Sleep paralysis is a phenomenon where a person experiences temporary paralysis either when falling asleep or waking up. It occurs when there is a disruption in the normal REM sleep pattern, where the brain is awake but the body remains paralyzed. Episodes involve an inability to speak or move and can last from a few seconds to several minutes. Risk factors include narcolepsy, sleep apnea, irregular sleep schedules, and certain medications. Treatment focuses on improving sleep habits and reassurance, as sleep paralysis itself is not medically harmful.

1. Sleep Paralysis
PRESENTED BY:
SHUBHAM P. KOLGE
M. PHARM FIRST YEAR
PHARMACOLOGY
UNDER GUIDANCE OF:
MS. SWATI R. DHANDE
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR.
PHARAMCOLOGY DEPARTMENT
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2. Sleep Paralysis
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3. • “Imagine, you are asleep after a long day at school.
Everything was going really well; you hung out with
your friends, went out for food, and your favourite
show was on. But there is a man in the corner of your
room. Your mind is reacting but your body is stuck.
Your literal worst nightmare.”
• This isn’t magic, it’s a medical condition, its
scientific, its called Sleep Paralysis.
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4. • It is when your body is in a state between wakefulness & rest
characterized by complete muscle atonia.
• Muscle atonia means muscle weakness
• It is caused by your brain.
• It is believe to be a result of disrupted REM sleep.
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6. Introduction
• Sleep paralysis is paralysis associated with sleep that may occur
in healthy persons or may be associated with narcolepsy,
cataplexy, and hypnologic hallucinations.
• A temporary inability to move or speak while falling asleep or
upon waking.
• Sleep paralysis most often occurs in people who have
narcolepsy or sleep apnea, but it can affect anyone.
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8. • People always feel that they have been threatening by someone or evil,
occasionally patients report this type of problems. And they feel that
evil is following, sitting behind them going to be attack.
• The pathophysiology of this condition is closely related to the normal
hypotonia that occurs during REM sleep
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9. Symptoms
• Episodes involve not being able to speak or move while falling asleep
or upon waking.
• This usually last one or two minutes and is often frightening.
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10. Risk Factors
• Narcolepsy, Obstructive sleep apnea, alcohol use, sleep deprivation
Treatment
• Include not getting enough sleep, having an irregular sleep schedule,
and using certain medications
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11. Fig. : Average sleep need (left graph) and percentage
of REM sleep (right graph) at different ages
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12. Treatment
• The main treatment is improved sleep habits (sleep hygiene) including
going to bed at the same time every night
• Ensuring a comfortable sleep environment free of distractions and
avoiding caffeine before sleeping
• Reassurance, cognitive behavioural therapy, antidepressants
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13. • Isolated sleep paralysis (ISP)
• Recurrent Isolated Sleep Paralysis (RISP)
Types of Sleep Paralysis
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14. It is a short term used to describe the infrequent episodes of sleep
paralysis that may occur within an individuals lifetime for a short period
of time, from a few seconds to several minutes.
Isolated Sleep Paralysis (ISP)
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15. Recurrent Isolated Sleep Paralysis (RISP)
• It is a term used to describe an individual who may experience sleep
paralysis for an hour or possibly even longer.
• Back to back episodes of sleep paralysis are common during the same
night within RISP which is highly unlikely within those who suffer
from ISP.
• This can cause panic symptoms.
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16. • ISP is much more common than RISP.
• One or more differences between ISP and RISP is duration.
• When it happens, the person remains aware while the body shuts down
for the RME sleep, and it is called hypnagogic or predormital sleep
paralysis.
• Hypnagogia is defined as the “experience of the transitional state into
sleep.
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19. The intruder
• One of the most well know and documented ‘feeling’ of sleep
paralysis.
• This is the ‘man in the corner’ though he comes in many forms to
helpless victims of sleep paralysis.
• This intruder is believed to be the result of a hyper vigilant state
created in the midbrain area.
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20. The Alert
• Threat system is a protective mechanism the body uses to recognize
dangerous situations and weigh out whether the fear response is
appropriate.
The Incubus
• An incubus was a gross demon that just sat on people’s chest for a
while.
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21. Vestibular motor sensations
• It does not fire the threat activation vigilance system, your freak out or
fear section of your brain.
• Under normal conditions, the areas in the brain would work together
to make things like hand-eye movement and orientation in spaces,
though it gets confused and misfires in sleep paralysis state and gives
you a sense of floating.
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22. Facts
• In Nigeria, “ISP appears to be more common and recurrent among
people of African decent than among whites or Nigerian African” and
is often referred to within African communities as “The Devil on your
back”
• In Chinese culture, sleep paralysis widely known as ‘gu ya shen’
which literally translate into “Ghost presing on body”
• In new Guniea, people refer to this this phenomenon as Suck Ninmyo,
believed to originate from sacred trees that use human essence during
night as to not disturb the human’s daily life, but sometimes people
wake unnaturally during the feeding, resulting in the paralysis.
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23. Conclusion
• In everyday busiest life stress and work burdens and tensions are very
common, due to overtime work, change in circadian rhythm will leads
to sleepiness this causes to sleep paralysis and dangerous disease like
narcolepsy and Alzheimer’s disease.
• To avoid sleep paralysis has to take proper sleep and healthy diet.
• meditation and habit of walking at morning will reduce sleep paralysis.
• To avoid habits of taking caffeine and alcohol.
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24. References
• 1. Golzari SE, Ghabili K. Alcohol-mediated sleep paralysis: The earliest
known description. Sleep Med. 2013;14:298. [PubMed] [Google
Scholar]
• 2. Pizza F, Moghadam KK, Franceschini C, Bisulli A, Poli F, Ricotta L, et
al. Rhythmic movements and sleep paralysis in narcolepsy with
cataplexy: A video-polygraphic study. Sleep Med. 2010;11:423–5.
[PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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