Ms. Li, 24 years old, due to the nature of her work, often work overtime and stay up late, recently Ms. Li found that her sleep quality is very bad, often wake up suddenly from a deep sleep, feel that her consciousness is very clear, can hear the surrounding sounds, but her body seems to be pressed by a heavy object, she wants to call for family help, but she can't open her mouth, her body seems to be controlled by evil spirits, she can't move, she can't move.
When she did wake up, she found that no one was around, and she didn't really move or make a sound.
When she talked to her friend about this matter, she felt that she might be "evil", but her friend said that it was not necessarily, it might be a "ghost pressing the bed", and it was recommended to go to the sleep department of the hospital for examination.
After learning about Ms. Li's condition, the doctor explained that this symptom is indeed what the folk often call "ghost pressing" or "ghost pressing", which is a sleep-related symptom in medicine, which is called sleep paralysis.
Patients generally have weakness in the limbs when they are about to wake up or just fall asleep, and they may also experience shortness of breath and hallucinations, which usually last about 10 minutes to fully recover, and the symptoms can be recurring.
Some patients with narcolepsy often have comorbid sleep paralysis and require polysomnography and multiple nap latency tests to confirm the diagnosis.
01
What the hell is a "ghost press"?
"Ghost press" is medically called sleep paralysis, also known as sleep paralysis and nightmares, which is a relatively common type of sleep behavior disorder, which often occurs when people are asleep and dreaming.
When dreaming, the muscles of the body, except for the respiratory muscles and eye muscles, are in a state of extremely low tension, in order to avoid hurting oneself by making movements in the dream during sleep.
In the process of dreaming, for various reasons, the consciousness is awake, but the muscles remain in a state of weakness, that is, "the consciousness is awake, but the body is not awake".
Patients may have a transient, involuntary and frightening experience during sleep, generally accompanied by hallucinations, anxiety, fatigue and tiredness, which often lasts for 1~3 minutes.
Studies have reported that 40%~50% of people are likely to experience at least one sleep paralysis in their lifetime, which can occur at any age, and is common in adolescents or young adults.
Among them, people aged 10~25 years old will have a higher probability of suffering from sleep paralysis than people of other ages, and people with mental disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, and depression will have a greater probability of suffering.
Associated with REM period
Sleep paralysis usually occurs when the sleeper is about to fall asleep, or in the morning, when the sleeper is about to wake up, and is a sleep disturbance caused by the overlap of rapid eye movement (REM) and wakefulness in the sleep cycle.
After falling asleep, people gradually transition from the first stage to the third stage, and enter the stage of complete unconscious deep sleep, which is collectively known as the non-rapid eye movement (REM) stage.
And when we go back to the first sleep stage, we enter the REM sleep stage, which is the only state stage that causes sleep paralysis.
During the REM phase, our brain is active, which is closely related to our dreams.
At this stage, except for the eyes and respiratory tract, our muscles are paralyzed, which means that your head is awake but your body is not.
02
Where does sleep paralysis come from? 4 Causes
01Sleeping appearance unjustified
The appearance of sleep paralysis is largely related to improper sleeping posture, such as sleeping with your hands on your chest or sleeping with your head covered or sleeping on your stomach, resulting in poor breathing and blood circulation, and it is also easy to cause "ghost press".
Other studies have found that sleeping on your back is more likely to cause sleep paralysis than sleeping on your side.
02 Stressful and irregular work and rest
Life is stressful, irregular work and rest, often staying up late, excessive fatigue, and even insomnia, anxiety, etc., which can easily cause the phenomenon of "ghost press".
Studies have found that working shifts, traveling long distances, crossing different time zones in a short period of time, lack of sleep, and other conditions that interfere with sleep patterns can increase the risk of developing sleep paralysis.
03 The frail and sickly
Patients who are frail or have narcolepsy may experience this condition, such as suffering from cerebrovascular disease, anemia, hypotension, etc.
04Overeat before bedtime
If you eat too much before going to bed, it may also lead to sleep paralysis, because too much satiety can easily cause poor blood circulation, and at the same time, the bulging stomach and intestines will cause pressure on the surrounding organs, so that the cells in the corresponding parts of the brain are active, inducing sleep paralysis, nightmares, etc., making people extremely tired after waking up.
03
Occasionally, he does not panic and frequently needs to seek medical attention
Sleep paralysis is usually uncomplicated, everything returns to normal after the attack, and no special treatment is usually needed.
Sleep paralysis can go away on its own or with external stimuli, so don't worry too much and just be patient for a while.
In addition, pay attention to develop good work and rest habits, avoid overwork and tension, and sleep on your side if necessary.
If the patient wants to get rid of it as soon as possible, it can be relieved in the following ways:
1. You can move your eyes quickly, moving them up and down, left and right, and blinking.
2. Move the muscles of your mouth and tongue, then gradually start moving your neck, shoulders, arms, legs, ankles and toes, and then sit up and move your whole body.
If the seizures are still frequent and cause some trouble to life, you need to find a professional doctor for treatment, you can go to the sleep disorder clinic or psychological clinic for treatment, and you can also take oral venlafaxine, gamma oryzanol, duloxetine and other drugs for treatment.
04
6 small measures to prevent "ghost presses".
1. Regular work and rest: It is best not to stay up late at night, go to sleep on time every day, get up on time, ensure sufficient sleep time, and do not take a nap for more than 1 hour.
Reminder: It is not that the more you sleep, the better, but too long a sleep will make people feel dizzy, listless, loss of appetite and other discomforts, generally 6~8 hours is the best.
2. Improve sleeping posture: Sleeping can be done in a side-lying or semi-side-lying position, which can reduce the degree of muscle relaxation and reduce the incidence of ghost bed presses.
3. Reduce food intake before bedtime: Avoid coffee, chocolate and other foods, don't eat too much, and preferably don't eat any food within 2 hours before bedtime.
From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, sleep paralysis is a manifestation of excessive thinking and deficiency of the heart and spleen, and you can usually eat more foods such as yam, lotus seed heart, poria cocos, lily, etc., which can also be conditioned by Gui Spleen Soup to achieve the effect of strengthening the spleen and nourishing the heart.
4. Relaxation: Before going to bed, you should not overuse your brain, give your brain a buffer period of relaxation and rest in advance, avoid emotional excitement, keep your mind stable, and don't be too excited or too sad, which is not conducive to sleep.
Before going to bed, you can do breathing training, and adjust the breathing rhythm through deep breathing, abdominal breathing and other breathing methods to help relax the body, relieve tension, and help promote sleep.
5. Moderate exercise: Appropriate exercise can be carried out before going to bed, but not strenuous exercise, the recommended exercises include small stretching, yoga, tai chi, etc., which can help relieve muscle fatigue, promote blood circulation throughout the body, and help sleep.
6. Create an environment: Sleep with good air circulation, the right temperature, and no too bright light, which can help improve the quality of sleep.
Bibliography:
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[2] Zhang Yun. Popular Health,2022,8:74-75.
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[4] Xu Jinyou.The mysterious "ghost press",what is going on[J].I wish you health,2020,1:28.
[5] Zhao Feiyi. "Ghost press" is actually "sleep paralysis"[J].Family Medicine(Happy Health),2016,6:52.
[6] Hou Yue, Huang Chaoyang.Is there really a "ghost press"[J].Invention and Innovation·Junior High School Students,2021,9.44-45.
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