Reality of Sleep Paralysis

604 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Sleep paralysis essayt

The concept of sleep paralysis is not necessarily a “concept,” it is a reality. I have had this occur to me numerous times for the better part of the past twenty years. What makes this a “concept” is why and how it occurs. I do not believe it is not spoken of enough, and I sincerely believe that more people would be interested in knowing what exactly this condition is.

The conditon known as sleep paralysis is defined as the momentary inability to move one's limbs, trunk and head despite being fully conscious. This can happen while falling asleep (hypogogic sleep) or when waking up (hypnopompic sleep). In my case, hypnopompic sleep is when I suufer this condition. Hypnopompic sleep is when a person becomes aware before REM has finished, and the person will notice that he/she cannot move or speak. It has been stated that during REM sleep, the muscles are paralyzed, preventing the one dreaming from acting out the dream. Certain studies show that the paralysis is likely to occur if a person enters REM sleep immediately after lying down- bypassing non-REM sleep, which happens first (ht...

Show More
Related

  • Falling Asleep on the Job: The Story of Narcolepsy

    2394 Words  | 5 Pages

    Imagine you are in a boring lecture and you start to drift to sleep, usually you can manage to force yourself to wake up. This may be common occurrence but try to imagine falling asleep while driving or walking. These situations seem more rare. A narcoleptic’s body doesn’t care what it is doing when it goes into these paralyzed sleeping episodes. The sudden overwhelming feeling drives the narcoleptic person to fall asleep. One type of episode that they experience is called cataplexy, which is usually caused by some stressful situation or other common activities such as laughing or running (6). During these periods the person suffers from muscle weakness and paralysis. Although the person appears to be sleeping, they are still conscious, but unable to move. They can hear and feel but cannot react to stimulation. For this reason narcolepsy is a very dangerous condition to have without receiving treatment because serious vehicle accidents can result as well as an general inability to succeed in school (6).

    Read More

  • The History Of Sleep Paralysis

    2415 Words  | 5 Pages

    The history of sleep paralysis is a well-documented one. From the earliest times with written documents and painting that have survived, sleep paralysis has been very much well-documented. One document I found during my research that stood out from the rest is a quote from a Dutch physician named Isbrand Van Diemerbroeck found in an article written by Dan Dennis,

    Read More

  • Understanding Paralysis

    1216 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever been with someone who has been suffering through paralysis or at least experienced someone going through that phase of life? It’s really hard to even imagine someone to be in that condition not just because of the physical disabilities that are involved but also because of the psychological stress that the victim goes through.

    Read More

  • Narcolepsy Essay

    1654 Words  | 4 Pages

    Narcolepsy has been above looked for years beforehand knowing a patient has the illness, it is a quickly producing awareness and is continually altering people and their families lives. With nap materializing to be not merely the ultimate pastime, but additionally a survival imperative, the earth of nap scutiny is quite large, bragging countless disparate spans of study. By scrutinizing phenomena like nap disorders neurobiologists can yearn to comprehend the mechanisms of normative nap, in supplement to perfecting treatment for suffers. Narcolepsy is one such disorder that affects an approximated 250, 000 or 1 in 2000 Americans; comparable numbers are approximated for Parkinson's or countless sclerosis (mayo-foundation). An comprehensive, nevertheless oftentimes misdiagnosed illness (fewer than 50, 000 are cognizant of their condition), narcolepsy can be delineated by chronic daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, nap paralysis, and hypanogic hallucinations (rare-disease). The last three of the tetrad of symptoms additionally transpire in non-narcoleptic individuals; nap episodes are the main determinant in diagnosis. Merely 20 to 25 percent of narcoleptics tolerate from all four symptoms (mayo-foundation). This paper has countless goals, all of that involve elucidating the illness and its symptoms in disparate contexts. In order to do this nap will main be elucidated in a slight detail, pursued by a biological and psychological treatment of narcolepsy. Scutiny of narcolepsy and its implications for the upcoming displays steps to be grabbed in order to garner a larger understanding this particular brain/behavior relationship.

    Read More

  • Sleep, Dreams and REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

    1428 Words  | 3 Pages

    The discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep suggested that sleep was not, as it was thought to be, a dormant state but rather a mentally dynamic one. Your brain is, in fact, very active in this state, almost to the level at which it is when a person is awake. Yet during this active stage in which most dreams occur, the movements of the rest of the body are completely stilled. To imagine this paralysis during dreams not occurring is a frightful image, since in many cases dreams are violent and active. When the neurotransmitters that control the movement of the body do not work properly the person develops REM sleep behavioral disorder (RBD).

    Read More

  • Narcolepsy Informative Speech

    673 Words  | 2 Pages

    THESIS STATEMENT: Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that has a specific medical definition, life-changing symptoms, and there are ways in how people treat it.

    Read More

  • The Significance Of Paralysis In The Dead

    1662 Words  | 4 Pages

    What is the significance of Gabriel’s paralysis in “The Dead”? Allusions to paralysis have been woven throughout Dubliners. We know that the mad priest in “The Sisters” is physically afflicted with paralysis and that the narrator of “An Encounter” is paralyzed by fear of the old pervert on the way to the Pigeon House and is forced to return home. Eveline is gripped by indecision in “Eveline”. So much so that she is paralyzed by it on the docks and is unable to move forward into an uncertain but possibly happy future with her lover. Instead she has doomed herself to a life of certain misery. The boy in Araby arrives too late to buy Mahoney’s sister anything because his uncle arrived home late drunk and didn’t

    Read More

  • Oswald's Restoration Theory of Sleep

    505 Words  | 2 Pages

    A restorative theory claims that sleep is used to repair the body including the brain. Oswald suggests that slow wave sleep is when body repair occurs and REM sleep is when the brain is repaired. This is supported by the fact that there is an increase in the secretion of growth hormones during SWS. This could also explain why brain activity levels are high during REM sleep, and similar to when awake.

    Read More

  • NREM And Non-Rapid Eye Movement: The Four Stages Of Sleep

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    In stage 1 NREM sleep, a person starts to lose muscle tone and this is the reason for the sudden twitching and jerking of the body. A person also begins to lose self-awareness and will have hypnagogic hallucinations. Stage 2 NREM sleep is when a person’s muscle tone is almost all lost and sleep paralysis begins to take over the body. With Stage 3 NREM sleep, a person enters a stage where no dreaming occurs but where sleepwalking is possible. Stage 4 NREM sleep is the deepest form of sleep out of all of the four stages. REM sleep is the very last stage where your muscles begin to twitch and most of your dreams take place. (Turner, “Why Do We Sleep? Modern Theories of

    Read More

  • Sleep Paralysis

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    The phenomenon of sleep paralysis can be a frightening experience: many who suffer can feel tremendous anxiety and fear, even though occurrences are considered as harmless as a bad dream. The disorder does not discriminate on the basis of race or gender, but age sometimes is a factor. Treatment for sleep paralysis is limited; in general, doctors treat the disorders linked to sleep paralysis such as sleep apnea or narcolepsy. Sleep paralysis continues to be one of the many mysteries of the human brain, which science will continue to investigate.

    Read More

  • The Neurophysiology of Sleep and Dreams

    962 Words  | 2 Pages

    Differences between NREM and REM can be measured using an electroencephalogram (EEG), electrooptogram (EOG), and electromyelogram (EMG), which measure brainwaves, eye-movement, and muscle tone, respectively. REM is categorized by high-frequency, low-amplitude, more irregular waves in EEG, rapid, coordinated movement in EOG, and weak EMG. During this type of sleep, brain activation heightens, breathing and heart rates increase, and body movement is paralyzed. Because the person is highly aroused, like in waking, but also very asleep, REM sleep is also called paradoxical sleep (6).

    Read More

  • Sleep Paralysis

    1343 Words  | 3 Pages

    Sleep paralysis is a condition that occurs at either the onset or upon awakening of sleep. The medical terms for the two forms of sleep paralysis are hypnogogic and hypnopompic (1). When a person falls asleep, the body secretes hormones that relax certain muscles within the body, causing it to go into paralysis. Doing this prevents the body from acting out a person's dream, which could result in an injury. Sleep paralysis generally runs within one's family or in those who suffer from narcolepsy (2), but there is currently no explanation for why some people get it while others do not.

    Read More

  • Understanding the causes of nightmares

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many people suffer from bad dreams, often referred to as nightmares, every night. It is not uncommon to experience fright filled slumber from time to time, but some people are inclined to suffer more often than an occasional bad dream. While some mental health professionals believe nightmares reduce mental tensions by allowing the mind to act out its fears, new research suggests that bad dreams are more likely to increase anxiety in everyday life. In addition to life’s anxieties, what other factors contribute to nightmares and why?

    Read More

  • The Sleep Disorders

    2324 Words  | 5 Pages

    Sleep disorders are an underestimated public health concern considering that fifty to seventy million Americans are affected. Technological advances in the field of sleep have facilitated various theories to explain the need for and the purpose of sleep. Scientist have uncovered many types of sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. Sleep disorders affect men ,women, children, the elderly, and the obese in different ways. Factors such as the number of children and the effects of menopause have been studied to determine their effects on sleep. Various treatments have been utilized ranging from non-pharmacologic to pharmacologic methods. Scientist have pinpointed areas of the brain that are involved in sleep deprivation and hormones that ultimately affect sleep.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Sleep Paralysis

    1195 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although it does not affect everyone, it does occur. Those of us who suffer from it are living proof of that. Some try to pass it off as mere hallucination and do not believe in it because it is not commonly discussed or well-known. In researching sleep paralysis, I feel that even those who do know about it and have written about it do not validate the emotional injury that suffering from this condition brings upon a person. Many web pages would state that sleep paralysis was not harmful to a person physically -which is true, but they rarely made any mention of the anxiety and fear and loss of control that is experienced when a person goes through it. There was only one page that actually offered suggestions as to what a person can do to calm down when waking up in paralysis. It is easy enough to say, "Take deep breaths and concentrate on trying to move one small body part" when a person is awake, but it is totally different to try to do that when you are in the middle of a full-blown

    Read More

More about Reality of Sleep Paralysis

Open Document