There are many sleep disorders that can be associated both with the presence of pathologies internal organs, and psychological problems. There is such a phenomenon as sleep paralysis, which experts do not consider a separate disease. Many peoples have many superstitions associated with this condition. We will try to understand the causes and manifestations of this phenomenon.
Scientific definition of sleep stupor
This disorder consists in the realization of the inability to make movements or make sounds. Since ancient times, there have been attempts to explain what sleep paralysis or old witch syndrome is, which gave rise to the emergence of beliefs and superstitions.
Pathology is manifested by a violation of the contraction of skeletal muscles. There is a state when it is impossible to move. It is observed most often after waking up from sleep or at the very beginning of falling asleep.
There is no such disease in the classification of diseases; domestic scientists and doctors do not use such a concept for making a diagnosis. The definition was introduced by foreign scientists.
Sleep stupor can occur several times a night, accompanied by a feeling of fear, hallucinations.
Pathology is not dangerous to human life. This is just a violation of the coordinated work between the brain and muscles.
The psychological component of the state
In old witch syndrome, the sensations are not dangerous, but from a psychological point of view, problems arise because:
- There is a fear of death.
- The person feels that he is going crazy and is afraid of paralysis.
- Fear of falling into a coma or falling into a lethargic sleep.
The horror of this state is that the hallucinations are very realistic, therefore they are frightening and cause a feeling of helplessness. Also characteristic sound illusions. For a person with an unstable psyche, such conditions are quite difficult.
scientific explanation
Previously, the occurrence of sleep paralysis was associated with mysticism, but now doctors and scientists are quite capable of explaining the phenomenon from a scientific point of view. When sleep passes into a fast phase, motor functions are turned off, except for those that provide vital activity. This is provided by the body to ensure a safe night's rest.
At the onset of light sleep or at the moment of waking up, the functions turn on, but sometimes a failure occurs, which leads to either turning off too early or turning on too late. Somnologists have noticed that this happens most often at the time of awakening. If this is observed immediately after the fast phase, then the person falls into a stupor. The brain continues to dream, the body has not acquired the ability to move. It is difficult to move arms and legs, which causes fear in a person.
With the development of sleep paralysis, one must remember that the condition is short-term and does not threaten death or insanity.
mystical interpretation
History brings to us many Russian traditions and beliefs. In ancient times, sleep paralysis was associated with brownies, kikimors, who sit on a person’s chest, trying to warn him about something.
Muslims are of the opinion that this is the activity of genies, and in the myths of Chuvashia, the character of the phenomenon is Vubar. Kalmyks are sure that this is a spirit that suffocates, does not allow to wake up.
The Japanese blame this condition on a demon standing on the chest of a sleeping person and paralyzing his will.
Paralytic sleep and the astral are linked in many myths. It was believed that falling into such a state allows a person to go out and travel around the other world. Any sensations that a person feels are the tricks of entities from the astral plane.
Statistics and research on sleep paralysis
According to statistics, about 7% of the population the globe at least once experienced such a state. The pathology is often observed in patients psychiatric clinics. About 31% of patients with mental disorders complained of the syndrome of the old witch.
If we compare the frequency of occurrence among the male and female population, then there is practically no difference. Scientists from a Canadian university studied the sensations that develop during such a state. The information obtained was divided into several groups:
- The appearance of fear and hallucinations.
- Difficulty breathing and pressure on the chest.
- Experience sensations in the form of soaring, flying or complete bliss.
One of the researchers suggested that the sensations experienced during the development of sleep paralysis are caused by the hypervigilance of the brain, which, even in sleep, must be able to discern a potential threat.
Varieties of pathology
Taking into account the time of development of pathology, two forms are distinguished:
- Hypnagogic paralysis. Develops at the time of falling asleep. The muscles relax, and if the consciousness has not yet managed to do this, then the person begins to feel the impossibility of making a single movement. As a result panic attack and fear.
- Hypnopompic paralysis strikes at the moment of awakening. Consciousness wakes up earlier than the parts of the brain responsible for movement. There is an awareness of what is happening around, but the limbs do not move. This state usually lasts no more than a couple of minutes, but it feels like an eternity has passed.
Causes of the development of paralysis
The causes of sleep paralysis are different and most often experts believe that this is a clear symptom:
- Neurological disorders such as narcolepsy.
- Sleepwalking.
- Manic-depressive psychosis.
But it is impossible to exclude the development of pathology against the background full health. It's just that in the nervous system there was a slight discord in synchronizing the inclusion of consciousness and muscles in work after sleep. The following factors can provoke such a violation:
- Prolonged disruption of sleep and wakefulness.
- Chronic insomnia.
- stressful situations.
- Depressive conditions, for example, in women in the postpartum period.
- Prolonged therapy with tranquilizers.
- Alcoholism, drug or nicotine addiction.
- Preference for sleeping on your back.
- Predisposition to such conditions, inherited.
- Violation of biorhythms.
The risk group includes:
- Impressive and suggestible.
- with neurotic disorders.
- Having pathologies of the nervous system, for example, cerebral palsy.
- People with a depleted nervous system.
- Introverts who prefer to keep experiences to themselves.
- Adolescence.
Based on the reasons, we can conclude that no one is immune from such a state.
Signs and symptoms of pathology
Symptoms and manifestations of sleep paralysis will depend on the form of pathology. For comparison and greater clarity, the information is summarized in the table:
| At the time of falling asleep | At the stage of waking up |
|---|---|
| 1. Sudden awakening, feeling of falling. 2. There is a fright. 3. A state of stupor. 4. The structure of the body is felt. 5. There is a feeling that you can move your hands, but the implementation of the action takes a lot of time. 6. There is noise in the ears, turning into ringing. | 1. Numbness of the limbs causes a sensation that can paralyze. 2. Heaviness on the chest. 3. Feeling the presence of the otherworldly. 4. There is a feeling of horror, which is difficult to get rid of. 5. Feeling of own impotence. 6. Waking dreams or visual hallucinations. 7. Auditory illusions in the form of the appearance of extraneous steps, conversations, squeaks. 8. It seems that the movements are happening, but in fact they are not. 9. A person tries to get out of this state, which sometimes allows you to jerk your hand or make a sound. This helps to finally throw off the sleepy shackles. |
In addition to the features that are inherent in different forms paralysis, general symptoms can be noted:
- Feeling short of breath and difficulty breathing.
- Increased heart rate.
- Increase in blood pressure.
All manifestations are short-lived and disappear within a few minutes, but it seems like an eternity. In the presence of neurological problems, sleep stupor can trigger a panic attack.
Consequences and danger of the condition
Doctors are sure that the syndrome is not dangerous for a person, but there is a possibility of harm to mental or physical health:
- With a strong fright, there is a risk of developing respiratory spasm and a heart attack.
- If a person does not have enough information about sleepy stupor he might think he's going crazy.
Symptoms are not life-threatening and after full awakening, all indicators return to normal. But it should be noted that with the frequent development of such conditions, the good rest Therefore, it is better to consult a doctor to find out the reasons.
Negative consequences most often suffer those who are too obsessed with their feelings in this state. They believe that this is a manifestation of otherworldly forces or serious diseases.
Unfortunately, there is no reliable data on how much deaths that occurred in a dream are caused precisely by sleep paralysis.
What to do with the development of pathology
It is difficult to fight in the first seconds of the development of a stupor with such a state, due to the incomplete awakening of consciousness. But the "evil witch" can be driven away and prevent the development of further symptoms, if you realize that there is nothing otherworldly in what is happening.
- Try to convince yourself at this moment that everything is in order and the condition is absolutely harmless and fleeting.
- We must try to relax, and not by all means resist our feelings.
- The best way to avoid worsening symptoms is to take as deep a breath as possible.
- Try to move the muscles that you control, for example, move your eyes, tongue.
- Activate your mental activity, read poetry, solve a problem in your mind.
- Ask your significant other to wake you up when signs of a sleepy stupor appear.
- To prevent such a nightmare from reappearing, immediately after the symptoms disappear, you should get up and wash yourself with cool water.
But what not to do at the time of the attack:
- Understand that this is just psychosomatics and not resist muscle weakness.
- Don't hold your breath.
- Do not breathe shallowly, so as not to achieve hyperventilation of the lungs, which will only exacerbate the sensations.
Research confirms that people with an analytical mindset experience such states much easier than those who believe in esotericism and otherworldly forces.
Differences between destructive sleep paralysis and other diseases
It is not every time the old witch syndrome among the manifestations has a stupor. At the first stages of development, pathology may be accompanied by signs similar to parasomnia. This is the destruction of sleep that occurs at the moment of awakening. It is usually accompanied by rapid movements of the eyeballs. There are several types of the disease:
- fears;
- sleepwalking;
- nightmares;
- confusion.
Symptoms of pathology may resemble something mystical, but this, unfortunately, is a reality.
Nightmares can also indicate the initial stage of the development of sleep paralysis. Unlike parasomnia, when a nightmare occurs against the backdrop of a colorful dream, terrible night dreams with sleep paralysis begin to dream just like that.
Unlike other diseases, the syndrome of the old witch after awakening is not accompanied by other manifestations, which only confirms the safety given state for a person.
Diagnostics
If this problem starts to bother quite often, then treatment may be needed, but first you need to visit a specialist. A neurologist or somnologist will get acquainted with the manifestations, ask the person in detail and decide on the appointment of an additional examination. But at the first stage, the patient must keep a diary for 1-2 months, in which all sensations in this state are noted.
Further diagnostic methods include:
- Conducting a survey and testing to study the characteristics of the body.
- Conducting polysomnography. During sleep in the laboratory, with the help of sensors, all indicators of the body are recorded.
- If signs of narcolepsy are present, then sleep latency is studied.
- Psychological and neurological studies are being carried out.
After a complete examination, the specialist makes a decision and selects therapy, if necessary.
Principles of treatment of sleep stupor
If there are disturbances in the phases of sleep, then this is not a sign of a serious pathology, but can lead to the development of symptoms of sleep paralysis. That is why doctors recommend undergoing treatment in order to prevent the development of complications. Therapy includes the following areas:
- normalization of sleep;
- promotion physical activity to eliminate muscle weakness;
- eradication of bad habits;
- creation of comfortable conditions for sleep;
- normalization of nutrition;
- taking vitamin preparations;
- therapy of chronic pathologies.
Medical treatment
In the presence of sleep stupor, special medications because such a condition is not considered a pathology. But if folk methods do not bring results, then the specialist can prescribe drug treatment to improve sleep and sleep.
Such means include:
- "Melatonin". Take a couple of hours before bed. The drug does not cause serious side effects.
- Vita Melatonin. Increases resistance to stress, stimulates brain activity. The medicine is convenient to take, but a long course is not recommended.
- Neurostabil. Dietary supplement with firming, soothing properties. The body becomes more resistant to stress. The composition of the product eliminates the development of side effects.
As a result of frequent sleep blocks, it disrupts normal sleep, which leads to deterioration general condition organism. Taking vitamin supplements will help support the immune system.
The course of vitamins
In such a situation, the body most needs the following vitamins:
- Vitamin A - supports the health of our nerve cells and ensures a good sleep.
- Vitamins of group B. Protect the brain from overstrain, increase stress resistance, accelerate the process of falling asleep.
- Vitamin C - stimulates the synthesis of anti-stress hormones.
- Vitamin D. Indispensable for normal rest, helps to cope with fatigue. The body can get it through exposure sun rays, but in winter it is advisable to take synthetic drugs.
- Vitamin E. Takes part in the normalization of the brain.
- Of the macronutrients, potassium and magnesium are considered the most important. Their deficiency leads to the development of anxiety, sleep disturbance.
With frequent sleep paralysis, physiotherapy will also help.
Physiotherapy treatment
Physiotherapy procedures help tone the body and stabilize nervous system. The doctor may prescribe the following measures:
- Full body massage.
- Electrophoresis with sedatives.
- Electrosleep therapy.
- Stimulation biologically active points with the help of acupuncture.
- Therapeutic baths with iodine, medicinal herbs.
- Aerotherapy.
- Impact of low-frequency current on nerve endings.
- Electrosleep.
An integrated approach to fixing the problem will definitely give a positive result.
Preventive actions
Sleep paralysis does not mean the presence of a serious pathology, but lead to the development of mental disorders, especially in suspicious people and with increased anxiety.
TO preventive measures can be attributed:
- It is better to sleep on your side.
- Treat existing diseases in a timely manner.
- Take for sleep problems sedatives vegetable based.
- Avoid stressful situations whenever possible.
- Don't eat before bed.
- Provide comfortable sleeping conditions.
No one is immune from the development of sleep paralysis, you should not be afraid of such a condition, but with frequent seizures it is better to consult a doctor to rule out serious pathologies.
Sleep paralysis (sleep stupor) is quite common. It is not included in the international classification of diseases for a number of reasons, however, there is a considerable amount of information in the scientific publications of foreign authors.
References to sleep paralysis can also be found in the writings of historians from around the world. There is a historical name for the phenomenon - "witch syndrome", which is explained by the outdated view of it as the arbitrariness of supernatural forces.
Data
As the name suggests, sleep paralysis is inextricably linked to the sleep process. This condition occurs at the beginning of falling asleep, or after waking up in the morning, but in any case - in fast phase sleep. IN in general terms, sleep stupor is characterized by complete immobilization when consciousness is restored after awakening.
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In other words, being in a clear consciousness, a person is not able to perform any actions. This unusual phenomenon lasts only a couple of tens of seconds and is not life-threatening at all, but even such a time interval is enough to experience unpleasant, frightening and obsessive emotions.
So, people who have experienced a state of sleep stupor describe panic, fear of approaching death, various kinds hallucinations, difficulty breathing and other unpleasant sensations. According to statistics, this phenomenon has occurred at least once in a lifetime in almost 40% of healthy people, usually young people. Characteristic is the lack of need for special treatment.
A few other facts about sleep paralysis:
- an episode of sleep paralysis can be controlled and even prevented;
- the duration of the attack - from a few seconds to one or two minutes;
- You can completely stop the attack with a strong stimulus, for example, a loud sound or a flash of light;
- pathognomonic (cardinal) symptom - inability to speak and move;
- more often develops in adolescents and young people;
- quite widespread in the world, estimates range from 5 to 60%;
- safe for the body, but requires the exclusion of more serious health problems;
- There is wide variability in the frequency and intensity of paralysis in different individuals.
Causes
To date, sleep paralysis syndrome has been studied in detail by somnologists. It has been established that its occurrence is due to an imbalance between the regulatory influence of the brain and skeletal muscle tone. So, deep sleep is accompanied by maximum relaxation of the muscles, while the phase of superficial sleep is characterized by an increase in muscle tone and even the occurrence of some involuntary muscle contractions.
The alternating change of two phases normally occurs gradually, without sharp fluctuations in muscle tone and brain activity. However, in some cases, a person may suddenly wake up a little earlier than his muscles receive the corresponding signal from the brain.
The reason for this is an imbalance in the interaction of neurotransmitters such as melatonin, choline, serotonin. It also causes hallucinatory manifestations and disorientation in the environment.
After a couple of minutes, the muscles will respond to the late command and the person will be able to move. But it is in these couple of minutes, being conscious, that he is actually completely paralyzed and unable even to speak.
In addition to the immediate causes of sleep paralysis, there are predisposing factors. These include:
- hormonal disorders - the system of neurotransmitters is prone to misregulation due to an imbalance in other hormonal systems;
- previous use of psychoactive drugs and drugs, alcohol dependence;
- violation of sleep and rest (quick change of time zones, irregular working hours);
- chronic sleep deprivation;
- frequent stressful situations;
- related mental disorders;
- genetic predisposition;
- young age;
- previous nervous shock - loss of loved ones, accident, fire.
In addition, the dependence of the onset of symptoms on the sleeping posture was noticed: more often, sleep paralysis occurs when falling asleep on the back, and extremely rarely on the right side.
Symptoms
Manifestations of sleepy stupor follow from its pathogenesis. In the vast majority of cases, a person, waking up, suddenly finds himself absolutely helpless. He is not able to move his limbs, call for help, while being in a clear mind and having clear thoughts.
This combination of symptoms provokes fear of impending death, a feeling of pressure on the chest, difficulty breathing and panic that is difficult to control. Neurotransmitter imbalance leads to the appearance of various types of hallucinations, more often visual and auditory (one of the names of the syndrome is hypnagogic sleep paralysis).
So, a person feels the presence or touch of an outsider in the room, hears other people's voices. Perhaps a false perception of opening doors, moving furniture and one's own body.
In addition, against the background panic attack sweating increases significantly, the rhythm of breathing is disturbed, headache and myalgia. Remarkable is the fact that the attack occurs only during natural awakening and cannot be provoked by external awakening stimuli. After recovery normal state a person who clearly captures all his experiences is not sure of their reality.
Diagnostics
Since sleep paralysis is not a nosological unit and is not included in International Classification diseases, a diagnostic algorithm has not been developed for it.
As a rule, they begin to think about sleep stupor on the basis of the subjective experiences of the patient, which are distinguished by a certain stereotype. Reasonable suspicion this condition is supported by the identification of risk factors, clarification of the genetic history and the exclusion of more serious mental disorders. It can help to study the structure of sleep on special equipment.
It will not be superfluous to fix the symptoms and the conditions for their occurrence in a special diary if such signs appear regularly. If the relationship of symptoms with signs of other neuropsychiatric disorders, diagnostics is carried out in the appropriate direction.
| Night terrors |
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| Sleepwalking |
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| With nightmares |
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| Sleep conversations |
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| Confused mind |
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Treatment
It is useful for a person who regularly encounters witch syndrome to know the procedure for stopping this unpleasant and frightening condition. In most cases, you can take the necessary steps on your own, but sometimes the help of a loved one, such as a spouse or parents, can help.
First of all, when an attack of sleep paralysis occurs, in no case should you panic. If you experience a feeling of suffocation, it is important to remember that breathing is not actually disturbed. A few deep breaths help a lot.
You can also try to scream. Physically, the cry cannot be carried out due to general relaxation, however, the increased brain activity at this moment will give a signal to the muscles and bring the body out of the stupor. The field of relief of an attack is useful to wash cold water and cheer up a little.
Rational therapy under the supervision of a specialist consists in taking antidepressants and drugs of other classes.
Prevention
Prevention occupies a leading place in measures to eliminate the manifestations of the witch syndrome. First of all, it is necessary to significantly reduce or completely eliminate the influence of provoking factors.
Getting rid of various kinds of addictions (primarily alcohol and drugs), avoiding stress, normalizing the daily routine, bringing sleep within the limits of physiological need - all these steps reliably prevent the violations in question.
Taking into account the dependence on the predominant posture during sleep, in some cases, seizures are reliably prevented by a simple change in body position when falling asleep.
- improving sleep conditions, within which you can change bed linen and pajamas, improve ventilation and indoor climate, optimize lighting;
- regular physical exercise should not end later than a couple of hours before bedtime;
- before going to bed, it makes sense to relax with a calm activity - it can be a good book or soothing music;
- television, working with a computer and a hearty dinner before bedtime are strictly prohibited not only in this context, but also in relation to all other neuropsychiatric disorders;
- daytime sleep, if necessary, should end before 15 hours and should not exceed 90 minutes;
- naps should be avoided during the rest of the hours, especially in the morning;
- It is very important not to be alone with the problem. Having told close person about what is happening and enlisting his support, you can eliminate one of the risk factors - anxiety and stress.
How to induce sleep paralysis
Sleep paralysis is not an unpleasant ordeal for everyone. There are a number of people who consciously tend to fall into a sleep stupor. It turns out that you can provoke an episode of paralysis yourself.
You just need to follow the following instructions:
| Use a posture conducive to the onset of paralysis | On the back with the head thrown back, more often in the absence of a pillow. |
| Try to accurately reproduce the sensations that occur when you quickly fall upside down | Gravity effect, wind, whistling and tinnitus, the feeling of approaching the earth and an imminent impact. |
| Experience fear | The technique implies maximum relaxation and drowsiness, after reaching which it is necessary to remember or feel something terrible. |
| Intense exercise before bed | Push-ups or quick squats cause an increased heart rate and relative oxygen starvation to achieve the desired effect. |
| In some cases, sleep stupor syndrome can be caused by excess sleep. |
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Is it dangerous?
As already mentioned, sleep stupor does not pose any threat to life. All the symptoms that bother such people have a scientific basis.No less scientifically developed and recommendations for stopping the attack. Moreover, if sleep paralysis bothers you often enough, the person is subconsciously ready for the next episode, accepts it quite calmly and finds a way out of the situation without any problems.
Thus, sleep paralysis syndrome is benign, not life threatening state. With the exclusion of risk factors, high-quality diagnostics and adequate therapy, in most cases it is possible to completely get rid of unpleasant symptoms.
Did you feel numb in the first minutes after waking up? When it is impossible to move either hand or foot, and the whole body seems to be paralyzed by an invisible force?
Have you experienced fear at night, feeling the invisible presence of a stranger, but realizing that you cannot call for help? Don't worry. This is just sleep paralysis, or as it is also called - sleep stupor.
According to statistics, sleep stupor is experienced at least once in a lifetime by 25-40% of people.
Sleep paralysis is relatively common - almost 10% of the population has experienced this syndrome at least once at night. The vast majority are young people between 10 and 30 years old. It is in this age interval that the risk of experiencing sleep paralysis is highest. You are probably already thinking: “But how can this be treated?”.
The reasons for its occurrence are not completely clear, however, it is known that the condition is not dangerous, and therefore no treatment is required. Sleep paralysis was described in detail in ancient times, when its appearance was attributed to the activities of mystical creatures. In shamanic tribes, instead of fighting this state, the sages of the tribe used it to achieve transpersonal states and tried to induce it themselves.
Development mechanism
Let's understand what sleep paralysis is. Sleep stupor is a special condition in which the body becomes paralyzed in the first minutes after sleep. Scientists see the reasons for its occurrence in the features of the brain, in particular, this is due to its ability to “turn off” our muscles in sleep. Let's see why this is needed.
REM sleep is the "dreaming" phase. It is at this stage that we dream of beautiful visualizations and films that our imagination generates for us. So that, reaching for a non-existent cake in a dream, our hand does not make an involuntary movement in reality, the brain temporarily “turns off” the work of the striated muscles, thereby causing natural paralysis.
When the balance of melatonin, serotonin and choline is disrupted, the brain can wake up while the body is still asleep; while the muscles are relaxed - you understand what is happening around, but you cannot move.
The body loses the ability to move, but thus the person remains calm during sleep.
If the brain does not have time to signal the muscles to wake up in time, while the mind is already awake, sleep paralysis occurs. In people suffering from sleepwalking, the opposite situation is observed - their body is awake, but the mind is still sleeping, which is why they sleepwalk.
Therefore, somnambulists ("sleep walkers") never experience sleep paralysis, unless it is side effect, which can be caused by some sleeping pills.
Forms - what is it like?
Sleep paralysis is of two types. Symptoms of the first begin to manifest themselves before entering sleep, and the second - already upon awakening. Any attack of paralysis lasts no more than two minutes.
- Before falling asleep. When there are no sleep disturbances, our brain usually turns off a few minutes before the onset of muscle atony. Therefore, we never remember how the process of falling asleep occurs. In sleep stupor, the brain is still conscious, and numbness of the muscles has already occurred, which causes hallucinatory states with images similar to those that we see in a dream.
- After waking up. After sleep, muscle activity returns, but sometimes this does not happen. That's when sleep paralysis starts. It seems as if something is tangibly pressing on the chest, making it difficult to breathe, and the body cannot move, no matter how hard we try to regain control over it.
Causes
It is impossible to name the exact reasons why this syndrome appears. Paralysis occurs spontaneously, unexpectedly at night in a variety of categories of people. The only thing that has been established is the possible presence of an unexpressed genetic predisposition to a paralytic state.
However, scientists still name the following factors as provoking the onset of sleep paralysis:
- lack of sleep, wrong mode of day and night;
- strong emotional upheavals, stress, nervous tension;
The out-of-body experiences that sometimes accompany the phenomenon of sleep paralysis may be accompanied by fear or the illusion of being "abducted", but may also cause joyful experiences.
- neuroses, psychoses, personality disorders;
- narcotic and other chemical addictions;
- treatment by taking nootropic drugs;
- narcolepsy, other sleep disorders.
It is noted that the condition most often occurs when sleeping on the back, but never on the side. Rarely, paralysis can cause you to sleep face-first into a pillow. Sometimes the appearance of the syndrome is provoked by swollen limbs, so always make sure you are comfortable for the night.
That is why the treatment of paralysis after sleep most often has a restorative character, and does not affect the brain directly. You don't need any pills, just clean up your Everyday life.
Main signs, symptoms
Sleep paralysis causes many people to be afraid to fall asleep. Muscle atony is usually accompanied by hallucinations, a feeling of someone else's presence in the room, which, as a rule, inspires fear in uninitiated people. Alice's syndrome is observed, when the objects of the room begin to change their size, moving away and approaching in relation to the observer, someone sees “white flies” before their eyes, others perceive what is happening as if in a dream.
The symptoms of sleep paralysis are extremely diverse: the body seems either light, or heavy, or floating weightlessly, or pressed down by something to the ground - it all depends on individual characteristics person.
You can also note the following symptoms:
- Feelings of unconscious, uncontrollable fear.
- The body seems to be someone else's, not one's own.
- Consciousness seems to leave the body, goes beyond its limits.
- Disorientation in space.
- "Foreign Presence"
- Fear of being abducted by aliens, ghosts, entities.
- Feeling as if someone is talking, whispering, or groaning in the ear.
- Sensation that the body is suspended in space.
- An implicit squeak or "white noise" is heard.
- With peripheral vision, you can catch the movement of shadows, some people.
- The body seems incomplete, some of its parts seem to be missing (or it is entirely).
- Irrational emotions, like in a nightmare.
- Nothing can be done with the state, efforts do not relieve the syndrome.
This disease is chronic, so characteristic patients simply adapt to life in their new state, and endure attacks with firmness and indifference.
All sensations during the paralytic syndrome are very specific, they seem strange, new, incomprehensible, and for those who encounter this for the first time - scary, frightening. The realization that nothing can be done about their condition is extremely frightening for people, they think about a possible coma, lethargy or even death.
Physiological symptoms are mainly associated with the work of the vestibular apparatus, which does not receive signals from the body, as well as with general muscle relaxation. The brain tries to establish the cause of the paralysis that is happening to it, thereby giving rise to hallucinations, illusions of perception, fear.
Treatment and prevention
If you are thinking about how to get rid of sleep paralysis, then you can be happy: although it is impossible to fully treat it, there are a number of measures aimed at reducing the risk of an unpleasant condition. For example, by an effort of will to actually stop the occurrence of paralysis, however, this requires an extreme degree of awareness of the present moment. This may seem difficult to some, because paralysis causes fear, confuses thoughts - it can be difficult to gather strength.
The second frontier in the fight against seizures is healthy lifestyle life. Since this paralytic syndrome is not dangerous, it is necessary to treat the nerves, life, and habits, but not the body. Sleep paralysis is almost never observed in people sleeping a 6-hour norm. The same goes for the use narcotic substances, alcohol, and stress levels. Strong emotional upheavals greatly increase the risk that all the muscles in your body will go numb again at night.
Excessive load on muscle mass can also cause paralysis after sleep, so try not to overload yourself, get more rest. It is important to follow a diet - the activity of our brain directly depends on the minerals and antioxidants that enter the body.
Do not try to treat sleep paralysis with medication - you will earn serious violations brain work or mental disorders! If you are concerned about your condition, it is better to consult a doctor, he will select the treatment that suits your individual characteristics.
Have you ever woken up and found yourself unable to move your arm or leg, raise your head, or move your fingers or toes? You see and understand everything, but you cannot move or speak.
It is called "sleep paralysis", and it happens when some part of the brain is awake, but the parts that control your body are still asleep, so when you try to move, you can't do it for another few seconds or even minutes. Very often, this condition causes great fear.
Sleep paralysis can happen to anyone
Nitun Verma(a sleep physician and spokesman for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine at Crossover Health) said that his healthy patient developed insomnia that prevented her from sleeping for weeks on end. Her wake-up time was constantly changing, but every night she could not get more than five hours of sleep. During the day she felt tired, and only a cup of coffee (and sometimes three) brought her to her senses.
Once, the girl complained that when she woke up, she could not move and breathe. She saw and understood everything, but when she tried to move her head or hands, nothing happened. The patient felt impending doom and panic. Terrified, she tried to scream, but she couldn't make a sound. Suddenly, her boyfriend, who was lying next to her, moved, and the ability to move was sharply restored.
The doctor immediately realized that the girl had experienced an episode of sleep paralysis. This was good news because sleep paralysis is a safe (though scary) condition.
This happens quite often. Systematic review published in a journal Sleep Medicine Reviews in 2012 showed that 7.6% of the world's population has experienced sleep paralysis at least once. According to a review by Brian A. Sharpless, PhD, clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychopathology at the American School of Occupational Psychology, Women and Persons with anxiety disorders more at risk than other populations.
Sleep paralysis happens when certain areas of your brain wake up earlier than others.
There are two parts of the brain associated with sleep paralysis: parietal lobe and temporal. Sometimes these two parts wake up a little apart from each other, so the body continues to sleep and does not listen to you.
You can think of the brain as hundreds of light bulbs, each connected to a sleep switch. Ideally, when the brain wakes up, all switches should work at once, then the whole brain will wake up as a whole. Sometimes, however, some switches fire early and the rest of the brain tries to catch up. When consciousness wakes up before your limbs, sleep paralysis occurs.
Sleep paralysis usually occurs during awakening. This type of sleep paralysis is the most common, according to a 2012 review published in the journal Physiological Reviews. Another type occurs when you fall asleep, and the parts of the brain responsible for moving the body fall asleep before the parts responsible for consciousness.
Sleep paralysis happens to both healthy people and people suffering from various violations sleep (narcolepsy, idiopathic hypersomnia). If sleep paralysis occurs in healthy people, and is not dependent on other conditions, it is called "isolated".
Sleep paralysis is often accompanied by hallucinations
A report in the journal Consciousness and Cognition reports three common types of hallucinations among sleep paralysis sufferers:
- "Intruder" or the feeling that someone or something is in the room with you
- "Incubus", or feeling that something is sitting on the chest
- "Unusual bodily experiences", or the sensation of flying or swimming
There are cases when people, once faced with hallucinations, tried to avoid sleep as long as possible. They tried to go to bed later to minimize sleep time. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, this leads to insomnia, which itself can increase the incidence of sleep paralysis.
Sleep quality should be a priority
Several factors can worsen the condition, such as irregular sleep and alcohol consumption. To minimize the chance of sleep paralysis, get 7-9 hours of sleep every day, and try to wake up and go to bed at the same time each day.
IN severe cases your doctor may recommend antidepressants, which affect the release and reuptake of neurotransmitters that form signals between neurons in the brain. According to Dr. Sharpless, antidepressants are officially not considered a treatment for sleep paralysis, but in some cases they can reduce the frequency of attacks.
You can't just tell yourself to wake up
That's where the fear comes from. Baland Jalal, a researcher at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, recently proposed meditation approach to get out of sleep paralysis. His four-step approach includes the following:
- Tell yourself that sleep paralysis is a common, benign, and temporary condition.
- Remind yourself that there is no reason to be afraid
- Focus on something other than the paralysis, such as positive thoughts or a mantra
- Try to relax your body and not move until the episode is over.
Despite the fear, these episodes are harmless and are usually a sign of something bad. If you have tried the strategies above and are still experiencing sleep paralysis, then it's time to visit your doctor. It will analyze your sleep habits and see if there is anything else it can do to help you.
Imagine: you wake up and you can't even move a finger. The room is dark, but you feel an ominous presence - someone standing next to the bed, or maybe sitting right on your chest, preventing you from breathing. You want to turn your head at least a little to see it, but nothing happens, someone (something?) is holding you back, while eye movement is preserved, you try to move your limbs, but in vain - you can neither move nor to speak (because it is impossible to open your mouth), you seem to be frozen, there is a feeling that you are suffocating due to the fact that someone is standing on your chest. Horror and panic seize you ... The picture may seem incredible, but many people have had a similar experience. If you have experienced something similar, then you are familiar with the unforgettable horrors of sleep paralysis, or the “old witch syndrome”. What is sleep paralysis?
sleep paralysis is the inability to move. In the vast majority of cases, it occurs either at the time of falling asleep, or immediately after waking up, which is why it is called "sleepy".
Symptoms.
Sleep paralysis is characterized by the complete awareness of a person and at the same time the absolute impossibility of moving. This condition is usually accompanied strong feeling horror and panic, as well as fear of death, suffocation, stiffness of all movements, a feeling of something extraneous, heavy on the body (often on the throat and chest, sometimes on the legs).
Often, sleep paralysis can be accompanied by visual, auditory, and even tactile (i.e., physically felt) hallucinations. A person can hear footsteps, see dark figures hanging over him or standing next to him, feel touches. Often there is a feeling that someone has climbed onto the chest and is strangling the sleeping person.
It has been observed that sleep paralysis can occur only upon natural awakening, and never upon awakening from an alarm clock or other stimuli. It is believed that between 40% and 60% of people have experienced sleep paralysis at least once in their lives. The most risky period of life is from 10 to 25 years. It is at this age that the majority of cases have been reported.
Causes of sleep paralysis
"Sleep paralysis" has been known for a long time, and its symptoms were already described centuries ago. Previously, this phenomenon was associated with brownies, demons, witches, etc. 
So, in the Russian folk tradition, this phenomenon is associated with a brownie, who, according to popular beliefs, jumps on a person’s chest in order to warn either about good or bad.
In Islam, ifrit is one of the evil genies, considered a servant of Satan, who can seriously harm people.
In Chuvash mythology, this is evil spirit Vubar, which appears at night and, taking the form of domestic animals, a fiery serpent or a person, leans on sleeping people, causing suffocation and nightmares. According to myths, by attacking sleeping people, wobars thereby improve their health. A sleeping person can not move and say anything.
In Basque mythology, there is also a separate character for this phenomenon - Inguma, appearing at night in houses during sleep and squeezing the throat of one of the sleepers, making it difficult to breathe and thereby causing horror.
In Japanese mythology, it is believed that giant demon Kanashibari puts his foot on the chest of a sleeping person.
In our time, they often try to explain this phenomenon by the visits of aliens from other worlds, who paralyze the will of a person with the aim of kidnapping.
Explanation of modern scientists
Modern scientists believe that sleep paralysis is an unremarkable biological event that nature intended.
The most common explanation by psychoanalysts is muscle paralysis, which is a natural state for our body during the REM phase, when our subconscious deliberately paralyzes the muscles of the body so that you, while watching an active dream, do not perform any actions in reality and do not harm yourself. Sleep paralysis occurs when the mind is already awake, but the body is not yet.
By the way, in one psychoanalytic journal they gave the following explanation:
“Sleep paralysis is caused by the fact that a person has already woken up, and a certain hormone (which is released during sleep and is responsible for paralyzing the muscles) has not yet had time to leave the body.”
However, there is a discrepancy with this version - if it's all about the hormone, why does sleep paralysis never happen with forced awakening? The hormone gets scared and instantly self-destructs?
Esoteric explanations
Another point of view is related to extrasensory practices of out-of-body experience and astral travel. 
It is believed that sleep paralysis is an indicator that a person's consciousness is on the border between the real and astral worlds. Some even manage to use sleep paralysis to "out of the body." They explain this phenomenon by the fact that human consciousness is located not in the physical, but in the astral body, but due to weak energy, or misunderstanding of the principles of movement in the astral world, a person cannot move. This point of view can partially explain the "hallucinations" in sleep paralysis. According to astral travelers, astral world filled with various entities.
What to do?
However, whatever real reasons sleep paralysis, if you have such attacks, and you do not care about medical or esoteric research - pray. This method works, especially if the person's faith is strong.
People about their encounter with the "sleep paralysis demon"
1. "Something whispered in my ear."
Before, I had never encountered such a phenomenon, and the first time it happened, I was lying on my left side and suddenly felt strong pressure in area chest. When I realized that I couldn't move, I panicked. At that moment, something whispered in my ear: "Just came to wish you Good night» . Then I felt something pull me to the edge of the bed. Shit, this is really scary.
2. Cats, penguins and a shadow man, oh my god!
I have experienced sleep paralysis three times in my life.
At dusk, I saw a dark creature, like a cat, which first sat at my feet, and then slowly began to crawl along the sheet until it was on my chest. I was overcome with fear.
The second time I saw the shadow of a man walk across the room, slip through the open door and disappear. This is the scariest thing I have ever experienced in my life.
And the last time was the best. I saw a couple of bizarre penguins walking around my bedroom. A funny and funny show.
3. I felt my whole body turn to stone, then the bed was creased, as if someone had sat at my feet.
A few years ago, my relative died, I still had very bad communication with her before her death, and on the night when she was 40 days old (I was alone in the country house and lived in an annex), I was afraid to sleep, so I read a book until 3 am, and then I lay down with the light, turning my face to the wall. I felt how my whole body turned to stone, then the bed shook, as if someone had sat down at my feet, and then the heaviness began to spread over my body, as if someone was lying down along me, and tried to look into my face. I tried to close my eyes, but I couldn’t, I couldn’t scream, I tried to cross my fingers…. My heart was pounding like crazy ... Then suddenly the heaviness subsided, the bed took its former position, again steps by the bed, silence. I jumped up and ran out in what I was, ran to a neighboring house, woke everyone up there and sat until the morning ... Then I immediately left for Moscow, because I could not stand another such night ... Then I thought it over, read about similar cases, presumably it was sleep paralysis, and the brain just recreated it all ... Although, who knows ... Now a lot of time has passed, but goosebumps still run from these memories ...
4. "During sleep paralysis, I see demons and a guardian angel."
When I fall into a state of sleep paralysis, demons and a guardian angel come to me. The former are usually ghostly figures standing above me or at my bedroom door. Once I was lying on my side with my back to the door, when I suddenly felt that someone lay down on the bed next to me, crawled under the covers and put his hand on my waist. Then I felt strong hugs and hot breath on my neck. This went on for about half an hour. All this time, I tried not to show my fear, which is very difficult, especially if it seems that a skeleton with claws is hugging you from behind. The last time something like this happened again, I thought I'd get heart attack. Someone came very close to me, kissed me behind the ear and whispered: “No, it's not time yet. I'll be back when you're ready". It didn't sound very comforting, as if I was going to die soon. I was very scared.
Sleep paralysis recurred with me from time to time for 18 months, so I could easily determine the moment of its onset. At that time, at first I thought that there was an ordinary demon standing near my bed that had come to me before, but I was wrong. I looked and distinctly saw a man kneeling next to my bed. There was a smile on his face, but not one that made you shudder. He was wearing a 50s-style suit and a hat. He didn't say a single word. I got the feeling that he came to tell me that everything is fine and that he is protecting me.
5. It was the best moment of her life
My mother once told me that when she was little, either in a dream or in reality, two men in white and gold suits appeared to her, who sat on the bed at her feet and played musical instruments. Mom was so easy and fun that she did not want them to leave. But when she moved her head, she heard one man say to another: “She is waking up. It is time". And they disappeared.
6. Lots of terrible things.
Before I knew how to deal with it, I experienced quite a few really terrible things. Horror films are now nothing to me compared to what I had to face. Here are a few things I can never forget:
In the corner of my room stood a little girl, staring at me. Then she suddenly screamed piercingly, ran up to me and began to choke me.
A large dark figure resembling a human silhouette stood silently beside my bed, looking down at me.
Something rumbled and screeched right outside my bedroom door. I always lock it up at night after it opens on its own. Note: No, when I wake up, the door is closed. It only opens in dreams.
The door of my bedroom was flung open, and dark figures entered the room.
The last time I saw my mother come into the room, sit on my bed and immediately turn into a demon.
And many others.
The worst thing is that when you try to fight it or call someone for help, you lose your voice, and your body stops listening. You just feel helpless. Ugh, I don't even want to remember. It becomes scary.
7. Hundreds of times.
I have experienced sleep paralysis literally hundreds of times. Usually, an alien-like creature of black color and a height of about 1 meter would come to me. I also saw a skeleton with a scythe in a black hoodie. I don't get auditory hallucinations, I just feel paralyzed, and to get rid of such visions, I just close my eyes tightly - and everything disappears.
8. “Even if I don’t see anyone, I feel that there is someone in the room.”
This happens to me so often that I'm not even scared anymore. It's creepy, sure, but not like it used to be. The first few hallucinations were terrible:
The little creature was eating something greedily while sitting on the floor of my room. I blinked. Now it was right next to my face and, continuing to chew, whispered: "Do you remember me?".
An elderly woman stood over my head and whispered softly: "Cute…". I told my mom about it and she asked: "Did you think it was your late grandmother?" No. It was evil.
Hallucinations are always evil. Even if I don't see anyone, I feel that there is someone in the room. This is evil, nothing else. I can not move. Evil attacks me. I can't call for help. I can only breathe heavily and loudly in the hope that someone will hear me and save me. I'm trying to move my fingers. Come on!..
9. "...and this is the face that aged before my eyes."
It was the first and only time I saw a dream turn into reality. I had a good dream and suddenly ... I realized in a dream that I was dreaming. I opened my eyes and saw a woman's face above me, which suddenly turned from young and attractive into old, wrinkled and blackened, like everything around. I couldn't move and felt pressure on my chest, and this is a face that was aging before my eyes.
10. They laughed at me.
The last time a demon appeared to me, he stood in the corner of the room (behind me, where I could not see him) and spoke some kind of nonsense.
Sometimes demons came to me, like on Jacob's ladder, and sometimes people I know, but they were possessed and often laughed at me.
11. Someone saved me.
One night, when I was trying to sleep, my arm fell through the bed. But, in fact, she was lying on the bed. When this usually happens, I just put it away, but this time curiosity got the better of me. How long will it last? And I began to swing my arm until my shoulder slipped after her. It was new and exciting.
Big mistake. My foot slipped, and behind it, the whole body. I started to fall. At the very last moment before that, I realized that what I was so longing for was not a thing at all, but a fear that I had never experienced before. I tried to go back, but I couldn't. My body didn't listen to me.
At the last second, something grabbed my shoulder and pulled me out. I don't know what it was. But definitely something strong and solid.
12. Steps.
I heard the back door open. At this time, I was lying on the couch and could not even move. I just heard someone's steps in the kitchen, then in the dining room, they slowly approached the living room where I was. I couldn't move, I couldn't scream. I managed to come to my senses at the very last moment before I suffocated (apnea).
I know that someday I will die from this. Not at the hands of a real criminal, but suffocated during another nightmare. Apnea syndrome drives me crazy.
13. Little black kid…
This happens to me when I get too tired and lie down to take a nap. It all depends on what I dream about - I “wake up”, unable to even move and with a feeling of heaviness in my body. I feel almost good and at the same time creepy, because I can not control what is happening. Whatever I dream about, it always happens in my room. One day I dreamed of a small black child (it gave me the creeps). Most often they appear to me in a dream different people or "demons" as you call them. I scream and fall asleep again, then it repeats again after a couple of seconds, and so on several times. In the end, I finally wake up, panic-stricken.
14. Beetles.
I woke up and saw a giant Egyptian scarab in front of me, which looked at me and said: "Can't wait to taste your rotten flesh." Then, after long speeches describing the details of my eating, he turned into hundreds or even thousands of small scarabs, which with a terrible noise disappeared into the crevices of the walls.
15. Devil-like creature
The most terrible thing that appeared to me was a devil-like creature with red skin, in black clothes and with huge teeth. He sat on my chest and choked me. Fear took over. I couldn't move or scream. In the morning my husband said that at night someone also tried to strangle him.
The analytical portal Pravoslavny Vzglyad asked Orthodox experts to describe the phenomenon called “sleep paralysis”:
MIKHAIL KHASMINSKY, Orthodox psychologist
This problem is faced by many people and quite often. This disease is described in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD), but modern science still cannot unambiguously, clearly and distinctly explain the processes that occur with people in this state of consciousness, it gives a descriptive, hypothetical nature of these states, therefore there is still no explanation for the causes of this disease.
Sleep paralysis is direct contact with other world, because a person in this state passes into another reality, where real events happen to him, as it were, that frighten him. And during this nightmare, a person cannot move, but being in a different reality, he is helpless. Probably, this state is similar to the state of hell, when a person is tormented by fear and horror, but he cannot do anything.
In my practice, there were quite interesting cases related to sleep paralysis. One can try to explain this phenomenon by the alpha state of the brain, when there is an interaction between sleep and reality and penetration between realities can be carried out. This state of transition into another reality is very dangerous. You can compare it with going out into the street - you can bad man meet, and good, and if a person does not know how to understand people, then most likely he will fall into a bad situation. In order not to get into a bad story, one must understand and distinguish between spirits.
But, we, modern people, for the most part are in a state of sin, communicate with unclean spirits in our reality, do not live the spiritual life as it should, and do not have the gift of discerning spirits. That is why it is necessary to pay less attention to dreams (which are most often from demons), and also to strive less for meditation and other dangerous practices associated with an altered state of consciousness.
But if we talk about sleep paralysis, then no one suits him on purpose, it turns out that the door opens by itself, the person sleeps, but at the same time contacts with impure entities. One of my patients fell into a similar state many times, many times she experienced horror, waking up in a different reality, she saw very vivid images impure forces, and the only thing that helped her get out of this was prayer Life-Giving Cross and "Our Father". Sleep paralysis occurs in those who are spiritually weak, and in order not to fall into such states, one must lead a spiritual life. From my point of view, this is an important factor.
Hieromonk Macarius (Markish), cleric of the Ivanovo-Voznesensk diocese, church publicist and missionary
This actually happens quite often. The difference between believers and non-believers is manifested not in the phenomenon itself, but in its assessment - it deprives the unbeliever of rest and peace in the soul, torments with a riddle, torments with mystery, and for the believer - it is also unpleasant, but we look at such things calmly, indifferently and , in general, without interest. A fairly accurate analogy can be given: if a child is not properly educated, then a suddenly seen pornographic scene will make a strong and vivid impression on him, and he will be intrigued, interested, excited. And normally, a reasonably educated child is protected from such influence, because he knows for sure that this is dirt, evil, abomination, and will turn away without unnecessary emotions. When it comes to the mysterious phenomena of the invisible, non-material world, we all become like children to a certain extent, but proper upbringing(religious, in this case) brings us tremendous benefits and protects us from demonic attack.
We must clearly realize that here we stand on the border of the visible and unseen worlds, and if the first one is possible (and useful) psychological and physiological research, experiments, natural scientific methods of cognition, then in the second (the border with which is blurred, indefinite), there is nothing of the kind and cannot be. This is a different world, not subject to either positive experience or formal knowledge.
DMITRY TSORIONOV (ENTEO), founder of the "God's Will" movement
Sleep paralysis is a ubiquitous phenomenon in post-Christian society, direct contact between man and dark side spiritual world. In modern Russia, entire generations that grew up without God were thrown to the mercy of demons. Majority modern people regularly encounter attacks by fallen spirits, for hundreds of thousands of people daily sleep is a familiar dose of total horror, to which a person gets used to over time. As soon as the demons do not mock people, what horrors they show. People describe in detail how they see dozens of demons that mock them, chained with horror. For some people, every night is a struggle to survive. And only when a person begins to try, despite paralysis, with a huge effort of will - to pronounce the words of an Orthodox prayer, the demons retreat. I know many cases when, with sleep paralysis, people began to pronounce well-known Orthodox prayers though they had never been heard before.
I recalled one interesting case about this topic. When I corresponded with one of the followers of neo-Hinduism guru OSHO Rajneesh, I told him that the reality of fallen angels is hidden behind Eastern mysticism. In response to his ridicule over what he said, I wrote to him that he would not laugh if these spirits came to him at night. The next day, he writes me a long letter, describing sleep paralysis, the appearance of a demon, writes how his soul suffered from the approach of evil, how he felt the once removed cross on himself and he was saved by a luminous man, whom he later recognized when he saw the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. God allows us to come into close contact with the world of fallen angels, for the sake of our admonition, but unfortunately, not everyone, even after this, is ready to change their lives.
To the depths of my soul, I was struck by a post about sleep paralysis in the most popular public among young people on Vkontakte, MDK. This community largely determines the worldview of the modern teenager, full of cynicism, fornication, blasphemy and perversion. The post received more than 30,000 likes and 4,000 comments from teens describing their experience of sleep paralysis. You have no idea what horrors, these unfortunate, mutilated modern world and godless upbringing children described there. Many said that they experience this every day, many say that they are already used to it.
I found this post on purpose to make a few comments that are essentially a snapshot of the spiritual state of our youth:
- “It happens to me a couple of times a month for sure. Feelings were different. Once the bed shook like an earthquake. There were some left-wing dialogues with deceased relatives. A bunch of hallucinations from the category that someone is touching me. In general, dofiga everything dark. If things happen at night and I wake up or already feel that it will start tonight, I just turn on the TV set, put it on automatic shutdown and it seems to help ”;
- “Usually it comes from four in the evening until 7-8, you understand that this is a dream, but you can’t do anything, the feeling that you are being choked, all sorts of monsters are walking around or the appearance of your relatives, at that moment you dream that someone will wake you up , I start moving the little finger on my hand, etc. I barely wake up and don’t go to bed anymore”;
- “It feels like huge black spiders are crawling around, devils are sitting on you, the fire is crackling deafeningly, someone is talking loudly around, huge monsters are larger than consciousness itself and paralyzing animal fear from the depths of the universe. and so every damn night. I hate";
- “Constantly this crap, but I can’t even open my eyes. But you can clearly hear how the handle turns in the room and someone's steps are approaching, very similar to the sound of hooves ... ";
- “It was, I sleep, everything is so normal, only I slept with open eyes, xs how so. After that, I turned on the other side, looked stupidly into the distance of the room and that's it. Then there was a sharp ringing in my ears, and it was as if a thousand slow, rough voices were yelling into my ear. Then terrible faces appeared before my eyes, they stared blankly into my eyes and screamed. Strange, but I could not move, such a strange feeling ... ";
- “It was business. You lie like this, and it seems that this is a dream, next to ghosts, all sorts of demons. You start mooing with fear, moving your fingers, eyes back and forth. Then the state disappears, and you lie and don’t understand what just happened right now. O".
Can you imagine what it's like to live with it? These are ordinary children who go to school, listen to their favorite performers, discuss the heroes of the series, models mobile phones. These are the children who were brought up by the generation of Pelevin, the generation that had forgotten Christ. Children for whom fornication, the occult, godlessness and blasphemy have become the norm. For these outwardly prosperous children, hell begins already in this life. I think we should all seriously think about it.
Material prepared by Sergey SHULYAK