Question
I get these horrible experiences usually about 1 to 2am where my i'm half awake & it feels that someone is holding me down. I cant move my body or mouth & it lasts for about 10 to 15 seconds, i think. It's been happening for 9 years now.
Answer
What you are experiencing is natural phenomenon called sleep paralysis and hypnangogic hallucinations. Our brains and bodies are supposed to awaken and go to sleep together however there is a lag of a second and so one maybe awake with eyes open , dreams are very vivid. or ones eyes may be closed they are almost awake yet still asleep and cant move. Just knowing its natural normal phenomneon may help. However when your daytime alertness is affected by the numerous awakenings you may have narcolepsy, which is not your case. Try the following for more restlful sleep. 3 hours before bedtime stay away from coke pepsi, ginger ale,root beer anything caramel colored, so exercise, chocolate, tea and caffeine, all this make for restless sleep. Next 30 minutes before sleep take a hot bath and l5 minutes before sleep take a glass of warm milk. Milk when heated contains tryptophan a natural amino acid sleep indurcer.plain milk. go to sleepnet.com click on narcolepsy to read about these 2 sysmtpoms no you dont have narcolepsy, just normal sleep. feel free to email again karel
