#sleep help
Things you should know about Sleep Paralysis
Before I begin, you ought to know what sleep paralysis is. When you sleep you go through two cycles, REM and NREM. REM stands for “rapid eye movement” and during this phase your body is completely paralyzed but your eyes are moving around under the lids. NREM is “non rapid eye movement” and during this time your body moves about but your eyes are still. You need to go through both cycles numerous times for a proper nights sleep. Sleep paralysis occurs when you wake up during REM and can be alarming to someone who isn’t used to it. But don’t worry, as someone who has gotten it chronically since I was a young child, I am going to teach you how to get through it.
First of all, you might feel like you’re suffocating, but don’t panic. You don’t have control of your body right now, and that includes your lungs. When you sleep, your breathing is heavily decreased. So just calm down, it’s ok, you can breathe.
Don’t be idle! So many people just lay there and expect sleep paralysis to go away. But that isn’t how this works. You MUST wake yourself up and yes it will be uncomfortable. It feels like reactivating your nerves, so it isn’t pleasant, but it isn’t really painful either. Just get through it, and try to move, you could be stuck for HOURS if you don’t.
On that note, there are ways to make the waking up process easier. Try to move one part of the body at a time. Maybe start just trying to move your finger then slowly progess to “waking up” the rest of your body. Also if you simply can’t get whatever part to move try somewhere else. I have had times where I tried to move my arms but they wouldn’t budge, only to find out that moving my head was much easier and woke up my entire body.
Don’t immediately go back to sleep! There is a very high chance that doing so will make you return to sleep paralysis. I have made this mistake more times than I’d like to admit, so it’s ok, but still, get up. You don’t have to do anything big, maybe just go grab some water or read a little bit (or whatever else you feel like) before attempting to return to sleep.
For the love of god DON’T OPEN YOUR EYES!! You’ll hallucinate.I’ve seen some weird shit when my eyes are open, and although I’m usually too preoccupied to be scared about the surreal demonic shit I see at the foot of my bed, for lots of people it’s terrifying, so I recommend that you keep your eyes shut.
Sorry it took so long for me to make this post! I’ve been kinda busy. But I sincerely hope this helps. Don’t stress over sleep paralysis, you’re going to be fine and once you have it for a while it becomes more of an inconvenience than an emergency. Sweet dreams!
