Temporary Paralysis
Imagine you are lulled from sleep and feel a heavy pressure on your chest. You can barely breathe, can’t speak or call for help, and you definitely can’t move. You have to really concentrate just to move a finger because, though your mind is awake, your body is still in sleep mode. Some have compared it to being possessed. This experience is called sleep paralysis, and it can be a very frightening, unnerving disorder. Even though sleep paralysis isn’t often discussed, it’s a common and perfectly normal (albeit disturbing) experience—most of the time. “It can be a symptom of narcolepsy, but … [it’s considered] a normal entity if it happens once in a while,” Julianne explains. Sleep paralysis is caused by a disruption in REM sleep, which can be brought on by stress or being extremely tired.
Random Accidents
Sleep is a highly vulnerable state, and never more so than when you’re experiencing somnambulism, the act of sleepwalking. This parasomnia involves getting up and moving around while still asleep. People have been known to walk down the stairs or into other rooms, perform unusual acts (urinating in non-toileted areas, for example), and even drive. Because the sleepwalker is still asleep, any number of accidents could occur—falling down the stairs, for example. Your eyes may be open, but you don’t see what’s in front of you because you’re still dreaming, so there is no way to know if you’re sleepwalking toward a dangerous situation. Somnambulism is brought on by a lack of sleep, stress, certain drugs, and medical conditions that disrupt the normal sleep cycle (asthma, apnea, etc.).
Revealing Too Much Information
Somniloquy sounds like a beautiful word, but it’s actually the medical term for people who talk while sleeping. As with the aforementioned sleep disorders, discontinuity in the sleep cycle is often the culprit behind somniloquy. Stress and illness are common catalysts for sleep talking, so if you’re feeling anxious or sick and you have a secret, try sleeping solo. According to a sleep education Web site, what you say while snoozing can be innocent babble, or it can get you into trouble. Since you are not fully conscious, your internal monitors don’t always keep you in check. Things that you’d never say in the waking world might come out when sleeping. For instance, my mom loves telling the story about how my dad admitted to her in his sleep once that he was at a poker game with his friends instead of working late, as he originally told her.
Clearly, anything that disrupts your sleep (such as stress, the most common cause of the disorders in this article) could lead to more than just 9 a.m. pre-Starbucks grumpiness. True, daytime stress doesn’t automatically curse you to these nighttime disorders any more than bad dreams predict a future divorce. However, the potential consequences of fitful sleep—from a little sleep talking to a scary sleep driving episode—prove once more that a good night’s rest is necessary for physical and emotional well-being, and vice versa.
