What Causes Sleep Paralysis?
Sleep paralysis occurs during the process of waking up, or less commonly, falling asleep.
Your sleep follows this rough pattern:
- Stage 1: The first stage of sleep is what you might call “nodding off”. Your brain should have 7 minutes to go from actively awake to an early stage of sleep.
- Stage 2: Your brain takes about 20-30 minutes to approach a deep sleep.
- Stage 3: You’re sleeping deeply, you don’t usually trigger in this stage. You suffer rapid eye movements (REM) and dream in this stage.
What are the Risk Factors of Sleep Paralysis
Sleep paralysis is most popular among teens and young adults, however other risk things can make the experience more likely.
- Sleep disorders like narcolepsy
- Disrupted sleep-wake cycle
- Sleeping on back
- Genetics
- Emotional trauma
- Depression
- Panic disorders
How to Prevent Sleep Paralysis
Most cases of sleep paralysis can be enhanced with small adjustments to your routine.
- Avoid screen time before bed. Maintain your sleeping environment dark and quiet.
- Maintain your bedtime and wake-up time the same every day
- Exercise regularly, but sleep at least 4 hours
- Avoid caffeine and large meals in the evening.
Tips for Getting Out of Sleep Paralysis
While sleep paralysis won’t last long, it can bring a scary experience. Here’re these trick for cutting the experience short while it’s happening.
- Try to center on exactly where the back of your head meets your pillow.
- Forcusing on this real physical sensation can help anchor you to the real world and pull you out of your dream.
- Try breathing irregularly (such as taking two breaths out, one breath in, etc.).
- Don’t try to talk.
- Just remember that this is a dream. As scary as it can be, it will pass.
