SLEEP DISORDERS
INSOMNIA
Insomnia is difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep for long enough to feel refreshed the next morning.
It's a common problem thought to regularly affect around one in every three people in the UK, and is particularly common in elderly people.
If you have insomnia, you may:
• find it difficult to fall asleep
• lie awake for long periods at night
• wake up several times during the night
• wake up early in the morning and not be able to get back to sleep
• not feel refreshed when you get up
• find it hard to nap during the day, despite feeling tired
• feel tired and irritable during the day and have difficulty concentrating
Occasional episodes of insomnia may come and go without causing any serious problems, but for some people it can last for months or even years at a time.
Persistent insomnia can have a significant impact on your quality of life. It can limit what you're able to do during the day, affect your mood, and lead to relationship problems with friends, family and colleagues.
PARASOMNIAS (REM-SLEEP BEHAVIOUR DISORDERS)
RBD episodes occur during rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. Normal sleep consists of a series of REM dream episodes, that occur about every 1 ½ to 2 hours each night. This means that an RBD episode tends to first appear at least 1 ½ hours after falling asleep. Episodes may continue to occur until waking up in the morning. Active RBD episodes may appear as many as four times per night. They may also occur as rarely as once per week or per month. RBD does not normally appear during a nap.
RBD can be confused with sleepwalking and sleep terrors. In these other disorders, the sleeper is usually confused upon waking up and would not be alert. In contrast, it is normally easy to wake a person with RBD who is acting out a dream. Once awake, he or she is also able to recall clear details of the vivid dream.
The details of this dream match the unusual behaviour of an RBD episode. These actions may include any of the following:
• Shouting
• Swearing
• Flailing
• Grabbing
• Punching
• Kicking
• Jumping
• Leaping
An RBD episode often disrupts the sleep of a bed partner. This is how a person with RBD may become aware of the problem. People with RBD are not more aggressive or violent than others when awake. RBD is a medical problem
(source: uhnm.nhs.uk)
HYPERSOMNOLENCE (EXCESSIVE SLEEPINESS)
Idiopathic hypersomnia is an uncommon sleep disorder that causes you to be very sleepy during the day even after a full night of good sleep. Its cause is unknown. It also often causes difficulty waking up after you've been asleep. If you take a nap, you generally don't feel refreshed and you may wake up confused and disoriented.
The need to sleep can strike at any time, including when you're driving a car or working, which makes idiopathic hypersomnia potentially dangerous.
The condition often develops gradually. Diagnosing idiopathic hypersomnia requires ruling out more-common sleep disorders. The aim of treatment is to control symptoms with medication.
CIRCADIAN RHYTHM SLEEP / WAKE DISORDERS
Circadian rhythm sleep disorders (CRSD) are a family of sleep disorders affecting the timing of sleep. Circadian rhythm is the name given to your body’s 24-hour “internal clock.” This internal clock controls your body’s sleep-wake cycle.
Helping to “set your internal clock” during a 24-hour day is the visual cue of light – specifically, its brightness / type of light, amount of time exposed to light, and when exposed to light.
If you suffer from a circadian rhythm sleep disorder, you may not be able to sleep and wake at the times required for normal work, school and social needs. If you are allowed to sleep and wake at the times dictated by your own body clock, you are generally able to get enough sleep.
Sleep is usually of normal quality unless there is another sleep disorder present.
SLEEP-RELATED MOVEMENT DISORDERS (PERIODIC LIMB MOVEMENT DISORDER)
Periodic Limb Movement Disorder is repetitive cramping or jerking of the legs during sleep. It is the only movement disorder that occurs only during sleep, and it is sometimes called periodic leg (or limb) movements during sleep.
PLMD may occur with other sleep disorders. It is often linked with restless legs syndrome, but they are not the same thing (see RLS section)
PLMD can occur at any age and occurs in approximately 4% of adults. Like many sleep disorders, PLMD is more common in middle-aged and older people and female. It also occurs in shift workers and those who have irregular sleep patterns.
(source: uhnm.nhs.uk)
OTHER SLEEP DISORDERS
These types of sleep disorders do not fit into any of the other categories, such as disorders related to environmental disturbances