Sleep Paralysis

I remember when my dad was saying how he felt like he was getting possessed by a ghost one night; how he couldn't move at all, but no dad you weren’t getting ‘possessed’ you had sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is a temporary inability to move or speak that occurs when you're waking up or falling asleep. It's not harmful and should pass in a few seconds or minutes, but can be very frightening. Many people have sleep paralysis once or twice in their life, while others experience it a few times a month or more regularly.

There are 2 types of sleep: Non-rapid eye movement and rapid eye movement. Sleep paralysis happens when you abruptly wake up from REM. REM is when the eyes move quickly, this episode of sleep is where the brain is most active so brain restoration can take place. Furthermore, this is when dreams occur, we have at least 5 every night but only remember them if we wake up in the middle of a dream. When we are dreaming our brain stem is switched off, in other words, we are paralysed neck down, possibly to stop us from acting out our dreams and hurting ourselves. However, it’s a very scary thought not being able to move every night. Sleep paralysis takes place when you wake up too fast from this stage of sleep. This occurs as the brain doesn't process that you’re awake however when it does the brain stem is switched back on. This only lasts for a few seconds but those few seconds could be the most frightening seconds of your life

Sleep paralysis usually gets better over time but improving your sleeping habits and sleeping environment may help, for example:
  • get a good night's sleep – most adults need six to eight hours of good quality sleep a night
  • go to bed at roughly the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning
  • create a sleeping environment that's comfortable, quiet, dark and not too hot or cold
  • avoid eating big meals, smoking, or drinking alcohol or caffeine shortly before going to bed
  • get regular exercise (but not within four hours of going to bed)

Thank you for reading

Kethujah Sethurajah :)

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