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Does lucid dreaming cause sleep paralysis? Have you ever wondered? Sleep and wakefulness are usually two separate states of consciousness. While sleeping, most people are unconscious and unaware of their bodies and their surroundings. Obviously, the opposite is true when we don’t sleep. When we are awake, we are completely aware and engaged with all of our senses. Sleep paralysis is in the middle of the two.
A lucid dream occurs when a person is asleep but only aware that they are dreaming. In this situation, a person might direct the course of his dream by controlling the narration of his dream to some extent.
There is a conjunction between sleep paralysis and lucid dreaming that results in a state in which our body stays asleep while the mind is fully awake. So how does this happen?
We enter the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) state while we sleep and dreams happen. During the REM sleep, our body is paralyzed as a safety precaution. By immobilizing all our muscles except our eyes, we are prevented from fulfilling our dreams in the real world. You see the lucid dreams during this state. To experience lucid dreaming, you must practice. The Dreambook App is the best place for you to practice lucid dreaming, because in the app you can track your dreams and realize hidden patterns in them.
Lucid dreaming provides many benefits, not only while you sleep, but also long after you wake up. However, many people have legitimate concerns about what lucid dreaming can do to the mind and body of the dreamer. One such concern is sleep paralysis. Can lucid dreaming cause sleep paralysis?
Lucid Dreams and Sleep Paralysis
Lucid dreaming can sometimes cause sleep paralysis. Sleep paralysis often happens to people who have lucid dreams soon after falling asleep or just after waking up. There are ways for lucid dreamers to avoid sleep paralysis. Lucid dream sleep paralysis poses no health risks.
Due to some lucid dream induction procedures, sleep paralysis frequently occurs before lucid dreamers enter a REM state. They purposefully induce sleep paralysis so that they can remain awake while their dreams begin, implying that sleep paralysis is a conscious choice for certain lucid dreamers.
However, lucid dreamers may experience sleep paralysis immediately after a lucid dream when they wake up in the real world. This is when lucid dreamers tend to experience involuntary sleep paralysis. During this type of sleep paralysis, lucid dreamers may be just as susceptible to hallucinations as lucid dreamers who experience sleep paralysis.
The most common cause of sleep paralysis is when a lucid dreamer willfully abandons her or his dream and causes herself or oneself to wake up before it ends.