From: janice@mailinator.com   
      
   In article <1106108969.303736.295500@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com>,   
   xyz4380@hotmail.com says...   
   >Do you know what they say causes it? What about REM does it?   
      
   It boils down to the fact that during REM, the motor system of the brain   
   is highly active, so if its signals telling the body to move weren't   
   counteracted in some way, we'd all be acting out our dreams.  There are   
   indeed some people, usually older men, who have a disorder that causes   
   them not to have the paralysis, and they have an unnerving habit of   
   jumping up and running around the room in their sleep; for instance,   
   tackling the dresser while dreaming of playing football.  Also, some   
   experiments with cats demonstrated that if the brainstem is cut in a   
   certain way, they will jump up during REM and perform various behaviors   
   such as stalking, as if they were acting out dreams of chasing mice.   
      
   As for the technical working of the mechanism, I've seen it explained   
   differently in different places, so I'm not sure which is right.  One of   
   these explanations maintains that what's going on is basically that   
   certain neurons in the brainstem are sending "Go!" signals that activate   
   the motor area of the cortex (the upper part of the brain) while others   
   are sending "Stop!" signals to the motor neurons in the spinal cord, with   
   the net effect of cancelling each other out.  In any case, we end up with   
   such drastically low muscle tone that we can't easily move.  A sleep   
   paralysis experience, such as many of us have had in connection with our   
   OBEs, therefore may well be a matter of becoming unusually aware of this   
   perfectly natural and useful function.   
      
   --   
      
   "We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur."   
   --George W. Bush   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)