Parasomnia

What is it?
Parasomnias are sleep disorders in which a person's behavior is affected by specific sleep stages or by the transition between sleeping and waking. There are four main categories of parasomnias:

1. Arousal disorders occur when a person is in a state of partial wakefulness. The person will act out a behavior, but will not remember the activity when he is fully awake. Examples include:

Sleepwalking - moving around the house, or even outside, without being aware you are doing it

Confusion arousal - crying and thrashing around in bed, being confused and upset, and not wanting to be awakened (common in infants)

Sleep terrors - screaming and shouting, having a racing heart beat, sweating, and being extremely agitated

Sleep eating - like sleepwalking, but includes eating

2. Sleep-wake transition disorders occur when a person is either in the process of falling asleep or waking up. Examples include:

Rhythmic-movement disorder - banging the body around, especially the head

Sleep starts - the body jerks around; may be brought on by a sensation of falling caused by a vivid dream

Nocturnal leg cramps - Painful feelings in the legs or feet

Talking in one's sleep

3. REM associated disorders occur when a person is in REM sleep (the period of deep sleep during which a person dreams). Examples include:

Nightmares - bad dreams that cause a person to wake up

Sleep paralysis - not being able to move certain parts of the body during sleep

Painful erections - sleep-related, painful erections

Behavior disorder - acting out parts of a dream

4. Other parasomnia disorders include:

• Teeth grinding
• Bed wetting
• Seizures
• Choking
• Snoring
• Sudden death syndrome
• Breathing cessation

What are the causes?
Often, parasomnias have no explained cause, particularly when they occur in children. Other times, they can be caused by stress, lack of sleep, depression or certain medications.

What are the signs and symptoms?
A bed partner can usually tell if a person is having episodes of parasomnia behaviors. For instance, the bed partner may observe the person talking in his sleep, awakening due to nightmares, sleepwalking or having unusual body movements during sleep.

In cases of severe parasomnia, injury may occur when a person decides to act out a dream or gets out of bed and moves around.

How is it diagnosed?
A specific parasomnia can be diagnosed after a routine physical and discussion with a physician.

Tests can be conducted at Sleepcare Diagnostics to diagnose whether the parasomnia needs medical treatment.

How is it treated?
If a parasomnia behavior is present in infants or children, it will probably pass in time. In adults, medical treatment is often necessary.
Many of the behaviors can be treated with prescription drugs. Others types of treatment include behavior therapy and sleep reconditioning.

Certain precautions can be taken to reduce the risk of injury caused by a parasomnia behavior, such as:
Clearing a path in areas where a person often is found sleepwalking
Locking doors and windows
Installing alarms on doors and windows

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