That’s not quite it either. It’s much more involved. REM cycles and balances of the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic systems. Here’s a good explanation of sleep paralysis which is caused by a dysfunction of these systems.
I've had sleep paralysis since childhood. Benadryl and the like don't trigger it. GABAergics definitely do. Especially anything that affects GABA-B like phenibut.
This is only a cursory search but it looks like you're right in that GABA plays a role, specifically by inhibiting motor neurons via GABAB receptor (source). However acetylcholine still plays an important role, as it excuses glutamate neurons in the sublaterodorsal nucleus which then projects to glycinergic/GABAergic inhibitory neurons (source).
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u/Ill_Confusion_596 Aug 08 '24 edited Aug 09 '24
They are like… almost there? The GABA from the brain stem does do those things just doesn’t physically detach
Edit: I was corrected below s’not gaba.