What To Do When You Have Sleep Paralysis – Imagine that you are partly asleep and partly awake. Conscious but unable to move or speak. Perhaps trapped in a terrible delusion. As explained in our previous article, sleep paralysis is usually nothing to worry about. But frequent or more severe episodes can cause severe anxiety, especially at bedtime, resulting in sleep deprivation and potentially long-term health problems.
As the name suggests, sleep paralysis is the inability to move even though you feel wide awake. The sensation lasts for several minutes, but episodes of sleep paralysis can be experienced differently from person to person:
What To Do When You Have Sleep Paralysis
Along with the inability to move, one of the most common symptoms of sleep paralysis is vivid hallucinations – people experience something that isn’t actually happening. This is the main reason people panic or worry because it is impossible for them to protect themselves or run away.
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Other types of hallucinations can be the presence of an intruder or the already mentioned feeling of vestibular-motor hallucinations, where people feel they are moving, floating or flying.
In fact, these hallucinations feel like a waking nightmare, making sleep paralysis a terrifying experience for many. But try to remember – sleep paralysis is usually harmless and nothing to be afraid of.
Therefore, it can be helpful to remember the main symptoms of sleep paralysis during an episode. Understanding what is happening and why can help you calm down and put you in control. In return, you must build up your patience for future episodes. If you are relaxed, you will eventually fall back asleep and the episode will end.
Unfortunately, there are currently no proven methods or exercises that can stop an episode of sleep paralysis. However, you can try to interrupt episodes of sleep paralysis by trying to make small body movements (like wiggling one toe and then the other or opening your mouth). But if you feel anxious, it is better to rest and try to go back to sleep.
What Is Sleep Paralysis And What It Is Like Having A Sleep Paralysis Or Bangungot
Anyone can experience an episode of sleep paralysis. However, research suggests that some people are at a higher risk of experiencing frequent sleep paralysis episodes than others, including:
As mentioned in our previous article, people who suffer from sleep disorders such as sleep apnea or narcolepsy or suffer from sleep deprivation are also more likely to experience sleep paralysis. In short, sleep paralysis occurs when someone has poor sleep due to the factors mentioned.
Sleep paralysis has occurred throughout history. However, the term is relatively new – it was not until 1928 that it was first used by the British neurologist S.A.K Wilson. Before this, it is possible to find different definitions and explanations between different cultures to explain this phenomenon. Examples:
Sleep paralysis is very common and nothing to be afraid of. Even though we know that sleep paralysis demons or ghosts may not be real, that doesn’t make the experience of being motionless any less terrifying. Maintaining good sleep hygiene, addressing triggers and understanding the whole phenomenon can help you avoid it and stay calm if an episode occurs. You wake up in the middle of the night unable to move a muscle. In panic, you feel as if you are in a room and a ghost or ghost is rushing towards you. The figure approached you, sat on your chest and put his arms around your neck. You feel like it’s suffocating you and you try to scream but you can’t even open your mouth.
Everything You Need To Know About Sleep Paralysis
It might sound like some kind of horror movie, but it is a real phenomenon that many people experience. Although the ghost-like figures are not real, the physical sensation and fear are real. Experts say this is a common episode of sleep paralysis.
The condition is defined by the inability to move or speak while falling asleep or waking up and usually lasts for a minute or two. It is sometimes accompanied by hallucinations, which are essentially projections of dream images. Many who suffer from it describe a feeling of heaviness in the chest and an overwhelming sense of another presence in the room. This combination creates the terrifying feeling of a real-life nightmare.
So what causes sleep paralysis? It was studied by Christopher French, Ph.D., head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. (“Anomalistic psychology seeks to explain paranormal and related beliefs,” his department’s website explains.) French says sleep paralysis occurs during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the stage of sleep in which dreams occur.
“During REM sleep, the muscles are actually, literally, paralyzed. Normally, you’re not aware of it because you’re aware of what you’re dreaming. Simply put, your brain is awake, but your body isn’t, ” he told CBS News.
Sleep Paralysis Symptoms
People who experience sleep paralysis stay in their bedrooms, but they can’t move, he said.
In the documentary “Devil in the Room”, people describe terrifying episodes of sleep paralysis. “My bed was shaking and I felt like I was suffocating,” one recalled. “All I could move were my eyes, but I felt a presence in my room,” said another. “The stress got to me. Your mouth wouldn’t move even though you were screaming and yelling for help.” “There’s a woman getting up in bed next to me.”
“It’s absolutely terrible,” French said. However, he insists that experiencing sleep paralysis is completely normal and has a scientific explanation.
“After a very vivid episode, you think, ‘Well, I’m either crazy or it’s true,’ and neither of those two alternatives are very good,” he said. “But it’s not true, and you’re not going crazy. We generally know scientifically what causes it, and I think that’s very reassuring.”
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Sleep paralysis often occurs in people with other sleep disorders such as narcolepsy or sleep apnea, but it can happen to anyone.
According to French research, 30 to 40 percent of the general population has experienced sleep paralysis at some point in their lives.
Brian Sharpless, Ph.D., associate professor at the American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University in Washington, DC, and author of the book “Sleep Paralysis,” has studied this phenomenon in the United States.
After analyzing a sample size of 36,000 people from different cultures and groups, he found that 8 percent of the general population experiences sleep paralysis, with certain groups at higher risk. For example, about 28 percent of students reported instances of sleep paralysis, while 32 percent of those with mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety said they also experienced it.
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This makes sense because sleep paralysis is greatly affected by sleep quality. “Any kind of sleep paralysis that interferes with sleep is more likely because you don’t have a regular schedule, because you have jet lag, or because you work shift work,” Sharpless told CBS News. “Overall, I think it’s more common than people think.”
Sleep experts have known about sleep paralysis for years. It is a recognized diagnosis in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine’s Diagnostic Classification of Sleep and Arousal Disorder since its first edition published in 1979.
But it’s starting to gain popularity in popular culture as projects like “Devil in the Room” sweep the Internet. Last year, “The Nightmare,” a hybrid film about sleep paralysis and documentary horror, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.
French points to the 1781 painting “The Nightmare” by Henri Fuseli, which depicts a ghost sitting on the breast of a sleeping woman, as the most famous historical example of a depiction of sleep paralysis.
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According to a 2008 research paper, a 17th-century Dutch physician recorded a case report of a patient’s symptoms describing episodes of sleep paralysis, suggesting that physicians had known about the condition for hundreds of years.
One theory suggests that sleep paralysis also played a role in the Salem witch trials. A 2003 paper cited evidence used in 1692 trials as a possible explanation for sleep paralysis. Bernard Peach relates that one night he “heard a chatter at the window, where he saw Susanna Martin come in and jump on the floor. She seized this opponent’s feet, and pulling his body into a heap, she lay upon him for about two hours, during which time he could neither speak nor move.”
Different cultures around the world have also invented fables and stories to explain what happens during an episode of sleep paralysis.
“In all cultures, even in modern times, there are dozens and dozens of different words for sleep paralysis and different explanations from different cultures,” French said. “But again, you look at the actual explanations, and it’s clear that’s the main phenomenon.”
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Folklore in Newfoundland describes an “old pig” that came at night and sat on a sleeping chest and suffocated them. In Japan there is “Kanashibari” which is a nocturnal spirit attack.
In Saint Lucia the situation is referred to as
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