As time went by especially throughout the pandemic, there was questioning on why people weren’t getting enough sleep, why people fell into this hole of sadness and low energy . Over the past two years you see a growth within problems of sleeping patterns , not saying this was in common already especially in adolescents and adults (14 years old – 40 years old).
There has been research that has found the relationship between sleep paralysis and anxiety, it studied that people who suffer from already existing mental health problem have higher rates of possibly dealing with sleep problems.Life factors also play a roll in ones sleep , life factors such as ; stress , life changes such as a change in work schedule , emotional experiences such as relationships , grieve , etc… , and possibly a combination of emotions and situations are factors that can possibly lead to sleep paralysis.
Constant patterns anxiety have also shown to be a reasoning of changes in sleeping patterns , which later lead up to sleep deprivation and sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis Is a phase of temporary paralysis in which where people are unable to speak or move it can be accompanied by vivid frightening auditory or visual hallucinations . Over the course of time it’s learned that other factors that lead up to sleep paralysis are things such as long hours (workers) , responsibilities (student/ parent) , even already existing mental problems such as anxiety , narcolepsy ,PTSD and bipolar disorder ect. These factors could potentially trigger our sensory signals which cause hallucinations. It’s important to check your mental health as well as to make sure you’re getting enough sleep as it will affect how you perform every day.
“Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep—for good reasons—is referred to as paradoxical sleep: our blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing become elevated. And electroencephalography (EEG) recordings show a peculiar, lower voltage, and mixed frequency pattern “ Sleep Paralysis, “The Ghostly Bedroom Intruder” and Out-of-Body Experiences: The Role of Mirror Neurons Jalal, Baland ; Ramachandran, Vilayanur S
When does this stage of paralysis occur ?
Sleep Paralysis commonly happens when one is waking up or falling asleep , or when the sleep cycle is shifting between stages in our REM sleep. We have the most vivid and emotional charge dreams when being in REM sleep, our neurons intensely burst more when we’re sleeping rather than when we’re awake. REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep) it is a kind of sleep that occurs at intervals during the night and is characterized by rapid eye movements, within these deeper stages of sleep ones brain shows more activity as it is dreaming more and contains a faster breathing and pulse.
How does this occur ? / what happens in the brain?
Its studied that the right parietal cortex which manages sensory perception and integration and the 5 senses ; may give a rise to the common “bedroom intruder“ hallucination thats seen during the sleep paralysis. Our brain contains Brain cells called ’trigeminal motor neurons’ , who have the job task of communicating brain messages to our muscles in order to move. However in sleep paralysis your stripped away from the possibility of moving , this is because of the Ionotropic GABA / glycine receptors in our brain , these receptors are part of the nervous system and are responsible for sending pain touch and temperature sensations from your face to your brain.However the receptors block off the trigeminal motor neurons causing us to go into the state of paralysis.
Sleep paralysis (SP) occurs when rapid eye movement (REM)-based atonia perseverates into wakefulness.1 Most individuals with SP also experience dream activity during the conscious paralysis that is vivid, multisensorial, and often negatively valenced. The combination of atonia and waking nightmares makes SP a very unpleasant experience for most people and the one that may not be easily understood. Patients may instead use other nonmedical explanations to make sense of it . Leading to other possible mental issues due to the fact that patients are unable to properly explain or make understanding of what occurs during their sleep paralysis https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27486325/’
In conclusion
Sleep paralysis overall can be damaging and could make anxiety worse or even develop it . This is for the reason that people mostly experience frighting things. Things like death, feeling strangled, feeling smothered and just overall sensations of fear of being touched or even taken away by this presence or sensation. All this fear causes people to jump to conclusions in order to have an understanding on why it occurs. Often because of religion people believe it may be demons , aliens or other possible mythical creatures. Sleep paralysis can cause an increase of anxiety , which leads to an increase frequency of panic attacks can interfere with sleep. This is a negative effect overall since having sleeping problems (sleep deprivation) or overall having any disturbances can lead to having an increase frequency of SP in a reinforcing circular process.
Treatments
Even though there is no cure for sleep paralysis there are some tips and treatment to help deal with it
-Improving sleep habits — such as making sure you get six to eight hours of sleep each night. (Sleep schedule )
-Using sleep medications
-you can talk to a neurologist , clinical psychologist , psychiatrist or even primary doctor for more recommended treatments such as therapy and/or take medications such as antidepressants
-Treating any mental health problems that may contribute to sleep paralysis.
-Sleeping on the side, instead of on the back
https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene
https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/about_sleep/sleep_hygiene.html
