Sleep Paralysis & Me

Well, if you’re like me you have had at least one night of interrupted sleep lately. Stinks, huh? A few nights ago I transitioned from a surreal dream into a sleep paralysis episode. Luckily this one wasn’t accompanied by Shadow Man or any other of the normal hallucinogenic buddies us SP sufferers have come to know. I don’t know about you, but from there my usual muscle soreness that accompanies a sleep paralysis attack set in when I woke up. Was grumpy and had a bit of a headache, too. Overall, really not the best way to start my day.

I get sleep paralysis attacks at least once every four to six weeks. Whenever I get them, I’m in such a deep sleep that I’m disoriented and don’t realize I’m undergoing a misfiring a neurotransmitters that affect my cerebral connection with the rest of my body, causing my atonia to continue into consciousness. Nope. What my disoriented mind thinks every time is more along the lines of:

“Oh, no... I can’t move! This is it... if I can’t regain control of my body, I’m done for. I’m in the last moments of life and I need to pull out of this! Help! Someone, please help me!”

And you’d think after thirty years of sleeping disorders I would’ve learned by now, huh? As a kid, my parents said I would “sleep run” up and down the halls. I remember dreading going to sleep as a teen, hating being trapped in my sleep paralysis episodes (I had them even more often than I do now!) and erroneously staying up late to postpone sleep as much as possible for fear of my episodes. I know better now, and know that lifestyle can help me avoid being thrown into the Lynchian dreamscape where I can’t think straight and tell what is and isn’t real.

It’s Simple! Just Get Better Sleep, Right?

When I first went to the doctor, they told me to improve my “sleep hygiene”. They explained that meant getting simple things fixed, like just:

1. get around eight hours of sleep every night,

2. go to sleep preferably at night around the same time each night,

3. wake up around the same time every morning

I mean, yeah... in theory that’s a “yes, of course!” from me, you know? Is it really that simple, though?

Of course, not.

I was in my mid-twenties when I got this advice. I was working graveyards at a textile manufacturing company, 10 pm to 6 am, 40 hours a week. I was also going to school full-time, with alternating schedules during the week: Mondays had one schedule, Tuesdays another, Wednesday another... And that doesn’t even count homework assignments (including needing to meet for team projects!), or even studying! I was newly married, as well, so I had to also prioritize spending time with my lovely spouse. So, just “getting better sleep” is not as easy as it seems.

Even now, about a half decade later, my life isn’t any less chaotic. I mean, not as in bad chaos,but still... life happens, as I’m sure you all know. You have work obligations, social activities, familial relationships... I wish I was one of those people who can simply set a perfect schedule for my life and make sure everyone respects it and never let anything interfere. For me, as I guess it is for you and most other people, that just isn’t possible.

There Has to Be a Better Way

It was at this time, about 2012 I believe, that I had the idea of making something to help people who were suffering like me. My wife now hears me struggling with my sleep paralysis episodes and shakes me to wake me up, but what about when I was napping in my car between classes or on the couch in the break room at work? Who would help me then? Fast forward seven years and now there is a team here at Beacon Sleep Solutions working hard to not only provide help for people like me who have sleep paralysis, but other disorders and disturbances like sleepwalking and night terrors.

I hope you’ll join me in this blog series as I chronicle not only my own experiences with sleep paralysis, but also Beacon’s journey in providing to the millions of people worldwide who suffer like me with technology that will help in providing everyone a better night’s sleep.

Dream Better, Sleep Better

Joseph Arrington

Founder & CEO, Beacon Sleep Solutions