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This site is for US residents 18 years of age or older.
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Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis is the inability to move or speak for a short time when you’re falling asleep or waking up. This can be a frightening or disturbing experience.

During sleep paralysis, you can experience:

  • Eye fluttering
  • Moaning
  • Limb numbness or tingling
  • Rapid or strong heartbeat
  • Sweating
  • Sensation of struggling to move
  • Chest pressure
  • Difficulty breathing

Episodes usually last seconds to minutes and can end by themselves or from being touched, shaken, or spoken to, or after trying hard to move.

Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis sometimes accompanies hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations, another symptom of narcolepsy.

The 5 major symptoms of narcolepsy:

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS)CataplexyDisrupted nighttime sleep (DNS)Sleep paralysisHypnagogic/hypnopompic hallucinations

Sleep paralysis in children and adolescents

Sleep paralysis can be hard to confirm in pediatric patients, as they may have difficulty describing it. Accompanied by hypnagogic or hypnopompic hallucinations, sleep paralysis can be scary for a child.

Do you or your child have symptoms
of narcolepsy?

Take the Narcolepsy Symptom Screener
Suspect narcolepsy symptoms?
"I couldn't move, and I would start to hyperventilate."Watch Caroline describe her sleep paralysis and hypnopompic hallucinations.
“My feet would be nailed to the floor. I couldn’t move my arms. I couldn’t speak.”Listen to patients describe the fear and helplessness of being unable to move or speak.