what is sleep paralyses caused by? is it dangerous?
90299
This strikes a chord, because I suffered from this about 10 years ago, when I was having a lot of difficulty sleeping.  For me, I would get suddenly sleepy, sit on a chair and be almost instantly asleep (I was diagnosed with narcolepsy at the time) and then wake up almost right away.  But only my brain, it would take several minutes for my body to follow.\n\nIt was Scary!\n\nIn normal sleep, we would go through cycles - Stage 1 being the kind of drowsy feeling we have just before we go to sleep.  Stage 2 and 3 are dream states.  Stage 4 is deep delta wave sleep where we release certain brain chemicals and our bodies replenish.  Normally people cycle through these stages several times during the night.  From dream states 2 and 3, we come up to the semi-conscious stage 1 and have time for our bodies to wake up.  \n\nMy doctor told me that the body paralysis (from the neck down) was to prevent body injury when we're sleeping.  I only had the problem when I was severely sleep deficient, and my body didn't take the time to go through the normal cycles.  I was so deficient in the dream stage that my body-mind would immediately drop into that state.  Without the time to wake up normally, my mind would "wake up" before my body.\n\nIt's not dangerous per se, but it can be a sign of severe sleep deficiency.  Now, 10 years later, I have the sleep problem pretty much resolved and do not have any of those symptoms any more.  Hope this personal experience helps.
594096
it's called sleep paralysis.\n\nSleep paralysis is a condition characterized by temporary paralysis of the body shortly after waking up (known as hypnopompic paralysis) or, less often, shortly before falling asleep (known as hypnagogic paralysis).
44223
Although talking and sleep walking have both been known for centuries, little is known about these conditions.  Sleep studies have shown that both appear to happen during stage 3 NREM sleep.\nNo cause is currently known.
654026
In my case, i'm actually fully awake and can hear everything that's going on around me, i just can move, speak or open my eyes.  The first few times it happened, it scared the whey out of me.  I still find it frightening.\n\nI did some research on it and while the people on here that have said it is part of our defense mechanism to keep us from acting out dreams and thereby harming ourselves or others, are correct, the sleep paralysis is actually different in that we are not dreaming when it happens.\n\nYou can use any and/or all of the search engines available and find quite a bit of information on it.\n\nOne of the things i find most helpful is a tip i read on one of the sites.  It said to rapidly move your eyes back and forth or to try moving your feet.  While these don't always work, i have found that sometimes they do and when they do work, i can bring myself out of it.\n\nAnother thing i do is try not to sleep during the day if i'm home alone.  In my case, it happens if i nap; but, because of some other health issues, i nap a lot.  So, if i have to sleep during the day, i will either do it while my husband is home or i'll call my sister or a friend ~ in any case, i ask someone to either come in or call after an hour and wake me up.\n\nThere are some that associate sleep paralysis with narcolepsy, so you might want to use the available search engines and do some research.\n\nFOR THE PERSON WITH THE NECK PROBLEMS:  Could you please explain how it is related to your neck problems?  I, too, have neck problems and i'm always wanting to learn more about the sleep paralysis.
507587
sleep requires different levels of total relaxation of the body muscles (except the diaphragm and the ocular muscles, and i'm talking only skeletal, voluntrary muscles) as well as cortical de-synchronization. i bet you don't want to be standing up for this. have you ever seen a narcoleptic? they go straight into REM sleep which is the strongest point of this inhibition. the fall straight to the ground.
17377
I have sleep paralysis, but that isn't what a night terror is.  I am a registered sleep technologist, and know what these two are.  One is completely different from the other.  Sleep paralysis does make me awfully scared, though, even though I know that it won't hurt me!  If you are having either of these two disorders, you need to speak to your doctor ASAP and have a sleep study done.  The sleep study doesn't hurt, or anything- worst it does is makes ya look silly!  :)           Sleep paralysis is when you go to bed and just fall asleep when all of a sudden you didn't even realize you were asleep and now you can't move.. ANYTHING... your heart races, you sweat, you breathe like you were just in a marathon- you can't speak or blink at will- it stinks. It can also happen when you are woken up in the middle of the night.       Night terrors are when you wake up screamin in the middle of the night and don't remember doing it. Usually only kids have it.  Adults usually get it when they've been abused ( but not always true- it can happen to anyone).
1108776
The exact cause of narcolepsy is unknown. Studies using gene markers have indicated that the disorder may be genetic. One out of 10 people with narcolepsy and cataplexy has a close relative with the same symptoms. This suggests that some people may inherit the tendency to develop narcolepsy. \n\nA small group of neurons in the brain has been implicated in producing transitions from sleep to wakefulness and vice-versa. People with narcolepsy may have fewer of these neurons or they may have been damaged.\n\nResearch suggests that the cause of narcolepsy is a lack of the chemical in the brain called hypocretin. This chemical stimulates brain cells and helps promote wakefulness. It is not known why hypocretin is missing in people who have narcolepsy. Some factors that may work together to cause a lack of hypocretin include:\n\nInfection \nLoss of certain brain cells due to brain injury, toxins, and/or the body’s destruction of its own tissues (autoimmune reaction) \nChanges in hormones \nStress
1126093
alot of different things cause sleep problems . the most obvious is too much caffeine, stress, and sometimes health problems.
519539
I have never heard of this happening...I think that the worst case scenario would be that your brain wouldn't get enough oxygen and you could die...though I guess it may be possible if a person were rescusitated that they could have suffered some brain damage that leaves them paralized.  I have heard of people having tingling in their arms and legs when they are having an asthma attack though.
857962
Most human beings can go for 16 to 20 hours without sleep. After 20 hours, the first symptoms are usually listfulness, a noticable kinetic energy depletion in the extremities, lack of mental focus on complex activities, and irritability. A tendency for the eyes to droop and the head to become limp briefly are also indications. Operating heavy machinery (like driving) without sufficient sleep should definitely be avoided.\n\nMood swings tend to increase after a full 24 hour period without sleep is reached, and even the simplest of activities can become cumbersome. If the mind refuses to allow the body to rest beyond this period, the subject can display zombie-like characteristics. While, dementia, hallucinations, and increased levels of crankiness and irritability occur as a sleep-deprived person approaches over 48 hours without sleep.\n\nIt is believed sleep deprivation for more than 72 hours straight can lead to schizophrenia and irreversable brain damage. Although the scientific results are still inconclusive. \n\nThe record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.\n\n- It's impossible to tell if someone is really awake without close medical supervision. People can take cat naps with their eyes open without even being aware of it.\n\n- Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you're sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.\n\n- A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year\n\n- One of the best predictors of insomnia later in life is the development of bad habits from having sleep disturbed by young children.\n\n- The continuous brain recordings that led to the discovery of REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep were not done until 1953, partly because the scientists involved were concerned about wasting paper.\n\n- REM sleep occurs in bursts totalling about 2 hours a night, usually beginning about 90 minutes after falling asleep.\n\n- Dreams, once thought to occur only during REM sleep, also occur (but to a lesser extent) in non-REM sleep phases. It's possible there may not be a single moment of our sleep when we are actually dreamless.\n\n- REM dreams are characterised by bizarre plots, but non-REM dreams are repetitive and thought-like, with little imagery - obsessively returning to a suspicion you left your mobile phone somewhere, for example.\n\n- Certain types of eye movements during REM sleep correspond to specific movements in dreams, suggesting at least part of the dreaming process is analagous to watching a film\n\n- No-one knows for sure if other species dream but some do have sleep cycles similar to humans.\n\n- Elephants sleep standing up during non-REM sleep, but lie down for REM sleep.\n\n- Some scientists believe we dream to fix experiences in long-term memory, that is, we dream about things worth remembering. Others reckon we dream about things worth forgetting - to eliminate overlapping memories that would otherwise clog up our brains.\n\n- Dreams may not serve any purpose at all but be merely a meaningless byproduct of two evolutionary adaptations - sleep and consciousness.\n\n- REM sleep may help developing brains mature. Premature babies have 75 per cent REM sleep, 10 per cent more than full-term bubs. Similarly, a newborn kitten puppy rat or hampster experiences only REM sleep, while a newborn guinea pig (which is much more developed at birth) has almost no REM sleep at all.\n\n- Scientists have not been able to explain a 1998 study showing a bright light shone on the backs of human knees can reset the brain's sleep-wake clock.\n\n- British Ministry of Defence researchers have been able to reset soldiers' body clocks so they can go without
1083236
An occasional night without sleep never killed anyone. But this can turn into an addiction that can rob you of sleep on a regular basis. Then it can adversely affect your immune system making you more likely to get sick. Some hormones that boost the immune system get released only during deep sleep.\n\nGroucho: (to Harpo): "Young man, as you grow older, you'll find you can't burn the candle at both ends."\n\nHarpo: (pulls out a candle lit a both ends)\n\nGroucho: "Well, I was wrong. I knew there was something you couldn't burn at both ends. I thought it was a candle."
186728
See;  Guillain-Barre.com, also check into  nih.gov (National Institute on Health), &  cdc.gov  .  Rapid onset weakness, sometimes paralyzing legs, arms, face, breathing muscles or, creating strage sensations in those areas.  It's not known what causes it.  I'm a Nurse though I no longer work....I've seen one case of it myself. I renewed my info on it at the above websites.
155949
Sleep Net Analysis\n\nIn today’s world, most people don’t get enough sleep, but then some people do. Then there are some people aren’t as lucky because they have a sleep disorder.  There are two sleep disorders that Americans suffer from on opposite ends of the spectrum.  These are insomnia, having difficulty falling asleep, and narcolepsy, having difficulty staying awake.\nInsomnia is a disorder where one has problems with either falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early.  Since the average human being needs anywhere from seven to nine hours of sleep a night to function at full potential, this can be a dangerous disorder.  Insomnia comes in three different types: Transient insomnia, Short-term insomnia, and Chronic Insomnia.  The first two types, Transient and Short-term usually last a lot shorter than chronic insomnia, and they can be contributed to either excessive stress, noise around you, temperature changes, jet lag, or medical side effects.  On the other hand, Chronic Insomnia lasts for sever months and is usually caused because of more prominent issues such as physical or mental disorders, depression, or sleep apnea.  Also if one smokes or drinks just before bed time, it could help induce this type of insomnia.\nSo how do you treat insomnia?  For the first two types of insomnia, Transient and Short-term, one could be lucky and skip out on treatment since it only lasts for a brief period of time.  What ever you do, one important thing to remember is to never use over-the-counter sleep medicines to treat this.  If you have Chronic Insomnia, this is more serious. First you should check underlying medical or psychological problems; then identify the problem or behaviors that cause you to have insomnia; then consider possible use of sleeping.  If you want to go for a less expensive approach, simple relaxation therapy, sleep restriction, reconditioning, and bright light methods would work.  Relaxation therapy is self explanatory, one just needs to reduce the amount of anxiety and tension in the body so that one’s muscles can relax and one can sleep.  Sleep restriction is when one spends too much time just lying in bed but not getting to sleep.  To solve this one should just restrict the amount of time they sleep to a few hours a night.  Reconditioning is when one conditions his or her body to not use the bed for anything but sleeping, thus teaching the body to associate bed with sleep.  The last one, bright light, is when one wakes up early to get as much bright light in the morning as possible.  That way you can set your internal clock to sleep at night, and awake during the day.\nAnother sleep disorder on the opposite spectrum than insomnia is narcolepsy.  Narcolepsy is when one gets sleepy all the time and experiences an irresistible need to sleep.  Some of the symptoms are excessive sleepiness, brief periods of muscle control loss, vivid dream images, and sometimes, unable to walk or talk for short periods.  All narcolepsy is when there is a sudden REM cycle in the waking state.  Usually one will start noticing it between the ages of 15 and 30, and he or she is experiencing some of the symptoms listed above.  The most important symptom is excessive sleepiness which attacks an individual throughout the day.  They can last anywhere from a couple of seconds to 30 minutes and can happen at any time, whether it be eating, talking, or driving.   To treat this, one should seek behavioral or medical therapy.  There are stimulant drugs that could be used and sometimes antidepressants help if you have cataplexy (sudden muscle weakness).  Never the less, the important method of keeping this disorder out would be a healthy life style involving good diet, exercise, and a good sleep schedule.\nAround the world there are organizations that provide information about sleeping and sleep disorders.  One of these organizations is the Association of Polysomnographic Technologists.  The APT aims to help improve the qualit
1121585
When we are deprived of sleep, it can cause many different problems. It's good you are seeing about your sleep disorder, I think once they can solve that, you will most likely see your symptoms deminish.
716653
This sounds like a phenomenon called sleep paralysis.  When you are in deep sleep, especially REM sleep when you are dreaming, your body goes into a partial paralytic state.  Most of your voluntary motions are paralyzed to keep you from acting out your dreams.  Occasionally, some people wake up mentally before their body gets the signal to wake up.  You become mentally aware and awake again, but your body is lagging behind in that partial paralysis.  It typically lasts for only a few minutes at most.  Most people report that it is a terrifying experience; they have no idea what is going on and can't move.  This can result in tremendous anxiety about trying to fall asleep, and often creates panic attacks.\n\nApparently, this condition is not harmful to you in anyway, except for the emotional trauma.  The next time it happens, stay calm.  Think to yourself that you are just in a different physiological state, one that few people ever encounter.  It will pass after a few minutes, and you should feel normal again.  Try to relax and let it run its course.  By understanding what is happening, you can be assure that you have no reason to panic.  Its just one of those little things you'll learn to cope with.\n\nYou can talk to a doctor if you want, but they probably won't do much if anything about it.  They will probably just give you a prescription for anxiety.  I encourage you to do some more research and look at online communities of other people with sleeping disorders for people who share your problem.  They will help you find ways to minimize the impact.\n\nAs for the connection of this with your uncle's death, I'm at a loss.  There may be some spiritual explanation for that as well.
583151
Because your body sends out a hormone that paralysis you while you sleep. It keeps you from thrashing around in reaction to dreams, rolling out of bed or opening your eyes which can cause damage due to dehydration if you're not blinking.
1185109
I work in a sleep lab and I have seen this before, it is called sleep paralysis.  It is very normal and every night your body goes into a mini coma when in your deep rem sleep.  Sometimes you get up from rem too quick and your body has not recovered yet.  Maybe you took medications that made your rem sleep more dominant, or maybe your not sleeping long enough.  This problem usually is seen in older patients and patients on certain medications.