Not being able to walk or even move when awake is called sleep paralysis. Personally, I have never dealt with this problem and I hope I never have to. Surely, at least one person reading my blog right now has had sleep paralysis before. An individual may have this when they try to wake up from their sleep. It can also cause trouble to breathing and lots of pressure on the chest. Many have nightmares because of this condition. Below, I am going to give you 7 facts on sleep paralysis.
The main symptom of this condition is losing awareness in the body as you slowly go to sleep. I know this symptom sounds scary to me. I couldn’t imagine not being able to move.
For years, studies have been conducted on sleep paralysis. I was reading a study just the other day that said teenagers may experience sleep paralysis more frequently.
Throughout the world, many suffer from the symptoms of sleep paralysis. It is said that about forty percent of the population in the world have reported suffering from this condition. Many experience it at least once in their life.
If sleep paralysis happens while you are waking up, then it is called hypnopompic or postdormic. Now, if it occurs while you are falling asleep, that is known as hypnagogic or predormital.
There are many different causes of this problem. Some of the causes of sleep paralysis include jetlag, lack of sleep, narcolepsy and other sleep disorders, bipolar disorder, anxiety or stress, consuming alcohol and certain medications.
Hallucinations are also one of the things that are responsible for causing sleep paralysis. This is because hallucinations have an effect on the brain.
In some cases, there is no need for this condition to be treated. However, if you are worried about the symptoms of sleep paralysis and if it is preventing normal sleep, it would be good idea to speak with your doctor about it. Actually, if you are continuously having these symptoms, it is important that you schedule a doctors appointment and speak with them about it. After hearing about your symptoms and family medical history, they may send you to a sleep specialist. The sleep specialist may decide to perform an overnight study or daytime nap study in their sleep lap. The treatment usually calls for improving those sleeping habits, taking antidepressants or readdressing any mental issues that one has had in the past.
Those are 7 facts on sleep paralysis that I thought you should know. Of course, I know that there are some out there that already know these facts, but I needed to share this with those that did not know much about sleep paralysis to start with. I hope this blog helped you out. I am interested in knowing how many of my readers have dealt with this problem sometime during their life – so have any of you had this problem before?
Top Photo Credit: minjoong