Various aspects of sleep paralysis are regularly discussed in studies conducted in different countries, as well as on different age groups. Another such study, published in 2020 with a sample of Polish students found interesting data on gender differences in the experience of this phenomenon.
The study was based on a survey of 439 participants. As it turned out, the prevalence of sleep paralysis among Polish students is high – 32%. On average, about 28% of students are affected by this phenomenon. Most of them reported experiencing an elevated heart rate during episodes, as well as accompanying fear and visual hallucinations.
Most of the volunteers in the study were female (75%). Interestingly, no association was found in women between the number of recurring episodes and the severity of anxiety. Whereas in men, the growing anxiety symptoms were directly related to the frequency of attacks.
Significant gender differences were also revealed in the frequency of sleep paralysis episodes and the duration of sleep. The amount of sleep appeared to have no effect on the number of seizures per year for women, whereas for men, this was not the case. Perhaps these data will lead to a more comprehensive study of gender differences in the assessment of this phenomenon. It is worth noting that previous studies have shown a correlation between sleep duration and sleep paralysis frequency in women.
The article was published in May 2020 in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.
