I have many fears, but I haven’t had most of them for my whole life. Obviously, fears like monsters are instilled when we’re very young, because everyone is afraid of them. But sometimes, we don’t know enough about the world to have certain fears. For example, a more complex fear that I gained a few years ago is sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis is when you wake up, typically in the middle of the night, unable to move for up to a few minutes. Often, people claim to see demons as well, which is what scares me the most. I think I read that it happens because during REM cycles (when you dream), the human brain releases chemicals that temporarily paralyze people in order to prevent sleepwalking. About one in three people experience it sometime in their life, and one in twenty people experience it regularly.
When I was younger, I wasn’t afraid of sleep paralysis because I didn’t know what it was. In 2017, however, that changed. A friend named Johnny and I were sleeping over at the house of another friend, named Austin, that night. At the time, we played video games very frequently (they still do, but I don’t as much), and Johnny was sitting at Austin’s L-shaped desk, leaning back on his gaming chair. I had pulled out my sleeping back, and getting ready to sleep on the carpeted floor, and Austin was laying in his bed. As we were going to sleep, he nonchalantly mentioned often being unable to move and seeing figures move around his room and fade into the wall next to his bathroom in the middle of the night. I was confused, then worried. He explained that he’d seen them a few times and gotten used to it or something, but he was scared at first. Johnny, also a little freaked out, knew what it was.
As I explained before, I’m afraid of monsters, serial killers, clowns, essentially anything that looks scary and is dangerous. I also happen to be slightly claustrophobic – not enough to be scared of elevators, but enough to be scared if I’m in a space so tight that I can hardly move. Sleep paralysis is a combination of the two, to some extent. I’d imagine that if I knew my mind was playing games and making me hallucinate to see scary things, I’d get up, turn a light on, and watch Youtube or play video games until I forget, which is what I usually do to forget my problems. However, not being able to move means that I have to suffer and watch whatever happens.
Eventually, I found a solution. Every day before I go to bed, I turn on a podcast, and let the episodes run throughout the night. That way, if I ever wake up, I hear the voice of content creators. I eventually realized that listening to podcasts makes me fall asleep quicker than normal as well – it used to take me an hour or two to fall asleep, but now it only takes me five minutes. However, it’s not for everybody. Many people focus on the content of the podcast, become invested, and have a hard time sleeping. Luckily for me, I’ve been addicted to consuming online content (Youtube videos, more recently Twitch streams) since I was in elementary school, so I’m able to tune it out as easily as I’m able to consume it. So far, I’m still lucky to be part of the ~67% of the population that doesn’t experience sleep paralysis, so I just enjoy the benefits of falling asleep faster from my preventative measure.
When I was younger, I wasn’t afraid of sleep paralysis because I didn’t know what it was. In 2017, however, that changed. A friend named Johnny and I were sleeping over at the house of another friend, named Austin, that night. At the time, we played video games very frequently (they still do, but I don’t as much), and Johnny was sitting at Austin’s L-shaped desk, leaning back on his gaming chair. I had pulled out my sleeping back, and getting ready to sleep on the carpeted floor, and Austin was laying in his bed. As we were going to sleep, he nonchalantly mentioned often being unable to move and seeing figures move around his room and fade into the wall next to his bathroom in the middle of the night. I was confused, then worried. He explained that he’d seen them a few times and gotten used to it or something, but he was scared at first. Johnny, also a little freaked out, knew what it was.
As I explained before, I’m afraid of monsters, serial killers, clowns, essentially anything that looks scary and is dangerous. I also happen to be slightly claustrophobic – not enough to be scared of elevators, but enough to be scared if I’m in a space so tight that I can hardly move. Sleep paralysis is a combination of the two, to some extent. I’d imagine that if I knew my mind was playing games and making me hallucinate to see scary things, I’d get up, turn a light on, and watch Youtube or play video games until I forget, which is what I usually do to forget my problems. However, not being able to move means that I have to suffer and watch whatever happens.
Eventually, I found a solution. Every day before I go to bed, I turn on a podcast, and let the episodes run throughout the night. That way, if I ever wake up, I hear the voice of content creators. I eventually realized that listening to podcasts makes me fall asleep quicker than normal as well – it used to take me an hour or two to fall asleep, but now it only takes me five minutes. However, it’s not for everybody. Many people focus on the content of the podcast, become invested, and have a hard time sleeping. Luckily for me, I’ve been addicted to consuming online content (Youtube videos, more recently Twitch streams) since I was in elementary school, so I’m able to tune it out as easily as I’m able to consume it. So far, I’m still lucky to be part of the ~67% of the population that doesn’t experience sleep paralysis, so I just enjoy the benefits of falling asleep faster from my preventative measure.
I've heard a lot of the stories and jokes people make about sleep paralysis or sleep paralysis demons, but I guess I've never really thought about how scared I'd actually be to experience it. 1 in 3 people is also a higher occurrence rate than I thought too which makes this worse to think about. On the bright side, only taking 5 minutes to sleep is pretty impressive. Good job on the post!
ReplyDeleteI've heard of sleep paralysis before, but never stopped to consider how terrified I'd be if I ever experienced it. I also never realized how common sleep paralysis is, making it all the scarier. I'm glad to hear that you haven't experienced any sleep paralysis, but also incredibly jealous that you can fall asleep that fast. Nice blog.
ReplyDeleteWow, I did not know this is what stemmed your habit of listening to podcasts as you fall asleep. I actually just had my first sleep paralysis experience a couple weeks ago, though luckily it was on the easier side. I hope this doesn't damage your hearing or do anything else like that though, I wonder if you ever see yourself leaving this habit in your life.
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