During REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, which is defined as the deepest phase of our sleep and the phase in which we dream, communication between the brain and the body is blocked. All our muscles are disabled except the respiratory and eye muscles. In other words, we experience a kind of momentary physiological paralysis. The reason why our body does this is actually very logical: It is so that we do not do what we do in our dreams in bed. The reason for the nightmare: Although we wake up from sleep, it is due to the fact that the physiological paralysis in REM sleep does not resolve as soon as we wake up.
The human brain is the most developed organ among the organs of all known living things. This organ, which cannot be fully understood and has an extremely complex way of working, works in different ways depending on whether people are asleep, awake, or when they fall asleep. Our brain, which is extremely active and hardworking when we are awake, does not cease its functions fully when we sleep and puts itself into a different working form. During this period when we dream and rest, it is possible for us to experience a "nightmare" event, which is one of the events that we cannot understand. The cause of this event, which everyone has experienced at least once and which has given rise to many superstitions, has only been solved thanks to developing medicine.
This event, which has been proven and made sense by the world of science today, is actually a simple duality situation experienced by our brain. . The parts of our brain that control sleep, vision, subconscious, movements, and many other things are different. These sections, which are completely interconnected despite being different, work in a sequence that we are not aware of, so as not to interfere with the order in the brain. For example, the part of the brain that allows us to dream (actually dreaming is a process in which the whole brain is involved, but some brain parts trigger the dream) never comes into play before the brain falls asleep. Otherwise, dreams, which are much more effective than hallucinations, could occur in real life at any time, and this would never end well.
These interconnected departments switch shifts by triggering each other when the brain goes to sleep. Parts of the brain that end their shifts in sleep There are also parts of the brain that control sensations such as vision, smell and taste. For this reason, it is not possible for someone who is asleep to see even if you open their eyes. As these parts become deactivated while we sleep, the parts that enable us to dream become active and perform their functions according to their state, that is, we dream or do not dream depending on some factors. Sleep paralysis, popularly known as "nightmares", occurs when the activation and deactivation of the brain parts I mentioned are experienced in wrong ways.
Let's explain this situation through the way most nightmares occur. While we are sleeping, our eyes suddenly open and we see that we are in our bed, but we cannot move in any way. We experience a moment of surprise and fear due to the interestingness of the situation we are in, but at that moment, we see that there is something worse that we need to be afraid of; Something is moving in the darkest corner of the room! As we look in that direction, our curiosity and fear increase, but we continue to look. The moving thing (usually composed entirely of shadow, has a human silhouette and is extremely scary) leaves its corner and begins to approach us. It's around this time that we start to panic, but we get the feeling that something is sitting on our chest (some people say the shadow is suffocating or actually sitting on their chest), so it becomes difficult to breathe. We think that this situation is due to what we see and we are more afraid. Just as that thing approaches us, we suddenly jump and wake up. Of course, we start to look around with that fear, but there is nothing anywhere... This is basically how a nightmare occurs. Of course, there may be some changes in the story depending on the person's situation and fears, but this is the essence of the story.
Why Do We Experience Sleep Paralysis?
Now let's talk about what causes this situation. Sleep paralysis occurs when a sleeping person wakes up uncontrollably. When we wake up normally, our brain deactivates all parts that work with sleep and activates the parts that control our actions such as speaking, seeing and moving. During sleep paralysis Your brain wakes up, but only the vision part of these parts is activated. All other sleeping parts cause us to be unable to speak or move because they are asleep. This interesting situation, in which we can only look around us the moment we wake up, naturally causes us to be afraid and panic. Although our eyes can see, the brain, which is still in a sleep state, begins to exaggerate everything we experience, see and think at that moment.
All the images we see during sleep paralysis are transferred to our brain, which is in a sleep state and works differently than normal. In such cases, the subconscious, which is very easily accessible, comes into play when the brain fears what it is experiencing and creates a very real scenario for us. The subconscious is so successful that it knows that the worst thing that can happen to us at that moment is a creature that we can never recognize (because the brain is most afraid of what it does not know) coming out of that dark corner, and it portrays this. The creature that emerges from the dark corner and that we cannot identify not only frightens us but also causes us to have difficulty breathing, but in fact the only reason for this is the low functioning of our lungs, which draw only as much oxygen as it needs to our slowed down body. So it's not hard, we're just breathing slower in a way we've never seen before. Experiencing this event will not harm you in any way, other than just scaring you a little, and it is completely normal to have never experienced it or to experience it more than average.
How Can It Be Prevented?
Some of the factors that affect sleep paralysis and hallucinations are different. They reported that it increases the probability of occurrence. These are:
- Sleeping on your back
- Irregular sleeping hours; naps, sleeping too much or too little.
- Too much stress
- Sudden environmental/lifestyle changes
- Lucid dream just before the event. Conscious induction is also a common method used to enter a lucid dreaming state. Also known as WILD.
- Artificial sleep aids and antihistamines.
- Pre-sleep fasting.
Meditation-Relaxation Therapy for Sleep Paralysis
Baland Jalal Cambridge University neurologists have published a treatment directly for sleep paralysis, The name of this treatment is Meditation-Relaxation Therapy or MR Therapy. This treatment is based on studies in various countries. Part of this treatment is drawn from neuroscience theory created with neurologist Vilayanur S. Ramachandran. MR Therapy consists of four steps applied during sleep paralysis. (1) Reappraisal of the attack (cognitive reappraisal); The person closes their eyes, avoids panicking, and reassesses the attack as not life-threatening. (2) psychological and emotional detachment (emotion regulation); The sleeper reminds himself that catastrophizing the event (e.g. fear and anxiety) will worsen the situation and prolong its duration. (3) Inward focusing meditation; focusing attention on an emotionally significant object in the inner world. (4) Relaxing the muscles; Relaxing one's muscles, avoiding controlling one's breathing, avoiding trying to move.
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