Have you ever been in a situation in your sleep, where you are awake but cannot move a single damn muscle of your body? Or have you ever been in a case in your sleep, where again you are awake but are having a feeling that someone is choking you? Or do you sometimes feel that there is a demon in your room, and you suddenly woke up from your sleep and cannot move your body in fear? Take a deep breath.
There is no demon in your room. There is no one to choke you in your sleep. Well, here is the deal of all these unheavenly happenings; you have sleep paralysis. Yes, your inability to move your body or any muscle is the result of sleep paralysis.
But you do not need to worry, sleep paralysis is widespread and it is not life-threatening. So now you might want to know more about sleep paralysis, and you might want to be recovered from it. Well! Here you will find the complete details about sleep paralysis and how to fight it. So, without wasting any time, let’s indulge in the matter.
Table of Contents
What is sleep, paralysis?
To put it in simple terms, sleep paralysis is a state of consciousness in your sleep where you are unable to move because your brain is awake, but your body is not. It happens when you pass between a stage between sleep and wakefulness. So as you are awake or your brain is awake, you can feel that your muscles are not moving because the mind has paralyzed your muscles. This condition sometimes leads to hallucinations. As we have discussed earlier that the subject might visualize a demon in his or her room, or he or she might feel that someone is chocking him or her. Though it is alarming for the subject, it is not dangerous.
How does sleep paralysis happen?
With so much researches, researchers now believe that sleep paralysis happens because of disturbed Rapid eye movement cycle or REM cycle. People feel sleep paralysis in the particular phase of coming out or falling into the REM sleep. You might ask what the REM cycle is. To clarify this, the REM cycle is a particular phase in the rest of the mammal or birds. This phase is distinguished by the rapid movement of the eyes of the subject. In this phase, the issue dreams vividly. The immovability of body muscles also characterizes this phase. So in sleep paralysis, the brain paralyzes the body muscles, and the subjects fail to act out their dream. They are awake, but they cannot move their muscle.
What causes sleep paralysis?
Though many people undergo the experience of sleep paralysis, for most of them, it happens only two or three times in their lives. So to find out the root of sleep paralysis, we have found some shocking revelation. Let’s find out those causes.
Lack of sleep or sleep deprivation:
The modern-day life has stressed us so much that we often have to sacrifice sleep because of our busy tight-knit schedule. If any extra duties or responsibilities or work things come up, we, without thinking much, cut short our sleep time. It disturbs our sleep pattern or sleep cycle. Our body fails to cope up rapidly with our changing sleep pattern. That is why the concerned REM cycle occurs. Our brain wakes us up when we do not need to wake up. As a result, we become the victim of sleep paralysis.
A more disturbed sleep pattern leads up to insomnia. Insomnia is a condition where the subject fails to fall asleep or stay asleep. They wake up in the middle of their sleep. The issue also faces difficulty in getting back to sleep when they wake up at midnight. So without stressing our brain, we can say that insomnia is one of the leading causes of sleep paralysis.
Another outcome of sleeping disorder because of our stressful life is narcolepsy. In this case, the subject is unable to stay awake. They have an uncontrollable urge for daytime sleep. Even when they are just feeling relaxed, they immediately fall into the REM sleep phase. Also, sometimes, when they are awake, they almost immediately fall into REM sleep. Again this disturbs the sleep cycle and causes sleep paralysis.
Again, because of our daily stressful lifestyle, we always feel anxious almost about anything. It keeps us awake at night. It leads to a sleep disorder, and sleep disorder leads to sleep paralysis.
Panic disorder is also one type of anxiety disorder where you panic in certain situations. Someone who is undergoing panic disorder feels anxious, stressed, and panic regularly at any time without any apparent reason. It also keeps the subject awake at night and leads to sleep paralysis.
How to prevent sleep paralysis?
After all these causes of sleep paralysis, you may ask what the cure for this is. So without wasting any time, let us see those cures.
Get regular sleep:
Yes! The first and foremost solution of sleep paralysis is that you have to sleep regularly at least for six to eight hours. Only having a sound sleep can prevent sleep paralysis.
Go to bed at the same time:
Another preventive measure of sleep paralysis is that you have to go to bed every night at the exact time. Going to bed at a different time on different nights will not help you in getting out of sleep paralysis.
Get regular exercise:
Getting regular exercise will exhaust your body. You will be tired and will quickly go to sleep. Another reason is that regular exercise releases happy hormones in your body, which relax your body, which in turn helps in getting sleep.
Try not to smoke and do not drink caffeine or alcohol:
Try to cut your consumption of alcohol or smoking cigarettes. These are the leading cause of sleep deprivation, which leads to sleep paralysis.
Try not to sleep at your back:
Sleeping at your end makes you prone to sleep paralysis.
So without wasting any time, try to maintain these preventive measures right from today, and you will never have to deal with sleep paralysis again.