Sleep Disorders - Sleep Paralysis

What is sleep paralysis?

The term "sleep paralysis" describes a feeling during sleep where one is being conscious but can't move. It happens in one of two cases: when a person falling asleep (hypnagogic sleep paralysis) or when a person is waking up (predormital sleep paralysis). During these transitions, you may not be able to speak or move for a several seconds up to a several minutes. Cases where person may also feel pressure or a sense of choking aren't rare at all. Sleep paralysis may follow other sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, a disorder that causes periods of intense daytime sleepiness and an strong need to sleep caused by a problem with the brain's ability to regulate sleep.

As one fall asleep, the body relaxes slowly. Usually, the person become less aware, so the change isn't quite noticed. However, if you remain or become aware while falling asleep, you may notice that you can't move or speak.

During sleep, your body shifts between REM (rapid eye movement) and NREM (non-rapid eye movement) sleep. A cycle of REM and NREM sleep lasts about 100 minutes. NREM stage of sleep occurs first and lasts up to 75% of your entire sleep time. During that stage, your body relaxes and restores itself. At the end of NREM, your sleep changes to REM. Your eyes starts moving quickly and dream occur, but body remains very relaxed. The muscles are "asleep" too during REM sleep. If you become aware before the REM cycle has finished, you may notice that you can't move or speak.

Who develops sleep paralysis?

There are guessings that up to 50% of all people may experienced sleep paralysis at least once in their life span. This condition is usually noticed in the teen years for the first time but it isn't related to any age and people of all ages can have it. Also, the sleep paralysis may be inherited. Other factors that may have something with sleep paralysis are:

• insufficient sleep
• changeable sleep schedule
• stress or bipolar disorder conditions
• sleeping on the back
• other sleep problem such as narcolepsy
• use of some medications
• abusing of substances

How to diagnose sleep paralysis?

If you ever found yourself being unable to move or speak for short amount of time in falling asleep or waking up process, its likely that you had a sleep paralysis episode. Often there's no need to treat this condition, however, check with your doctor if you have any of these concerns:

• anxious feeling about your symptoms
• during the day you feel very tired because of the symptoms
• you stay awake during the night

By doing these things, your doctor might want to gather more information about your sleep health:

• ask you to describe the simptoms you have and maintain a sleep diary for couple of weeks
• talk about your health history and any known similar disorder in your family
• recommend you a sleep specialist for additional check up
• conduct daytime and overnight sleep study to make sure that you dont have additional sleep disorders

How to treat sleep paralysis?

Treating any other condition could help if you feel anxious or unable to sleep well. The following may be included in those treatments:

• sleep habits improving - making sure that you get 6-8h of sleep each night is good direction
• antidepressant drugs usage to help regulate sleep cycles (Bromazepam)
• treating of any other mental problem that may affect sleep process
• treating of other sleep disorders like narcolepsy and leg cramps

What can you do about sleep paralysis?

You don't need to have fear from night demons or alien abductions. If you have periodical sleep paralysis episode you can take steps to control this disorder. Making sure you have enough sleep is a good start. Do something to loose the stress in your life, most important just before going to bed. Sleep positions other than sleeping on the back are proven to be a good tactic too. If this issue continue to prevent you from having a good night's sleep make sure to see your doctor.