hatman Project, where people can share their experiences.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |