Interdimensional attack or demon: sleep paralysis vs. esotericism

Interdimensional attack or demon: the night that was not a nightmare
An experience of sleep paralysis with a feeling of an oppressive presence has prompted interpretations ranging from the clinical to the supernatural. The episode, described as an attempt to extract energy from the chest, reopens the old debate between neurology and esoteric folklore.
While some point to sleep paralysis — a well-documented phenomenon in which the body remains immobilised while the mind is awake, often with hypnagogic hallucinations — others link it to interdimensional entities or demons. The sensation of pressure on the chest is a classic symptom, but attributing it to an external being is as old as humanity itself.
The clinical hypothesis: sleep paralysis
Sleep paralysis affects around 8% of the population. During the transition between REM sleep and wakefulness, muscle tone remains inhibited, and the brain can generate vivid, often threatening hallucinations. The sensation of a presence on the chest, of suffocation or of energy being drained, fits within this framework. Yet for those who experience it, the episode is indistinguishable from a real attack.
The esoteric and demonic readings
There is no shortage of people who interpret the episode as a spiritual or interdimensional attack. A well-known protection method, spread in esoteric circles, involves reciting a declaration of sovereignty over one's personal space, denying permission to any entity. Recommendations to pray to the archangel Michael or to sprinkle the room with holy water are other variants. Some have even compared it to the famous "sleep paralysis demon" caught on video.
Between antiestéticar and irony
The most curious anecdote comes from someone who, during a lucid dream, challenged the demon to show itself and received a terse reply. Others, with more humour than faith, blamed "socialist spirits" or inflation, taking advantage of the fact that July is tax month. The interpretive pluralism is as broad as human experience itself in the face of the inexplicable.
Rounding it off is the warning not to pray to or make pacts with any entity, however celestial it may seem: "if you ask, you will have to repay the loan with interest". A financial logic applied to the afterlife, which says a great deal about the times we live in.

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