Sleep Paralysis Causes and Treatment

Sleep problems can interfere with the quality of our lives, and, therefore, it is important to determine sleep paralysis causes. Sleep paralysis is a brief sense of alertness accompanied by a loss of voluntary muscle action that happens when you're either about to fall asleep or just waking from slumber. It can last anywhere from 20 seconds to a few minutes, and affects roughly 8% of the general population.

Some of the frequent feelings and emotions linked to sleep paralysis include an awareness of your surroundings but inability to move, a sense of physical weight and pressure on the chest, difficulty breathing or a choking feeling. Some people also report them as hallucinations, laced with an overwhelming sense of fear or dread. Others claim to hear footsteps approaching, see intruders, devils, or spirits, and experience a sense of impending death.

Sleep Paralysis Causes

Sleep researchers believe that sleep paralysis is brought on by an unusually mixed condition of wakefulness and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, even if the precise mechanisms causing it are still not fully understood. You spend the majority of your sleep time dreaming vividly during the REM sleep cycle. Muscle atonia, a deliberate inhibition of movement during REM sleep, helps to ensure that we don't act out our dreams by preventing potentially harmful movements.

Therefore, it is thought that REM-induced muscular atonia that persists into our waking state is what causes sleep paralysis. It is for these reasons that sleep paralysis is often accompanied by dream-like hallucinations. We are both consciously awake during sleep paralysis but remain trapped in a dream-like state.

Sleep paralysis causes may also include sleep deprivation or periods of extreme stress. The sleep paralysis you are imagining occurs when people have restless sleep, especially if you have been up late studying or doing something else, and during times of severe stress.

Sleep paralysis causes may include loss of sleep, interruption in sleep cycle and use of substances. (Image via Freepik/ Freepik)

Narcolepsy, a sleep disease that causes extreme, excessive daytime sleepiness, may also produce sleep paralysis as a symptom. You might also jerk or twitch your legs while you sleep if you have a periodic limb movement disorder or sleep apnea.

Drinking alcohol before bed and even taking medications that decrease REM sleep, such as antidepressants or mood stabilizers like lithium, can all contribute to sleep paralysis. Stress and family history may also affect a person's likelihood of developing sleep paralysis. Surprisingly, studies have found that people who sleep on their backs are more likely to have sleep paralysis.

Sleep Paralysis Treatment

Seeking treatment depends on the distress caused to you. (Image via Freepik/ Freepik)

Now that we are aware of some sleep paralysis causes, it is also important to know that it is treatable. Sleep paralysis is a rare event that doesn't usually require medical attention. Episodes are brief, and after a few seconds or minutes, patients regain control of their muscles. While sleep paralysis episodes can be frightful and cause anxiety, they are not necessarily hazardous.

While there is no known cure for sleep paralysis, one study suggests that combining muscular relaxation with meditation approaches may have some advantages. An active episode can occasionally be interrupted by focused concentration, another person's touch or voice, or both.

There are a number of therapy options available for those who experience sleep paralysis on a regular basis or when an underlying cause of episodes is identified. The majority of treatments aim to locate and address underlying triggers, like disturbances in sleep. mental health concerns or medical illnesses.

Without help, people with sleep paralysis can feel ashamed or embarrassed, so talking to a doctor is crucial. Doctors can provide confidence and make therapy recommendations that can be helpful. By determining sleep paralysis causes, your doctor can direct you towards the right treatment.

People suffering from sleep paralysis cannot break out of it and must wait for it to pass, even if there is no physical threat to them. Unlike nightmares or night terrors, sleep paralysis causes the body to be immobile since the brain is awake but the body is still asleep. Sleep paralysis causes disruption in your day-to-day routine, but you can take action to minimize the effects.

Janvi Kapur is a counselor with a Master's degree in applied psychology with a specialization in clinical psychology.

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