Sleep Disorders

Glossary

"The golden chain that ties health and our bodies together" - Thomas Dekker

Parasomnias

Parasomnias are disorders of arousal or the interface between sleep and waking. Parasomnias may be induced or exacerbated by sleep but they are not disorders of the sleep stages as dyssomnias are.

Parasomnias include movements or behaviors that may impair sleep continuance, associated with sleep, sleep stages, or partial arousals from sleep. Parasomnias can be divided into four groups of disorders

arousal disorders
sleep-wake transition disorders
REM sleep behavior disorders
nonspecific parasomnias

These parasomnias encompass arousals with abnormal motor activity (i.e. uncontrollable violent behavior), behavioral experiences (i.e. sleep walking), or sensory experiences (i.e. dreamlike hallucinations). Parasomnias are more common in children; frequency decreases with age; the reported prevalence of parasomnias is approximately 4% in the adult population.

Nocturnal Leg Cramps

Myoclonus

Somniloquy

Rhythmic Movement Disorder

Sleep Paralysis

Hypnogogia

Sleepwalking or Somnambulism

Night Terrors

Sleep-onset Association Disorder

Catathrenia (groaning during sleep) is sometimes called a parasmonia, although it could also be considered a feature of sleep-disordered breathing.

Bruxism

Others

Trichotillomania - the impluse control disorder that causes people to pull their own hair out - has been proposed as a parasomnia - when the patient does it while asleep. The American Academy

Although these undesirable physical and behavioral incidents and actions during sleep can be worrying and occasionally hazardous to the sleeper, you should remember that frequent or particularly dramatic parasomnias are diagnosable and treatable in most cases. The effective therapy in most cases is medication with long- or medium-acting benzodiazepine, such as clonazepam, taken at night before sleep.

Epidemiology

Parasomnia occur more frequently in kids than in adults. Indeed, over 80% of preschool-age children experience parasomnia events. Some pyschologists associate parasmonias in young (preschool) children with separation anxiety, and most experts feel there is a genetic basis, too.

The prevalence of parasomnias is estimated at 4% in the general adult population. Epidemiology studies estimate the occurrence of parasomnias according to parameters as age, gender and the co-morbidity of existing medical conditions. The findings in these epidemiology studies show an even higher prevalence in association to these parameters.