Nothing strikes fear into the heart of a person like the word “paralysis.”
The ability to not move or be in control usually means a lesser quality of life.
Is sleep paralysis dangerous? Not necessarily.
It is simply a basic biological function that everyone has to prevent them from acting out their dreams while they are taking place.
With the exception of your basic life functions like breathing or your heart beating, sleep paralysis keeps you still while in REM, or rapid eye movement sleep.
Most of the time people don’t even notice sleep paralysis, but there are moments when people may sometimes wake up enough mentally to notice that they cannot move physically.
That can be scary! The good news, however, is that when you’re in this dream state, you’re also in a place where you can make your dreams work for you in some tremendous ways.
What Is Dream Paralysis? Is It Different Than Sleep Paralysis?
I have a friend named Elijah and he is one of those guys who sleepwalks all the time.
He’ll mumble a lot while wandering around, never fully conscious, yet never fully awake either.
He’s the classic example of why sleep paralysis isn’t a dangerous thing at all – because you’ll never know where Elijah ends up going if he’s spending the night on your couch!
One night when he crashed at my place, I heard a loud crash in the middle of the night.
I rushed into the living room and found Elijah rubbing his foot.
“I had a really weird dream,” he told me sheepishly. “I was fighting Godzilla in my dream and I kicked his foot.”
Elijah kicked in real life and there went my lamp!
Without sleep paralysis, we’d all react in a similar way to our dreams – like a physical virtual reality that is controlled by our minds.
Sometimes sleep paralysis can last for just a couple seconds.
Sometimes it can last for several minutes… and that’s when it begins to get really scary!
You’ll hear tales of demons, alien abductions, angels, and other hallucinations as the dream world merges with reality.
If you feel this sensation, don’t get scared. Take control of it instead!
What Causes Sleep Paralysis?
In medical terms, sleep paralysis is a known event that is called “REM atonia.”
It happens to every person on the planet every time they go to sleep.
It basically means that you’re in a dream state of sleep and have no muscle tension.
Your brain needs this to happen so that it can work on recharging your body’s battery.
So why does sleep paralysis occur, but you become mentally awake?
About half of all people will experience this sensation at least once and it happens because the electrical impulses in your brain have begun to fire once again, but not enough to get your body moving.
You could call it an out of body experience or you might call it the scariest thing you’ve ever encountered!
It happens more often when certain environmental conditions occur, such as:
- jet lag,
- high levels of stress,
- sleep deprivation, or
- changes to your circadian rhythm, like having to work third shift after work first shift.
One of the most common sleep paralysis causes comes as you attempt to encounter lucid dreaming, especially for the first time.
You don’t need any treatments or counseling if this occurs.
Just be aware of what is going on and then begin to take the next steps of consciousness!
What If You Could Manage Sleep Paralysis and Ghost Visions?
When you’re dreaming, in many ways you’re entering a deep meditative state.
You’re allowing your consciousness to begin working through the stress or bothersome issues that have built up over time.
It’s a safe, personally constructed fantasy world!
Is sleep paralysis dangerous under these circumstances?
Not at all! It is, in fact, one of the best coping tools you could ever use to help you plan and problem solve.
Sleep paralysis and ghost visions are really just your mind trying to overcome something that is bothering you. It’s a place where you can take control of those visions and have them work with you to cope with a problem! Imagine being able to:
- bring about several resolutions to a problem that you have at work and determining what outcome is the best one to strive toward;
- find a way to relax from a stressful series of events where anger, grief, or sadness are the overwhelming emotions that you feel; or
- interact with someone that you might not see any more so that you can finally experience the closure that you may need to move on with your life.
When it comes to lucid dreaming, the sleep paralysis and ghost visions that you have are just tools to use for your own benefit.
It seems very real, but it is always a mental construct that you experience to separate your consciousness from your sub-consciousness.
If you find that controlling your dreaming experience isn’t beneficial at that moment, then releasing yourself from the panic is possible.
Here’s How You Can End Sleep Paralysis if Need Be
There’s no doubt about the fact that being paralyzed while sleeping is scary.
Sometimes it’s too scary and it needs to just end right there, in that moment.
Forget waiting several minutes or trying to control your lucid dream!
For many people, the trick to ending a sleep paralysis incident is to focus on a specific task, like wiggling their fingers or toes.
This tells your brain that you’re awake and ready to get moving, which makes the impulses begin firing once again.
Is sleep paralysis dangerous when you can’t manage to make your fingers or toes move?
No – it just means you’re in a very deep place of sleep at the moment.
Don’t fight the waking up process if you can’t get your body to move itself awake.
Be patient and focus your thoughts on something that is pleasant to you while you allow your body to catch up to your mind’s awakened state.
Sometimes trying to move your eyes or blinking rapidly can help to hasten the process to become fully awake, but even the combination of moving and blinking doesn’t always work.
Try to speak, smile, or move other facial muscles.
Focus on taking deep breaths because even the actual thought of breathing can help to wake a sleeping mind that is on autopilot.
Above and beyond anything else, just work to stay calm.
A positive mental state will help make the time pass quickly and you’ll be able to once again move around and start your day if that becomes necessary.
As you maintain these goals, you may just find comfort instead of discomfort… and that’s when it becomes very possible to start controlling your dreams, visions, or hallucinations that you encounter during this period of time.
Are You Ready To Make Sleep Paralysis Work For You?
Humanity has for generations explained the unexplainable with religious dogma.
Comets have meant impending doom and disease.
Solar and lunar eclipses have been indicators of war, famine, or displeasure.
When you go back through time, almost everything that can’t be explained is something that is considered to be bad. Sinful. An abhorrence to your preferred deity.
That’s why it is only natural to be scared during sleep paralysis, especially if someone doesn’t know what is going on.
Now that you know that this kind of event isn’t dangerous at all, however, it is time to make this work for you!
Sleep paralysis stories can be incredibly insightful and can be some of the greatest experiences life has to offer!
It starts when you begin to envision a different environment than being awake and unable to move.
Picture yourself along a mountain stream, or perhaps taking a drive along a winding road.
Now picture yourself moving about, interacting the environment.
Feel the breeze in your air and how cool it really is.
See what the environment around you has to offer. Is there a song on the radio? Do you hear the bubbling of the stream next to you?
Now start picturing some of your favorite things and see if you can make them appear in the dream with you.
Interact with them. Ask them questions.
See if they have any insights to offer!
When you do this, what you’re actually doing is asking yourself questions about how your sub-conscious approaches the journey of life.
You’re bridging the gap between who you really are and who you believe you need to be.
Certain dreams also can mean certain things and this has been true throughout almost all of documented time.
Even in the events of the Bible’s Old Testament, dreams and visions were used as a vibrant communication tool!
When you experience these dreams, take the message of them to heart because they can have a profound meaning in life.
It’s not just the current time that these dreams occur during sleep paralysis.
You can also look into the future with your dreams of the present.
What Does Your Future Self Have To Say About Life?
Premonitions are nothing new to humanity.
There are always dreams, visions, and circumstances that happen to people that go beyond scientific explanation!
Sometimes these premonition dreams can be interactive and you can actually glimpse part of the future, creating a sense of dejavu when it really happens.
When these dreams occur, and they will occur the more you practice lucid dreaming techniques, it is important to gather as many details as you can while in a conscious state.
If you’re sitting at your desk, look for dates, information that is specific to something you might be working on, and other small details that can help you recognize a specific period of time.
If you’re driving, try looking at your clock in the vehicle, look for billboards, or other common landmarks that can let you locate the fixed moment you are in.
Why is this important to notice? Because in a premonition, your future self has had experiences that your present self has not had.
You can get a glimpse of these experiences and be better prepared for outcomes when you encounter dreams or sleep paralysis events like this and that is one of the best stress reducers there is today!
Imagine being able to have an idea of how to solve a problem before that problem even exists?
Another common thing you’ll see in lucid dreams like this is a shadow or areas of darkness.
These are often places our mind doesn’t want us to go, so it separates the light from the dark.
Whatever that area expresses is what you really need to explore.
Why? Because when you can bring light to the darkness, you’ll uncover the recesses of your mind that could be giving your daily trouble.
Eliminate the trouble and you’ll create levels of joy that you never thought possible!
Is It Time To Take Control of Your Dreams?
Sleep paralysis and ghost visions are just a tool for you to use.
There is no treatment necessary for it because it isn’t something dangerous at all.
If it is bothersome to you, then simply utilize the techniques described above and work yourself toward a more awakened state.
If you can suppress any fear you might be feeling, then you’ve got an incredible opportunity to listen to your sub-conscious and learn more about who you really are.
Is sleep paralysis dangerous? Absolutely not.
It is simply a method of bridging the gap between a restful state and a mentally aware state.
Use your dream functions during this period of time to settle stressful events, plan your day, or get a glimpse into your future depending on what dream you can generate.
From that moment, there really is no limit to what you can accomplish while in this state.
Take control, see where your dreams lead, and you might be very surprised by the results!
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4. How to Fall Asleep Faster and Easier
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