Sleep Disorder Resource Guide

There are many kinds of sleep disorders. Some of them are relatively harmless disorders like sleep talking, where people start speaking when they are still asleep. Then there are some sleep disorders that are serious, even life changing. Some disorders cause people to fall asleep, without warning. There are some that cause people to sleep too much or not enough. Here’s a sleep disorder resource guide.

• Bruxism: Bruxism is better known as teeth-grinding. Usually related to stress, it occurs at night and it can cause mouth pain or serious dental problems.
• Cataplexy: Cataplexy is a rather unusual disorder in which the body suddenly loses muscle tone, usually triggered by an intense emotion. This disorder is commonly linked to the disorder narcolepsy.
• Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS): DSPS is a disorder that is diagnosed when someone experiences a persistent interruption to the body’s natural circadian rhythm. The person often falls asleep after midnight, finding it difficult to wake up in the morning.
• Hypersomnia: Hypersomnia is a disorder that is the exact opposite of insomnia. It occurs when people sleep too much. Unlike narcolepsy, there are no sudden attacks of sleep and the sleep pattern is normal, except for its duration.
• Insomnia: Insomnia is diagnosed when one has a persistent problem with falling asleep or staying asleep, for no apparent reason. Insomnia is most often caused by some psychological issue like depression or stress.
• Narcolepsy: Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that causes sleepiness during the day, often to the point where someone falls asleep without warning or experiences “sleep attacks.” There is no cure for this disorder and controlling it can be difficult.
• Nocturia: Nocturia is a disorder related to passing urine. Diagnosed when someone awakes from sleep at night to pass urine, it can also be a sign of a more serious disease within the systemic system.
• Nocturnal Enuresis: Nocturnal enuresis is better known as bedwetting. This disorder occurs most often in people who experience very deep sleep, more often than most. Their brain doesn’t register their bladder’s signal that it’s full and needs to be emptied, before it’s released.
• Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when there is a decrease or halt in airflow, despite the body’s natural effort to breathe. The body’s muscles relax and the soft tissues in the back of the throat collapse, blocking the upper airway.
• Parasomnias: Parasomnias disorders are a series of disorders that are characterized by undesirable movements (sleeping, talking, etc), that occur in association with sleep. It can be divided into two separate groups: primary parasomnias and secondary ones. Primary parasomnias occur when people are either awake or asleep while secondary parasomnias occur only during sleep.
• Rapid Eye Movement Behavior Disorder (RBD): This disorder happens to people whose muscles are not paralyzed during the REM cycle of sleep as is the norm. Patients with this disorder often act out their dreams where they walk, talk, and can even become violent.
• Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS): Restless leg syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes someone to have the undeniable urge to move their legs. It often occurs at night and keeps sufferers from sleeping.
• Somnambulism: This disorder, more commonly known as sleepwalking, originates from deep sleep. It causes a person to actually get up and walk or perform other complex tasks, all while they are completely asleep. It’s more common in children under 12 and in those people who are sleep deprived.
• Somniphobia: Like all phobias, somniphobia is an irrational fear, in this case, the fear of falling asleep. This fear is persistent and so strong that people will often go for days without falling asleep.
• Sexsomnia: Sexsomnia is a disorder that causes people who are asleep to engage in sexual acts. These acts can be anything from fondling themselves or others to full-on intercourse and even rape in some cases. It’s more common in people who also suffer from somnambulism.
• Sleep Paralysis: Sleep paralysis is a very frightening sleep disorder that is characterized by someone waking up and finding that they cannot move their body. They feel completely awake but their muscles are still in the paralysis that brain induces during the REM cycle.
• Snoring: Snoring is an extremely common disorder that occurs when people sleep and their breathing becomes obstructed, causing them to breathe loudly through their mouth. It’s more common in those who are overweight or have other health problems.
• Somniloquy: Somniloquy is a sleep disorder wherein people talk in their sleep. The term literally means “sleep talking.” This disorder occurs at any point in the sleep cycle so people may have entire clear conversations in their sleep.