aarogya.com
  • Home
  • Complementary Medicine
    • Ayurveda
    • Homeopathy
    • Naturopathy
    • Acupressure
    • Acupuncture
    • Aromatherapy
    • Batch Flower Remedies
    • Home Remedies
    • Massage
    • Yoga
    • Meditation
    • Reiki
    • Bodywork
    • Medical Palmistry
  • Conditions & Diseases
    • Acute Diarrheal Disease
    • Appendicitis
    • Blindness
    • Brucellosis
    • Chicken Pox
    • Conjunctivitis
    • Dysentery
    • Hookworm
    • Japanese Encephalitis
    • Lymphatic Filariasis
    • Plague
    • Rubella
    • Typhoid Fever
    • Yellow Fever
    • Allergy
    • Arthritis
    • Blood Pressure
    • Computer Health Hazards
    • Chikungunya Fever
    • Dengue
    • Guinea Worm
    • Influenza
    • Leprosy
    • Malaria
    • Poliomyelitis
    • Tetanus
    • Whooping Cough
    • Viral Hepatitis
    • Amebiasis
    • Asthma
    • Bronchitis
    • Diagnostic Tests
    • Cholera
    • Diphtheria
    • Hepatitis
    • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
    • Leptospirosis
    • Measles
    • Rabies
    • Tuberculosis
    • Yaws
  • Family Health
    • Children's Health
    • Diet & Nutrition
    • First Aid
    • Fitness
    • Humor & Trivia
    • Men's Health
    • Preventive Health
    • Senior's Health
    • Senior Citizen Corner
    • Teen’s Health
    • Vets and Pets
    • Women’s Health
  • Health Resources
    • Blood Donation
    • Career Opportunities
    • Daily Health Tips
    • Health Programs
    • Featured Hospitals
    • Medical Education
    • Health Professional's Negligence
    • Medical Tourism
    • Video Eye
    • Rural Health
    • Patients' Rights Forum
  • Insurance
    • Euthanasia
    • Health Insurance
    • Health Insurance Policies
    • Insurance Companies
    • Medical Ethics
    • Medical Jurisprudence
    • Research
    • Telemedicine
    • Compare Health Insurance
  • Sex & Sexuality
    • What is Sex & Sexuality?
    • FAQs
    • Marriage & Pregnancy
    • Sex Education
  • Support Groups
    • Addiction
    • Aids
    • Cancer
    • Epilepsy
    • Swine Flu
    • Blood Search
    • Vivah
    • Health Directory
    • Alzheimer's Disease
    • Medical Support Groups
    • Cardiology
    • Depression
    • Depression Screening Test
    • Diabetes
    • Disability
    • Kidney
    • Obesity
    • Pregnancy
    • Schizophrenia
    • Vitiligo
Aarogya.com
Marathi | Gujarati | Register | Login
  • Home
  • News and Updates
  • Year 2011
  • Waking Up to Fear

Waking Up to Fear

  • Print
Details
Hits: 5808
Times of India
22 February 2011
By Kathika.Kandpal

An alarming 50 per cent of the population suffers from sleep paralysis. Our expert helps you identify the symptoms and explains the remedial action
Waking Up to Fear
You wake up in the middle of the night, paralysed for a few seconds, unable to move or speak. Some people attribute such episodes to an evil presence and say they feel it sitting on their chest and trying to strangulate them. As bizarre as it sounds, this experience is neither uncommon nor paranormal. Sleep paralysis is more common than you think and related to lifestyle. In fact, filmmaker Wilson Louis is currently directing a film titled 3.33 based on this syndrome. Here's everything you need to know about the condition.

What is Sleep Paralysis?
Also known as the Old Hag Syndrome, the condition manifests itself as heaviness in the chest when a person is dropping off to sleep or is just about to wake up (lying in the face-up position). The person feels paralysed and can't move or speak. It happens when the mind is awake but the body is still asleep.

Dr Ashit Sheth, head, Department of Psychiatry, Bombay Hospital, says that even though every culture has its own supernatural explanation associated with it, the condition is actually not harmful to the person who experiences it. "It is a state of motor paralysis, and not mental illness.

It happens during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep. In this condition, the body is asleep but the mind is awake and conscious of the surroundings. If the victims get nightmares just as they are waking up, they get frightened and find it difficult to move or speak."

The Symptoms
Patients experience some common symptoms, each one associated with its own myth. Steer clear of the faulty beliefs and learn to identify the syndrome for what it is.

Suffocation
In the paralysed state, the muscles are also asleep. As the person wakes up, only his mind is conscious. In such a condition, the respiratory muscles are also sleeping, leading to breathlessness. The victim feels like he is getting strangulated and experiences a heavy or tight chest.

Hallucination
If you feel a sinister presence in your room during an episode, you are hallucinating. Dr Sheth says this happens because you may have been having a nightmare just before you wake up and it stays with you.

Feeling 'mad'
People sometimes report feeling as if they are going insane. Hallucinations aggravate this sense. Experts insist that this phenomenon is completely physiological and not a mental illness.

Factors
Like many sleep disorders, this condition is also often caused by lifestyle.

Stress and alcohol comsumption
The urge to excel is clearly taking its toll in all spheres of life. Alcohol doesn't help relieve that stress but contributes to it. It is advisable to cut down on drinking if the Old Hag keeps bothering you.

Irregular sleep
A lot rests on your sleep pattern. Late nights and yo-yo sleeping habits can also affect your state of mind. Those working in the BPO sector or similar jobs are easily victims of this condition due to their irregular sleeping hours.

Jet lag
You hop across continents disturbing your bodily cycle and inviting sleep disorders. If you think you are suffering from sleep paralysis, try and avoid trans-meridian journeys.

Underlying medical conditions
Psychiatric conditions such as anxiety or bi-polar disorders and potassium disorder, caused by a deficiency of potassium, can also lead to sleep paralysis. In such a case, it is important to get a sleep study done. Sufferers must undergo a polysomnogram to rule out other problems. Those of them suffering from narcolepsy, sudden sleep for a few minutes at any time of day, cataplexy, loss of muscle tone causing a fall, or hipnogogic hallucination, waking up with a hallucination, are more at risk.

Help Yourself
  • When under sleep paralysis, try to move a finger because that one movement is enough to break out of the episode. The paralysis is not permanent unless it is accompanied by underlying medical conditions.
  • Take a warm water bath before you hit the bed. It keeps the body warm and comfortable.
  • Regular exercises and breathing can help you sleep well.
  • Identify your comfort zones while sleeping. For instance, Krishna Puri, a sleep paralysis patient, never sleeps in a supine (face-up) position. Rishab, 23, feels comfortable with a sheet for cover.
  • Dr Sheth says Modafinil (taken only after prior consultation with your doctor) can help against hallucination and narcolepsy.
Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website.

0
Introducing Digital Practice for Doctors & Healthcare professionals
Swine Flu
National Award for Outstanding achievement by a Non-Professional - Tushar Sampat
Health Professional's Negligence
Health Professional's Negligence
Records of published articles in the newspapers helps common people about precautions to be taken while seeking the services from health professionals and also helps health professionals to rectify the negligence.
read more…
Specialties
Common Symptoms


Aarogya Network

aarogya.com aims to be India’s leading comprehensive health information portal. The site has sections, which cover almost all the medical specialties and give useful information on various diseases. To enhance its reach, the content is available in Indian languages too. We were the first health website to introduce online support groups. Addiction support and Epilepsy support are examples of some very active and vibrant communities.

» Click here to see all our support groups

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

 Get health related new information.

Pune Aarogya
Digital Media Dedicated to Healthcare of Punekars

Health Tools

  • Health Directory
  • Message Board
  • Health Calculators
  • Depression Screening Test

About Aarogya.com

aarogya.com aims to be India’s leading comprehensive health information portal. The site has sections, which cover almost all the medical specialties

Read more...

Suggestions

This is YOUR site, so if you have suggestions or feedback on how we can improve it for you, please let us know! We do our best to keep up!

Read more...

User Comments

“My name is Paulette Conners and I just had to send you an email thanking you since one of the pages on your site was very helpful!”

  • About Us
  • Company Profile
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Feedback
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap
  • Invite Your Friends

© 2017 www.aarogya.com. All Rights Reserved.