Insomnia Cures Hunts Down A Few Ghosts and Aliens

Thanks to some great and entertaining email questions, Insomnia Cures has decided to go on the hunt for the monsters under your bed. Why? Well... umm... because we can :). So let's start with a few questions: Have you ever awakened convinced you have been abducted by aliens? Ever had a spooky experience with a ghostly apparition and thought for sure it was real, only to later recall it as a dream? Well, discounting the paranormal and your normal dreams momentarily, let's consider that what may have happened is a rare case of sleep paralysis.

I say rare because for a normal person this kind of an event happens once or twice in a lifetime with no lasting problems as a result. However there are some who experience this quite often, and because it is rarely talked about (thus seldom diagnosed) it can lead to waking conditions such as stress, anxiety, and even PTSD.

Sleep paralysis has been described as being a condition wherein you are experiencing some effects of REM sleep (muscle atonia) while you are still somewhat conscious. Thus, it only happens noticeably when you are falling asleep or waking up. It can last for a mere moment or continue on for several minutes and in almost every case it causes the afflicted to feel a panic response, and/or extreme anxiety.

6 Essential Tips When You're Afraid To Fall Asleep

Insomnia Cures is back after a very long hiatus! Yep, it's been awhile, as the real world of work and study has bogged me down these past few months. But believe me when I say I haven't forgotten about this, my home on the web, and to that end let me say how much I appreciate all the emails I've received in the interim. My readers rock!

Today I want to dig a bit deeper into the concept of being afraid to fall asleep. As I mentioned before in my post (What's Under Your Pillow?) there are many reasons that people can find it hard relaxing when it's time to wind down. The most common being anxiety that can come when you become aware of your sleeping problems. This can sometimes lead to abnormal stress and worry over whether or not you will actually sleep. The nagging feelings can start as much as 90 minutes or more before bed time, meaning that by the time you lay your head to pillow, you've wound yourself up so much by worrying that sleep becomes next to impossible.