Curiosity #4 Have you ever experienced Sleep Paralysis? How to stop it?
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What actually is Sleep Paralysis?
Well sleep paralysis can take many forms. But for most people the experience of waking up out of dream and feeling your body is paralyzed often accompanied by hallucinations in the room in front of you.
IN Past, Sleep paralysis by many people was thought to be entering of soul into your body, demonic possessions or the soul leaving the physical confines of the body.
But Perhaps there is a scientific explanation that finally put this myths to bed.
What causes Sleep Paralysis?
when you are in REM Sleep that is rapid eye movement sleep, there are three REM system which are engaged.
1. Cortical Activation , which means your brain is switched on and kind of creating dream imagery.
2. Sensory Blockade , which means your senses are blocked so basically you cant see , hear or feel anything
3. Muscular paralysis , There is the part of the brain pons which sends the signal to the spinal cord which paralyses the major muscles groups while you dream.
These stages are important because sometimes dreams are so realistic that you may be running around your bedroom.
Now, usually when you wake up in the morning or anytime all three stages of REM system get disengaged at the same time but sometimes due to jet-lag, recreational drugs, sleep deprivation, or without any reason, two of the stages switch off but one of them stays engaged. This means when you wake up Cortical activation is switched off so now you can think also Sensory blockade is switched off so that now you can hear things , see and feel your bed, But Muscular paralysis stays engaged, so this means you are now awake in bed but paralyzed.
Why Do you fell Intense pressure on the chest during sleep paralysis?
The only parts of the body that is not paralyzed during REM sleep are your Respiratory system and your Eyes.
So Eyes can now look around the bed room. but the respiratory system is the only part of your body that is not paralyzed so its the only part of your body that you can feel.
So because of this you can sometimes feel there is intense pressure on your chest pushing down.
Why do you Hallucinate during sleep paralysis?
After all this steps , the brain goes 'hang on , if two of these two stages are still active may be that me i should still be dreaming' and the dreaming part of the brain switches back on. When the dreaming part switches back on when your eyes are open its call "Psychotic Hallucination". You may hallucinate about the last thing you were dreaming about . So lets say before you were dreaming about your mom , now suddenly your mom is standing in front of you. You love your mom but you are scared and freaked out. The brain responds the same way as your emotions and try to fit the hallucination according to your emotions, since you are freaked out and scared your mom suddenly changed into a witch.
How to Stop Sleep paralysis?
If this happens to you several times and you wanna get out of this immediately , here is what you need to do
Make a long exhalation with a sound of the air coming out of a bicycle tire. Yup thats the instruction.
Because respiratory system is the only part which is not paralyzed, if you locked into the respiratory system and allow it to relax completely through the long exhalation the muscle paralysis will click out
If this has happen to you this is probably the explanation of whats happening.
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