Checkpoint Desk
You are asleep.
Suddenly, you become aware of your surroundings. You can hear the familiar sounds in your bedroom. You may even see someone standing beside your bed.
You desperately want to scream, turn over, or reach for your phone, but nothing happens. Your body refuses to obey.
It feels as though something is sitting on your chest, squeezing the breath out of you.
You struggle for what feels like an eternity before suddenly regaining control of your body.
For many Zimbabweans, this terrifying experience has a name – madzikirira.
Some will tell you that a demon had visited your bedroom. Others will say you were being attacked by a witch or an evil spirit. In some families, the immediate response is to pray, seek spiritual intervention, or consult traditional healers.
But is there really something supernatural sitting on your chest, or is the brain playing an extraordinary trick on your body?
Science has the explanation.
According to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), sleep paralysis occurs when a person becomes conscious while the body is still in the temporary state of muscle paralysis associated with sleep.
During rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the stage in which vivid dreams commonly occur, the brain temporarily switches off most voluntary muscle movement. This prevents people from physically acting out their dreams.
However, when consciousness returns before this temporary paralysis ends, a person may find themselves awake but unable to move or speak.
The National Library of Medicine’s StatPearls medical reference explains that this mismatch between awareness and muscle control can produce frightening hallucinations, including the sensation that an intruder is in the room or that something is pressing down on the chest.
In other words, the experience can feel completely real even when there is no physical attack.
Zimbabwean medical doctor Dr Misheck Ruwende also weighed in on the phenomenon, reassuring people that sleep paralysis/madzikirira is harmless.
In an explanation shared on social media, Dr Ruwende described sleep paralysis as a condition in which a person is unable to move or speak while falling asleep or waking up, sometimes experiencing the sensation that someone or something is pressing them down.
Although the exact cause is not fully understood, Dr Ruwende identified inadequate sleep, irregular sleeping schedules and sleeping on one’s back as habits associated with the condition.
His message was reassuring – there is no need to panic when one experiences sleep paralysis.
Episodes are temporary and, on their own, are generally not considered dangerous.
The subject has also featured in Zimbabwean media.
On September 15, 2019, The Sunday Mail carried an article titled ‘Sleep paralysis, the devil’s grip?’ The writer explored the unsettling experience, examining the medical explanation alongside African beliefs associating the phenomenon with demonic spirits and witchcraft.
But what does African Traditional Religion (ATR) say?
Culturally, madzikirira are traditionally associated with witchcraft, spiritual attacks, and malevolent forces believed to interfere with a person’s sleep.
However, it is important to distinguish cultural beliefs from established ATR doctrine.
ATR is not a single, uniform belief system, and there is no universally accepted traditional teaching establishing that every episode of sleep paralysis is caused by demons or witchcraft.
The broader Shona spiritual worldview recognises ancestral spirits, spirit mediums and beliefs concerning witchcraft, as documented by anthropologist Michael Gelfand in ‘The Spiritual Beliefs of the Shona’ (1977).
These beliefs provide a cultural framework through which frightening experiences such as madzikirira may be interpreted.
Interestingly, Zimbabwe is not alone.
Research published in European Psychiatry in 2016 documented supernatural interpretations of sleep paralysis in different societies.
In parts of Egypt, for example, the experience of sleep paralysis is widely known as Al-Jathum (meaning the one who sits) and is frequently attributed to a malevolent spirit or jinn that presses down on the sleeper’s chest.
Among the Yoruba of south-western Nigeria, a traditional explanation known as Ogun Oru, sleep paralysis is traditionally interpreted as a spiritual affliction or demonic attack.
So, what is the verdict?
Science can explain the temporary paralysis, chest pressure and frightening visions through recognised sleep processes. However, it has not established witchcraft or demonic possession as the cause of sleep paralysis.
For anyone experiencing repeated episodes, health experts recommend seeking medical advice, particularly when sleep paralysis causes significant anxiety or persistent sleep problems.
Maintaining regular sleeping hours, getting sufficient rest and adopting healthy sleeping habits may also help reduce episodes.
Perhaps the most frightening thing about madzikirira is not necessarily what people believe visits them at night, but how convincingly the sleeping brain can make an imagined encounter feel real.
Fact Check Verdict: Sleep paralysis is a recognised medical phenomenon. The supernatural explanation remains a matter of cultural and spiritual belief, not an established scientific finding.
