2023-04-17 14:15:52
Sleep paralysis is an intriguing phenomenon that, however, does not appear to pose a health risk.
Have you ever been a prisoner of your body? Sleep paralysis is a disorder that occurs mainly at night, and occurs when the sleeping person wakes up. A sensation of paralysis prevents the body from moving and a feeling of panic can then be generated.
More precisely, this disorder generally occurs if the individual who comes out of sleep was in a REM sleep phase.
In 2016, CNRS researchers, who were studying sleep-related disorders, realized that, in this phase of REM sleep, certain neurons “paralyze us, temporarily, to keep the body immobile”.
The causes of sleep paralysis
These paralysis can then occur more frequently in several situations. “This can happen in the event of intense fatigue, acute sleep debt: the body will not react as quickly as it should and muscle tone will take a few seconds longer than normal to return”, indicated Dr. Bertrand De La Giclais, head of the sleep center at the Argonay clinic (Haute-Savoie), to our colleagues from Figaro.
The doctor also evokes the reason isolated by CNRS researchers in 2016, estimating that the communication between the brain and the nerve endings of the body were “cut for a period of time so that the person cannot be injured while dreaming”.
These paralysis are not serious
According to figures from the specialized site HealthPassport“30% of the population will experience an episode of sleep paralysis”, during their lifetime.
No treatment can cure these sleep disorders, which are in the vast majority of cases punctual and benign.
However, if sleep paralysis is on the increase, this might point to a narcolepsy problem. According to Dr. Bertrand De La Giclais, “regarding a third of patients suffering from narcolepsy frequently experience sleep paralysis”.
They are nearly 15,000 to suffer from narcolepsy in France, specifies the Doctor, highlighting “an uncontrollable need to sleep during the day”.
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