What is Sleep Paralysis and How To Address It?

Countless sit-coms and other network television shows have had episodes in which one character experiences sleepwalking. That phenomenon is often laughed off as nothing serious and quite funny. However, sleepwalking and its opposite sleep paralysis can be quite disturbing and even potentially harmful for those who suffer from these sleep ailments. While most people have at least a general idea of what sleepwalking is, few understand sleep paralysis. So, what is sleep paralysis and what can be done to treat it?

Sponsored article

What Is Sleep Paralysis?

Sufferers of sleep paralysis experience slightly different symptoms depending upon their particular ordeal with it, but there are some symptoms that are held in common. It is essentially the feeling of being awake and conscious or semiconscious in the middle of the night but not having the ability to move your body. As you can imagine, many sufferers express terror when going through these symptoms.

The symptoms tend to last only about one to two minutes, but it is an experience you don’t want to have.

What Is The Experience Like?

There are enough people who experience sleep paralysis that we have a pretty good idea about what the experience is like for a lot of people. It essentially boils down to the inability to move one’s body while being conscious. Some people also report experiencing hallucinations that may include sights or sounds that are not really there. This is likely due to the individual still being in a dream state as they are experiencing the paralysis.

Some people report frightening images with their hallucinations and even the feeling of something being on their chest and an inability to breathe (even though they are actually still breathing).

Treatments For This Ailment

What can a person do to change their circumstances if they are impacted by sleep paralysis? This is the question on the lips of practically everyone who has ever suffered from it. There are a few methods that plenty of people use to make it happen. Try some of these:

Do Not Sleep On Your Back – Sleeping on one’s back increases the chances of experiencing an episode of sleep paralysis because of the positioning of one’s lungs when sleeping this way.

That feeling of not being able to breathe can be greatly impacted by this alone. Even the nutrition we get can affect our sleep.

Create A Consistent Sleep Schedule For Yourself – Sleeping at the same time and waking up at the same time each day is important.

Your body develops a natural sleep clock that it needs to keep in check if you are to do your best each day.

Try to get to bed at around the same time each day and wake up around the same time as well for fewer sleep paralysis episodes.

Get The Distractions Out Of The Bedroom – Your bedroom is the place you go to sleep and sleep alone. Don’t allow it to also be the area where you check messages and do all sorts of other activities that you know you shouldn’t. In other words, avoid those screens and try to get the best quality sleep possible. Your body will thank you for it, and you will likely avoid the sleep paralysis that you may have been experiencing from before.