What Is Sleep Paralysis

Did you ever awaken and find yourself unable to move? Perhaps you sensed a presence in your room or a pressure on your chest. This is sleep paralysis. It is a common disorder that affects millions of people. Most believe it occurs as we are on the edge of REM sleep. The disorder has been connected with such hallucinogenic events such as alien abduction or an evil presence. Sleep paralysis is an inability to move or speak, occasionally accompanied by hallucinations, for up to several minutes upon awakening or just before falling asleep.

Narcolepsy is a uncommon sleep disorder characterized for excessive daytime sleepiness and significant daily dysfunction. Daily periods of irresistible need to fall asleep during times when individual is supposed to be awake, as driving or at work, that may result in an accident. Patients with narcolepsy must of the times suffer from insomnia caused by sleep fragmentation this is why is imperative for narcolepsy to be diagnosed and treated.

Some signs of cataplexy are slurred speech, weakness of muscles, and intense emotions. Cataplexy effects muscle tone while awake, effects part or all of your body, may make your head nod, ,may be hard to speak, falling (weakening at the knees), and strong emotions. During this time, you're usually awake. In addition, hallucinations are another symptom pointing towards the condition narcolepsy. These hallucinations are called hypnologic hallucinations. Due to the fact that you may be awake when you're dreaming, these dreams may seem like reality or may be nightmares. Some signs of having a hallucination are vivid dreams when falling asleep, waking up, dozing, and life-like dreams. Finally, sleep paralysis is a symptom of narcolepsy. Sleep paralysis prevents you from moving or speaking while falling asleep and waking up. During this period you are fully conscious. Some signs you have sleep paralysis is you don't sleep well at night, you have trouble falling and staying asleep, nightmares interrupt sleep, having difficulty finishing daily tasks, and being hyperactive.

After their trials, the authors concluded in their article “Attention Deficits in Patients with Narcolepsy,” that due to the loss of REM sleep that narcolepsy causes, individual often times tolerate periods of times of lessoned attention, alertness and memory, and this can create various problems in their regular routine, specifically as in their education, work, or personal relationships (Rieger et.al., 2003). Other physical symptoms that characterize narcolepsy are cataplexy and sleep paralysis. These physical symptoms are depicted in the article “What are the Symptoms?” Cataplexy is a brief attack of muscle weakness where an individual is unable to freely control one’s own muscles (“What are the Symptoms?” 2010). The most severe case of cataplexy results in complete loss of control of a voluntary muscle, in which that person is unable to move, speak, or even open one’s eyes (“What are the Symptoms?” 2010). Sleep paralysis also affects one’s ability to move and speak when falling asleep, and like cataplexy, sleep paralysis occurs when the person is completely conscious of what is happening (“What are the Symptoms?” 2010). These two physical symptoms that might come along with the

Sleep paralysis on the other hand is something which is not as scary for me as it is for people since I learned to escape them very early.

Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a phenomenon in which the body is awake and active but the mind remains asleep. The eyes are open and postural muscles are aroused, but conscious awareness is still suspended. It occurs during a portion of sleep called non-REM sleep, in which the muscles are not in the same near-paralysis state as seen during REM sleep. The dissociation between "body sleep" and "mind sleep" that occurs during sleepwalking results from the relative activation and deactivation or particular brain regions, research

Sleep paralysis is most common in those who have narcolepsy. Some have sleep tests done, in order to find possible sleep disorders one may have, like sleep

In (Spoormaker, V.I. et al., 2003), it was their primary goal to investigate the effects of lucid dreaming on nightmares. Therefore, their hypotheses states that lucid dreaming would decrease nightmare frequency along with their other variables, trait/state anxiety, and improve quality of the participants sleep. In this experiment it was found at the 2-month follow up that nightmare frequency had indeed decreased, while quality of sleep had increased only slightly. As for state and trait anxiety, there were no changes. Within this study lucid dreaming seemed to be effective in reducing nightmares however, how effective it was is not clear since it did not change the other variables quite as significantly. Interestingly, the effect of lucid dreaming as a treatment for nightmares was conducted once more three years later by

Somnambulism or sleepwalking is a major reason many people wake up with unexplainable bruises or are wearing an outfit they don’t remember putting on. Sleepwalking falls under the wide umbrella of sleep disorders called parasomnias, or anything that can go amiss during sleep. Although the category is similar, somnambulism differs from night terrors. Sufferers are not in fact acting out their dreams but simply moving due to confusion in the central nervous system (Guilleminault, 2006). Many facets go into explaining what sleepwalking actually is and what is transpiring in the brain. General knowledge about somnambulism is important due to the reality that so many Americans are affected. Knowledge of this topic should begin with the causes of this sleep disorder, where and when it occurs, what happens during an episode, the many things that can go wrong, and what to look for to see if you or someone you know could suffer from sleepwalking.

What is sleep paralysis? Well, sleep paralysis is the horrifying circumstance when your body is essentially disconnected from your brain. During this time period, you are unable to move any of your body parts, yet, you are conscious and able to understand

In ancient times, science was not as developed nor was there technology like we have today. Science has evolved over the years and has helped manifest explanations for everyday occurrences. However, a lack of these justifications leads people into creating these extraordinary tails and myths to help provide explanations for what they did not comprehend. Sleep paralysis is an exemplary event that caused an uproar and a pinnacle moment in the culture of myths. It is an occurrence that had no proper scientific explanation which lead to the conception of grotesque tails that haunted people for centuries and still do today.

Sleep paralysis is the inability to move or speak while asleep or upon waking (sleepeducation). One out of two thousand Americans are affected by Sleep Paralysis (sleepeducation). Two types of sleep paralysis exist but, are in four categories, the first two are hypnagogic and predormital these occur when a person is falling asleep and remains aware of his or her surroundings (sleepeducation). The second two are hypnopompic and postdormital these occur when a person is awakening (sleepeducation). Most people do not require treatment for sleep paralysis (sleepeducation). Scientist has stated that no medical risk exists when it comes to experiencing sleep paralysis (sleepeducation).

Parasomnias is a variety is sleep disorders that cause abnormal behavior in brain activity. Para means “faulty”, and the Latin origin of somnia, “somnus” means “sleep” (source 5). About 1% to 10% of the population experiences those sleeping disorders, most of which are children. This sleeping disorder usually occurs during the transition from one sleeping stage to another; the two sleeping stages include Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep (source 4). Those that have parasomnias, especially children, may experience many things that include somnambulism (sleepwalking), somniloquy (sleep talking), pavor nocturmus (night terrors), and sleep enuresis (bed wetting); however, some can be extreme and can

I also realized that most of my friends who had traumatic experiences in the past, such as being involved in a car accident or knowing a loved one who passed away, tend to undergo more episodes of sleep paralysis in their lifetime. My mother, who’s also suffered from traumatic experiences, and some of my other friends, claimed that sleep paralysis has happened to them so frequently that they just go back to sleep without stressing over it like someone else would during their first or second episode of ISP; they’re used to the process, now knowing what to expect, and are aware that it is temporary and will pass by very shortly. Furthermore, I’ve also noticed that they all have similar hallucinations, which is somehow related to sensing an intruder

“Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness” (“What Is”). Students who have narcolepsy experience excessive daytime sleepiness and intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime. Narcolepsy generally begins between the ages of 15 to 25. “Symptoms of narcolepsy include excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), cataplexy, hallucinations and sleep paralysis” (“What Is”). Excessive daytime sleepiness in general interferes with normal activities on a daily basis. Those who experience EDS report mental cloudiness, a lack of energy, and issues with concentrating and memory lapses among other things. Cataplexy consists of a sudden loss of muscle tone that leads to feelings of weakness and a loss of voluntary muscle control. The symptoms of cataplexy depend on the muscles involved, and are often triggered by intense emotions. One symptom, sleep paralysis, involves the temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or waking up. These episodes are generally brief, lasting a few seconds to several minutes. Another symptom is hallucinations which may be experienced by those who have narcolepsy tend to be vivid and frightening. The content of the hallucinations are primarily visual, but other senses can be involved. The hallucinations are identified in two ways, based on when they occur. They are called hypnagogic hallucinations when