Sleep Paralysis Therapy & Dream Science (with Dr Baland Jalal) | Sci Guys Podcast #135

This week sleep science expert Dr Baland Jalal joins us to chat about sleep paralysis & dig into his research!

WATCH EVERY EPISODE:

SUBSCRIBE TO SCI GUYS

JOIN OUR DISCORD

FOLLOW THE PODCAST

References & Further Reading

Dr Baland Jalal

MR Therapy

Sleep Paralysis

Follow the SCI GUYS
@notcorry / @jampkin / @lukecutforth

[Susan-jrld]

In norse mythology you have Svartleheim, which is the home of the dark elves who sit on your chest and give you nightmares. I've always thought that was an early attempt at explaining sleep paralysis.

[deadlymelody]

Just finished and Baland is possibly the most interesting person to listen to.

[iquestionexistence]

Dr Baland Jalal seems like a kind guy and he's so engaging to listen to, his enthusiasm for learning is contagious :)

[mrigaankamuch]

I have been addicted to this podcast for the past week and I just heard the science of dreams episode today :D

[mrigaankamuch]

let us take this moment to remember that Corry dreamed he died as a 56 year old man with twin sons, and he was furious because someone tweeted that we lost a "gay icon" XD

[miashinbrot]

This is very interesting. The sleep paralysis that I've experienced is a little different from what Baland describes, in that my eyes are always shut -- in fact, they feel stuck shut. When I was a kid, having to get up when my body wasn't finished sleeping, I would with great effort go through the steps of getting up. Then (usually when I'd just reached the toilet) I'd realize I was still in bed. This would repeat several times before I eventually actually did get out of bed and found out that it was far less effort than it had been during the sleep paralysis.

Now, at 71, what I experience is being unable to get up -- my muscles are too weak to lever myself out of bed. And that is accompanied by fear, because presumably as I grow older there will come a time when my muscles really are too weak to get me out of bed.

[kenandjotjivau]

I almost forgot I was so obsessed with sleep paralysis and dreams growing up till I saw this episode.
Knowledge refreshed and updated ✔
Love for science increased ✔
Thank you 🔥

[c.k.g.]

I watched this after watching your episode on sleep walking. It's interesting how it's opposite

[pokemonfanthings]

Love the idea of using some of these concepts to help people with OCD

[MoreFeen]

I used to get it often as a kid amd teen. Less so as a young adult. I was actualy told by my dad that it is my soul being traped or something traping it. Fun.
I used to realy focus on just moving one finger and it always felt like houers.

[thiel_spencer]

I don't have sleep paralysis thankfully, but beyond that I also don't remember my dreams very often. The last I can remember was from 3rd or 4th grade? ...I'm graduating high school this year.

[minksrule]

If I wake up and am going back to sleep again, sometimes I feel like it's possible to go into sleep paralysis but I am drifting off to normal sleep. So instead of just going to sleep, I will take really deep breaths through my mouth and make the sleep paralysis happen. I've done this for many reasons in the past and most of the time I have regretted it but there were times when it was beautiful. Also I found that sometimes when I have sleep paralysis my hands and feet become tingly. I can move these tingles to other parts of my body if I focus on it but there were times that it was too intense and the pins and needles felt very sharp and physically hurt me so I had to disperse the tingles back to my hands and feet and then it was over. It's easier to be aware of what's happening in sleep paralysis if it happens as you're falling asleep rather then as you're waking up. I've also been able to change what I see during sleep paralysis in the past from something scary to something funny like in Harry Potter

[juniperfox]

am i the only one who finds dr. jalal quite handsome?

[mallory]

My experience with sleep paralysis started much like Luke’s, but ended more like Corry’s. Before I was aware what I was experiencing was sleep paralysis, I would hallucinate that shadowy figure standing literally right next to me holding a black and white picture of Jesus in a wooden frame….. so fucking weird. I’m not even religious, so idk what that was about.

After I researched it, I started being able to recognize when I was in sleep paralysis, so I wouldn’t freak out or anything, and I would sort of spasm to get myself to move. After more or less fixing my sleep schedule (I get 7-9 hrs every night), I stopped having it all together.

Side note: I absolutely adore this podcast, and I’ve listened to literally every episode over the course of 2.5 weeks… thank you for the amazing content guys! <33

[deadlymelody]

On the bit about external influences on dreams.. i had an alarm clock at my dad's house that was mutley from wacky races that barked the tune to how much is that doggy in the window. And i still remember having a dream where a real dog actually barked that tune at me in my dream 🤣 i mustve been about 11 of something at the time

[leidyheredia]

Here listening to you guys cuz I just experienced this. It was so scary

[wynnieization]

I used to have sleep paralysis almost everyday. I both had visual and audio hallucinations. I also had spasms trying to stop the SP episode or trying to jerk myself to move my body. I got them so often that I too would just wait it out. I used to have hypnagogia more than hypnopompia when I was younger and I would sometimes feel this great force of sensation of being forced to sleep. I would feel my body become paralyzed and my eyelids being forced to go down. Meanwhile there's this defeaning buzzing happening inside my head. I also realized that if I think about it, the chances of having SP episode would increase. I don't have them now for a long time but looking back it was during I was depresssed or stressed. And yes, clinically depressed.

[tanner]

It's incredible how much we can control with just our brain

[deannaweir-smyth]

I like you to do an episode on lucid dreaming, you don't have to if you don't want to.

[iheartdubu]

This was so interesting! Is there an episode about Dissoziation ?