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Understanding sleep paralysis
Imagine waking up from sleep, but being unable to collect yourself despite being conscious. You may feel as if a black weight collapsed on you and you cannot move despite all your best efforts. You want to yell out, but all that comes out is silence. And just as you’re about to choke, you jerk out of the nightmare and open your eyes. This condition is commonly referred to as “incubus” by people and sleep paralysis by medical professionals.
Folklore has often attributed the cause to demons or evil spirits. Some who suffer from this sleep problem tend to believe that they have psychological problems which manifest themselves through this condition. But sleep paralysis does not stem from any disease or disorder. This condition, described in the same manner by people throughout the world, is the result of a physiological condition that develops during sleep. Professor İlhan says sleep paralysis is not a disease and that it will automatically disappear if its causes are eliminated.
Sleep comprises several stages, including rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM sleep. Dreams take place during the REM stage. Human brains temporarily paralyze the body during dreaming. This is necessary so that people do not physically engage in acts they are dreaming of, such as running or jumping. “Without this paralysis, a person who is playing soccer in his dream would move his legs. He would walk and speak while asleep. In fact, one of the reasons for sleepwalking is this lack of paralysis,” he says.
As explained by İlhan, sleep paralysis occurs when the brain wakes up but the body remains in this state of paralysis. When this happens, the person may try to move his body, open his eyes, try to speak or what have you, but he will not be able to do any of these because his body is paralyzed. This, naturally, brings about fears. Sleep paralysis can last anywhere from several seconds to a few minutes, after which the person will either fall into REM sleep or wake up. This condition has on rare occasions lasted much longer.
Although the state of paralysis should end upon waking up, the reason for why it sometimes doesn’t is not known. İlhan says patients have reported the following before the onset of sleep paralysis: heaving a heavy meal or extended periods of hunger before sleep, a stressful lifestyle, too much or too little sleep, irregular sleeping hours and sleeping in a bad or uncomfortable position, among others. Regular and sufficient sleep, avoiding stress, paying attention to one’s diet, etc., may help you prevent sleep paralysis, he said.
For İlhan, feeling as if one is falling down after stepping into void when one is about to go into sleep is associated with the body’s sudden paralysis during the transition to the REM phase.
Estimates on this sleep problem indicate that it affects anywhere between 5 and 40 percent of people at some point in their lives.
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