Sleep Paralysis Hallucinations

What was once thought to be the work of invisible witches and hags has now been proven to be nothing but a medical condition. Sleep paralysis hallucinations are hallucinations that accompany sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is a condition wherein, when the person is just waking up from his sleep, that is, he is not fully awake nor is he asleep, at that time he is rendered paralyzed, that is, immobilized. The seriousness of this condition is often compounded by the fact that there are also vivid hallucinations that a person sees or feels during these attacks. Given below are the causes, symptoms and ways to prevent the occurrence of sleep paralysis and its accompanying hallucinations.

Causes and Symptoms

There have been many causes of sleep paralysis. Some say stress may be a causative factor whereas for many, changes in sleep pattern or duration is what seems to be a trigger. For some, jet lag, anxiety, sleep disorders, etc. may also be causes. However, these are all mostly the causes of sleep paralysis. What about the hallucinations that accompany sleep paralysis? It has been said that this basically occurs due to errors in the neural transmission in the brain during and around REM sleep. Sleep apnea and hallucinations are also said to be related, as have sleep disorders and hallucinations. This is often accompanied by vivid auditory or visual hallucinations because of the fear that a person feels on being rendered completely immobile and helpless. The various symptoms include complete immobility, feeling of levitation, frightening images and sounds, feeling of choking or heavy pressure on chest, fear and cold sweats, etc. All of these symptoms make this a very frightening experience indeed for any individual.

How to Deal with It

• Try to ensure that whenever you sleep, you manage to sleep in a relaxed position. Also, try not to work yourself towards exhaustion and then plonk yourself on the bed. This severe exhaustion often tends to increase the likelihood of landing with common sleep paralysis hallucinations.
• Try to ensure that you also eat right so that you stay replenished. Avoid drinking caffeine just before going to bed. Also, ensure that you get your six to eight hours of sleep because even sleep deprivation can lead to paralysis and hallucinations.
• Try to identify a pattern with your sleep paralysis so that you can then implement a sleep paralysis treatment plan. See if they occur at a certain time or place or when you sleep in a certain position. If you can manage to avoid the circumstances associated with this, then you can easily decrease the frequency of these hallucinations.
• As difficult as it may be for you to do this but try to relax whenever you feel an oncoming bout of sleep paralysis hallucinations. If you get worked up, there are chances you may end up being more affected by it. Hence, calming down will help in reducing the effect of this type of hallucinations on you.
• Sleep in a quiet and dark room. Ensure that the room is airy so that you don't wake up in the night due to bouts of sleep apnea.
• Before going to sleep, try to do some breathing exercises or read something pleasant and funny. Although the claims are unfounded, it is said that these relaxation techniques help to get rid of the anxiety which may be a inducing factor for such hallucinations.
• Even while you are experiencing a sleep paralysis hallucination, inhale deeply and then exhale forcefully. This will help you concentrate on this action and so, will help to increase your wakefulness.
• Whenever you feel an oncoming attack of sleep paralysis, try to stay calm and imagine yourself walking out of the room or basically, away from the location of the paralysis.
• If you think you want to fight this feeling, then when there are attacks of sleep paralysis hallucinations, try to bring about some kind of movement. First try to focus on moving a small part of your body, like your finger or try craning your neck a little. This will help in receding the hallucination.
• Always try to convince yourself, even while you are awake that sleep paralysis hallucinations are merely a phenomenon and do not signify the presence of real ghosts or demons. Do not even try to convince yourself about the existence of demons as this will only make the future attacks, if any, worse and more difficult to cope with.

On most occasions, people that do experience this say that it does not happen very often and they learn to eventually deal with it in their own way by either identifying a causative factor or identifying any pattern that it may be following. However, for some, this may prove to be a repeatedly frightening experience, which may eventually necessitate medical intervention.