Tom Holland
(Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images f)For Tom Holland, becoming famous has led to some problems in the bedroom (no, not those kind of problems).
The actor rapidly rose in popularity after his iteration of Marvel’s Spider-Man was debuted back in 2016. And he has his status as an A-lister to thank for bringing him closer to his current girlfriend, Zendaya, his sleep schedule has been deeply affected by the newfound attention.
In an interview with GQ, Holland told the outlet that becoming famous led to him experiencing sleep paralysis, which if you have the fortune of knowing nothing about is the distressful ordeal of not being able to speak or move while waking or falling asleep.
"You're awake, but you can't move," the 25-year-old actor said.
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It’s just as terrifying as it sounds, and the temporary immobilization usually lasts one or two minutes. For many, the incident is coupled with a vivid nightmare.
Holland shared that his recurring sleep paralysis nightmare typically involves the paparazzi is in his room snapping photos and there's nobody there to protect him.
"They're all there, and I'm looking for my publicist, like, 'Where is the person who's supposed to be protecting me? What's going on?' And then when I am able to move again, I turn the lights on, and it's over," he said.
Along with his sleep paralysis, Holland also deals with sleepwalking and finds that he has undressed himself while asleep. How often does this occur? Holland admitted that "four out of 10 sleeps” he wake up “completely naked."
In order to combat his sleep paralysis, the Marvel superhero started to train himself how to lucid dream so he recognizes when he’s dreaming.
“Essentially, when you’re asleep, your brain is working way faster than it is when it’s awake,” he explained.
“… If you’re in a dream and you read something, say, a stop sign, and you turn around, when you look back at the stop sign it will have changed. So what you do is — and this is where it sounds stupid — you set an alarm for every hour of the day when you’re awake. When the alarm goes off, you read something.”
