Over 1.5 million Nigerians are disturbed by this condition yearly. Sleep paralysis is a temporary incapacitation to move or speak while falling asleep or waking up or it is a feeling of being conscious but unable to move, it usually occurs when someone is in a slumber.
It doesn’t neccesarily need a hospital diagnose as one who is worried by this condition can tell that it’s sleep paralysis. This condition is common in people with sleep apnea or narcolepsy (excessive uncontrollable daytime sleepiness) and it is also common amongst teenagers but anyone is liable to this condition.
Causes of Sleep Paralysis
One of the major triggers of sleep paralysis is lack of sleep, when one deprives themselves of sleep the body is at risk of falling into sleep paralysis when one eventually gets rest or time to sleep.
Sometimes sleep paralysis may occur as a result of stress, change in sleep schedule, some people with health conditions such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition triggered by a terrifying incident or event, failure to recover from experiencing or being a witness to such event is termed PTSD) or bipolar disorder.
Bad sleeping posture like sleeping on your back can trigger sleep paralysis.
Different types of Sleep Paralysis
While sleeping paralysis happens, one might hallucinate vivid or clear waking dreams which causes extreme fear.
*If sleep paralysis happens while falling asleep, it is referred to as “hypnagogic or predormital sleep paralysis and if it occurs when waking up it is called hypnopompic or postdormital sleep paralysis.
*Hundreds of Years ago people believe sleep paralysis to be a presence of a demonic creature or the feeling of the presence of a dangerous person in a room, even recently people still believe in this superstition.
*During sleep paralysis the body paralyses while the brain is conscious and alert, the inability to move your body at that moment is accompanied by a sensation of something compressing your chest, this is the reason why people who experience sleep paralysis wake up gasping for breath.
Treatment
There’s no validated therapy that can help put an end to sleep paralysis but an improved sleep hygiene could help. Making an effort to move a body part like a finger or toe could help break an episode of sleep paralysis.
This experience is very scary but usually a harmless.
