Sleep paralysis is a state where an individual briefly experiences an inability to speak, move or react to the environment while in the middle of the phase of falling asleep or waking up. It is a transitional state where you feel you are neither asleep nor awake. This is quite common; however, some people do suffer disorders associated with sleep paralysis that make it serious. This includes narcolepsy, a neurological disorder that overpowers individual’s ability to stay awake at daytime. Although most people are looking for ways on how to do away with it, some are also trying to uncover the truth about sleep paralysis and the extra ordinary benefits behind it.
How to Induce Sleep Paralysis
When your brain is conscious, but your body is unable to move or react to a stimulus that is sleep paralysis. It can be a little scary to experience this phenomenon, especially when you think you are wide awake, want to speak or yell due to a dream or hallucination but unable to do it for a few seconds.
Sleep paralysis has two kinds: hypnopompic sleep paralysis and hypnagogic sleep paralysis. Hypnopompic sleep paralysis is when you are aware of what’s happening in your surroundings prior to the end of REM sleep, while hypnogogic sleep paralysis happens when you are almost asleep but still mindful of your environment yet can’t move or speak as the body is already in the state of REM. Many people fear both types of sleep paralysis, and it is best to consider thinking about it thoroughly before deciding to induce it with the following methods.
1. Relax in Supine Position
Lying on you back comfortably and once relaxed, you can easily fall asleep. Although it is not yet fully understood by science, it has been observed that maintaining a supine position when falling asleep help induce sleep paralysis. Lie still on the bed, choose a word and repeat it over and over to help relax and calm your mind.
You can try to repeat the word “hum-sah” in your mind envision that someone near you is uttering that word to you. Do not be so conscious about your immediate environment. Just concentrate on your word mantra and you may discover you are entering the phase of sleep paralysis.
2. Wake Yourself Up at Night
This is another way to induce sleep paralysis. After at least 3 to 5 hours of sleep, wake yourself up and try to read a book to keep you awake for at least 15 to 30 minutes. Go back to bed in supine position and do some more of mantra. In a few minutes, you should be able to feel you’ve slipped into sleep paralysis.
3. Disrupted Long-Term Sleeping Pattern
How to induce sleep paralysis? Just break your original sleep parttern. Disrupted sleeping pattern is closely related with experiencing sleep paralysis. Individuals who don’t have any regular sleeping schedule are prone to this sleep disorder as well as those who are deprived of the normal 6-9 hours/day sleep requirement. It is highly recommended by medical practitioners to have enough sleep for the body to generate new cells. Forcing yourself to be awake even when you are already sleepy can cause health problems including, but not limited to, heart ailments, diabetes, hypertension and diabetes.
4. Disturb the Sleep Cycles Throughout Night
The rationale behind this is still under further exploration, but it has been found out that this habit induces sleep paralysis to many. To do this, be active during day time and as early as 7 pm- 10 pm, get a few hours of nap, but do not sleep more than 2 hours. Then, be active again and do the things that will help you stay awake, like doing your daily workout, cleaning the house and stuff you do not normally do at night. Stay awake for at least one hour and then go back to sleep.
How to Have Lucid Dreams via Sleep Paralysis
Realizing that you are in a state of sleep paralysis can have great benefits and there are many ways to go towards lucid dreaming. Just envision yourself in a place where you want to go and wait till it happen. Also try to focus your mind in the mid of your temple and focus on the lights that you see as you through the tunnel it creates. You may choose to follow the tunnel or signal the tunnel to move in a place you would rather go.
Sleep paralysis can actually create something beautiful and daring, which helps us relax and find ourselves in the midst of a different situation where we find salvation from the daily grinds of life. However, using induced sleep paralysis is not for everyone. For people who find sleep paralysis a way to be out of an ordinary life for a few minutes, it can be considered a healthy habit.
Click HERE for comprehensive and detailed instructions on how to induce lucid dreaming.
Precautions About Inducing Sleep Paralysis
Since you have known how to induce sleep paralysis, now you should know the precautions about having sleep paralysis because you don't know what you will encounter.
1. Don't Panic
Freaking out in any given situation messes things up. The same is true with sleep paralysis. If you know for a fact that you are under sleep paralysis, it’s a good practice not to panic. The big difference of unintentional and induced sleep paralysis is: with unintentional one, it would be a little difficult to stay calm because you may not be fully aware that this is only for a short period; while with induced one, you are aware that it wouldn’t last for long because your subconscious mind knows that you did do it intentionally and you can handle it with calm.
2. Get Out of Sleep Paralysis
While sleep paralysis can be a good way to achieve lucid dreams, it may equally induce horror. So just knowing how to induce sleep paralysis is not enough. Knowing you can control your environment and being aware that you are not in a reality during the period of “nightmare” is a good sign that you are not just hallucinating. But for you to snap out of this stage, try the following:
- Don’t panic and tell yourself, what’s happening in your mind is not real.
- It would be difficult to move your whole body but if you try to move your head while telling yourself that it isn’t real, you will also start feeling that your whole body is moveable.
- Try to envision that you are transmitting a signal from your brain towards your spinal column to help your body move.
- You may also choose to wait for a few minutes as normally sleep paralysis is only temporary.
- But if you are horrified, try to move your fingers or toes. This would send signal to your brain and in no time, you’ll be able to move your whole body freely.