04 March 2023 , 10:00
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Have you ever been falling asleep or waking up only to find you can't move a muscle?
It is a terrifying feeling, and one that's surprisingly common.
It's called 'sleep paralysis', and refers to a fleeting inability to move that occurs in the blurred boundary between consciousness and dreamland.
Basically, you are in 'sleep mode' but your brain is active, and around 30 per cent of us have experienced it.
The Sleep Foundation says individuals maintain awareness during such episodes, which frequently involve troubling hallucinations and a sensation of suffocation.
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The phenomenon involves elements of both sleep and wakefulness, which is partly why they can lead to distressing symptoms.
This brief inability to move is down to a momentary loss of muscle control, known as atonia.
The Sleep Foundation says standard rapid eye movement (REM) sleep involves vivid dreaming along with atonia, which usually helps prevent acting out dreams.
Atonia typically ends upon waking up, so a person never becomes conscious of this inability to move.
As a result, researchers believe that sleep paralysis involves a mixed state of consciousness.
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Hallucinations can involve the perception of a dangerous person or presence in the room. (Getty Images/Science Photo Libra)Terrifying hallucinations
Around 75 per cent of sleep paralysis episodes involve hallucinations that are noticably different from your typical dream.
As with atonia, these can occur when falling asleep (hypnagogic hallucinations) or waking up (hypnopompic hallucinations).
Hallucinations during sleep paralysis fall into three distinct categories.
- Intruder hallucinations: These hallucinations involve the perception of a dangerous person or presence in the room.
- Chest pressure hallucinations: Also called incubus hallucinations, these episodes may incite feelings of suffocation. These frequently occur in tandem with intruder hallucinations.
- Vestibular-motor (V-M) hallucinations: V-M hallucinations can include feelings of movement, such as flying, or out-of-body sensations.
It's important to remember that sleep paralysis is not considered dangerous, and despite it capable of causing emotional distress, it is still classed as a benign condition.
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The NHS has issued some handy guidelines to help put your mind at rest (quite literally!).
What happens during sleep paralysis
During sleep paralysis you may feel:
- Awake but cannot move, speak or open your eyes
- As id someone is in your room
- Like something is pushing you down
- Frightened
These feelings can last up to several minutes.
What causes it?
Sleep paralysis happens when you cannot move your muscles as you are waking up or falling asleep. This is because you are in sleep mode but your brain is active.
It's not clear why sleep paralysis can happen but it has been linked with:
- Insomnia
- Disrupted sleeping patterns – for example, because of shift work or jet lag
- Narcolepsy – a long-term condition that causes a person to suddenly fall asleep
- Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
- Generalised anxiety disorder
- Panic disorder
- A family history of sleep paralysis
Things you can do to help prevent it
You may be able to prevent sleep paralysis by changing your sleeping habits.
You could try:
- Regularly getting 7 to 9 hours of sleep a day.
- Going to bed at around the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning.
- Get regular exercise, but not in the four hours leading up to bedtime.
And make sure you don't:
- Eat a big meal, smoke, or drink alcohol or caffeine shortly before going to bed.
- Sleep on your back, as this can make sleep paralysis more likely to strike.
The NHS advises you see a GP if you feel very anxious or scared to go to sleep and/or if you're tired all the time through lack of sleep.
How to treat it
A GP may be able to treat an underlying condition that could be triggering sleep paralysis such as insomnia or post-traumatic stress disorder.
If this does not help they might refer you to a doctor who specialises in sleep conditions.
It is possible you could be given medication which is usually used to treat depression. Taking this type of medicine at a lower dose can also help with sleep paralysis.
You might also be referred for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).