Information on Sleep Disorders

A Sleep Disorder is a medical problem that occurs during sleep.

Are you sleepy? Are you having a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep? Do you do 'weird' things in the night?

If you answered 'Yes' to any of these, you might be suffering from a sleep disorder, also called as somnipathy. It is a medical disorder relating to sleep and wake patterns. While there are some common disorders that usually don't interfere with general health, there are also those that can significantly affect physical, social, emotional, economic, and mental functioning of an individual. There are many types of sleep disorders. Here, we will just touch the surface of sleep heath and sleep disorders that can cause daytime sleepiness.

Types of sleep disorders

Dyssomnias

This category of sleep disorder is characterized either by insomnia or hypersomnia. The major factors involved are environmental conditions, internal body mechanism and disruptions in the circadian rhythm. Also, it includes Sleep Disordered Breathing such as snoring, sleep apnea, restless leg, upper airway syndrome, restless leg syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder.

Parasomnias

This category entails abnormal behaviors, movements, perceptions, dreams and emotions that are associated with sleep. Examples include bedwetting, bruxism, exploding head syndrome, sleep terror, sleep walking and sleep talking.

Sleep Related Breathing Disorders

See Sleep Apnea Section.

Psychiatric or medical conditions

Mood disorders, anxiety, panic, depression and alcoholism are included in this category. It also includes sleeping sickness, a parasitic sleep disease which can be caused by Tsetse flies.

Rapid Eye Movement

Rapid Eye Movement is common during sleep. REM sleep is one of the five stages of sleep. It is characterized by fast, random eye movements and muscle paralysis.

Other sleep disorders: