Did you ever have the feeling that you were awake but were still not able to control your body? Science gave these phenomena a name:

SLEEP PARALYSIS

Usually, sleep paralysis happens when you are about to fall asleep or are on your way to wake up. This in-between state may allow you to already open your eyes leaving you with a body that you cannot move yet. As dreaming activity is still possible these bits and pieces may show up as hallucinations.

As a result, many people that experiences sleep paralysis are deeply scared wishing they would be able to live without it.

Luckily, there are things that we can do to reduce the anxiety that comes with it.

Let’s walk through a couple of facts first

This is important to get a better understanding of what is going on. So in the following, you will find the main aspects:

• most people experience sleep paralysis once or twice in their lifetime
• it can occur when you fall asleep or when you wake up
• can last from several seconds to a few minutes
• you might see or feel hallucinations
• some people experience it regularly
• often comes along with pressure on one’s chest
• it is generally speaking not dangerous

Furthermore, there are things that we can do to reduce the anxiety levels that quite frequently show up with the phenomena.

So, how can I keep my anxiety levels low next time?

You already did the first thing by reading the facts above. As a rule of thumb getting informed already lays out a core foundation to keep calmer when sleep paralysis happens. Furthermore, you should try to keep as calm as possible and simply try to relax. Usually, you will be fully awake or asleep after not more than a few moments.

But what if I want to completely avoid it?

I personally doubt that this is possible. Sleep paralysis seems to be a common phenomenon that some people simply experience more than others. That said it seems to be possible to reduce it showing up as a result of having

• a fixed sleep schedule
• eating healthy
• keeping your stress levels low

Any other idea for me?

(Without any scientific proof) I strongly believe that training lucid dreaming (the art of being consciously aware that you are dreaming) will probably help you to experience this state with joy instead of fear. Lucid dreaming and sleep paralysis have many things in common and there is even a study published that compares these states.

Basically the approach is to turn the feeling of being delivered to the state into one where you are fully aware and under control through implementing lucidity.

Conclusion

Seeing hallucinations not being able to move our bodies can be very frightening. Getting informed is known to reduce the anxiety level on its own (well done for reading this article!). As a result, you will be able to handle the situation calmer next time it shows up. Also, try to eat healthy, sleep on a regular basis and reduce your overall stress levels to minimize the times that sleep paralysis will occur. If you want to test something very special that is not yet commonly known as a fix then go with lucid dreaming.