I have epilepsy and its only one of the few side effects of seizures. My technical diagnosis is 'partial/complex temporal lobe seizures'. However my neurologist suspects I have several forms which manifest in sleep paralysis, de javu experiences and absence and of course convulsive seizures.

When I was a kid (early teens) I had night terrors followed by episodes of sleep paralysis. Tonic colonic seizures (drop the the floor fits) didn't manifest until I was 31. Between these two periods I had other 'wonky' stuff going on that in retrospect clearly denotes a worsening condition.

Today there are many tests they can perform to find the root cause of his disorder. Since its just starting its a 'new' disorder and should be treated as such. He needs to see his General Practitioner (Primary Care Physician) and get referred to both a sleep study and a neurologist.

Sleep study will rule out other sleep disorders which could be missed by him but be manifesting in sleep paralysis. If he has a spouse/bed partner perhaps they can fill in more about his sleeping habits.

There is sleep apnea which leads to fitful un-restful sleeping that can later (due to lack of rest) manifest sleep paralysis and even night terrors.

If he stops breathing (literally his diaphragm and lungs stop moving, not a nasal/throat blockage) it could be indicative of a form of epilepsy or conversely a form of narcolepsy. I still stop breathing when I sleep, my lungs stop automatically taking up air (its not due to a blockage of the throat). On nights that I have lots of these stop breathing episodes I often wake up unable to move.

Mind when we sleep the body goes into a form of paralysis. We dream we are moving, but the brain does not send signals to the rest of the body. So we can dream we are running, but our legs do not move. Often enough folk 'wake up' and this self induced paralysis is still going on even though the person is no longer dreaming.

If he has been under more stress lately, it is possible he is not sleeping properly and is not dreaming deeply enough. A sleep study will get to the bottom of any sleeping disorder.

If its epilepsy or other neurological disorder, getting it discovered and attended to early is best.

Things like epilepsy can continue to worsen if left unchecked. So he may not be falling on the floor and convulsing today... but could end up with those types of seizures if he has epilepsy and its untreated.