answer:I think it has to do with waking up during the paralytic part of sleep. Or, having the stages overlap a little, and possibly REM being very short? Or, maybe the stage before it being very short? Since you wake, you become aware you are paralyzed. I would guess during REM is when the body is shut down from movement so we don’t act out our dreams. I believe it is somewhere near the base of the brain it functions to not deliver neurological messages to our body that the higher thinking brain has created in our minds. I’m really not sure that is right, but that is kind of logically what makes sense to me. I bet nikipedia knows, I’ll send this to her. Is there any chance you have sleep apnea, or very low heart rates and blood pressure at night?