For most people, sleep paralysis is not a serious problem. It is classified as a benign condition and
usually does not happen frequently enough to cause significant health problems
. However, an estimated 10% of people have more recurrent or bothersome episodes that make sleep paralysis especially distressing.
What are the negative effects of sleep paralysis?
You feel paralyzed and are unable to speak or move. It can last a few seconds or a few minutes, and feel quite disturbing. While experiencing sleep paralysis, you might
hallucinate vivid waking dreams, which can lead to feelings of intense fear and high levels of anxiety
.
What are the long term effects of sleep paralysis?
The cumulative long-term effects of sleep loss and sleep disorders have been associated with a wide range of deleterious health consequences including an
increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack, and stroke
.
Does sleep paralysis affect your brain?
Sleep paralysis is caused by what appears to be a basic brain glitch at the interface between wakefulness and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep
. During REM, you have intensely lifelike dreams.
What is Sexomnia?
Sexsomnia, also known as sleep sex, is
a type of sleep disorder known as a parasomnia
. Parasomnias refer to unusual sensations and behaviors, such as sleepwalking, that people may experience or exhibit while asleep, falling asleep, or waking up.
Can someone wake you up from sleep paralysis?
– No matter how much you try, even if you consciously know that you're undergoing a sleep paralysis—
you can't wake your body up
. A very miniscule amount of people can slightly move their fingers, wiggle their toes or facial muscles, which eventually helps them wake up the rest of their body.
What triggers sleep paralysis?
One of the major causes of sleep paralysis is
sleep deprivation, or a lack of sleep
. A change in your sleep schedule, stress, and other sleep-related problems might also play a role. Other factors could be involved, including: Mental health conditions, such as PTSD or bipolar disorder.
How can I avoid sleep paralysis?
- try to regularly get 6 to 8 hours of sleep a day.
- go to bed at roughly the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning.
- get regular exercise, but not in the 4 hours before going to bed.
Is sleep paralysis a seizure?
Sleep paralysis is a harmless condition, but
it is associated with some medical conditions such as seizure disorders
, mental health, narcolepsy and hypertension. Certain sleep-related disorders can get misdiagnosed as sleep paralysis which may require medical attention.
Who suffers from sleep paralysis?
Up to as many as four out of every 10 people may have sleep paralysis. This common condition is often first noticed in the teen years. But
men and women of any age
can have it. Sleep paralysis may run in families.
Is sleep paralysis scary?
Key facts about sleep paralysis
First symptoms often appear in younger years (ages 7-25). It's a brief sensation and at most it will last for a few minutes. Despite the scary name,
it's not harmful
. While it might feel bizarre, it's completely normal.
Can sleep paralysis cause you to hear voices?
Similarly, the auditory (hearing) hallucinations in sleep paralysis can range from routine to bizarre. Many people hear various noises, but
hearing voices is the most common
. The voices may sound like whispers, screams, or laughter.
What do sleep paralysis look like?
During a sleep paralysis episode,
you're aware of your surroundings but cannot move or speak
. But you can still move your eyes and breathe. Many people hear or see things that aren't there (hallucinations), making episodes even more frightening.
Can you see someone having sleep paralysis?
During these hallucinations,
you may see scary people or creatures near you or even lying in your bed
. And they're often accompanied by sleep paralysis. These hallucinations can happen if you're partially conscious during the rapid eye movement (REM) cycle of sleep.
Can sleep paralysis be cured?
There is no cure for sleep paralysis
. The treatment consists of managing the risk factors that trigger the condition. In many cases sleep paralysis is a one-off occurrence and the person does not have a recurrence. Most of us may expect to experience sleep paralysis at least once in our lives.
Does anxiety cause sleep paralysis?
Stress and anxiety may also be linked with a person's likelihood to experience sleep paralysis
, the review found. Patients who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) showed significantly higher rates of sleep paralysis across multiple studies compared with patients without PTSD.
Does sleeping on your back increase sleep paralysis?
“There seems to be some evidence that people who are sleep deprived enter REM very quickly, which means they're still awake as their body gets paralyzed,” Kushida says. Don't sleep on your back.
Sleep experts have found a correlation between sleeping in a supine position and being vulnerable to sleep paralysis.
What is sleep paralysis and why is it so scary?
The reason why sleep paralysis is so scary is not just because you will suddenly become alert but realize that you are, in fact, unable to move a muscle or utter a sound, but also because this experience is often — as in the case above — accompanied by terrifying hallucinations.
How many times does sleep paralysis happen?
Although most people won't notice sleep paralysis very often, a surprising number of people may experience it. There's not much data, but it's thought that anywhere
between 1.7% and 40% of the population will get sleep paralysis at some point in their life
.
