The medical term hypnagogic means inducing sleep or induced by sleep. In psychology the term is used to describe hallucinations or dreams just before loss of consciousness. This term refers to dreams or visual images persisting after sleep prior to complete awakening. These events are often associated with what are referred to as cataplectic attacks, or cataplexy . While both of these can be present in narcolepsy and in some other rare brain disorders, the presence of hypnagogic hallucinations are important components of a differential diagnosis of sleep paralysis.
Hypokalemic paralysis is perhaps the only condition that closely mimics sleep paralysis. . .
Suppression of skeletal muscle tone 2. A sleep-onset REM period 3. This does not mean that an individual cannot suffer from more than one cluster of symptoms at the same time. Sleep disorders can be associated with numerous conditions. For example, an individual could be suffering from acute or chronic sleep deprivation, insomnia, or sleep apnea syndrome, and also have one of the many forms of Periodic Paralysis, or other complicating disorders.