Paralysis – breaking sleep habits?
Question:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -silverfin wrote: > I’d really welcome some thoughts on this… > I’ve just been reading lots of posts from the archive on sleep > paralysis, which I suffer from often enough to be problematic for me > but not often enough to get used to. It definitely happens when I’m > falling asleep or waking up on my back – I only found out just now > that this is the same for many other people! > The thing is, I’m also a bit of an insomniac and can usually only get > to sleep on my front. However, I then get a stiff neck or shoulder. > Same on my side. So I’ve been trying to train myself to fall asleep on > my back to help my spine/posture, etc. but then I get horrible sleep > paralysis more often. > Is it possible to train myself to fall asleep on my back rather than > front? > Is it possible to ‘learn’ to fall asleep on my back without getting > SP? > Does it really ever become less scary? (Because although I’ve been > having regular SP for about 10 years, every time I’m still convinced > that _this_ time I’m going to suffocate and die.) > Silverfin
Understanding may be helpful. http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html Is a very good place to read about sleep paralysis; best I’ve found. — michael No matter how cynical I get, I’m unable to keep up. :^>
Response:
I’d really welcome some thoughts on this… I’ve just been reading lots of posts from the archive on sleep paralysis, which I suffer from often enough to be problematic for me but not often enough to get used to. It definitely happens when I’m falling asleep or waking up on my back – I only found out just now that this is the same for many other people! The thing is, I’m also a bit of an insomniac and can usually only get to sleep on my front. However, I then get a stiff neck or shoulder. Same on my side. So I’ve been trying to train myself to fall asleep on my back to help my spine/posture, etc. but then I get horrible sleep paralysis more often. Is it possible to train myself to fall asleep on my back rather than front? Is it possible to ‘learn’ to fall asleep on my back without getting SP? Does it really ever become less scary? (Because although I’ve been having regular SP for about 10 years, every time I’m still convinced that _this_ time I’m going to suffocate and die.) Silverfin
Response:
Having never had sleep paralysis in my life (I’m 28) I got it for about two weeks not knowing what it was, scared the sh*t out of me the first couple times, didn’t know what was going on, did a web search, found out about sleep paralysis. I believe it was stress that caused it for me as I was really stressed out for a couple weeks. In my reading I found that indeed laying in the supine position (back) was a major factor in sleep paralysis. I found that I was definitely on my back each time it happened, I am usually a side sleeper but roll onto my back sometimes. What worked, and was what the website I read suggested, was to break the paralysis by moving a pinky finger, or even my eyes or tongue. Give it a try. If I were you I would look into getting a mattress/pillow that allows you to fall asleep on your front or side. I have never slept on an expensive mattress, usually the no frills mattress store specials, but recently I bought a Tempurpedic (not the actual tempurpedic brand name, but another mfg. that is cheaper & compares better, http://www.memoryfoamsource.com). I honestly have never slept better, less tossing & turning, sleeping on my side is so much more comfortable, it’s awesome. My shoulders used to get sore, now they feel much better. This morning I think I woke up in the same exact position that I fell asleep in. Only bad thing is they don’t have a free trial period like Tempurpedic but I have slept on an ex-girlfriends tempurpedic and figured it would be similar. Also look into getting a big body pillow for side sleeping, might make it more comfortable, or even put the pillow behind you so you are only halfway on your back lying against the pillow & not the mattress. Here’s the site I read about sleep paralysis, there’s a section called Preventing & Coping with Sleep Paralysis. http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~acheyne/S_P.html Here’s the yahoo search I did. http://tinyurl.com/yshy5 Good luck -Tom "silverfin" <google…@finesilver.info> wrote in message
news:821f16e7.0402041416.6a750565@posting.google.com… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> I’d really welcome some thoughts on this… > I’ve just been reading lots of posts from the archive on sleep > paralysis, which I suffer from often enough to be problematic for me > but not often enough to get used to. It definitely happens when I’m > falling asleep or waking up on my back – I only found out just now > that this is the same for many other people! > The thing is, I’m also a bit of an insomniac and can usually only get > to sleep on my front. However, I then get a stiff neck or shoulder. > Same on my side. So I’ve been trying to train myself to fall asleep on > my back to help my spine/posture, etc. but then I get horrible sleep > paralysis more often. > Is it possible to train myself to fall asleep on my back rather than > front? > Is it possible to ‘learn’ to fall asleep on my back without getting > SP? > Does it really ever become less scary? (Because although I’ve been > having regular SP for about 10 years, every time I’m still convinced > that _this_ time I’m going to suffocate and die.) > Silverfin
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