Why do I involuntarily stop breathing during my sleep?

Question

I go to sleep without thinking about anything before I go to bed. Then, in the middle of the night, while I'm still asleep, I can't breathe at all (usually the stopping of breathing coincides with a nightmare I'm having). I subconciously stop breathing all together like I'm holding my breathe underwater or something. Even as I am sleeping, I keep telling myself in my mind to breathe, but my body won't listen to me. I try my hardest to open my eyes, or yell for help, but I can't move my body at all as if my motor skills have been paralyzed or something. It's as if my body is fully sleeping, but my mind is fully awake, as I clearly know for a fact at the moment it's happening that if I don't breathe, I'm going to die. I really fear that I will die in my sleep this way someday. What is wrong with me, and what can I do? I feel like I'm being smothered with a pillow, or drowning underwater. Please help me. 10 points for best, thorough answer! Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

It's called Sleep paralysis.

Symptoms of sleep paralysis can be either one of the following or a combination:

    * Paralysis: this occurs after waking up or shortly before falling asleep. The person cannot move any body part, cannot speak, and only has minimal control over blinking and breathing. This paralysis is the same paralysis that occurs when dreaming. The brain paralyzes the muscles to prevent possible injury during dreams, as some body parts may move during dreaming. If the person wakes up suddenly, the brain may still think that it is dreaming, and sustains the paralysis.

    * Hallucinations: Images or speaking that appear during the paralysis. The person may think that someone is standing beside them or they may hear strange sounds. These may be dreamlike, possibly causing the person to think that they are still dreaming. Often it is reported as feeling a weight on one's chest, as if being underneath a person or heavy object.

These symptoms can last from mere seconds to several minutes (although they can feel like much longer) and can be frightening to the person. There may be some body movement, but it is very unlikely and hard for a person to accomplish.

Physiologically, it is closely related to the paralysis that occurs as a natural part of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is known as REM atonia. Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain awakes from a REM state, but the bodily paralysis persists. This leaves the person fully conscious, but unable to move. In addition, the state may be accompanied by terrifying hallucinations (hypnopompic or hypnagogic) and an acute sense of danger [3]. Sleep paralysis is particularly frightening to the individual due to the vividness of such hallucinations[4]. The hallucinatory element to sleep paralysis makes it even more likely that someone will interpret the experience as a dream, since completely fanciful, or dream-like, objects may appear in the room alongside one's normal vision. Some scientists have proposed this condition as an explanation for alien abductions and ghostly encounters.[5] A study by Susan Blackmore and Marcus Cox of the University of the West of England suggested that alien abductions are related to sleep paralysis rather than to temporal lobe lability.[6]

The paralysis can last from several seconds to several minutes "after which the individual may experience panic symptoms and the realization that the distorted perceptions were false" [7]. When there is an absence of narcolepsy, sleep paralysis is referred to as isolated sleep paralysis (ISP) [8]. "ISP appears to be far more common and recurrent among African Americans than among White Americans or Nigerian Blacks" [9], and is often referred to within African American communities as "the witch riding your back" [10][11].

Answer 2

To me this sounds like either sleep paralysis or sleep apnea. When I was a teen I experienced sleep paralysis and it was like you described but without the cessation of breathing. The second possibility is you are experiencing sleep apnea and your dreams about not breathing are triggered by you actually not breathing.

   Sleep paralysis is not well understood but you could use a search engine to research. Sleep apnea on the other hand is well understood. In addition to reading up on it online I would make a bee line to my doctor to get a referal  to a sleep center for a sleep study. They can advise you if you have apnea and if it's fixable or treatable. Don't delay.