It was March 2020 when Yoeri experienced his first sleep paralysis. “I was on a weekend trip with my family. I woke up in the middle of the night. I saw a bear climb in through a window, even though the room had no window. I wanted to move, but my body was paralyzed. Finally I was able to get up.” and I went to the bathroom, only to fall asleep again. I didn’t know then that I had just experienced sleep paralysis.”
House on fire
In the months that followed, Yoeri suffered from sleep paralysis more and more, which became more and more annoying. “It happened once every week and I started to see the scariest things. Once I saw flickering in the hallway from my bed and heard the sound of crackling fire. My house seemed to be on fire and I could go on for minutes. do nothing. Terrible.”
“Another time a man suddenly stood next to my bed with a knife in his hand. At the same time I felt an enormous pressure on my chest and I became short of breath. Besides seeing, during such paralysis I can hear, smell and Such an experience is lifelike, that makes it extra scary. It’s a real nightmare.”
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For six months, Yuri had sleep paralysis every week. This had a major impact on his life. “You’re constantly in complete panic, but there’s nothing you can do. Sometimes it takes a few minutes, but it feels like an eternity. Then when I really wake up, I’m completely upset and can’t get back to sleep again During the day I’m broken and the night after I don’t dare to sleep because I’m afraid it will happen again.”
Yoeri suffered a trauma and nowadays no longer dares to sleep alone. “I need to make sure that someone can wake me up if I get sleep paralysis. My father is trained for it these days. I now manage to produce a kind of moaning sound with my voice during a paralysis. My father then hears that, runs to me and wake me up.”
Less stress, less paralysis
The number of sleep paralysis has decreased significantly in recent months. Yoeri thinks this is because he changed jobs. “My previous job gave me a lot of stress and I wasn’t happy at the time. Since I’ve been working elsewhere I feel better about myself and have more fun in life. Now that I’m a lot less stressed, my sleep paralysis is less become, I think.”
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Next year Yoeri will live on her own. He finds that difficult. “I need to overcome my fear. Talking helps. It gives me more confidence in myself and my sleep, which makes me less afraid. I’m more and more aware that it’s fake, but it’s still annoying.”
Yoeri sometimes finds it difficult that few people know exactly what sleep paralysis is. “When I come to work completely devastated and people ask what happened, I find it difficult to explain. Sleep paralysis feels like a near-death experience to me, but if you’ve never experienced this yourself, it’s difficult Also, other people can’t help me, it’s something my body has to solve on its own.”
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Yuri can now sleep normally again. “In that respect, I’m doing a lot better now than last year. But I really don’t want to sleep alone for the time being. I’m too afraid of getting sleep paralysis and that no one can wake me up. I already have those tapes tried where you get a shock when you move, but that doesn’t work for a meter. I’m still looking for a solution.”
Part of other sleep disorder
According to somnoloog Sebastian Overeem from the Center for Sleep Medicine Kempenhaeghe, more than 10 percent of the Dutch have ever experienced sleep paralysis. “And in about 3 to 4 percent of people, the attacks occur repeatedly. Sleep paralysis can occur as part of another sleep disorder, for example narcolepsy (a rare disease in which you suddenly fall asleep during the day, ed.). We also see that people with psychiatric disorders are particularly prone to this.”
Overeem refers to people with, for example, an anxiety disorder or depressive symptoms. “You often see that when these psychiatric complaints decrease, the sleep paralysis also decreases or even disappears completely. It is not known exactly why and how sleep paralysis occurs.”
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He does know that it starts in the brain. “After you fall asleep, you go through different phases: light, deep and REM sleep (also called dream sleep). Each of the sleep phases has its own characteristics. When you are in REM sleep, your brain ensures that your muscles are completely being paralyzed. This prevents you from actually doing the things you dream at that moment. With sleep paralysis, this shutting down of your muscles takes place, but at the wrong time.”
The muscle relaxation that should normally take place during REM sleep takes place during a different (sleep) phase. “It makes you feel paralyzed while you’re still awake or when you just wake up. That can be very scary. You’re conscious but you can’t move.”
Hallucinations
In Yoeri, sleep paralysis is accompanied by hallucinations. This is something Overeem sees often. “Here too, this is a disruption of REM sleep: normally you only dream in that phase, but now the dream experiences occur while you are still awake. As a result, they can appear lifelike, and are therefore called hallucinations.”
“About a third of people with sleep paralysis have hallucinations in addition to the paralysis. You can also experience pressure on your chest. This can make you feel stuffy and make the experience even more annoying.”
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“Depending on the cause of sleep paralysis, we look for an appropriate treatment. Sometimes sleep therapy is a solution, to ensure that sleep becomes more stable and there are fewer ‘wake-sleep transitions’. In other cases, complaints can be reduced by means of of medication. Because sleep paralysis is quite rare, not much research has been done yet and it is important that a specialist monitors if the complaints persist and someone needs further treatment.”
Switching preferred position
Sometimes an expert’s reassurance can help reduce sleep paralysis. “In addition, it is nice for some to have a partner next to them, or someone in the house who can wake him or her up. Keep in mind that something that works for one person does not have to work for everyone. For example, there are people who absolutely don’t want touch during sleep paralysis, as it actually makes the experience more scary. Some people with sleep paralysis report that it is more common in the supine position, so switching preferred positions could be a practical tip to reduce sleep paralysis.”
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