Episodes Are Reported More Often In Some Circumstances Than Others

Circumstances Linked To Episodes Are Easy To Mistake For Causes

Almost None Of Them Have Been Shown To Cause Anything

Researchers Can Say What Turns Up Alongside An Episode

They Cannot Say Which One Came First

Lab Studies Have Brought On Episodes By Interrupting Sleep

Most Of That Evidence Comes From Single Point In Time Surveys

Far More Research Exists On Raising The Risk Than Reducing It

THIS NEWSLETTER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY. NOTHING IN THIS CONTENT CONSTITUTES MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, OR PROFESSIONAL ADVICE. ALWAYS CONSULT A QUALIFIED HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY HEALTH RELATED DECISIONS.

OKAY BACK FROM THE TRIGGER DATA 📌

Two Surveys Of 6730 People Examined Body Position

More People Had It On Their Back Than In All Other Positions

That Position Was Recorded In 58.07 Percent Of Reports

Side Sleeping Accounted For 16.87 Percent

The Position Varied In 17.11 Percent

Only 7.95 Percent Were Face Down

Lying On The Back Was 3 To 4 Times More Common During Episodes

That Comparison Was With How People Normally Fell Asleep

People With Episodes Were No More Likely To Fall Asleep On Their Back

In One Survey 48 Percent Of Shift Workers Had Experienced It

The Rate Without Shift Work Was 36 Percent

A Survey Of 90081 Japanese Teenagers Also Looked At Alcohol

Among Teenagers Who Drank Daily The Rate Was 12.2 Percent

Non Drinkers In That Survey Reported It At 7.1 Percent

A Twin Study Of Young Adults Put Heritability At 53 Percent

Threatening Or Traumatic Events Raised The Odds In That Sample

Their Odds Ratio Was 1.29

In Japan And China Going To Bed After Midnight Raised The Odds

Bedtimes From Ten PM To Midnight Had Lower Odds Than Earlier Ones

Caffeine Showed No Significant Link In Two Studies

A Review Of All These Surveys Says They Establish Relationships

It Says The Direction Of These Effects Cannot Be Inferred

Two Lab Studies Tried To Produce Episodes On Purpose

One Study Woke 16 People On Four Separate Nights

They Stayed Awake For 60 Minutes Each Time

Each Awakening Came After 40 Minutes Of Non REM Sleep

REM Began Right After The Interruption 71.9 Percent Of The Time

Six Episodes Of Sleep Paralysis Were Produced

That Was 9.4 Percent Of The Interruptions

All But One Episode Began From That Quick Return To REM

The Team Called That A Close Correlation

Every Person With An Episode Was Unable To Move

Each Was Also Aware Of Lying In The Laboratory

A Second Lab Study Used 13 Participants

Each Had Reported Frequent Episodes Beforehand

It Used A Multi Phasic Sleep And Wake Schedule

Participants Were Woken After Every 5 Minutes Of REM

Researchers Obtained 8 Episodes From 184 Interruptions

The Review Puts That At 4 Percent

Reaction Times Were Slower Before The REM Periods With Episodes

Few Non Drug Treatments Have Been Proposed

Cognitive Behavioral Approaches Are One Of Them

Case Studies Have Reported Improvement With Auto Hypnosis

Others Reported Improvement With Meditation Relaxation Therapy

A Pilot Study Then Tested That Therapy In Narcolepsy Patients

Ten Patients With Narcolepsy And Sleep Paralysis Enrolled

Six Received The Therapy For 8 Weeks

The Other Four Did Deep Breathing As A Control

Each Of Its Four Steps Was Used During An Episode

Patients First Reappraised What The Episode Meant

They Then Distanced Themselves From It Emotionally

Next Came Inward Focused Attention Meditation

Muscle Relaxation Was The Final Step

Days With Sleep Paralysis Fell By 50 Percent In The Last Month

Total Episodes Over That Month Fell By 54 Percent

Its Authors Call It The First Proof Of Concept

They Also Call The Findings Preliminary Given The Small Sample

The Therapy Group Started With More Frequent Episodes

That May Account For Its Advantage Over The Control

Every Patient In The Pilot Had Narcolepsy

The Authors Suggest It May Apply To People Without Narcolepsy

Confirmation In Randomised Clinical Trials Is Still Pending