"It Started After Trauma": The Effects of Traumatic Grief on Sleep Paralysis.
Omega September 1, 2024 Cybele Blood, Joanne Cacciatore
Bereavement, especially traumatic loss, is linked to more frequent sleep paralysis, a terrifying REM sleep parasomnia. In an exploratory mixed-methods study of 168 participants, 55 described factors they believed led to their sleep paralysis; nearly half of those with a traumatic loss cited death-related triggers. Statistical models showed that traumatic death, time since death, religiosity, and age were associated with increased sleep paralysis frequency in the prior month, prior year, or both. Unexpectedly, sleep paralysis in the prior month was greater when the death occurred 1–6 years earlier compared to 9 or more years earlier, but not when less than one year earlier.