Meditation-Relaxation (MR Therapy) for Sleep Paralysis: A Pilot Study in Patients With Narcolepsy.
Baland Jalal, Ludovico Moruzzi, Andrea Zangrandi, Marco Filardi, Christian Franceschini, Fabio Pizza, Giuseppe Plazzi
Frontiers in neurology January 1, 2020 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00922 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractA small pilot study tested Meditation-Relaxation (MR) therapy for sleep paralysis (SP) in ten patients with narcolepsy. Over eight weeks, the six patients receiving MR therapy showed a 50% reduction in days with SP and a 54% reduction in total SP episodes in the last month, with large within-group effect sizes. The four patients in the control group (deep breathing) did not show similar improvement. These preliminary findings provide the first proof-of-concept evidence that MR therapy may reduce frequent SP, and the authors cautiously suggest the approach might generalize to people with isolated SP.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Proof-of-concept pilot study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 10 |
| Population | Patients with narcolepsy and sleep paralysis |
| Intervention | deep breathing |
| Duration | 8-week intervention |
| Keywords | Meditation-relaxation therapy Narcolepsy Proof-of-concept study Sleep paralysis Treatment |
| Citations | 13 |
| Key finding | Meditation-Relaxation therapy over eight weeks reduced sleep paralysis frequency by 50% in days and 54% in total episodes among patients with narcolepsy. |
Abstract
Sleep paralysis (SP) is a condition where a person is paralyzed upon waking or falling asleep. SP afflicts ~20% of people, and is also one of the typical symptoms in narcolepsy. During SP the sleeper may experience hallucinations. Unsurprisingly, SP is associated with great fear globally. To date, there are no published clinical trials or outcome data for treating this condition. However, few non-pharmacological interventions have been proposed, including cognitive behavioral approaches, and case studies showing clinical amelioration with auto-hypnosis and Meditation-Relaxation (MR) therapy. The latter for instance showed positive preliminary results; when applied for 8 weeks it reduced SP frequency and anxiety/worry symptoms. With this paper we aimed to evaluate, with a small-scale pilot study, the efficacy of MR therapy for SP in patients with narcolepsy. Ten patients with narcolepsy and SP were enrolled in the study. Notably, MR therapy (n = 6), applied for 8 weeks, resulted in a dramatic decrease in the number of days SP occurred (50% reduction); and the total number of SP episodes (54% reduction) in the last month of the study (demonstrated by large within-group effect sizes); unlike the control intervention (deep breathing) (n = 4). These findings are preliminary and exploratory given the small sample. Nonetheless, they represent the first proof of concept at providing empirically-guided insights into the possible efficacy of a novel treatment for frequently occurring SP. Although the study was conducted in patients with narcolepsy we cautiously suggest that the findings may generalize to individuals with isolated SP.