You might’ve experienced this before but you never knew the name for it. When you’re sleeping at night, you wake up and find yourself conscious, BUT you cannot move your body, no matter how much you try and move.
Sounds like a horror flick with some ghosts in the dark corners of the room, we know. BUT in actual fact, this is called sleep paralysis.
It’s a phase where you’re in the middle of sleep and being awake. If you get into a sleep paralysis, chances are you’ll be able to move yourself after a few secs to a few mins.
The causes of sleep paralysis are a number of things, including an ever-changing sleep schedule, stress, sleeping on your back, not getting enough sleep and finally leg cramps at night.
Can you do anything to stop yourself from being a victim of sleep paralysis? Yes, you can!
Get Into a Sleep Routine
Start it off with a nice shower, and then get some calming lotion on. Make sure you have a comfy set of night clothes to wear at night, and if it helps, sip on a hot cup of tea – we hear chamomile works pretty well!
More Solid Sleep is Good Too!
If you’re not knocking in the proper 8 hours or more of sleep every night, you’re bound to get affected by sleep paralysis. Here’s a good thing for iPhone users – there’s this thing called Bedtime that’s part of your clock settings. Use that to ensure you sleep and get up after covering the right hours of sleep. For Android users, you’ve got SleepBot, Sleep Cycle alarm clock and Sleep Tracker, as well as a couple of other ones too!
Throw Away Your Nightly Bad Habits
That can of beer, cigarette stretch and caffeine has got to go out of the window – period. All these things have a negative effect on your sleep, and a positive one on sleep paralysis.
Go Gadget Free Before Bed
If you’re someone who’s always gaming or just scrolling on Instagram, it’s time to call it off as your bedtime approaches.
Yes, it sounds like a monumental thing to do, but the fact is you’re helping your body clock wind down by just doing this. You’re otherwise too stimulated by the digital action and it keeps your mind active, causing you to be restless and not letting you fall asleep sooner.
Exercise On a Regular Basis
No gym membership? No worries – just take a walk or do one of the gazillion HIIT workouts you find on YouTube or Instagram. It energizes you and helps your overall health in a very wholesome way – we can’t stress this enough!
Relax Your Mind
Close your eyes and meditate. Sometimes, your mind needs to be turned down too, and this way, you’re helping yourself unwind mentally. Your chances of sleep paralysis might just dwindle down too!
So, which of these ideas are you going to implement today?
