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Sleep Paralysis Treatments

Sleep Paralysis Treatments

Natural Sleep Paralysis Treatments

Seeing as how sleep paralysis is such a common widespread phenomenon, it is of essence to know well about sleep paralysis treatments. The condition of sleep paralysis, experiencing immobility while falling asleep or upon awakening, is quite a frightening prospect. Added with the possibility of horrific hallucinations, it is enough to scare anyone off this condition. However, it is important to remember that though scarily unrealistic, this condition is quite common, it brings absolutely no harm to the body and there are available sleep paralysis treatments today.

There is no clear cut sleep paralysis treatments that exist, in fact it is a number of factors, which when controlled and changes brought about, help to reduce the frequency and possibility of it’s occurrence in any individual. The following steps are most efficient and natural sleep paralysis treatment methods.

Sleep paralysis is found more often in people who suffer from high stress levels, sleep deprivation or constantly changing sleep-wake cycles, hence it is important to get good sleep, in sufficient chunks of time to decrease episodes of sleep paralysis. For adults about 6-9 hours of sleep and around 10-12 hours for younger children are good sleep paralysis treatments. t would also greatly help to have a more or less fixed time for bed and to arise. To further your sleep paralysis treatments, one could ensure a quiet, dark and warm sleeping environment; avoid alcohol or caffeine consumption and smoking close to bed time.

Sleep Paralysis Treatments

Avoid having alocoholic drinks before bedtime

Other sleep paralysis symptoms include small habits such as eating at least 4 hours before you decide to sleep, this will ensure complete digestion of food and will make you less prone to wake up suddenly in the middle of the night. Though preferred by some, it is highly advised to avoid sleeping on your back. Sleeping in the supine position greatly enhances the possibility of suffering from episodes of sleep paralysis. Doing any amount of exercise in the day, especially yoga relaxes your body, reduces the stress and immediately enables good sleep at night.

Reminders on sleep paralysis treatment

If none of the above suggestions work effectively as sleep paralysis treatments, you should perhaps visit the doctor and a prescription may well be in order. There are primarily two medicines you might be asked to take. One, Ritalin, taken every morning, ensures a complete wake cycle to then ensure a proper sleep cycle. The second one, Clonazepam, which is taken before sleep, and works more to ensure a good sleep and hence is more effective as a sleep paralysis treatment.

When suffering from sleep paralysis, for an effective treatment and diagnosis, it is important to recognize your symptoms and triggers. Different people undergo different experiences and you must be aware and know if you are experiencing any sleep paralysis symptoms. More than symptoms, if established that you often suffer from sleep paralysis, it is vital to monitor and realize the trigger causes. These triggers could be anything and is most subjective, but important for more effective sleep paralysis treatment.

What is Sleep Paralysis

What is Sleep Paralysis - Immobility during sleep

What is sleep paralysis?

 

Often, people misdiagnose sleep disorders due to overlapping symptoms experienced in some, in the following article we hope to provide you with detailed and distinct knowledge of what is sleep paralysis?

That feeling when you’re sleeping and you feel as if you are drifting through dreams and suddenly you’re fully aware of your surroundings, following which you are unable to move at all and you feel another’s presence, that is the empirical essence of what is sleep paralysis. The prospect of sleep paralysis is rather scary, and therefore it is important to know exactly what is sleep paralysis so you’re in a better position to realize it and deal with it the next time.

To begin to uncover the question what is sleep paralysis, quite simply, it is a condition in which an individual experiences partial or absolute inability to carry out voluntary movements. This either happens just as you are falling asleep, (hypnogogic or predormital) or in most cases upon awakening from sleep (hypnopompic or postdormiral). It mostly happens when one is in a supine position and the paralysis lasts anywhere between seconds to several minutes.

Understanding what is sleep paralysis and narcolepsy

 

What is Sleep Paralysis - Immobility during sleep
Sleep paralysis is a condition in which an individual experiences partial or absolute inability to carry out voluntary movements.

Sleep paralysis is most often associated with narcolepsy, a neurological condition whereby one experiences sudden bouts of daytime sleepiness. Therefore it is always good to get your condition checked by a doctor to ensure you do not have narcolepsy, as unlike sleep paralysis, that is a physically harming condition. There is no real causation of sleep paralysis yet discovered, it could be a number of factors such as genetics, immunity etc. General symptoms covered when considering what is sleep paralysis, include immobility, the feeling of not being able to breathe, rapid eye movements, feeling choked and hallucinations of strange noises and images.

When looking at what is sleep paralysis, it is important to remember that the condition, is in no way harmful to the health, physically or even mentally. Except, while undergoing a phase of sleep paralysis, there is a strong feeling of fear and anxiety that is felt in the moment. It seems extremely scary and confounding and it’s hard to make sense of much immediately. This sensation can be heightened if hallucinations take place, whereby one begins to imagine the presence of someone either fantastical or horrific, which in most cases is extremely disturbing to the mind. During this whole phase though you are technically awake, the process must have been quite sudden, due to which the brain still believes it is dreaming. But within minutes the body fully awakens and either gradually or abruptly one will be able to move voluntarily again. The phase usually terminates upon sound or touch.

Sleep paralysis though seemingly unreal, is quite a realistic experience and is quite common. About 20% to 50% of the world suffers from it. It is found most commonly amongst university students (21%), a lot of which is owed to sleep deprivation, stress and the disruption of sleep-wake cycle schedules.

It is important to keep in mind the above-mentioned facts about what is sleep paralysis, to avoid confusing it or misdiagnosing it with other sleep and anxiety disorders.

Sleep Paralysis Causes

Sleep Paralysis Causes

What are the common sleep paralysis causes?

The scary feeling that you feel from not being able to move at all during sleep, comes with sleep paralysis, to be able to avoid this fearful condition it is of essence to look at it’s parameters and sleep paralysis causes. In every 10 people, 4 experience sleep paralysis and it is so randomly spread that anyone can experience it at any stage when any of the causes are triggered, therefore it is important to learn of sleep paralysis causes.

There are quite a few sleep paralysis causes that doctors consider to be significant in bring about the condition, however these are all just widely considered theories, as the actual and primary sleep paralysis cause is still unknown. Sleep paralysis in effect is causes by a short-term episode of muscle paralysis, which disables one to move in any manner. It does not in any way cause any damage to an individual’s physical health but it does affect them mentally, sometimes quite severely. Those who suffer from sleep paralysis often feel extremely frightened when unable to move and experience immediate bouts of stress to the slight disorientation of not fully being able to grasp what is happening and it’s effects and reasons.

A very common sleep paralysis cause is narcolepsy, whereby you experience random, sudden bouts of extreme daytime sleepiness brought about by mixed brain signals regarding the sleep-wake cycle. The sudden state of being awake and then asleep is a major sleep paralysis cause. A lot of the times when you change your sleep schedule drastically it can also result in sleep paralysis, this is very common amongst first year university students as well for those who travel around a lot across several time zones. Moreover, irregular sleep schedules, also form substantial sleep paralysis causes, whereby you take frequent naps, sleep in very often or put yourself through sleep deprivation.

Major sleep paralysis cause – STRESS

 

Sleep Paralysis Causes

How sleep paralysis occurs?

Another major sleep paralysis cause is the presence of high levels of stress or even low levels of stress on a regular basis. The hormones released in your body when you are experiencing stressful situations, results in disturbed sleep and affects the motor ability when asleep. When people have a fear of sleeping alone for whatever reason and they do sleep alone, it can also cause a lot of stress brought about by fear, very often becoming a sleep paralysis cause. A lucid dream can often bring about sudden bodily movements that can be immediately succeeded by an episode of sleep paralysis. Also sleeping in a face upwards position or a supine position for long fixed time periods that freeze your body in that position for a time period causing sleep paralysis.

Certain medications, prescribed or unprescribed, contain chemical drugs which either induce or inhibit sleep and can bring about sleep paralysis as well. Hence it is important that you check that the medication you are taking doesn’t have large doses of sleep affecting drugs, as that can often become sleep paralysis causes.