Key Takeaways
- People with sleep paralysis are awake but cannot speak and are unable to move part of their body or their whole body.
- Episodes of sleep paralysis generally lasts a few seconds to a couple minutes and usually don’t recur.
- Focus on getting 7-9 hours of good quality sleep each night to prevent repeat sleep paralysis episodes.
People with sleep paralysis often describe a sensation of being awake, but being unable to move part of their body or their whole body, as well as an inability to speak.
Even though the sensation only lasts for a few seconds to a couple minutes at most, the experience can leave people terrified and mentally disturbed for much longer.
Jazeela Fayyaz, DO, is a pulmonary sleep physician at our Linden Oaks Medical Campus and explains some of the causes of sleep paralysis, other health conditions it can be linked to, and what you can do to prevent it from happening over again.
What causes sleep paralysis?
Sleep medicine physicians who study sleep paralysis and other health issues have found several reasons behind sleep paralysis.
When our bodies enter REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, our muscles stop moving. When REM sleep is disturbed and patients start to wake up, the body sometimes fails to tell the muscles to wake up.
“In most of the cases, sleep paralysis is caused by sleep deprivation,” Dr. Fayyaz said. “In teens, sleep paralysis may simply be associated with a shift in their circadian rhythm, which often results in reduced sleep times.”
Episodes of sleep paralysis only last 1-2 minutes at most, but they feel much longer when someone is going through one.
Diagnosing sleep paralysis
Providers who diagnose sleep paralysis use a clinical diagnosis, meaning they use the patient’s medical history, physical exam and symptoms to determine whether they have sleep paralysis or another medical condition.
Hallucinations that occur as someone is going to sleep or waking up may occur with sleep paralysis. Patients may describe a sleep paralysis demon or a sense of impending doom, both of which only exist in their mental state.
Additional symptoms that happen together with sleep paralysis may point to other disorders or conditions, such as:
- narcolepsy
- parasomnias
- seizures
- anxiety
- depression
“When a patient presents with sleep paralysis, it is typically not difficult to assess whether it is related to an underlying medical condition” Dr. Fayyaz said.
While there are not any physical side effects associated with episodes of sleep paralysis, the lingering emotional and mental effects can linger for months or even years.
“Some patients may experience a sensation of difficulty breathing during sleep paralysis, which can be distressing. However, in most cases, the episode does not recur,” Dr. Fayyaz said.
Preventing sleep paralysis episodes
Once sleep medicine providers help a patient rule out other causes of sleep paralysis, such as narcolepsy, they find the best way to prevent an episode from happening again is to get good quality sleep.
For most adults, getting 7-9 hours of good quality sleep each night is enough to let their bodies recover and reduce the likelihood of another episode reoccurring. Adults can get good quality sleep in a few different ways.
- Have a consistent time to go to sleep and wake up (even on weekends)
- Don’t use phones, tablets, or watch TV in your bedroom before sleeping
- Keep your room dark and at a cool temperature
- Avoid caffeine a few hours before bedtime
- Avoid taking naps during the day
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