You’ve probably experienced sleep paralysis at least once in your life. That terrifying moment when you can’t move a muscle, but you’re still aware of your surroundings. You’ve probably also experienced horrifying visions and have some quite terrifying memories of it.
The condition occurs when your brain is still awake, but the parts that control the rest of your body are still asleep. This causes temporary paralysis for varying periods of time. Sleep paralysis, however, doesn’t last for more than a few minutes. Try to remember that in case you experience the condition; it can help make it less frightening. If you’re in the midst of it, there are two ways you can end it: you should either try to fully wake up by focusing all your energy on moving a single muscle (your pinky for example), once you’ve managed to do so, the paralysis should completely wear off. On the other hand, you can always try to fall back to sleep, but depending on the visions that you might have, the degree of difficulty might vary.
Is Sleep Paralysis a Symptom of Any Serious Mental/Physical Problems?
As far as we know, sleep paralysis isn’t a symptom of anything troubling. According to researchers, this condition is just a sign that your body is not transitioning smoothly between the stages of sleep. There are a couple of cases where sleep paralysis might be cause for concern, but these cases are sporadic.
Throughout the centuries, when sleep paralysis couldn’t be scientifically explained, people usually alluded to this condition as being a sign of an evil presence, be it unseen night demons, hags, dark mythical creatures, etc.
The visions vary from culture to culture, but do you know what all these visions have in common? All of them are sure to send shivers down your spine. Perceptions incurred by sleep paralysis have puzzled people for as long as they’ve been experiencing them and they’ve been mostly looked at as a manifestation of something metaphysical.
What Is Sleep Paralysis?
To get the scientific jargon out of the way, sleep paralysis is a parasomnia. In other words, it’s an undesired event that is associated with sleep
Sleep paralysis usually happens just before you fall asleep, or when you start to wake up in the morning, but it can happen anywhere in between, namely during the transition from one phase of sleep to another.
It’s usually accompanied by hallucinations (hypnagogic experiences) which can be auditory, visual, sensory or all at the same time.
Episodes of the condition can be broken down into 3 types:
- Vestibular-motor or a sense of spinning, flying, floating, falling, over one’s body or any other kind of out of body experience.
- Intruder or a sense of a threatening presence, usually accompanied by auditory hallucinations in the form of shuffling footsteps or doorknobs opening.
- Incubus or feelings of pressure on the chest usually accompanied by difficulty when breathing. These episodes are the most terrifying and visceral since the person would feel like they’re being assaulted by an evil being and are on the brink of death.
These are the 3 main types which have been documented throughout history with little variations. All of the aforementioned are extremely terrifying experiences, and even though they don’t last much, they always linger in the minds of everyone who has experienced them.
When Does Sleep Paralysis Occur?
Like we mentioned above, sleep paralysis can either happen when you’re falling asleep or when you’re in the midst of waking up. The former is called hypnagogic or pre-dormital sleep paralysis while the latter is called hypnopompic, or post-dormital sleep paralysis.
What Happens in Pre-dormital Sleep Paralysis?
When you’re falling asleep, your body begins to relax slowly, and your muscles become less responsive, and you become less aware, which makes the transition seamless. However, if you suddenly become aware in the process, you’ll notice that you aren’t able to move your body or speak.
What Happens in Post-dormital Sleep Paralysis?
When you fall asleep, your body wavers between rapid eye movement sleep, or REM, and non-rapid eye movement sleep, also known as NREM. An NREM and REM sleep last around one and a half hour or 90 min.
NREM sleep happens first, taking up about 3/4 of your average slumber duration. All along the NREM phase, the body is relaxed to allow for restoration and maintenance. Towards the end of NREM, your sleep switches to REM, resulting in a quick movement of the eye with complete relaxation of the rest of your body. That’s when you start to have dreams. Muscles are basically off during the REM phase. If you become aware prior to the end of the REM phase, you won’t be able to move or speak.
Who is Prone to Develop Sleep Paralysis?
While sleep paralysis is a common occurrence, out of 10 people, 4 tend to have sleep paralysis. It is most often observed during the teen years. However, it can happen at any age no matter the gender. It’s also important to mention that sleep paralysis can run in families, but there are also other factors that can be associated with this disease, such as:
- Substance abuse
- Sleep deprivation
- Substance abuse
- Certain Mental conditions, like stress or bipolar disorder
- Choosing the back position while sleeping
- Sleep schedule that changes
- Lack of sleep
- Other sleep problems like the nighttime leg cramps or narcolepsy
- The usage of certain medications, such as ADHD treatments
Sleep Paralysis Symptoms?
While each person might experience sleep paralysis in a different way, there are main themes and symptoms that will always be present no matter the individual.
In her book “Sleep Paralysis: Night-Mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection,” Shelley Adler gives comprehensive coverage of the symptoms that are associated with sleep paralysis. If you’re short on time and want the short version, we’ve got you covered.
Before we dive in the list, let us clarify that for an episode to be considered sleep paralysis, the 3 first symptoms that we’ll be mentioning are a must, the rest, however, will depend on how severe the experience is and may or may not be present in an episode.
- You still retain consciousness, and you feel awake.
- You’re fully aware of your surroundings, and your senses are not blurred.
- You experience paralysis
- You feel a looming sense of danger, fear, and dread of immense intensity. You experience something somewhat akin to a near death experience
- You feel an evil presence in the room. In some cases, you might even see it.
- You feel as if something is pressing down on your chest. This can be sensual or feel as if it’s being given by an external, sometimes physical force.
- You start to experience breathing difficulties, mainly due to the formerly mentioned symptom.
- You usually find yourself lying on your back, even if you don’t usually sleep in that position.
- You experience vivid hallucinations that can either involve one, two, or all sense at once, which will make for a terrifying experience.
How Is the Condition Diagnosed?
While it can be a jarring experience, sleep paralysis is usually an isolated occurrence that shouldn’t call for concern. However, if you’re anxious about your symptoms, or if you’re left extremely tired and still shocked the next day after such an occurrence, or if it’s causing insomnia, you should consult with a doctor in order to get to the bottom of things.
If you choose to go to a doctor, they might need to know more about the condition in order to make a reliable diagnosis. Therefore, they might ask any of the following questions:
- They might ask you about your health history, whether or not it runs in the family, etc.
- They might ask you to refer to a specialist.
- They might ask you to describe your symptoms further and to keep track of each occurrence by making a sleep diary for the following weeks.
- They might conduct studies of overnight sleep or daytime nap to make sure it’s sleep paralysis you’re dealing with and not any other type of sleeping disorder
The Treatment of Sleep Paralysis
While sleep paralysis can’t be treated directly, it rarely comes alone, and it can be the result of several other conditions. It’s vital that you identify said conditions in order to eliminate the root of the problem. The following conditions might be a catalyst for sleep paralysis:
- Narcolepsy. People who suffer from narcolepsy usually can’t control their sleep. They tend to go in and out of a sleep state almost arbitrarily and without control. Treating it can drastically decrease the rate at which one could experience sleep paralysis
- Sleep apnea. You can easily tell if someone suffers from this condition by how often/loud they snore, and whether or not they move sporadically during their sleep. This is the result of their airway collapsing during sleep making it harder to breathe. In order to cure this condition, several visits to the doctor are needed, and a CPAP machine is also required for treatment. However, this condition can be one of the main instigators of sleep paralysis, thus treating it could drastically help with sleep paralysis.
- Migraines. While there’s no apparent tie-in with sleep paralysis frequency, migraines seem to be considered as instigators for sleep paralysis and should be treated in order to decrease the probability of sleep paralysis.
- Anxiety. Anxiety causes the brain to be more vigilant and aware of its surroundings. One can easily see how this might interfere with the quality of sleep and how it can increase the chances of sleep paralysis. It’s recommended that the people with this condition take appropriate measure to reduce stress and anxiety in order to reduce the chances of sleep paralysis occurring.
- Sleep deprivation. If you’re sure that you don’t suffer from any of the aforementioned conditions, you might not be getting enough sleep. This can also be a huge factor when it comes to how often you might experience sleep paralysis.
How to Improve One’s Quality of Sleep
When dealing with sleep paralysis, taking preventive measures is the best way to go. In order to combat sleep paralysis, one must make sure they follow healthy bed habits, which include having a regular sleep schedule, and stress management.
Here are some useful strategies you can use to improve your quality of sleep:
- Having a consistent and regular sleep schedule.
- Making sure your one’s sleeping quarters are clean, tidy, and comfortable.
- Having a calming bedtime ritual/activity to reduce stress.
- Getting a healthy dosage of light exposure during the day.
- Minimizing light exposure at the evening and night.
- Sleeping with the lights and TV off.
- Leaving phones and other devices out of the bedroom.
- Abstaining from electronics use at least one hour before going to bed.
- Keeping the bedroom exclusive to sleep time and nothing else.
- Daily exercise, not within 2 hours before going to bed.
- Eating a small evening meal 2 hours before going to bed.
- Avoiding caffeine and alcohol in the evening.
- Avoiding long naps (90+ minutes) after 3:00PM.
Other helpful practices and measure also include:
- Dealing with depression or anxiety in an adequate way.
- Meditation and/or prayer.
- Avoiding sleeping on your back.
- Reducing stimulant consumption.
It’s vital that we maintain good sleeping hygiene as many of the common health problems we face usually originate from bad sleep hygiene or a lack thereof.
The Effects of Sleep Paralysis
While it might seem jarring and frightening, sleep paralysis isn’t dangerous. It’s more of an inconvenience that it is a hazard. However, it might make people fall into a vicious cycle of sleep deprivation which, in turn, can open up a can full of worms, anxiety, stress, depression, all these further feed the cycle.
With all that said, after reading this article, you should now be able to completely avoid sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is easily treatable which drastically limits its nefariousness.
How Do I Deal with the Condition?
No matter how bad it gets and how real it might feel, remember two things: There is no real danger, all you see and hear are hallucinations in your brain, and there’s nothing to fear. Also, these hallucinations never last for long, the worst thing that could happen is that they would stay for a couple of minutes.
Instead of being consumed by fear, try and separate yourself from the façade your brain is putting up and see it as a wakeup call (pun intended) to let you know that you need to improve the way you manage stress in your life.
References:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2921144/
