The Reality Behind Sleep Paralysis

While there are many conditions that have a basic understanding of what they involve, there is still one condition that is often misunderstood by many. What is it exactly? Sleep paralysis.  A 2012 review published in Sleep Medicine Reviews discovered that sleep paralysis has been experienced by roughly 7.6 percent of the general population, with participants experiencing the condition at least once in the span of their lifetime.  Most often, sleep paralysis will be experienced for the first time, with patients not understanding what exactly led to the frightening experience.  A wide variety of studies have sought to discover links between other pre-existing conditions or causes that lead to sleep paralysis and to ultimately explain this phenomenon that affects so many.

Relevant studies

A study published in October, 2011 sought to make a discovery of the proportion of people with sleep paralysis, as well as the links associated with the sleep condition.  An interesting result of the study, as researched by Brian A. Sharpless and Jacques P. Barber, was that of the general population that reported having experienced sleep paralysis, 28.3 percent were students and 31.9 percent were psychiatric patients.  This finding provided a fascinating gateway into the possible lifestyles or habits that may lead to sleep paralysis.  A key focus, as a result of the study, was better assessing the population that which fits the description as either a student or a psychiatric patient.

The above study also concluded that sleep paralysis was more common for patients who have panic disorder. Some other findings surrounding the sleep disorder found that the condition is also common among non-white ethnic groups.  Other studies have also shown that sleep paralysis is more common among women, as well individuals who suffer from anxiety. These are only a few key characteristics that have helped to explain the occurrence of this sleep disorder, better enabling medical professionals to diagnose this condition.

Another approach to sleep paralysis included a research effort that had the primary focus of understanding why the sleep condition was so distressing to the patients whom had experienced it for themselves. The study, as can be seen in Clinical Psychological Science, examined 293 individuals who had reported an experience with sleep paralysis.  Researchers asked the participants of the study to reply to emails following distress linked to sleep paralysis in order to find the risk factors contributing to the actual distress.  Some of the key factors that seemed to have led to these distressed feelings are when there is a sensation of floating and not being able to breathe was experienced.  Another contributing factor, as suggested by the study, said that those who linked their sleep paralysis to supernatural phenomena were more likely to experience distress following the sleep related episode.

These studies are just a few published findings that strove to better understand the sleeping condition.  Researchers aimed to do this by looking at the condition from different perspectives while having the same focus, which was to create the links to the condition.  As a result, these links would show how and why sleep paralysis is present among the population, which could very well create opportunities to reduce the sleep paralysis experiences felt across the globe.