You spend half your life in your bed, so it stands to reason that sleep is pretty important. Maintaining healthy sleep habits is essential to keep your body and mind in tip-top shape, and untreated chronic sleep problems can lead to severe conditions like diabetes, heart disease, hormonal imbalances, and mental health disorders.
However, getting good sleep isn’t always easy. Over 70 million Americans suffer nightly from some form of a chronic sleep disorder. Today, we’ll take a look specifically at one of these sleep disorders—sleep paralysis. Keep reading to learn more about sleep paralysis, its causes, and potential treatments.
What Is Sleep Paralysis?
When we sleep through the night, we’re actually going through several rounds of sleep cycles. Each cycle is made up of different stages of brain activity, the final of which is REM sleep (rapid eye movement sleep).
The lion’s share of dreaming takes place during REM sleep. Dreams can get pretty wacky and feel extremely real, so your body instinctively paralyzes your muscles during this sleep stage to prevent you from acting out your dreams and waking yourself up.
However, sometimes our body’s natural muscle paralyzing process can take place while you’re still conscious. Sleep paralysis is an understandably scary event for many who experience the phenomenon, as their brains are completely conscious, but they’re unable to move their body. Additionally, sleep paralysis is often accompanied by hallucinations of a malicious entity hovering over the sleeper.
Is Frequent Sleep Paralysis Bad For Your Health?
While sleep paralysis can be extremely uncomfortable and frightening (especially if you experience hallucinations), it isn’t immediately dangerous to your health.
That being said, the long-term effects of constant sleep paralysis could interfere with a person’s ability to get high-quality restorative sleep, and frequent sleep paralysis may be indicative of other potentially more harmful conditions.
Spiritual Causes Of Sleep Paralysis
For all of recorded history, various cultures have attributed spiritual or mystical significance to sleep paralysis. For example, some indigenous canadian tribes attribute sleep paralysis to a shamanic spell. In some traditional Japanese cultures, vengeful spirits attempting to suffocate the sleeper account for the effects of sleep paralysis.
Sleep paralysis myths persist even in modern western civilization. Likely, alien abduction narratives come directly from sleep paralysis experiences.
Psychological Causes Of Sleep Paralysis
Typically, the root cause of sleep paralysis comes down to interruptions in the sleeper’s sleep cycle and not deep-rooted psychological issues. However, high-stress levels can increase a person’s chances of experiencing sleep paralysis. Additionally, research suggests that those with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Bipolar Disorder may be more likely to suffer from sleep paralysis.
Sleep paralysis is also more likely to occur in patients already dealing with other forms of sleep disorders, like insomnia or narcolepsy.
Is Sleep Paralysis Caused By Lack Of Sleep?
Sleep paralysis isn’t really a demon sitting on your chest or an alien abducting you. Most commonly, it’s caused by irregular sleep patterns or chronic sleep deprivation.
The first step to treating recurrent sleep paralysis is maintaining a healthy sleep schedule. As humans, we need around 7-9 hours of sleep regularly. Constantly missing this target may make you more susceptible to sleep paralysis.
In addition to just getting those hours of sleep, you’ll also want a consistent sleep schedule—one where you fall asleep and wake up around the same general time every day. Irregular napping or frequent changes in your sleep schedule increase your risk of sleep paralysis.
If sleep paralysis persists despite healthy sleep patterns, consult a physician. It may be time to conduct a sleep study to see if other underlying problems are causing your sleep paralysis.
How To Get Better Sleep With CBD And Melatonin
Getting good sleep and maintaining a consistent schedule is easier said than done. The stressors of modern life prevent millions of Americans from falling asleep when they want to. Fortunately, you can take steps to help yourself fall asleep and stay asleep.
In addition to making certain lifestyle changes like cutting out caffeine or alcohol, natural supplements can make getting to sleep simpler. The Vitaldiol Rest Capsule combines two of the most common naturally-occurring compounds used to promote sleep—melatonin, and CBD.
Each capsule contains 5 mg of melatonin and 35 mg of CBD. This expertly designed formulation helps you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer without the intrusive side effects associated with heavy sedatives.
If you suffer from sleep paralysis and can’t seem to get your sleep schedule under control, avoid blue lights like those emitted from laptops and cell phones while you wind down at night and try taking a Vitaldiol Rest Capsule 1-2 hours before your desired bedtime.
Get back to sleep, and make sleep paralysis a thing of the past with the help of Vitaldiol!