It is believed that sleep paralysis is extremely rare in old age. Most studies attribute this phenomenon to a younger age group, especially college students and teens. However, there is very little research on older age groups, which leaves room to wonder whether this is simply a preconceived notion.
A 1999 study of the prevalence of mental disorders in elderly Chinese people aged 70 and up found evidence to refute this hypothesis. In addition to questions about the study’s main subject, the participants were asked questions about whether they had ever experienced signs of sleep paralysis. Almost 18% of the 158 respondents turned out to be familiar with this phenomenon. The prevalence curve of the phenomenon showed peaks during two distinct periods: in adolescence and after the age of 60. More than a third of the participants reported having begun experiencing sleep paralysis later in life.
Curiously, until now, stories of sleep paralysis in old age have been a rare sight in scientific publications. One such example was the case of a 76-year-old man from India, which was described by his attending physician in the Journal of Geriatric Mental Health. According to the doctor, the man reported repeated attacks of sleep paralysis, during which he experienced hallucinations of alien abduction and was unable to move. These episodes had been plaguing him for the past 2 years. Even though they always stopped after 15–20 minutes, the patient was so scared that he would start crying following each such attack.
In this case, sleep paralysis was probably caused by sleep disturbances, often experienced by older people. Otherwise, the man’s mental and physical condition was rated as good. According to the doctor, psychiatrists need to be especially careful when examining older patients for sleep paralysis, since these phenomena are rarely talked about, and there is a high risk of attributing symptoms to age-related mental changes.
The article was published in the June 2020 issue of the Journal of Geriatric Mental Health.
