Harvard neuroscientist Baland Jalal has dedicated his career to demystifying the human brain, focusing on its ability to contemplate vast galaxies and complex concepts like Einstein’s theories while acknowledging its own internal fragility. His latest research, detailed in his 271-page book The Phantom Mind, centers on sleep paralysis—a condition he describes as a brain glitch that leaves individuals caught in a state of semi-waking, hyperreal terror. Yet you hold it in your hand and it seems so trivial. He should know – he’s spent 271 pages trying to do so. And it is most petrifying if it strikes before you know what it is. They join the dots to tell us a story of what’s going on based on the information available.
Jalal argues that by examining the borderlands of sleep, where these episodes occur, we can gain deeper insights into the fundamental mechanics of the mind. Although he approaches the subject through a scientific lens, analyzing brain regions and neurochemicals, he notes that describing the subjective experience of the phenomenon remains profoundly difficult. Or being possessed, but the monster approaches in a whirlwind that overwhelms my senses until it engulfs me and I am either dying. Eventually, I am able to move and the room is quiet again, but I struggle to believe it wasn’t real. He went to the American University in Cairo. “I was lucky to get scholarships and I studied this phenomenon day and night. Then Cambridge for his PhD and eventually Harvard, next he went to California. Obviously she couldn’t move, but she literally saw herself turning into a monstrous creature.”, one girl he tells me about could see herself in the mirror in her room. “Lying there. He has some possible explanations for why so many people see a being of some sort. “We think that some of the systems that have to do with a sense of body image get distorted, and so for that reason, you tend to hallucinate bodily figures.
Statistics indicate that approximately one in five people will experience sleep paralysis at least once in their lives. Despite its prevalence, public awareness remains low, often exacerbating the panic when the episode occurs for the first time. For those experiencing it without prior knowledge, the sensation of being unable to move while feeling a malevolent presence can be deeply traumatic. Or supportive Subreddit, to consult, i experienced it often during my late teens when there was no internet. One night, it happened every time I started to fall back asleep and I ended up too scared to drift off again. It’s not unusual for people to open their eyes during an episode and look around the room.
Jalal’s own scientific journey was spurred by his experiences as a teenager in a rough neighborhood in Copenhagen. At 18 or 19, he recalled lying in bed and feeling as though a ghost were attempting to kill him. This visceral, terrifying encounter inspired him to explore why such hallucinations manifest so clearly. He explains that in these states, the brain struggles to explain why the body is immobile, often projecting a predatory or supernatural figure into the room.
The mechanics of the condition involve a breakdown in wakefulness. During REM sleep, the body is naturally paralyzed for safety, but if a person partially awakens while this paralysis persists, they may find themselves trapped. The level of conscious awareness during these episodes depends on the activity within the prefrontal cortex—the area of the brain responsible for high-level cognition. Because this activation varies significantly between individuals and even between separate episodes, experiences can range from mild confusion to extreme, vivid terror. But studying the mechanics, he says, doesn’t damp down the mysteries of consciousness. “For me, actually, I’ve become more spiritual and interested in the world of mystery and, I want to say supernatural, but dimensions that are intangible, by studying something like sleep paralysis.”, he may wear a lab coat and examine brain regions and neurochemicals. According to this happens in the brainstem,”, Jalal. “Occasionally, as the sensory cortex, the perceptual part of the brain, awakens, you have this wakefulness emerging and mixing with the brain. The boundary between the dream world and the waking world is very blurry.”.
Hallucinations during sleep paralysis, which can include seeing doppelgangers or even witnessing one’s own body from an external perspective, are thought to result from a distortion in body image processing. Jalal suggests that the amygdala—the brain’s fear center—plays a crucial role. If the amygdala is highly activated during the episode, the brain may interpret the silence and immobility as a life-threatening danger, causing the hallucination to take on a demonic or monstrous form.
The intensity of the dread, fear, and horror reported by patients is linked to specific serotonin 2A receptors, which are the same biological pathways that psychedelic drugs target. Jalal notes that these receptors essentially serve as communication doorways within the brain. When activated in a state of paralysis, they can produce an overwhelming sense of doom. This explains why such episodes feel like true, waking hallucinations rather than dreams. Worse still, something evil and malevolent is approaching the room – it feels like the moment of peak fear in a horror movie. Now it’s in the room and all I can do is tense up and try to repel it with sheer will.
Anxiety is a documented trigger for these occurrences, and the condition itself can worsen existing anxiety, potentially leading to post-traumatic stress disorder. Research, including a 2004 study, has shown that individuals listening to recordings of their own descriptions of these episodes exhibit immediate physiological stress responses, such as elevated heart rates, illustrating how the memory of the trauma reinforces the fear.
While some individuals report that episodes last up to an hour, Jalal considers such claims highly implausible. He notes that while some people can jolt themselves out of the state by wiggling a toe or finger, these attempts can sometimes backfire. A small pilot study in Italy involving narcolepsy patients suggested that specific interventions could reduce the frequency of sleep paralysis by roughly 50%, although findings remain preliminary.
Ultimately, Jalal believes the study of sleep paralysis is a gateway to understanding human beliefs and the mind’s architecture. He recounts stories of people, including a self-described stern atheist psychologist, who reported that experiencing sleep paralysis forced them to reconsider their worldview. From his perspective as a religious scientist, Jalal maintains that the phenomenon highlights something uniquely profound about human consciousness, noting that for those who endure it, there is often a feeling that something cosmic is taking place.
