What is sleep paralysis? Is it really caused by ghosts?

Have you ever had this experience: you finally fall asleep at night, but you wake up in the middle of the night, but you can't move your body, as if someone has trapped your hands and feet in the darkness. At this time, the more you struggle, the more scared you become, and you can even feel a dark shadow flashing by your side in the dim light...

This is what people call "sleep paralysis". Once you have the symptoms of sleep paralysis, your body will feel very uncomfortable and you will feel scared when you wake up... So, what is the "sleep paralysis" that the elderly often talk about? Is it really "being oppressed by a ghost"?

What is sleep paralysis?

Sleep paralysis is actually caused by a physiological and psychological condition, medically known as "sleep paralysis", which is a sleep disorder.

When the human body is in a deep sleep, the brain is in a resting state, and our limbs are also resting. Although the brain is conscious, the limbs have not received any commands, and the muscle tension of the body has dropped to the lowest level. At this time, the body will be unable to move. Usually, it will return to normal after a period of time.

People who are prone to "sleep paralysis" symptoms

① People who like to put their hands on their chest when sleeping ; or those who cover themselves with too thick a quilt when sleeping, which will put their chest in a state of oppression, causing chest tightness and shortness of breath, affecting their normal breathing and easily causing the feeling of sleep paralysis.

② If the pillow is too high or the posture is incorrect when sleeping , it will cause blood circulation in the neck to be blocked and thus poor sleep, which will lead to nightmares and sleep paralysis.

③ Having the bad habit of reversing day and night , not sleeping at night and making up for sleep during the day. Over time, it is easy to disrupt the biological clock and experience sleep paralysis when sleeping during the day.

④ If you are under great pressure from work and life, are overworked , anxious, or over-use your brain before going to bed, your brain will always be in a working state, thereby reducing the quality of sleep, causing insomnia and even sleep paralysis.

Emergency treatment

If you experience symptoms of sleep paralysis, you can quickly restore your muscle tone by:

①Rotate your eyeballs quickly , making them move in a circular motion or up and down.

② Stick out your tongue , or try to shout out as much sound as possible while sticking out your tongue, until you can hear the sound you make.

③Concentrate your energy and try to push your feet or wiggle your toes.

In addition to "sleep paralysis", there are actually many "mysterious phenomena" that occur during sleep in life that belong to sleep disorders. Let's take a look at whether you have experienced them?

These sleep disorders have finally been "solved"

Sudden shaking while sleeping, is it calcium deficiency or disease?

Soon after falling asleep, the scene of myself stepping on empty air would suddenly appear in my mind. My body would twitch involuntarily and sometimes I would even wake up from the sleep with a fright.

Medically, this is called "hypnic jerk" or "sleep twitch" . It is an unconscious muscle twitch. It is a normal physiological manifestation and not a calcium deficiency as most people believe.

Scientists believe that fatigue, emotional stress, lack of sleep, strenuous exercise, and stimulants such as caffeine and nicotine... can all cause hyperexcitability of muscles and nerves, causing people to often experience hypnic jerks.

It is worth noting that if a person suffers from a brain disease, such as a tumor, sequelae of a stroke, or a degenerative brain disease, he or she may frequently experience sudden body shaking before going to bed, which should be taken seriously.

Can you wake someone up when they are sleepwalking?

This sleep disorder usually occurs during "deep sleep", which means that the sleepwalker is still in a deep sleep, but his hands and feet are free and he can get out of bed, walk, urinate, etc. After waking up, he may not remember anything about sleepwalking.

People say that waking up a sleepwalker will cause him to go crazy or become stupid? Actually, this is not the case.

When a sleepwalker is forcibly awakened, he or she will experience temporary confusion, feeling lost, bewildered, or even scared. At this time, emotions are likely to erupt, some people will cry loudly, make strange noises, and a few people may even engage in violent behavior.

Therefore, when someone around you is sleepwalking, if they are not doing anything dangerous, do not wake them up forcibly, as they will return to bed on their own . If they are doing something dangerous, guide them back to bed if conditions permit. If that doesn't work, you can use very loud and sharp noises to wake them up, and after waking them up, you should pay attention to calming their anxiety.

Note: Those with severe sleepwalking should seek help from a psychologist in a timely manner.

Sudden night terrors, are you having a nightmare?

Night terrors are more common in children, and often occur 15 to 30 minutes after falling asleep. Children suddenly cry or scream in their sleep, with their eyes closed or staring, sitting up from the bed, or even jumping to the ground, with a tense and frightened expression.

When children have night terrors, many parents think they are having nightmares, but the two are actually different.

If you have nightmares, they usually occur in the second half of the night. Children may be frightened or even cry because of the scenes in the dream, but this generally does not lead to mental confusion, and parents can quickly comfort their children.

Children who have night terrors may appear confused, difficult to wake, and have difficulty calming down, but they will quickly go back to sleep and have no recollection of the incident when they wake up.

Experts say that night terrors are mainly caused by the incomplete development of children’s central nervous system. They usually disappear in adulthood and do not require medication.

Tossing and turning at night, with no place to put your legs?

When I sleep at night, I feel like there is no place to put my legs. It’s neither painful nor itchy, but it’s an indescribable discomfort. Many times I have to get up and walk around, stamp my feet, and beat my legs to feel a little better, but I feel uncomfortable as soon as I lie down.

This condition is called restless legs syndrome, and studies have shown that people with conditions such as anemia, diabetes, advanced kidney disease, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor, migraines, certain rheumatic diseases, and even certain tumors are more likely to experience restless legs.

There was a loud noise next to my ears. Was something really exploding?

Some people suddenly hear a loud noise, like a bomb explosion or a gunshot, when they are drifting off to sleep or about to wake up, but when they wake up they find that the sound does not exist and that it is actually very quiet around them.

This is known as "brain syndrome." A professor at Washington State University believes that this is the result of the brain shutting down its functional mechanisms.

Simply put, if we compare the brain to a computer that is about to be shut down, the motor nerves, auditory and visual cells will enter the shutdown stage one by one.

For people with "brain syndrome", the brain does not shut down gradually as normal. Instead, brain cells suddenly shut down all functions in an instant, creating energy similar to an explosion, which the brain interprets as a loud bang.

Additionally, the researchers noted that about a third of people who experienced the "brain syndrome" also experienced the "sleep paralysis syndrome."

Treat insomnia with the right medicine

Insomnia is actually caused by insomnia. The causes of insomnia can be roughly divided into three categories:

Psychological factors

In today's high-pressure society, the double burden of work and life causes many people to suffer from negative emotions such as anxiety, tension, depression, anger, excitement, etc., which leads to a decrease in sleep quality and insomnia.

In daily life, you need to learn to regulate your personal emotions, learn to relax, and maintain a positive and optimistic attitude.

Surroundings

An uncomfortable sleeping environment, such as inappropriate indoor temperature and humidity; noise interference around; playing with mobile phones or computers before going to bed, etc., will all lead to a decline in sleep quality to varying degrees, and even frequent insomnia.

For most people, the most suitable indoor temperature for sleeping is 20℃-23℃; the optimal humidity is 50%~65%; it is best not to play with electronic products before going to bed to avoid blue light that lowers the level of melatonin in the body and affects sleep.

Physical factors

Such as gastrointestinal diseases, hyperthyroidism and depression, these diseases will affect the brain and affect sleep after they occur.

If insomnia is caused by a disease, it is necessary to identify the disease in time and take measures to treat it, control it from the source, and effectively improve insomnia.

Reviewer of this article: Chen Haixu, Deputy Director and Master Supervisor of the Second Medical Center of PLA General Hospital

Source: I am a great doctor official microblog (ID:woshidayisheng)

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