I had terrifying sleep paralysis nightmares for years. I don’t get them now but I hope my experience will help someone else.

Mine started in the early 1980s, long before the internet, usually as part of insomnia. I had no way to look up what they were or understand the cause of them. I wouldn’t even hear the phrase “sleep paralysis” until the 2000s.

But I began to recognize the sensation of one coming on. When I fought them they got worse. I made that mistake for years, not knowing that recognition was the key.

Finally, I did the counterintuitive thing and started welcoming them. No matter what awful thing was going on in the nightmare (physical attacks and fires were typical for me) I’d allow it to happen. The sensation of letting go during sleep paralysis was like falling off a skyscraper. But I understood it wasn’t real. Doing this allowed me to drop into a very deep sleep with lucid dreams. I no longer dreaded them. I reached a point where if one came on during a bout of insomnia I’d think “finally!”

If you have them, trying leaning into them, letting them wash over you, letting them carry you to a deeper sleep.