“When you open your eyes in the middle of the night, you realize it all starts again,” wrote an acquaintance on Twitter after he came back from sleep paralysis, which he had been battling for months. As you scroll through a few dozen of his tweets, detailed explanations of how this happened can be found. For example, he sometimes woke up in the middle of the night and found that he couldn’t move. All this was accompanied by a feeling of suffocation and white noise in the ears. And sometimes during this situation he had hallucinations that looked more like a horror plot.
Judging by the descriptions, each time the same image appeared to him. “This is a huge black silhouette about two meters long. Imagine horror movie monsters standing right in front of you. It’s impossible to predict how long it takes. Maybe it all happened for a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity to me.
At this point, the person cannot seek help because one of the symptoms of sleep paralysis is the inability to open their mouth and make no sounds. People who encounter it regularly are no longer afraid of hallucinations. Moreover, they can resist and suppress nightmares. But it is much more difficult for beginners in this matter. You can only understand what this feeling is by facing it.
We understand what sleep paralysis is from a medical perspective and how it relates to human mental health problems. We talked to a neurologist and psychologist about how to get rid of it and what to do to avoid encountering it.
What is sleep paralysis?
Anna Bakina, psychologist of the YouTalk online psychological help service, comments.
From a psychological point of view, sleep paralysis is an extremely unpleasant experience resulting from the preservation of consciousness combined with the inability to move while falling asleep or waking up. Sleep paralysis occurs during REM sleep, when large muscle groups relax and consciousness is mixed with dream images. Fear of not being able to move grows, suffocation occurs, and the heart rate increases. This can take from a few seconds to several minutes.
Many of the images that a person sometimes sees in this situation are real in the same sense as hallucinations or dreams. But at the same time, the inability to move and speak is quite real, because it really “paralyzes” the body during the REM sleep stage.
sleep paralysis images
Based on people’s stories, experts in the field of psychology have identified several popular images they see during sleep paralysis.
– Cake. At this time, a person may feel a feeling of heaviness in the chest, as well as choking.
– Shadow with scythe. According to the stories, the image appears in the corner of the room and does not approach the sleeping person.
— Dark silhouette. One can hear the door creak and watch the shadow over the bed.
What happens to the human body during sleep paralysis?
Alexey Shibalev, neurologist at the Molecular Diagnostic Center CMD of the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology in Rospotrebnadzor, comments.
This situation is not dangerous. It is not possible to die, drown or be paralyzed because of it. With a violation of the functions of vital organs, sleep paralysis, the cardiovascular system does not occur. It is also not a sign of any disease of the central nervous system.
The essence of the physiological mechanism of sleep paralysis is that normally during sleep, the brain turns off motor activity in order to avoid excessive movements during dreams. Sometimes, the brain’s shut down of actions continues after waking, meaning the person wakes up but the body hasn’t woken up yet.
If a person wakes up in REM sleep, they will not be able to make voluntary movements for a while. However, ongoing dreams may be accompanied by a feeling of the presence of someone or something terrible nearby. The impossibility of voluntary movements sometimes causes panic.
What causes sleep paralysis?
Sleep paralysis is often a symptom of diseases that require treatment – narcolepsy and catalepsy. Narcolepsy is a disease characterized by uncontrolled bouts of daytime sleepiness. Catalepsy is a sudden state resembling a dream, with prolonged holding of the position given to him by the patient (the person freezes like a wax figure).
How to prevent sleep paralysis?
While sleep paralysis is not physically harmful, it is extremely uncomfortable. Therefore, it makes sense to pay attention to emotional experiences, improve the hygiene of sleep and rest, find strength and support for living in difficult periods.
REM sleep, in which sleep paralysis occurs, is essential for processing the experience of the day. If the soul cannot withstand the charge, the probability of paralysis increases. Speech psychotherapy can be a solution: it will allow you to work, structure and appropriate important experiences, thereby reducing the load on the physiological mechanisms of the nervous system.
However, if you cannot get rid of sleep paralysis for a long time, it is best to contact a somnologist – a sleep specialist who will conduct an examination and even prescribe medication.
Source: People Talk
I’m Roger Gritton, and I’ve been writing for the The Fashion Vibes for over 5 years now. My specialty is beauty news; I’m passionate about covering the latest trends, products, and innovations in the industry. In my time there, I’ve become known as an authority on all things beauty-related.
I love discovering new experts to interview, researching up-and-coming ingredients and techniques that are making their way onto our beauty shelves and highlighting people who are making a difference in the world of cosmetics. My work has appeared not only on The Fashion Vibes, but also several other publications including the New York Times Magazine, Allure Magazine and Refinery29.
