- Hey everybody.
Today we're gonna talk about sleep paralysis.
What is it, and how can we overcome it?
But before I jump into that, are you new to my channel?
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Sleep paralysis is when our body
goes into the fifth and final stage of sleep.
We've heard about this stage a lot.
It's otherwise known as REM sleep.
And REM, if you didn't know, stands for rapid eye movement.
And we've talk about REM in regards to EMDR,
because it's that movement of our eyes that we believe
helps our brain process through our day.
But anyways, that's the fifth and final stage.
During that stage, our mind disconnects itself
from our body so that when we dream,
let's say we're dreaming about playing soccer,
really kickin' butt, running, kicking,
doing all sorts of exciting things,
it disconnects so that we don't act that out in our sleep
and hurt ourselves or potentially someone else.
Like we could fall off the bed, kick a spouse, you name it.
So that when we wake up during this fifth and final stage,
our REM stage of sleep, our mind can kinda wake up,
but our body is completely unable to move,
because it's still disconnected.
After researching this, I found out that sleep paralysis
falls under the blanket term of REM parasomnias.
And the term parasomnia is defined by the Cleveland Clinic
as disruptive sleep disorders that cannot occur
during arousal from rapid eye movement sleep
or arousals from non-rapid eye movement sleep.
And they can result in undesirable physical
or verbal behaviors, such as walking, talking during sleep.
And parasomnias occur in association with sleep,
specific stages of sleep, like whether we're REM or not REM,
or sleep/wake transitions.
These parasomnias can be disruptive
to both the patient and the bed partner.
Because our mind isn't really awake
when it's coming out of a deep sleep,
have you ever kinda been woken up when you've been sleeping
for quite a little while, and it like takes you a minute
to kind of figure out where you are and what's happening?
Many people who struggle with sleep paralysis report seeing
or even feeling things when they wake up that scare them,
and that's when they realize that they can't move,
because we wanna do something, we wanna react,
and we realize that we can't.
And this only makes the sleep paralysis more and more scary.
But know that it's just your brain trying to wake up.
It's not completely aware of its surroundings,
and it's trying to make sense of everything
as quickly as possible.
So know that you're not psychotic,
or having a psychotic break, anything like that.
Your brain is simply trying to wake itself up.
After much research, they've concluded that sleep paralysis
is merely a sign that our body is not moving smoothly
through the sleep cycles.
They don't link sleep paralysis to mental illness
or anything like that,
but we do know that stress and changes
in our sleep patterns overall
can exacerbate but not cause it.
It's also estimated that four out of every 10 people
have experienced sleep paralysis.
I know I have.
I remember waking up in college,
it's just this one instance that's like
so vivid in my memory,
I remember my roommate coming in and asking if I was okay,
and I had taken a nap, and I was so confused.
I woke up, I was frightened, and I couldn't,
my body wouldn't move when I wanted it to.
It was actually pretty scary.
Now we can have sleep paralysis in conjunction
with another sleep disorder,
or it can occur completely on its own.
So if you're having issues with your sleep,
please reach out to a sleep specialist in your area.
Even when I was looking through the DSM
to make sure that sleep paralysis wasn't in there,
you know, just double checkin' myself,
there was a whole section,
I wanna say it was like three to five pages,
dedicated to letting mental health professionals know
when a referral to a sleep specialist should be made.
And essentially, their recommendation was that
it should always be considered,
and they should be part of your treatment team.
I also wanna make you aware that
during all of my training and schooling,
I was not taught about these issues at all.
Sure, I could've learned a little bit
through different internships or a specific job,
but I didn't even know that sleep disorders were actually
included in the DSM until I went to research this.
And I only tell you that to make sure
that you get the right help when you need it,
because not all mental health professionals
will be equipped to give you that help.
But now let's get into the treatment options,
because there are some.
Don't worry, there's help available.
And the first thing is that we need
to keep track of our sleep for a few weeks.
I have many patients of mine do this anyways,
especially my bipolar patients so that they can keep track
of how well they're sleeping, when they're sleeping,
and all sorts of stuff like that.
So start, the first thing is always to start by tracking it
so we can figure out when it's happening and how often.
My second tip is to write down
all the symptoms you experience.
Just like when we talk about any other mental health issue,
I always tell you write down all that you're feeling,
because like I talked about earlier,
sleep paralysis can happen on its own
or in conjunction with other sleep disorders.
So we wanna make sure that all
of your symptoms are getting treated.
And my third tip is to get your sleep
back into a more regular routine.
Move your bedtime closer to where you want it to be
in 15 or 30 minute increments,
and do the same with your wake up time
until you get it into a more desirable schedule,
and then you do your best to keep it there.
Nobody's perfect.
I know it can be difficult
to get these things in order and keep 'em there,
but just try your best,
because having a regular sleep and wake schedule
can help tremendously.
It can lessen the amount of nights
that you have sleep paralysis
or experience other sleep disorder symptoms.
And my fourth tip, reduce your stress.
We know that stress can exacerbate sleep paralysis.
Also doing hard work in therapy,
let's say we're doing some trauma therapy,
can make our sleep/wake schedules veer off course.
So using some simple breathing techniques before bed,
like the four by four breathing, we breathe in for four,
hold for four, breathe out for four.
Or does anybody remember my really old video of relax,
I think it was called relax breathing techniques?
I'll link that in the description.
So if you're having a hard time right now,
you can click over there and check it out and get started.
But it can also help to do some simple stretches,
like the yoga stretches.
I have a video about that too.
I'll link that in the description.
But we find that doing forward bend,
when we just bend over our legs, getting into child's pose,
plow pose, or a spinal supine twist
can all help our nervous system calm down
and relax before we go to bed.
Also journaling when you get home from work,
instead of right before bed,
could really help kind of unwind to let us
get all the things we're thinking about out of our head
and onto paper so that we can kinda put 'em
to rest for the night.
Because if we journal right before bed,
some of my clients have reported to me
that it wakes their brain up and makes them start
worrying and getting upset about the things all over again.
So maybe try doing it just a little earlier in the evening.
Overall, just finding some ways to lower the amount
of stress you're feeling can really really help.
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If you would like to support the creation
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click the link in the description and check it out.
I hope that was helpful and, at the very least,
gave you an idea of why we have sleep paralysis
and what we can do to make it happen less and less.
As always, if you have other mental health questions
that you're hoping I've answered or wanting me to answer,
check on YouTube.
Search on YouTube using my name, Kati Morton,
and then put in some keywords,
because trust me, I have like a thousand videos,
and chances are I've talk about it.
Thank you for checking back, and I will see you next time.
Bye.