Sleep Paralysis and How to Cope
Sleep paralysis is an unavoidable part of sleep that everyone goes through.
Sleep paralysis is what keeps you from running down the streets naked and running head-first into road construction equipment. Sleep paralysis doesn’t seem so bad when you think about it like that, right?
Well, sometimes sleep paralysis can affect you so strongly that you even feel it beneath the multiple layers of psychosis known as dreaming. When you have a sense of being unable to move in a dream, then it’s usually the fault of sleep paralysis. What often happens is that people report being paralyzed to the point where they can only move their eyes. They can’t cry out, talk, or protest what’s happening in the dream and this promotes the feeling of fear that often crops up when people realize that they can no longer move.
The best thing to do in those types of situations is to try and wake yourself up. If you’re struggling to wake up, then there are a number of methods that you can try that will allow you to break through the paralysis. One of the main things that you should keep in mind is that, if you realize that you can’t move, then that’s the first step to realizing that you’re dreaming. Often all it takes is the knowledge that you’re asleep to wake you back up. Sometimes you may need a stronger incentive and that’s when tricks like focusing and eye movement come into play.
When you focus on trying to do a certain thing, like move your fingers or toes or try to speak, then you’re influencing a part of your brain that is most often connected with being ‘awake’. That’s half the battle already. Also, if you try and blink your eyes a lot during your dream, then eventually that motion will carry over into the waking world and, before you know it, you’re awake and moving.
Sleep paralysis doesn’t have to be scary. You just have to know what to do to handle it when it comes along.
Further Reading:
- Ancient Science and Dreams: Oneirology in Greco-Roman Antiquity (ISBN 9780761821571): M. Andrew Holowchak
- Dark Intrusions: An Investigation into the Paranormal Nature of Sleep Paralysis Experiences (ISBN 9781933665443): Louis Proud, Colin Wilson, David Hufford
- Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep (ISBN 9780415112390): Celia Green, Charles McCreery
- Nightmara (ISBN 9780986568022): Danielle Q. Lee, Karen Koski
- Nightmares: The Science and Solution of Those Frightening Visions during Sleep (Brain, Behavior, and Evolution) (ISBN 9780313345128): Patrick McNamara
- Sleep Disorders for Dummies (ISBN 9780764539015): Max Hirshkowitz, Patricia B. Smith, William C. Dement
- Sleep Paralysis: A Guide to Hypnagogic Visions and Visitors of the Night (ISBN 9780984223916): Ryan Hurd
- Sleep Paralysis: Night-mares, Nocebos, and the Mind-Body Connection (Studies in Medical Anthropology) (ISBN 9780813548869): Shelley R. Adler
- Sleep Paralysis Should be Used for Good and not Evil
- The Family That Couldn’t Sleep: A Medical Mystery (ISBN 9780812972528): D.T. Max
- The Secret of the Soul: Using Out-of-Body Experiences to Understand Our True Nature (ISBN 9780062516718): William Buhlman
- The Terror That Comes in the Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions (Publications of the American Folklore Society) (ISBN 9780812213058): David J. Hufford
- Thirdeye and the Boogieman (Invsible Beings and Sleep Paralysis?) eBook: Ike Austin
- Wrestling with Ghosts (ISBN 9781413446685): Jorge Conesa Sevilla
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