Managing sleep paralysis and reevaluating its hostility

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The thickening darkness that fell on the chest, the echoing steps in an empty house, a sudden touch, a mystical sensation of someone else's hostile presence - these are hallucinations that occur when falling asleep or waking up. This is not a nightmare - people are aware of where they are, see familiar furniture and know for sure that their eyes are open. A frequent companion of such visions is sleep paralysis, a condition in which it is impossible to move even a finger.

Brownie on the bed

In a state between sleep and reality, when a person is conscious, but the brain is already (or still) broadcasting dreams, two pictures are superimposed: people clearly see the usual furniture in the room and are sure that they are not sleeping, but suddenly a frightening black appears in a familiar doorway silhouette. These hallucinations are not considered a mental disorder and do not need treatment.

Sometimes this is accompanied by sleep paralysis, when a person controls only eye movements - all other muscles do not obey. Complete immobility makes night visions even more ominous.

Sleep paralysis often occurs with various neurological diseases, such as narcolepsy (those suffering from this ailment cannot keep awake for a long time and now and then nod off). Nevertheless, this state in itself, even when accompanied by "mystical visions", is completely harmless.

Stories about evil brownies, poltergeists, demons who scare the owners of the house at night, if they do not please them, are explained precisely by hallucinations when falling asleep and waking up.

I thought my grandfather came

Ekaterina Bernyak has known sleep paralysis and hallucinations since childhood: almost every month she saw a man in a hat in the doorway. Katya thought that her deceased grandfather came to her - he always wore a hat. Later she forgot about it: "I dreamed and dreamed." But in his student years, the paralysis returned.

"I wake up and see the whole room, as in reality. I understand and realize everything. Then there is a wild hum in my ears, like a swarm of bees. The body begins to vibrate, I cannot move. Terrible fear. Then a black man comes," says Ekaterina. The character of her sleepy hallucinations does not change. This is a thin black man with very long arms and legs - sometimes he is one, sometimes there are several of them.

And he clarifies: this is not the only scenario. But one thing remains unchanged - panic fear. If sleep paralysis occurs while she is lying on her side, the girl feels that someone is pulling her hair or shoulder to turn her onto her back. Or it seems to her that she is being dragged out of bed and carried somewhere in her arms.

Catherine is familiar with the scientific definition of sleep paralysis, but tends to the mystical explanation: "These are some creatures that feed on our energy when our emotional defense weakens."

It is impossible to predict the next attack, and according to the girl, there is no prevention: sleep paralysis is not directly related to the level of stress or living conditions. "Nothing serious is happening now, but such moments still happen. Sleeping well and living a healthy lifestyle doesn't really help much," she says.

Sleep after sleep

Another interlocutor of the agency, Maria Gutorova, on the contrary, is sure: the higher the stress level, the more likely sleep paralysis is.

“It happened more than once. The first time was ten years ago, the next five years this happened periodically. Maybe this is due to the fact that these years were more nervous. I remember one day I dreamed about the face of the devil - it just came out of the darkness. I woke up from this and felt that someone was holding me, tried to move, to escape - and could not, an eerie sensation. It got to the point that I, an unbeliever, put an icon under my pillow and slept like that for several years, she says. Every time during the attacks, Maria saw a creature with understandable outlines, but tried not to fall into mysticism - she explained this by nervous tension and fatigue …

Sleep paralysis after disturbed sleep also occurred with Innokenty Kashin (name has been changed).

For the second time, in the middle of the night, some shadows - "fluffy balls of darkness" - separated from the bedside table and hovered over the face. There was a tingling sensation again.

"In such a state, there is no critical thinking. Like a drunk or in a dream, you take everything at face value. The worst thing is helplessness. You try, but you cannot move. However, if you make an effort, turn on your will, then you will cope: you just need to want very much, concentrate on the desire to move the hand or at least the tongue - any muscle is good. I managed to wave my hand - and everything disappeared instantly, "he explains.

At that time, Innokenty was a little fond of esotericism and at first thought that he had encountered something unknown, but quickly rejected this version: "I almost immediately began to look for information, found out that this is sleep paralysis - a phenomenon known to science, in which there is nothing mystical." …

Tatyana Konstantinova faced sleep paralysis in childhood - and forbade herself to think about it for many years. “I was in school, sixth or seventh grade. I was half asleep and at some point I realized that darkness had thickened on my left. Some big, soft and at the same time heavy force fell upon me. I could not move neither hand nor foot. Then it dissipated, I was able to get up. I was so scared that I did not tell anyone, I forbade myself to think about it. I remembered years later, as an adult. On the Internet, I quickly found out that it was sleep paralysis, shares details it.

Sleep paralysis is harmless

Alexander Palman, head of the somnological office at the University Clinical Hospital No. 1 of the I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, told RIA Novosti that sleep paralysis is an unpleasant, but harmless failure of the body.

The fact is that in the phase of REM sleep - the same when we see vivid dreams - all the muscles of the body are maximally relaxed, sometimes this is called physiological paralysis during sleep. This is so that a person cannot make sudden movements and injure himself.

But sometimes a failure occurs - and the natural state of sleep extends to wakefulness. This is sleep paralysis. "A person wakes up, cannot move, he cannot control his breathing - a lot of unpleasant sensations. This is not dangerous, but people are very scared. They begin to fantasize: disability, stroke. The main thing is not to panic: everything will pass quickly. This is not the situation, in which you can die, suffocate, acquire permanent paralysis ", - the doctor comments.

Why some people face sleep paralysis often, while others never, is not yet known to science.

Sleep projection

Alexander Kalinkin, head of the Sleep Medicine Center at the Lomonosov Moscow State University Hospital, emphasizes that sleep paralysis is not always accompanied by hallucinations.

"It can be combined with visions, but this is more typical for narcolepsy - a disease that is relatively rare and poorly diagnosed," the specialist says.

Hallucinations when falling asleep and waking up is an unpleasant, but not dangerous, disruption in the body, like sleep paralysis.

"Dreams wedge themselves into the structure of wakefulness. A person is aware of his own" I ", realizes that he is not sleeping, sees a familiar room around him, but pictures of sleep are superimposed on this. These are not true hallucinations that occur in psychiatric illnesses, "explains Alexander Palman.

The somnologist also notes: if sleep paralysis and hallucinations during falling asleep and waking up occur regularly, you should consult a doctor - this can be a symptom of serious neurological diseases.