A Sleep Disorder With Benefits

     

 Healthy sleep is essential to maintaining overall good health.

Missing a couple of nights of sleep can render the best of us dysfunctional throughout ordinary daily activities. In treating any mental condition sleep must be addressed, because a problem here could be the root of whatever the presenting complaint is. The exact reason we require sleep has never been scientifically proven but it is reasonably believed that physiological and psychological restoration and repair occur during sleep. The nervous system is the most complex and interactive system of the body and during waking hours it must constantly be engaged with a constantly changing environment. These changes in the environment are representative of stress which is essential for us to thrive in life but can also be deadly if managed inappropriately or it exceeds coping capacity for too long.

Many people choose the escape of sleep to avoid or evade undesirable circumstances, while others find themselves unable to sleep at all. Lack of sleep is more detrimental to health, in the long run, due to excessive wear and tear on ones nervous system and tendency to worry constantly about things one has no control of whatsoever. At least with excessive sleep as the coping mechanism the individual can escape to dreamland and preserve the body's physiological function until the perceived threat diminishes to a conquerable level.

For many years I've experienced a condition known as sleep paralysis. I had an extended bout last night and feel  very unrested this morning. Sleep paralysis is much like waking up in your grave and being able to do nothing about it. Your body is prepared for sleep so you cannot move a muscle no matter how hard you try. You try to roll over enough to fall off the bed so you can awaken but that too is futile. You try to scream loudly but not a sound escapes your mouth except on occasion a brief random blurb may make it through. Your bed partner or anyone in listening distance will usually find it amusing or totally ignore you, dismissing your behavior as a topic for conversation at some later time. Meanwhile, you are laying there barely able to tremble despite using every ounce of physical effort you posses trying to signal them to shake the hell out of you so you can awaken from this torture. After a few years of experiencing this phenomena it becomes more so a period of dread than torture as you reach a semi conscious state of awareness of what is actually happening to you during the time it is happening. Fortunately, my dreams last night were about childhood friends, being misplaced with the bed spinning out of control, playground competition, and flying kites. The dreams were not especially pleasant but definitely were not nightmares. A nightmare would probably have pushed me over the edge if combined with the paralytic state which seemed to go on for hours.

Unfortunately, there isn't a cure for sleep paralysis. Should you suffer from this disorder, like my cat and me, your best bet is to 1) never sleep alone and carefully and thoroughly 2) train your bed partner to not ignore the situation should they witness you shaking or talking in your sleep. Instruct them to 3) shake you or firmly 4) slap you immediately, and not only will you not be upset with them, you will  owe them all of your gratitude. A sound facial slap in this situation is not abuse or domestic violence but, in my opinion, a life saving maneuver and should your partner harbor any resentment for any past misdeed you may have performed against them they have your full permission and your blessing to right that wrong at this particular time. It will be therapeutic for them. Make sure to get it in writing and make sure you instruct them to give you the opportunity to awaken before popping you again, for that  would be bordering on abuse if they didn't.

When you do awaken you will be so thankful for their action that you, in your semi-hypnotic stupor, will uncontrollably confess anything and everything you have kept secret from your partner. You then should be able to sleep with confidence and security of not being terrorized by sleep paralysis and your partner can be confident of your fidelity. In my never ending search for the metaphorical silver lining, here it must be that sleep paralysis could save your relationship.

Comments

[Johnny]

I experienced sleep paralysis once as a teen, purely horrifying. Now as an adult I have sleep apnea.

[MsFreud]

I have only had this problem after my surgeries... and I was on Loritab. It was greatly disturbing. I switched to Percocet.