What I Do To Help My Sleep Paralysis

by Lyndsay
(North Carolina)

I've had sleep paralysis since i was about 7 years old, & i'm now 20. My case has progressively been getting more frequent over the years.

One thing about sleep paralysis I learned maybe 6 years ago, is (for the falling asleep type) after you wake up from one, STAY UP. Because every single time I have fallen right back to sleep after one, I have slipped right back into it. I stay up, even though it's hard because you're exhausted, for about 15 minutes, & I do not go back into one.

While in the dreams, I have gotten to the point that i can drag myself, & make a scratchy scream in them because i've had them so often & have tried many things. I have seen vulgar, scary, bad things in them. So, I sing amazing grace at the top of my lungs, even if it doesn't come out loud, I sing it like it does & do not pay attention to anything going on. Sometimes I feel like i'm coming out of it but I don't, so I keep going. That is my best solution & I seem to come out of them much quicker instead of dragging myself around, watching bad things, and trying to make sense of what is happening, because from my experience, you won't. I hope this helps someone :)

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Kevin: Thanks for your suggestion Lyndsay. I've definitely heard from people who experience SP often that they will have multiple episodes back to back like this, being released from one SP episode just to fall into another right before they fall asleep. Maybe staying up for a few minutes before attempting to go back to sleep helps your body kind of reset its REM sleep "buttons," so to say, so you start in NREM instead, like a normal sleep onset.

For more advice on sleep paralysis treatment, see this review of self-trained sleep paralysis controller Ryan Hurd's new book.

Warmly,
Kevin

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