There are many sleep disorders and sleep paralysis is one of them. It can be a seemingly harmless disorder, but still discomforting to go through it. If you think this sleep disorder is affecting your life, find a sleep center in your locality. Here is how sleep paralysis is caused and how it can be potentially treated.

What Is Sleep Paralysis?

Sleep paralysis is a sleeping disorder in which you feel like your body is unable to move, although you are awake and you want to get up, but you feel a lot of weight on your body and limbs and it feels like something is pulling you down and preventing you from sitting up straight. It affects the limbs and the body the most, although your brain and other functions are wide awake. Your heart is beating like normal, your brain activity is normal, your eye movements are perfect, but the only thing you are unable to control is your body from getting up.

This feeling might fade after a couple of seconds, or some minutes, but it is still quite an uneasy feeling and unexplainable. This inability to move your body can be accompanied by fear and night terrors.

People who usually experience sleep paralysis also complain about some weird paranormal activities taking place, whilst they were paralyzed in their sleep. The fear and subsequent “paranormal activities” is rooted from hallucinations and your mind feeling a completely different thing.

Although this sleep disorder sounds very scary, it is not harmful and a threat to your life. It can just give you a lot of anxiety and fear and you will as though whenever you try to fall asleep, you will become paralyzed and hallucinations might take over as well.

Symptoms Of Sleep Paralysis

The main symptoms of sleep paralysis include the following:

• Inability to move your body, feet and hands, and this might last for several minutes.
• Your body can’t move, but you are able to see everything clearly and you are technically awake.
• While in sleep paralysis, you will also experience inability to speak.
• Feeling as if someone is sitting on your entire body, especially your chest, putting a lot of pressure on you, preventing you from getting up.
• Sweating profusely.
• Feeling as if someone is standing right beside you or having fearful hallucinations.

Causes Of Sleep Paralysis

There are several causes which may lead to sleep paralysis. They are:

• Sleeping on your back. This causes voluntary muscles to stop moving and they become very relaxed. This might lead to a point where the muscles will not wake up, even if you want to. It takes a little bit of time to get the muscles to wake up, after which sleep paralysis diminishes.
• Sleep deprivation can cause sleep paralysis. When your brain doesn’t get enough rest, it will tend to hallucinate and create scenarios in your mind, which might or might not be true. This will lead you to believe that you are seeing something, but in reality, you might not. This is why it is suggested that you get a good night’s rest, if you suffer from night terrors and hallucinations.
• Family history also plays an important role in finding out whether you have sleep paralysis or not. It is also hereditary and doesn’t just occur randomly. If one of your family members has suffered from sleep paralysis, then there is a high possibility that you will too.

Treatment For Sleep Paralysis

Some treatments for sleep paralysis are:

• Setting a definite sleep schedule. Knowing what time you go to sleep and wake up each day and keeping this routine consistent will help you from getting sleep paralysis again.
• Keeping your sleeping space peaceful and calm will help you get a better sleep, and will give your mind the optimum rest it needs.
• Not taking caffeine or alcohol before you sleep, as this can stimulate your mind a lot and keep it awake. This can also cause night terrors and hallucinations.

There you have it! With knowing the symptoms and the tell-tale signs, you can try to combat sleep paralysis by going to a sleep clinic so that you can get a good night’s sleep, without any sort of difficulty.