Contents:
- Medical Video: Sleep Study: My Sleep Paralysis on Camera
- What is sleep paralysis?
- What causes sleep paralysis?
- What can you do when you're 'feeling down'?
Medical Video: Sleep Study: My Sleep Paralysis on Camera
Have you ever felt your whole body paralyzed when you want to sleep or wake up from sleep? Or, have you ever felt your chest so tight when you fell asleep? If so, you are experiencing weakness, or in medical language it is called sleep paralysis, aka sleep paralysis.
Until now, there are still many myths that have developed in the community about sleeplessness. One of the most famous myths is that oppression is caused by interference from jinn or spirits that haunt. But did you know that this phenomenon is a unique event that is officially recognized in the medical field?
What is sleep paralysis?
Sleep paralysis is one type of parasomnia, which is a set of sleep disorders that cause an unwanted event or experience that occurs when we just fall asleep, have fallen asleep, or when awakened from sleep. Please note that this is common and not related to certain psychiatric diseases.
This phenomenon of slowness is not dangerous and will end after a few seconds or minutes. Every person will experience a paralysis phenomenon at least one or several times in his life. This phenomenon can also happen to anyone, young, female or male. But this is more common in adolescents to young adults.
What causes sleep paralysis?
The many mystical myths that arise around sleep paralysis because this phenomenon makes hallucinations see black shadows around you, which are considered to be spirits. In fact, sleep paralysis actually occurs when the mechanism of the brain and body becomes overlapping, does not run in harmony while sleeping, causing us to wake up in the middle of the REM cycle. When you wake up before the REM cycle is over, the brain is not ready to send a wake-up signal so that the body is still half-awake half-conscious. Therefore, you will feel a stiff body, difficult to breathe, unable to speak, and still in the mind that is waving when you 'miss'.
A study published in the Clinical Psychological Science journal mentions that the sensation of being overwhelmed and panicked from a series of sensory experiences tends to make someone feel more depressed, especially when they have already believed that the phenomenon of sleep paralysis occurs due to supernatural factors. This is what makes some sleep experiences for some people a horrible and traumatic experience. The same study states that people who tend to think logically do not even experience problems or significant trauma after recovering from sleep paralysis.
"Abstinence" can be a genetic factor, but there are a number of other factors that may be related to this phenomenon, such as falling asleep, most staying up late, stressed, supine sleeping position, bipolar disorder or other sleep disorders (narcolepsy or night leg cramps). Sleep paralysis can also be a side effect of consuming certain drugs, such as ADHD drugs or narcotics abuse.
What can you do when you're 'feeling down'?
If you experience sleep paralysis, the thing you can do is take a deep breath and exhale hard. Then try to force a move, like moving the tip of your finger / foot as a form of resistance. This is done to help you wake up and escape the sleep paralysis.
Sleep paralysis can improve over time, you still need to make efforts to prevent sleep paralysis, such as getting enough sleep, creating a comfortable sleeping environment, avoid eating before going to bed, don't smoke or drink alcohol, exercise regularly, and sbefore going to sleep try to do some breathing exercises or read something fun to get rid of anxiety that can be a factor in sleep paralysis.
