TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Ami Angelowicz: The terrors of sleep paralysis

Unscramble the Blue Letters

Imagine this: You're fast asleep when all of a sudden you're awoken! And not by your alarm colck. Your eyes open, and there's a demon sitting on your chest, pinning you down. You try to open your mouth and sreacm, but no sound comes out. You try to get up and run away, but you rizelae that you are completely immobilized. The dmeon is trying to suffocate you, but you can't fight back. You've aekown into your dream, and it's a nightmare. It sounds like a Stephen King movie, but it's actually a medical condition called sleep paralysis, and about half of the potuapilon has experienced this snrtage phenomenon at least once in their life. This panic-inducing eosdpie of coming face-to-face with the creatures from your nightmares can last anywhere from seconds to mntueis and may involve vausil or adtriuoy hluitnoailancs of an evil spirit or an out-of-body feeling like you're floating. Some have even mistaken sleep paralysis for an encounter with a ghost or an alien abduction. In 1867, Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell was the first macdiel professional to study sleep paralysis. "The subject awakes to csnsuicooesns of his eievrnnomnt but is icalbapne of moving a muscle. Lying to all appearance, still asleep. He's really engaged for a struggle for movement, fraught with acute mental distress. Could he but mnagae to stir, the spell would vanish instantly." Even though Dr. Mitchell was the first to observe patients in a state of sleep paralysis, it's so common that nearly every cruulte throughout time has had some kind of paranormal explanation for it. In medieval Europe, you might think that an incubus, a sex-hungry demon in male form, visited you in the night. In Scandinavia, the mare, a dnamed woman, is responsible for visiting sleepers and sitting on their rib cgeas. In Turkey, a jinn hldos you down and tries to strangle you. In Thailand, Phi Am bruises you while you sleep. In the southern United States, the hag comes for you. In Mexico, you could blame ssruibe el muerto, the dead preosn, on you. In gcreee, Mora sits upon your chest and tries to asphyxiate you. In Nepal, Khyaak the ghost resides under the staircase. It may be easier to blame sleep paralysis on evil spirits because what's actually heippnnag in your brain is much harder to explain. moredn sctintsies believe that sleep paralysis is caused by an abnormal overlap of the REM, rapid eye movement, and waking stages of sleep. During a nmarol REM cycle, you're experiencing a number of sensory stimuli in the form of a dream, and your brian is unconscious and flluy asleep. During your dream, special neurotransmitters are released, which paralyze almost all of your muscles. That's called REM atonia. It's what keeps you from running in your bed when you're being chased in your dreams. During an episode of selep paralysis, you're experiencing normal components of REM. You're dreaming and your muscles are paralyzed, only your brain is conscious and wide awake. This is what causes you to imagine that you're having an encounter with a menacing presence. So this explains the hallucinations, but what about the feelings of panic, strangling, choking, cehst prrsesue that so many people dcesibre? Well during REM, the foicnutn that keeps you from atnicg out your dreams, REM atonia, also removes voluntary control of your breathing. Your breath becomes more shallow and rapid. You take in more carbon dioxide and experience a small blockage of your airway. During a sleep piaraslys episode, a combination of your body's fear reosspne to a perceived attack by an evil creature and your brain being wide awake while your body is in an REM sleep state tgriergs a response for you to take in more oxygen. That makes you gasp for air, but you can't because REM atonia has removed control of your breath. This strlguge for air while your body sleeps creates a perceived sensation of pressure on the chest or suffocation. While a few plpoee experience sleep paralysis regularly and it may be lnekid to sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, many who experience an episode of sleep paralysis do so infrequently, perhaps only once in a lifetime. So you can rest easy, knowing that an evil entity is not trying to haunt, possess, sagrltne, or suffocate you. Save that for the hrroor films!

Open Cloze

Imagine this: You're fast asleep when all of a sudden you're awoken! And not by your alarm _____. Your eyes open, and there's a demon sitting on your chest, pinning you down. You try to open your mouth and ______, but no sound comes out. You try to get up and run away, but you _______ that you are completely immobilized. The _____ is trying to suffocate you, but you can't fight back. You've ______ into your dream, and it's a nightmare. It sounds like a Stephen King movie, but it's actually a medical condition called sleep paralysis, and about half of the __________ has experienced this _______ phenomenon at least once in their life. This panic-inducing _______ of coming face-to-face with the creatures from your nightmares can last anywhere from seconds to _______ and may involve ______ or ________ ______________ of an evil spirit or an out-of-body feeling like you're floating. Some have even mistaken sleep paralysis for an encounter with a ghost or an alien abduction. In 1867, Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell was the first _______ professional to study sleep paralysis. "The subject awakes to _____________ of his ___________ but is _________ of moving a muscle. Lying to all appearance, still asleep. He's really engaged for a struggle for movement, fraught with acute mental distress. Could he but ______ to stir, the spell would vanish instantly." Even though Dr. Mitchell was the first to observe patients in a state of sleep paralysis, it's so common that nearly every _______ throughout time has had some kind of paranormal explanation for it. In medieval Europe, you might think that an incubus, a sex-hungry demon in male form, visited you in the night. In Scandinavia, the mare, a ______ woman, is responsible for visiting sleepers and sitting on their rib _____. In Turkey, a jinn _____ you down and tries to strangle you. In Thailand, Phi Am bruises you while you sleep. In the southern United States, the hag comes for you. In Mexico, you could blame _______ el muerto, the dead ______, on you. In ______, Mora sits upon your chest and tries to asphyxiate you. In Nepal, Khyaak the ghost resides under the staircase. It may be easier to blame sleep paralysis on evil spirits because what's actually _________ in your brain is much harder to explain. ______ __________ believe that sleep paralysis is caused by an abnormal overlap of the REM, rapid eye movement, and waking stages of sleep. During a ______ REM cycle, you're experiencing a number of sensory stimuli in the form of a dream, and your _____ is unconscious and _____ asleep. During your dream, special neurotransmitters are released, which paralyze almost all of your muscles. That's called REM atonia. It's what keeps you from running in your bed when you're being chased in your dreams. During an episode of _____ paralysis, you're experiencing normal components of REM. You're dreaming and your muscles are paralyzed, only your brain is conscious and wide awake. This is what causes you to imagine that you're having an encounter with a menacing presence. So this explains the hallucinations, but what about the feelings of panic, strangling, choking, _____ ________ that so many people ________? Well during REM, the ________ that keeps you from ______ out your dreams, REM atonia, also removes voluntary control of your breathing. Your breath becomes more shallow and rapid. You take in more carbon dioxide and experience a small blockage of your airway. During a sleep _________ episode, a combination of your body's fear ________ to a perceived attack by an evil creature and your brain being wide awake while your body is in an REM sleep state ________ a response for you to take in more oxygen. That makes you gasp for air, but you can't because REM atonia has removed control of your breath. This ________ for air while your body sleeps creates a perceived sensation of pressure on the chest or suffocation. While a few ______ experience sleep paralysis regularly and it may be ______ to sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, many who experience an episode of sleep paralysis do so infrequently, perhaps only once in a lifetime. So you can rest easy, knowing that an evil entity is not trying to haunt, possess, ________, or suffocate you. Save that for the ______ films!

Solution

subirse
linked
people
chest
strangle
paralysis
episode
modern
triggers
auditory
brain
visual
culture
happening
scientists
sleep
medical
awoken
consciousness
describe
fully
manage
scream
struggle
horror
acting
incapable
holds
function
hallucinations
pressure
response
normal
greece
cages
damned
population
realize
environment
minutes
demon
strange
person
clock

Original Text

Imagine this: You're fast asleep when all of a sudden you're awoken! And not by your alarm clock. Your eyes open, and there's a demon sitting on your chest, pinning you down. You try to open your mouth and scream, but no sound comes out. You try to get up and run away, but you realize that you are completely immobilized. The demon is trying to suffocate you, but you can't fight back. You've awoken into your dream, and it's a nightmare. It sounds like a Stephen King movie, but it's actually a medical condition called sleep paralysis, and about half of the population has experienced this strange phenomenon at least once in their life. This panic-inducing episode of coming face-to-face with the creatures from your nightmares can last anywhere from seconds to minutes and may involve visual or auditory hallucinations of an evil spirit or an out-of-body feeling like you're floating. Some have even mistaken sleep paralysis for an encounter with a ghost or an alien abduction. In 1867, Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell was the first medical professional to study sleep paralysis. "The subject awakes to consciousness of his environment but is incapable of moving a muscle. Lying to all appearance, still asleep. He's really engaged for a struggle for movement, fraught with acute mental distress. Could he but manage to stir, the spell would vanish instantly." Even though Dr. Mitchell was the first to observe patients in a state of sleep paralysis, it's so common that nearly every culture throughout time has had some kind of paranormal explanation for it. In medieval Europe, you might think that an incubus, a sex-hungry demon in male form, visited you in the night. In Scandinavia, the mare, a damned woman, is responsible for visiting sleepers and sitting on their rib cages. In Turkey, a jinn holds you down and tries to strangle you. In Thailand, Phi Am bruises you while you sleep. In the southern United States, the hag comes for you. In Mexico, you could blame subirse el muerto, the dead person, on you. In Greece, Mora sits upon your chest and tries to asphyxiate you. In Nepal, Khyaak the ghost resides under the staircase. It may be easier to blame sleep paralysis on evil spirits because what's actually happening in your brain is much harder to explain. Modern scientists believe that sleep paralysis is caused by an abnormal overlap of the REM, rapid eye movement, and waking stages of sleep. During a normal REM cycle, you're experiencing a number of sensory stimuli in the form of a dream, and your brain is unconscious and fully asleep. During your dream, special neurotransmitters are released, which paralyze almost all of your muscles. That's called REM atonia. It's what keeps you from running in your bed when you're being chased in your dreams. During an episode of sleep paralysis, you're experiencing normal components of REM. You're dreaming and your muscles are paralyzed, only your brain is conscious and wide awake. This is what causes you to imagine that you're having an encounter with a menacing presence. So this explains the hallucinations, but what about the feelings of panic, strangling, choking, chest pressure that so many people describe? Well during REM, the function that keeps you from acting out your dreams, REM atonia, also removes voluntary control of your breathing. Your breath becomes more shallow and rapid. You take in more carbon dioxide and experience a small blockage of your airway. During a sleep paralysis episode, a combination of your body's fear response to a perceived attack by an evil creature and your brain being wide awake while your body is in an REM sleep state triggers a response for you to take in more oxygen. That makes you gasp for air, but you can't because REM atonia has removed control of your breath. This struggle for air while your body sleeps creates a perceived sensation of pressure on the chest or suffocation. While a few people experience sleep paralysis regularly and it may be linked to sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, many who experience an episode of sleep paralysis do so infrequently, perhaps only once in a lifetime. So you can rest easy, knowing that an evil entity is not trying to haunt, possess, strangle, or suffocate you. Save that for the horror films!

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
sleep paralysis	7
rem atonia	2
wide awake	2

Important Words

abduction
abnormal
acting
acute
air
airway
alarm
alien
appearance
asleep
asphyxiate
atonia
attack
auditory
awake
awakes
awoken
bed
blame
blockage
body
brain
breath
breathing
bruises
cages
called
carbon
caused
chased
chest
choking
clock
combination
coming
common
completely
components
condition
conscious
consciousness
control
creates
creature
creatures
culture
cycle
damned
dead
demon
describe
dioxide
disorders
distress
dr
dream
dreaming
dreams
easier
easy
el
encounter
engaged
entity
environment
episode
europe
evil
experience
experienced
experiencing
explain
explains
explanation
eye
eyes
fast
fear
feeling
feelings
fight
floating
form
fraught
fully
function
gasp
ghost
greece
hag
hallucinations
happening
harder
haunt
holds
horror
imagine
immobilized
incapable
incubus
infrequently
instantly
involve
jinn
khyaak
kind
king
knowing
life
lifetime
linked
lying
male
manage
mare
medical
medieval
menacing
mental
mexico
minutes
mistaken
mitchell
modern
mora
mouth
movement
movie
moving
muerto
muscle
muscles
narcolepsy
nepal
neurotransmitters
night
nightmare
nightmares
normal
number
observe
open
overlap
oxygen
panic
paralysis
paralyze
paralyzed
paranormal
patients
people
perceived
person
phenomenon
phi
pinning
population
possess
presence
pressure
professional
rapid
realize
regularly
released
rem
removed
removes
resides
response
responsible
rest
rib
run
running
save
scandinavia
scientists
scream
seconds
sensation
sensory
shallow
silas
sits
sitting
sleep
sleepers
sleeps
small
sound
sounds
southern
special
spell
spirit
spirits
stages
staircase
state
states
stephen
stimuli
stir
strange
strangle
strangling
struggle
study
subirse
subject
sudden
suffocate
suffocation
thailand
time
triggers
turkey
unconscious
united
vanish
visited
visiting
visual
voluntary
waking
weir
wide
woman