ezme:

I was Christian because I was born into a Christian family. It was my desire to draw near to God that opened my eyes to the flaws in the bible as I started studying it for myself and not just the Sunday and daily devotion routines.

Reyginus: Really? This is getting interesting. And Post 94 too, your reply to AnOnimus was for the 'camera challenge' ton. The stench of biasm in thought ooze when you say things like this. 'I will question the authenticity of his claim, but the authenticity of a study performed somewhere, I know not I wouldn't dare question'. To you, how sensible?

Reyginus: The dumbness that lies in this your method of approach is that, in the same vein, normally it should, but it never occured to you to scritunize the statement the scientists have presented us on sleep paralysis. Their is no reason to accept anything to be true, if your presence which necessary must be present is absent in its establishment. That's the error in your reasoning.

Lilimax:
What do you have to say in a situation whereby you had a teriible dream in the night only to wake up with fresh marks on your body? Is that Sleep paralysis My dear witches ahd wizards abounds and we should not be ignorant about them.

ezme:

Nobody has seen God, nobody has seen the devil, nobody has seen a witch air-borne. All we have to support witchcraft is forced confessions from traumatized poor individuals. Is it only the poor who are the witches and wizards?

mencade5:
Point of correction, the flaws in yourself. I dont need to go with this, rather, 'It is written, that at the name of Jesus Christ, everyone Must bow and every tongue must confess That Jesus Christ is Lord' my fellow brothers who are doubting the existence of The Almighty God, before the year runs out, I decree you will have an encounter that will change your mind set and accept God for who HE Is, In The Name Of Jesus Christ. Amen. God still loves you.

donlyone:

The research is rubbish, take it from me, I have been beaten severely in my dream several times and usually woke up with bruses and one time I had a long deep scratch on my leg.
I never tell my parents for fear of being taken to church for "deliverance".

I still remeber vividly,just before dawn, how someone sat on both my legs, my arms were paralysed but my eyes were open, yes, I was looking around the room, there was a silhouette over my legs. I was praying with my mind like JESUS PLS SAVE ME.

You don't have to believe in God, but please don't say the supernatural does not exist.

Reyginus: Really? This is getting interesting. And Post 94 too, your reply to AnOnimus was for the 'camera challenge' ton. The stench of biasm in thought ooze when you say things like this. 'I will question the authenticity of his claim, but the authenticity of a study performed somewhere, I know not I wouldn't dare question'. To you, how sensible?

livescience:
During the most dream-filled phase of sleep, our muscles become paralyzed, preventing the body from acting out what's going on in the brain. Now, researchers have discovered the brain chemicals that keep the body still in sleep.

The findings could be helpful for treating sleep disorders, the scientists report Wednesday (July 18) in The Journal of Neuroscience.

The brain chemicals kick into action during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a phase that usually begins about 90 minutes into a night's rest. During REM, the brain is very active, and dreams are at their most intense. But the voluntary muscles of the body — arms, legs, fingers, anything that is under conscious control — are paralyzed.

This paralysis keeps people still even as their brains are acting out fantastical scenarios; it's also the reason people sometimes experience sleep paralysis, or the experience of waking up while the muscles are still frozen. This sensation has been the basis for myths such as the succubus and the incubus, demons said to pin people down in their sleep, usually to have sex with them. [Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders]

The chemistry of sleep

Exactly how the muscles are paralyzed has been a mystery, however. Early studies pegged a neurotransmitter called glycine as the culprit, but paralysis still occurred even when the receptors that read glycine's presence were blocked, disproving that notion.

So University of Toronto researchers Patricia Brooks and John Peever cast a wider net. They focused on two different nerve receptors in the voluntary muscles, one called metabotropic GABAB and one called ionotropic GABAA/glycine. The latter receptor responds to both glycine and a different communication chemical called gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, while the first responds to GABA and not glycine.

The researchers used drugs to "switch off" these receptors in rats and discovered that the only way to prevent sleep paralysis during REM was to shut both types off at the same time. What that means is that glycine alone isn't enough to paralyze the muscles. You need GABA, too.

Treating sleep disorders

Understanding this alphabet soup of neurotransmitters is important for people who have sleep disorders, especially an odd condition called REM behavior disorder. In this disorder, people don't become paralyzed during REM sleep. That means they act out their dreams, talking, thrashing and even punching or hitting in their sleep.

Currently, Clonazepam, an antipsychotic drug, is used to treat REM behavior disorder. The new study could point to new treatments for the problem, sleep researcher Dennis McGinty of the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the study, said in a statement. The researchers hope that the results could help explain the link between REM behavior disorder and more deadly conditions.

"Understanding the precise mechanism behind these chemicals’ role in REM sleep disorder is particularly important because about 80 percent of people who have it eventually develop a neurodegenerative disease, such as Parkinson’s disease," Peever said. "REM sleep behavior disorder could be an early marker of these diseases, and curing it may help prevent or even stop their development."

Reyginus: Nice one. What explanation do you have for those who wake up with scars from fights in their dream.

ezme:

If only you had a good grasp of these things you chose to speak of.

^^^^ I get it all the time from the religious hypocrites around me.

mencade5:
With such mindset, You will never understand. 'Mr perfect of The Atheist world'.

ezme:

Make me understand, you have all the time you would need to, just let it follow logically.

pompori king: I have seen and been tru enough in this life that nobody can change ma beliefs.must they use science to explain everything!!sleep paralysis is fine,buh don't you dare generalise it and say demons don't prey on people while they are asleep.that's just bullsh*t
If they are so smart let dem cure cancer and aids

musKeeto:
And when cancer and aids are cured, what will you move onto?


What has your God ever cured?

Malaria, amongst others, was once caused by demons or witches. Today, they can be treated for as little as 10 naira.

Maybe it will take an epidemic to ravage Africa before we embrace science and knowledge as hope for our future.

Smh.

ril19: it is 1:52 a.m and i'm just awakened by one of these stuff we're talking about. How awkward! Now see how it happened.something held me down, i couldn't move an inch. I exerted great energy trying to break loose or at least, move away. In the process, i could hear myself groaning subconsciously. I continued with thesame amount of energy until i broke loose and then it seemed to me like i saw something fly away from me. It was was scary. I was tired. I started feeling a presence in my room. By this time, i had already lit the torch on my little nokia phone and i could see now. I picked up my other phone and the next place i found myself was on this thread.

ezme:

I see what you are trying to get at? We are having this conversation because Carla MacKinnon did a research, documented it and release it to the open web for all to see. Anonimus made a claim that isn't documented and not available for us to independently verify. Why should i start an argument on something that isn't documented (a hearsay by my standard).If you want more info on the methodology you can contact Carla MacKinnon.



I asked if it was documented, not that i have to be physically present to verify the claims. There could be hospital records for sustained injuries in the supposed duel with the evil spirit. You see why you are the one trying so hard to win an argument instead of looking at things critically. We can both agree on the dumb one i believe.


lilimax made and assertion:



I responded with a personal observation

arimahoseloka: All this is bull-crAP, scientists always looking for a logical explanation for things they dont understand. this is no sleep paralysis but manupulation of witchcraft. when i pray it goes away. when am unserious with God it comes back.

wiegraf:

What in your god's blue earth is this reyginus? Do you think peer reviewed articles are on equal footing with random guy x's posts on the internet? You think all those 'peers', which tend to feature various highly skilled/knowledgable professionals btw, do not scientifically, have not critically examined/confirmed the claims?

Op's article might be from an artist, but sleep paralyses is very well documented. Spirits? Lemme see....despite claims from since the time man became conscious.....NO. Never, ever.

edit; Really, you should consider a spirit powered laptop or something, if you think the scientific method is silly ie

musKeeto: @Rey:

Let's get two things straight.

- Sleep paralysis is not an 'atheist' explanation of the scary experience known as sleep paralysis. It's a medical explanation. So it doesn't matter if atheists accept it or not, just as it doesn't matter if atheists tell you to take medication for a headache. You don't attack atheism..

- If sleep paralysis is the right explanation of this experience, it doesn't in anyway disprove God or evil spirits. In my opinion, it's just another in the millions of episodes where common sense beats superstition.


Also, if you're going to subscribe to scientific methods, you'd have to subscribe to them fully. Earlier, I advised that you monitor the sleeping pattern of the 'patient'. I'm sorry, but till that's done, I won't answer any further questions.


Personal musing: Seems like you would like to push us till we say we do not know, till we have no logical explanation for these happenings. This perfectly illustrates what most atheists on NL have been pointing out for years: our ignorance should lead us forward towards discovery, not push us further backwards into fear and superstition. Think, it's not illegal yet.

Reyginus:
Muskeeto, my bro, I never intended to associate sleep paralysis(though it seems you've forgotten our new explanation so soon-somnambulism) with the atheist. The atheists in the house just seem to love to hang on it as the perfect explanation for that which they do not understand. And as it implies, if you are going to hold that a position is true, you must be familiar with the questions that may likely spring from holding such position. Our atheist in the house, when it comes to the sciences, leave their 'normal' logical cap behind. 'Science is almighty'.
For sleep paralysis(again, where is somnambulism) to be the right thing, it must be able to accomodate the questions which arise from what it tries to explain. Has it answered the question? The answer is No.
Mind you, my standing as an opposition to it, does not imply, it must be attributed to God. Get that correctly.
To even suggest, I monitor the sleep pattern of the patient is what a comprehensive report should have done.

Our atheist in the house, when it comes to the sciences, leave their 'normal' logical cap behind. 'Science is almighty'.

Azubreezy: It angers me, the way white people think they have a scientific explanation to everything that happens. Dear friends, sleep paralysis is a white man's way of saying 'pressing'. I experience it most times and I have a viable remedy for it. It works for me. You are not obliged to believe this but if you find yourself in this situation, b4 u go to bed, put a broom across the entrance of your apartment and another one at the entrance of your room. Also put a bible and a knife or any of both under your pillow. If you are alone in d room, you can sleep naked if you wish or if u are comfy doing so. They won't press you no more. Trust me, it works. It's been working for me since I was 8.

Azubreezy: It angers me, the way white people think they have a scientific explanation to everything that happens. Dear friends, sleep paralysis is a white man's way of saying 'pressing'. I experience it most times and I have a viable remedy for it. It works for me. You are not obliged to believe this but if you find yourself in this situation, b4 u go to bed, put a broom across the entrance of your apartment and another one at the entrance of your room. Also put a bible and a knife or any of both under your pillow. If you are alone in d room, you can sleep naked if you wish or if u are comfy doing so. They won't press you no more. Trust me, it works. It's been working for me since I was 8.

musKeeto:

I honestly believe you're mixing things up. SLEEP paralysis doesnt address MYSTERY MARKS, it addresses "DEMONIC MASSAGE aka PRESSING"...