Sleepwalking is often portrayed in movies, on television, and even homemade Youtube clips in either one of two lights: hilariously funny or supernaturally terrifying. But for the sleepwalkers themselves and the loved ones they share a home with, the reality of sleepwalking may be found somewhere in the middle.
Topics: sleep disorders, parasomnia
Parasomnias are a group of sleep disorders in which something goes awry with a person’s sleep cycle.
If you break down the word “parasomnia,” you get “para,” which can mean abnormal or incorrect, “somnia,” which, of course, means sleep. Indeed, something is not normal or correct with the sleep of a parsomnia sufferer.
Parasomnias are oftened referred by those in the sleep medicine field as those things that go "Bump in the Night" since many are associated with some type of movement during sleep.
Outside of sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and periodic limb movement disorder, many disruptive sleep disorders can be considered a parasomnia. And most of them can lead to sleep deprivation—after all, even if you get the ideal 7-9 hours of sleep, the quality of those hours can be diminished if your sleep cycle is interrupted. Here are six common parasomnias that afflict sleepers:
Topics: sleep apnea, sleep disorders, parasomnia, night terrors, nightmares
