Lar's Dreaming FAQ
3. Sleep paralysis, walking and talking, night terrors,
narcolepsy and nightmares
3.1. What causes sleep paralysis?
Your body is paralyzed during REM, your body can't even stand (This
is why sleep walking happen
in other stages of sleep). Sometimes does the body fails to turn
on your muscles immediately
after REM. Normally this condition lasts only a few seconds, but
sometimes can it go on for
minutes, which causes a very scary feeling. But just remain calm,
it will pass. And it is not
at all dangerous. You should also know that sleep paralysis is great
for leaving your body.
Again, leaving your body is not dangerous either.
3.2. Information about sleep walking
The body is paralyzed during REM, so sleep walking occurs in other
stages of sleep. It is quite
common among children, and can be quite confusing if you find yourself
in other places than
your bed when you wake up. People have even managed to lock themselves
outside their own house.
You can dream in other stages than REM, but these dreams are much
less vivid.
3.3. Information about sleep talking
Your whole body is normally paralyzed during REM. Your senses remain
active, and sometimes it
happens that you partly act out your dream. So you may talk while
sleeping if your muscles
aren't fully paralyzed. We know that we can dream in non-REM sleep,
maybe not as vivid, but
enough to talk. Most sleep talking occurs in non-REM. In a Lucid
Dream can you also command
yourself to talk while dreaming.
3.4. What are night terrors?
Night terrors are nightmare-like attacks that occur during non-REM
sleep which often involve
movement and screaming. Those experiencing them usually have no
dream recall or recollection of
the experience. Young children, about 2% of them, mostly experience
this. It occurs usually
within two hours after going to bed. A good way of relieving these
experiences is finding out
when these terrors occur, and then set the alarm clock to 15 minutes
before the terrors start.
Do this the rest of the night, for seven days. In most cases does
the terrors stop. If they
start again, then do the program once more.
3.5. What is narcolepsy?
Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder with no known cause. Its
onset can occur at any time
throughout life, but its peek onset is during the teen years. The
main characteristic of
narcolepsy is excessive and overwhelming daytime sleepiness, even
after adequate nighttime
sleep.
A person with narcolepsy is likely to become drowsy or to fall
asleep, often at inappropriate
times and places. Daytime sleep attacks may occur with or without
warning and may be
irresistible. They may also experience periods of catalepsy, temporary
decrease or loss of
muscle control, especially when getting excited. Hypnagogic hallucinations,
vivid, often
frightening, dream-like experiences, occur while falling asleep
or waking up. Sleep paralysis,
temporary inability to talk or move when falling asleep or waking
up. It may last a few seconds
to minutes. In addition, nighttime sleep may be fragmented with
frequent awakenings. Daytime
sleepiness, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations can also
occur in people who do not
have narcolepsy. If sufficiently troublesome can be reduced significantly
in some people with
Tricyclic antidepressants (eg. Imipramine), which suppress REM sleep.
3.6. What causes nightmares?
Nightmares are often a product of our fears. You will tend not to
have nightmares if you rid
yourself of fears. So find out what your fears are, and try to conquer
them. Nightmares,
however, can also be an early symptom that a disease is developing
or that an attack is about
to occur.
If you are afraid of dying, then you should know that a lot suggest
that you have a life after
death, and whenever you want can you return to the physical world.
This is called
reincarnation. Just study Ian Stevenson's work if you want scientific
evidence. If you have
other fears, like spiders, there are a few effective things you
can do about them. We have
virtual reality, but since we are dealing with dreaming here anyway,
it is better to bring up
Lucid Dreaming. Whenever you have a nightmare you should try to
visualize a different ending on
the dream. By doing this you may experience that it is a dream and
we all know that dreams
aren't dangerous. When lucidity is gained, you can confront whatever
is scaring you. Once that
is done can you continue exploring the wonderful world of Lucid
Dreaming.
Go to the next chapter - Paranormal
issues
Copyright L Lars Rune Foleide -1999
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