Sleep Disorders

I woke up this morning feeling very dizzy so I took half a Gravol and went back to sleep for a couple more hours. Then I was fine, but the sensation reminded me of my childhood sleep disorders. 

When I was young I frequently had sleep paralysis. This is when your mind wakes up before your body and you cannot move or breathe. It is very scary because you feel like you will suffocate. You’re also unable to speak or call for help. It takes every bit of your mental energy to try to wiggle a finger and then a hand and gradually break out of it and gasp for breath. I still get this very rarely but if I can make a tiny audible cry for help, my husband now knows to shake my body awake. 

My second childhood sleep disorder occurred as I was falling asleep. I would get the sensation that everything in my field of perception was very tiny and moving very fast. It felt like slipping into an imaginary hyper world. The strangest part is that my own body felt miniature too, like I was traveling through space at some high speed.

My daughter used to sleepwalk when she was young. We lived in an apartment then so it was safe enough and I would just gently guide her back into bed. At other times, she would sit bolt upright in her sleep and give a full dream monologue with her eyes wide open and then lie back down and continue sleeping. It was pretty creepy, but I learned to ignore it because she was fast asleep.

Do you or your loved ones have any sleep disorders? Please leave a comment / subscribe.