 Ever been in a state where you're coming in and out of sleep and experienced the inability to move? Even though you were conscious, if so, you may have just gotten a taste of sleep paralysis. How is sleep paralysis different from other types of paralysis? It generally occurs either during waking up or falling asleep and it's temporary. It's described as being aware or awake while your brain is still somewhat in a sleep state, but you're unable to move or speak. This condition can be triggered by various factors such as abnormal sleeping patterns, insufficient sleep and psychological stress, among other things. Sleep paralysis can be a scary and disturbing experience. So to help you navigate these feelings, here are seven actions not to do during sleep paralysis. One Don't let your imagination run wild. A good imagination can be useful and fun, just not during sleep paralysis. Because imagination also makes hallucinations more vivid. You guessed it, sleep paralysis has often been associated with hallucinations and these hallucinations are usually unpleasant. We're talking several reports of a sleep demon appearing and when you're unable to move or speak, you'll panic and when you're in panic mode, it would be unfortunately easy to conjure up the monsters in the closet with your imaginations. Two Don't believe what you see. So we just finished talking about hallucinations, right? Hallucinations aren't real and believing what you see can cause some pretty chaotic situations. Let's say you see something terrifying and believe that it's real. Trust me, you're not in for a good time. It will only lead you to panic even more. By understanding that these visions aren't real, you'll have a better chance of talking yourself out from panic and fear. Three Don't focus on the visions. Ever tried distracting yourself during the scariest bits of a horror movie? If so, you might want to put that skill into practice for the creepy hallucinations. By trying your best to ignore these visions, you may relieve yourself and lessen the feeling that there's something to fear. As mentioned in point two, by being aware that these visions are not real, it will be easier for you to shift your focus away from these visions during sleep paralysis. Or Don't panic. Panicking usually tends to make things worse. Unless you're at a disco. Given the situation of sleep paralysis, it's understandable if you panic. You're seeing frightening demons and you can't move to fight back or run. But the truth is, panic is just self-sabotage and you'll unconsciously conjure up more demons in your hallucination. As hard as it is, by keeping calm during the process and tapping into that rational part of your brain, sleep paralysis will eventually pass. Five Don't struggle strenuously. What do you do when you're trying to get a tight shirt off? You struggle. This is natural. When you feel restricted, what do you do? You try to escape and free yourself, usually by struggling. This applies to sleep paralysis as well. Essentially, there's a good chance you'll fail to escape and this failure leads to more distress and panic. Remember what we just talked about? The more distressed and panicky you are, the more terrifying the hallucinations become and vice versa. It's a never-ending cycle. But here's what you can do instead. It's possible and maybe even helpful to create small movements in your body to encourage a quicker release from sleep paralysis. Here's a tip. Focus on wiggling your toes or pinky. Six Don't let your eyes wander. Do you sleep in a large bedroom or an area with lots of space? If so, the roving eye may not be your friend. Allowing your eyes to wander may result in seeing or creating other things that were not originally there. As simplistic as this sounds, the most helpful action may just be closing your eyes. This will serve to shut out the frightening visions and hopefully allow you to have an uninterrupted space to talk yourself down and focus on something calm. And seven. Don't expect the worst. Expecting the worst when already in the unnerving state of sleep paralysis. I think you can guess how that will turn out. Thinking negatively can amplify your sleep paralysis experience for the worst. Yes, this can be because of those hallucinations again. Thinking about these worst-case scenarios can possibly encourage them to manifest into a dreadful hallucination. If we are able to channel positive thoughts during these moments, perhaps it may turn into something more pleasant like lucid dreaming. Sleep paralysis can definitely be scary for first-time experiencers or for those who don't yet have a good understanding of the phenomena. Being robbed of everyday abilities like movement or speech without warning or obvious reason is terrifying. The good news is exercising self-awareness may help us also exercise better control. Have you experienced sleep paralysis? What was it like? What did you see and how did you handle it? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for watching. If you relate to this video, please like and share this video with people who might benefit from it. Subscribe to Psych2Go and we'll catch you in the next video.