Wake Up Stroke - what is it?

A stroke has been dramatized in movies forever. A sudden dramatic event where the actor collapses and the body stops cooperating.

But a wake up stroke is different.

You go to sleep feeling normal, and you open your eyes to find that your speech is slurred or one side of your body refuses to move.

The stroke happened while you were asleep, during those hours when the body is supposed to be restoring, repairing, and finding balance.

So what is going on?

A stroke occurs when blood flow to a part of your brain is interrupted. In a wake-up stroke, we simply do not know how long the brain has been deprived.

A doctor might advise you to take medication, but since you don’t really know when it occured timing the medication is hard. The more fundamental question is why is it happening.

Your body is meant to recover during sleep.

One argument put forward is your nervous system. In particular, your rest and digest or parasympathetic. The parasympathetic is designed to slow us down, deepen our breath, lower blood pressure, and send us into restorative sleep.

Yet many of us never truly cross the threshold into this calm state. Even in bed, our minds continue racing, our pulses remain slightly elevated, and our systems stay alert.

This is parasympathetic dysregulation.

If your body is in a state of chronic stress, it affects more than just your mood. It influences blood vessel tone, inflammation, glucose balance the rhythm of the heart.

Your blood flow gets affected. A wake up stroke can be one outcome.

So what can you do?

First, learn to identify potential signs. Resting heart rate, pulse and heart rate variability during sleep.

All three are excellent signals of what is going on with your blood flow at rest. I use a Garmin to track my metrics.

Slow conscious breathing, meditation and reframing your life helps. Working with a coach who can help you build systems to disengage, and become more anchored helps.

In my case, I am building a framework around the concept of Upekkhā, the ability to be anchored. Find something that works for you.

Reach out to me on twitter @rbawri Instagram @riteshbawriofficial and YouTube at www.youtube.com/breatheagain