According to statistics, about 60% of the world's population say they have experienced or are periodically experiencing symptoms of sleep paralysis. The term sleepy paralysis is not classified as a medical disease, but nevertheless it has its own causes, characteristic symptoms and methods of elimination.
In physiology, sleep paralysis is similar to real paralysis, that is, a person can not move a single muscle group, while believing that a full awakening has already come.
The conducted researches have allowed to find out that the paralysis in a dream is explained by the violation of the person's passage of all phases of sleep. To lead to this imbalance can be very specific reasons, and usually immediately after their elimination everything comes back to normal.
Causes of sleep paralysis
Sleep paralysis occurs in two cases - at the moment when a person begins to fall asleep or vice versa, to the stage of awakening. It is noted that the paralysis of the muscles never comes on the alarm bell, that is, the stupor arises at the moment of the natural course of one of the phases of sleep.
At the moment of falling asleep a person is in a phase of slow sleep, at which the muscles are already relaxed, and consciousness is not yet turned off and moreover, registers the quietest sounds.
Abrupt awakening at the time of transition to deep sleep causes the activation of the brain, but the body can not yet respond to impulses. That is, it seems to the person that the team from the brain departments gets too long at the right "address" and the limbs react to it with a slowdown.
A similar condition is registered in people who wake up before the end of the "fast sleep" phase. Despite the fact that many people think that they experience paralysis for more than 10 minutes, in fact, this pathological process rarely exceeds a 2-minute interval.
The muscles gradually begin to work, a person has a voice and an opportunity to make movements, but for a long time there is a feeling of horror experienced. For reasons leading to paralysis in sleep include:
- Lack of sleep, especially continuing for several weeks.
- Long-term stress and neurological disorders.
- Shift of biorhythms, for example, when traveling from one time zone to the opposite.
- Mental diseases.
- Dependence on drugs, psychotropic substances.
- Paralysis in a dream can develop against the background of taking nootropics and antidepressants.
- Often, this condition occurs in conjunction with narcolepsy and periodic nocturnal leg cramps.
For the first time, most often sleepy paralysis begins to appear after 10 years and can be troubling up to 20-25 years. In people of adulthood, the state of immobility in a dream with full consciousness work is recorded much less frequently.
Most people experience paralysis from 1 to several times in their entire life, but 5% of patients who have turned to a neurologist are less fortunate - seizures are repeated several times a year or even a month.
How to call?
Sleepy paralysis on the psyche of most people acts the same way - they are frightened, afraid of repetition of this state, are experiencing severe horror. But there are brave souls who try to artificially experience sleep paralysis, in order to understand the secrets of their subconscious. There are certain body postures and techniques in which you can deliberately enter into a sleepy stupor:
- First you need to take a more pose-prone position - lie on your back, and throw your head back, putting a small roller under your neck.
- It is necessary to achieve such sensations that arise when falling headfirst from a great height. That is, you need to achieve a sense of weightlessness, cause noise and whistling in your ears, a gust of wind in your face. If you completely, as in reality achieve such a state, you will experience sleep paralysis.
- You can do a sleepy paralysis if you achieve immobility in a dream and cause a strong fear in yourself. At the moment of falling asleep, you need to remember what really frightens you.
- Some sleepy stupor is achieved if coffee is drunk before going to bed. First, the phase of slow sleep will begin to act, but as soon as caffeine enters into interaction with the body's systems, the person will immediately wake up abruptly.
Symptoms of
People who experience or have once been affected by the mechanism of action of carotid paralysis, usually characterize their condition approximately equally. The most important thing is the immobility of any muscle groups with apparent full consciousness, often the stupor is accompanied by unusual sound illusions. The signs of paralysis in a dream include:
- Feeling of panic fear.
- Sensation of pressure on the upper part of the trunk, especially on the chest and neck. Difficulty of inhaling and exhaling, inability to make sounds.
- At the time of sleep paralysis, the heart rate always increases.
- A person does not orient himself in space, there is an illusion that he is in an unfamiliar place.
- Of visual hallucinations, fixation of shadows, obscure, dark silhouettes is noted.
- Auditory illusions are accompanied by noise, the movement of shadows around the room, some feel the breath of an alien creature next to him.
Such sensations in most cases occur in people who prefer to sleep on their backs or on their right sides, often tipping over the head also contributes to partial immobility of the body upon awakening. Some people find it easier to fall into a state of sleepy paralysis. This is due to their suspicion, anxiety, neurological disorders.
To notice that a person is subjected to sleep paralysis, it is possible for a relative near by to strain the muscles on the face, twitching of hands or feet, intermittent, heavy breathing.
Treatment of
Most neurologists believe that sleep paralysis does not need specific treatment and it can not be combated with it. But this is only if the person does not have a depressive state, neuroses, sleep disorders, dependence on alcohol or drugs. Paralysis will be periodically disturbed until these provoking factors are eliminated.
In order to prevent further repetition of an attack of sleep paralysis, it is necessary to achieve normalization of sleep. In some cases, the simplest tips help in this:
- Regular exercise in the fresh air is necessary. This approach to a healthy lifestyle connects the work of brain centers and muscles, which ensures the coherence of their functioning in all phases of sleep.
- Helps to normalize sleep rejection of bad habits. Do not get involved and strong toning drinks in the evening.
- Before going to bed, the room should be well ventilated, it is advisable to take a relaxing bath or drink a decoction of soothing herbs.
- You have to sleep on your side. Under the back, you can put tangible objects, so that a coup on the back would cause discomfort.
- Sleep need enough time - for some people it's 6 hours, for others a little more. You have to try to sleep at the same time.
How to quit?
In most cases, it is possible to interrupt a recurring stutter in a dream in the following ways:
- During paralysis, you need to relax as much as possible and try to move your fingers or toes with your fingers, and make a sound.
- Some people help quickly to return to the normal state of activation of brain activity - counting numbers, problem solving, mental singing. It is believed that prayer helps, but it's more because you have to concentrate to remember the words.
- Control of breathing. Having felt paralysis, one should try to make uniform, deep breathing movements. Having mastered this technique, you can always cope with paralysis.
- In the state of paralysis, it is usually possible to make movements with the eyes. You can try to close and open your eyelids several times.
- If the condition of the paralysis recurs periodically, you can ask your husband or wife to always pay attention to your behavior in a dream. It is enough to stir a person or hail him so that he quickly gets out of his stupor.
What is dangerous for sleep paralysis?
The state of horror that occurs with drowsy paralysis plunges many into panic, but the stupor itself is not dangerous. Within a few minutes everything returns to normal, breathing and heartbeat normalize and the person falls asleep again.
A cognitive video that describes the causes and symptoms of sleep paralysis:
Worse, when paralysis in a dream occurs periodically in too hypochondriac people. They can decide that they are subject to lethargic sleep, heart disease, neuroses. Constantly thinking about the impending stupor, a person causes insomnia and neurotic disorders, which will require adequate treatment.