Sleep Paralysis
Day 84 / 365
Imagine you suddenly wake up in the middle of the night. You try to move your hands, but they don’t seem to work. No luck with your legs either. You realize that you are unable to move your body. You are scared and try to scream, but fail miserably. You feel pressure on your chest as if someone is sitting on it. If you are especially unlucky, you might be able to see that someone on your chest as a dark demon-like figure.
The above experience might seem like something out of science fiction but is actually a phenomenon called sleep paralysis, and its something that almost everyone would experience once or twice in their lifetimes.
What causes Sleep Paralysis?
One of the stages of our sleep is REM (Rapid Eye Movement). It’s the stage in which we dream. During this phase, the body naturally goes into a paralysis-like state to restrict our body motion while we are dreaming. Normally before leaving the REM phase, this paralysis would be reversed before we wake up.
Sleep Paralysis happens when we accidentally move into a state of wakefulness while the paralysis is still in effect. Thus we feel awake but unable to move our body. This lasts for a few minutes after which you are able to move and speak again normally.
My experience with Sleep Paralysis
In most cases sleep paralysis would be a one-off case and should not be a cause for concern. But for some people, this can be a regular occurrence. When I was 17, I went through a month-long phase when I had an episode of sleep paralysis almost every night. It had come to a point that I was often terrified to even sleep.
What I should have done at that point is to get some professional help. But I hated going to the hospital, so I chose to do some research on my own and see what might be wrong. It was quite clear in my case that the reason was my irregular and insufficient sleep. So I made it a point to improve the quality and length of my sleep, and the symptoms went away slowly.
If you experience this as well, the first thing to remember is not to panic. What worked for me best is to try and go back to sleep, so that I can then wake up normally. Of Course, if you experience this regularly, go see a doctor.
This story is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here
Yesterday’s blog — AD and BC — How we measure years