3. Depression
Those who suffer from depression may have problems with sleep paralysis. There have been studies linking certain mental disorders to sleep paralysis. Depression is one of those disorders. An epidemiologic study found that depression was related to other sleep problems including insomnia, hallucinations, automatic behavior and cataplexy.
Most people in the study reported that they experienced some type of sleep problem. Depression is not the only mental disorder that can affect sleep, but depression can cause oversleeping, and too much sleep has the same effect on the body as not enough sleep, both of which can contribute to sleep paralysis.