SLEEP PARALYSIS

Have you ever woken up during the night feeling as though you cannot move or speak? Perhaps it feels like someone is sitting on your chest, or as if your body has turned to stone? Perhaps it’s accompanied by visual or auditory hallucinations.

Yes it is scary – but the good news this isn’t something supernatural or unnatural. It is simply sleep paralysis, and is something that can affect anyone.

Sleep paralysis occurs when there is disturbance in your progression through the normal sleep cycles. Usually when we enter deep sleep (REM Sleep), our body shuts off muscle movement to protect us from enacting out our dreams. We usually don’t notice this because our brains become less conscious. However, if you regain awareness during this time, you will notice that you cannot move or speak. This can be a frightening experience!

There are also certain conditions that make people vulnerable to sleep paralysis such as narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnea. Things that disturb your normal sleep -wake cycle such as shiftwork, sleep deprivation, alcohol and substance use or hormones fluctuations are also linked with episodes. So having enough sleep, regular sleeping schedules, and enacting good sleep hygiene can all help prevent this unpleasant experience.

When they do happen, sleep paralysis episodes rarely last more than a few minutes (even if this feels like much longer). Unfortunately, whilst they occur, there is usually very little we can do except to ride the episode out. But there are certainly some tips and tricks that may help make this experience more tolerable.

 Sleep Paralysis Tips:

• Try to resist the urge to fight. Ride it out like wave. The more you try to fight  it the more panicked or scared you are likely to feel.

• Try not to move or speak. This will only make the sensation of paralysis worse

• If your eyes are open, try to close them. This can help prevent you from having visual hallucinations.

• Try to tell yourself to go back to sleep. You are already in sleep-induced state so this shouldn’t take long.

• Try to relax your muscles

• Try to do grounding exercises to help you remain calm. For example:

o    Imagine your bed as a big pile of feathers and try to sink into your bed

o   try to relax your muscles

o   try to count to 20

o   try to regulate your breathing

o   try to tell yourself: “I am okay, and this will quickly pass”