ALIEN ABDUCTION PHENOMENA

In March of 2002, a programme appeared on BBC1 for the long running Horizon documentary series. This documentary introduced myself and several million other viewers to a sleep disorder known as Narcolepsy, a sleep disorder commonly unknown throughout the UK. This detailed program introduced us to 3 people, sufferers of the condition attempting to negotiate a normal life although each suffering from Narcolepsy. A teenage girl, unable to stay awake for long periods, with a deep passion for dance, the affliction causing effects on her schooling and her dance. A middle age lady, not even able to cook a meal due to her falling asleep, and a thirty something male, who’s story interested me greatly.

The gentleman described his lifestyle, along with his partner, he claimed to sleep more during the daytime than at night due to his sleep paralysis fits and hallucinations, the story continued before returning to the mans room at night, a night vision camera recorded the events that unfolded. The viewers watched as his body thrashed around before becoming rigid as he reached R.E.M.

Nothing important it seemed, until he recounted what happens during these periods. He claims that he knows he is paralysed and can do nothing about it, suddenly the room fills with small grey childlike beings and grey hands reach for him and touch him……

Sound familiar??? A classic case Alien abduction scenario, one reported by thousands of alleged UFO abductees.

Or can this be related to paranormal investigation? Many reports Have been received from people all around the world, suggesting they witnessed something in their bedroom, figures have been seen, beds have been reported to been shaken severely, but of all the reports investigated, do paranormal investigators actually look at the physiological effects in relation to each case?

Narcolepsy

Imagine yourself on the Motorway at rush hour. Your head drops, and you're suddenly asleep. A nightmare? No, it's narcolepsy, a disease in which victims fall asleep, any time, anywhere, no matter what they are doing.

Four traits common among sufferers:

Sleep attacks,

Cataplexy,

Sleep paralysis, and,

Hallucinations.

What is Narcolepsy?

The exact cause of narcolepsy is not known. An abnormality in the chemistry regulating sleep and wakefulness in the brain is suspected, but not proven. Both genetic and environmental factors are believed to play a role in the development of this disorder.

All sufferers experience excessive daytime sleepiness (sleep attacks and persistent daytime drowsiness). Sleep attacks are short periods of sleep that occur many times a day, regardless of the amount or quality of sleep the night before. They are often described as irresistible and may occur with or without warning when a person is driving, working, eating, talking, or engaging in any other activity. Most patients also experience persistent daytime drowsiness. Excessive daytime sleepiness is usually the first symptom of narcolepsy and often the most difficult symptom to control. The severity of excessive daytime sleepiness varies; some patients may have many sleep attacks each day and others only one or two sleep attacks per day.

Cataplexy

Refers to sudden, brief episodes of muscle weakness or paralysis triggered by strong emotions such anger, laughter, surprise or anticipation. Just as nighttimes REM (rapid eye movement) sleep is normally accompanied by skeletal muscle paralysis and strong emotions (dreaming); an intense emotion during the waking period can trigger instantaneous muscle weakness or paralysis. Although unable to move, the person remains conscious. For some people, any strong emotion may trigger cataplexy, while others react to only certain specific emotions. Although most patients experience cataplexy, some patients never develop this symptom.

Hypnagogoic and Hypnopompic hallucinations

A hypnogogic state occurs at the boundary between sleep and wakefulness (hypnogogic refers to the state whilst falling asleep, Hypnopompic refers to the state upon waking up). In this state, hypnogogic dreams may be experienced, which are quite unlike ordinary dreams.

During these dreams, realistic images and sounds may be experienced.

A common phenomenon is of hearing one’s name called, also commonly reported is hearing the sound of the television, but upon arising from bed and investigating, there is no television on, this is called a hypnogogic hallucination.

Sleep paralysis

Sleep paralysis is a condition characterized by paralysis of the body during hypnologic and hypnologic states.

Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain is awakened from an REM state into essentially a normal fully awake state, but the bodily paralysis is still occurring. This causes the person to be fully aware, but unable to move. In addition, this state is usually accompanied by certain specific kinds of hallucinations. This state usually lasts no more than two minutes before a person is able to either return to full REM sleep or to become fully awake, though the sense of how much time has gone by is often distorted during sleep paralysis. People who are fortunate enough to be facing a clock while having an episode may often be surprised to see how little time has gone by during an episode that seems to last a very long time.

Quite often, sleep paralysis is believed by the person affected by it to be that of paranormal phenomena. This is the reason why there are many paranormal and abduction related recountings which describe the person lying frozen and unable to move, whilst alien, or ghostly figures are within their rooms.

The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it likely that someone will interpret the event as a paranormal type experience, as one might see completely fanciful objects in a room alongside the normal.

New Studies of the alien abduction scenario.

Recent research into the abduction phenomena in America has added to the theory that these reputed actual alien abductions are in fact sleep disorder related.

Professor Richard McNally, from Harvard University has led a study of the affects of sleep disorders, especially that of narcolepsy and has recently discussed the results

People who claim to have experienced alleged alien abductions have a tendency to believe in fantasies and suffer disturbing experiences in their sleep, scientists have recently announced.

But researchers say "abductees" also believe in their experiences so deeply that they display real stress symptoms similar to those of traumatised battlefield veterans.

The latest research on the "taken" phenomenon was unveiled at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Denver.

"This underscores the power of emotional belief," Professor McNally announced. “If you genuinely believe you've been traumatised and recall these memories, you'll show the same psycho-physiologic emotional reactions as people who really have been traumatised."

It was typical of the stories they all had to relate. It is thought there are about four million Americans who believe they have been abducted by extraterrestrials.

Scientists believe this clearly is not true, so why do abductees believe they have been taken?

Professor McNally has found that many of them share personality traits and sleep disorders. "Most of them had pre-existing new-age beliefs - they were into bio-energetic therapies, past lives, astral projection, tarot cards, and so on," he said. "Second, they have episodes of apparent sleep paralysis accompanied by hallucinations."

These frightening experiences usually prompted the individuals to visit therapists, who would frequently suggest alien abduction as a cause - an explanation of which the abductees readily accepted, he said.

Professor McNally has revealed with a rational explanation of alien abduction experiences, which were endorsed by other psychologists in Denver. He said the individuals conformed to a "common recipe".

But the researcher stressed that many of the people really did believe what they were saying.

In laboratory experiments, individuals were asked to relate their experiences. These stories were played back to them and their physical responses recorded.

"When a Vietnam vet has his experiences played back to him in the lab of some combat event, his heart rate goes up and you see an increase in sweating. If you don't have post-traumatic stress disorder, you don't react that way. The heart-rate responses and sweating responses were at least as great in the alien abductees when they heard their memories of being taken and molested by space aliens and subjected to experiments as those of people with genuine traumatic events."

Studies are also taking place in relation to sleep disorders and reports of paranormal phenomena, some of the UK’s leading organisations, Para.Science, Manchester’s Association of Paranormal Investigation and Training, The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena, and The Unknown Phenomena Investigation Association, as well as the scientific community, the leading Parapsychology institutes and persons are all aware of the scenario’s of the subject, and each are exploring the links at different levels.

Conclusion

So in affect this research does collaborate the information viewed in the Horizon documentary, but questions will continue to be raised by those firm believers of the alien abduction phenomena, and those who consider haunting activity taking part during these states.

To put these experiences into perspective, yes there may in fact be paranormal activity or alien abductions taking place, but is this not far more likely to be some naturally occurring phenomena, do the effects related to narcolepsy and other sleep disorders not fit into the scenario.

It is more than possible a repartee actually unknowingly suffers from a sleep related disorder, they are unable to recognise this possibility, therefore presuming paranormal phenomena is taking place.

I leave it to you to decide but offer a valuable insight and suggestions into the actuality of night time Haunting’s and the alien abduction phenomena.

References:

www.parascience.org.uk

www.maxpages.com/mapit

http://www.narcolepsy.org.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/index.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Dave Sadler, BITC, AITC.

UPIA Co-Ordinator

This Article was originally published in the researcher magazine, it has since been rewritten and has appeared in the Paranormal magazine May 06 edition.

ON A SEPERATE PAGE, SLEEP DISORDERS 2, LEARN MORE FROM A SUFFERER OF THE CONDITION AND HIS VIEWS.