By: Gabi, Jessica, Jewel, Nathan,
Krystian
• also called sleep disorders, is the disorder of sleep patterns in
a person or animal. sleep disorders/ disturbances can be
anything from the grinding of teeth(Bruxism) to the inability to
fall asleep regularly, (insomnia). Sleep disturbances affect
about 10 percent of adult Americans . Most sleep disturbances
and disorders are self created
• Sleepwalkers arise during deep sleep, consists of stage nonrapid eye movement. when the sleepwalkers arise they are in a
state of low consciousness; In this state activities can range from
walking, talking and going to the bathroom or to hazardous
activities such as driving, violent gestures or cooking. most cases
of sleepwalking consist of repetitive, simple actions, with the
subject having no memories of the actions performed while
sleepwalking. Sleepwalking occurs mostly in children Causes and
treatments: Some factors that may cause sleepwalking include
lack of sleep, an irregular sleep schedule , illness, some
medications and stress. There are no specific treatments for
sleep walking, in most cases it can be sleepwalking can be
stopped by improving sleep conditions and schedules
• Sleep apnea a disorder that has characteristics that cause pauses in
breathing or infrequent shallow breathing. Many people with sleep
apnea do not realize that they have the disorder, as it is
undetectable in blood test and requires multiple routine office
checkups. People with sleep apnea show signs of excessive sleepiness
and fatigue during the daytime because when the patient stops
breathing they often go from deep sleep to light sleep many times a
night. Causes and treatments: Factors include having a small upper
airway, large tongues and tonsils, smoking and being overweight. If
the sleep apnea is caused by factors such as smoking or being
overweight, you can lose weight or quit smoking. you can also get a
“Continuous positive airway pressure device” or CPAP, which is a mask
that fits over the nose and mouth and keeps airways open by gently
blowing air.
• Insomnia is a sleep disruption/disorder which causes people to have
the inability to fall asleep, or stay asleep at desired times. The
condition can be short term(below 3 weeks) or long term (longer than
3 weeks); Long term insomnia can lead to depression, increased risk
at heart disease, memory loss and many other problems. People with
insomnia often don't feel refreshed when they wake up, they often
feel fatigue throughout the day Causes and treatments: some factors
include extreme stress, emotional disorders, traumatic life
experiences, frequent traveling, certain medical conditions and
changes in lifestyle and work hours. treatments include therapy can
be used if the cause of insomnia is psychological, Training your sleep
routine and schedule. Medication can also be used to treat insomnia.
common drugs are benzodiazepines and hypnotics, but these drugs
can easily be abused and should only be used short term.
• Narcolepsy is a chronic neurological disorder that affects the part of the
brain that regulates sleep. Narcolepsy causes sudden sleep episodes and/or
excessive daytime sleepiness; Cataplexy is one of the most common
symptoms, it causes the individual to suddenly lose control of muscles, and it
is normally triggered by strong emotions, for example laughing. Narcolepsy
is very dangerous as it can put victims in very unsafe predicaments; sudden
sleep or Cataplexy can happen when an individual is performing activities
that require the patients full attention. Causes and treatments: Scientist do
not exactly know what causes Narcolepsy, researchers have suggested that
there is a genetic role in the disorder. There are no cures for narcolepsy yet,
but there are many treatments to help with the symptoms of narcolepsy.
Stimulants such as modafinil are used to promote alertness and wakefulness
.Sodium oxybate (Xyrem) is used if a patient has severe cataplexy issues;
Sodium oxybate is also known as GHB or the "date rape drug", but is safe if
used responsibly to help promote sleeping which would help with day time
sleepiness.
• Do you…
• feel irritable or sleepy during the day?
• have difficulty staying awake when sitting still, watching
television or reading?
• fall asleep or feel very tired while driving?
• have difficulty concentrating?
• often get told by others that you look tired?
• react slowly?
• have trouble controlling your emotions?
• feel like you have to take a nap almost every day?
• require caffeinated beverages to keep yourself going?
• Sleep problems can be cause by many different factors
• The body’s natural cycle of sleeping/waking is disrupted or
exaggerated
• Physical disturbances (pain from ulcers)
• Medical Issues (asthma)
• Psychiatric disorders (depression, anxiety)
• Environmental issues (alcohol use)
• Try to sleep/get up the same time everyday
• Try not to take naps during the day
• Exercise regularly, but not too close to your bedtime (can make
it hard to fall asleep)
• Don’t eat heavy meals late in the day
• If you are worrying about things, try to avoid focusing on those
• If you can’t fall asleep – get up/read/ or do something not
over stimulating until you feel sleepy
• A group of researchers from Stanford University, studied sleep
walking by doing a test. This was led by a researcher named Maurice
Ohayon. They found out that sleepwalking is far more common in
children than it is in adults. However, it was still pretty common in
adults so the main study they wanted to do was to find out whether
medical conditions provoked sleep walking or was it vice versa. These
medical conditions include clinical depression, alcoholism, and
obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Another neurologist named Gayatri Devi did a cross-sectional study
that assessed the prevalence of nocturnal walking. He found out that
it is better to leave a person who is sleep walking alone as long as
they are safe. Or, if possible guide them toward their bed but do not
wake them.
• A group of researchers from the Sleep Foundation help people
with their sleeping disturbances. One of them is sleep talking.
They study this disturbance and have found out that it could be
caused by many things such as medical conditions, sleep
deprivation, or it could simply run in the family. When people
sleep talk it is either about nothing in particular or it could
relate to past experiences.
• A neurologist and sleep disorder specialist named James
Weintraub has studied sleep apnea. This is when you tend to
snore loudly during the night, and have periods where you stop
breathing. He figured out that sleep apnea can cause medical
problems such as hypertension and it was most common in
middle-aged men. However, even though this is a serious
sleeping disorder, he found it could be successfully treated.
Nasal CPAP (continuous positive air pressure) & medication such
as tricyclic antidepressants are helpful.
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• Sleep insomnia is when you have problems with falling asleep or staying asleep.
A psychiatry professor at University of California at San Francisco did some
research on sleep insomnia and her along with other researchers did an
experiment about it. They took a large sample of veterans and came to the
conclusion that veterans with sleep disorders were 30% more likely to suffer
dementia than those without any disturbances.
• Another researcher named Alan Douglass studied sleep insomnia and found that
it is usually associated with depression, anxiety, or bipolar spectrum disorders.
He has a clinic that treats insomnia. He does research about REM (rapid eye
movement) sleep and creates tests that predict treatment response in patients
that suffer this problem.
• There is also a group of psychiatrists that have studied sleep insomnia and have
found out that it is treatable. There are medications for this, however they found
out that the medications do not work for very long. A good way to get rid of
sleep insomnia is to go through psychological treatments. These include cognitive
therapy, stimulus control, sleep restriction, and progressive muscle relaxation.
• A family decided to go the whole month of February without using
artificial lights (TV, electric lights, and computer) to see how these
lights affect our sleeping patterns and schedule. They chose February
because it was the month with the shortest days and longest nights.
Within the first week of the experiment they noticed they were going
to sleep much earlier from their usual which was midnight. They had
random spouts of joy throughout the day and they began to dream
more vividly and could remember them better. There day started
earlier and felt well rested. The downside to this experiment was they
were less productive as it was difficult to work at night without being
able to see clearly. In conclusion artificial light disrupts our circadian
rhythms, prevents the production of melatonin, increases the risk of
certain cancers including breast cancer and prostate cancer, and can
generally wreak havoc with our health.
• Two groups of six, one with patients diagnosed with
sleepwalking and other diagnosed with night terrors were to
take three questionnaires; Eysench personality quiz, the hostility
and direction quiz, and the Crown Crisp experimental index.
The goal of this study was to find some personality and
psychoneurotic characteristics of adults with sleep walking and
night terrors. The results showed both groups scored high on the
Crown Crisp quiz but the sleepwalkers scored higher on the
Eysench personality quiz while the night terror group scored
higher on the hostility and direction quiz. The conclusion was the
physiological and psychological factors of the patients possibly
reflected different scored the two groups had.
• Studies show that 1/3 adults at some point in their life are
affected with sleepwalking
• General Population – 1%-15%
• Some triggers – sleep deprivation, sedative agents (alcohol),
certain medications, febrile illnesses
• Common in adulthood, usually not associated with significant
underlying psychiatric/psychological problems
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Affects people at any stage in life
Affects up to 10-15 out of 100 adults
More common in women and older people (usually over 60)
About 20/100 children are affected
People who have emotional stress, history of mental health
disorders, work late night shifts, travel through different times
zone are at a higher chance being affected
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
estimates 1/2000 people are affected
• Some countries its lower (Israel) 1/500,000 affected
• Some countries its higher (Japan) 1/600 people affected
• The American Sleep Association estimates 125,00 to 200,000
Americans are affected
• Fewer than 50,000 are properly diagnosed
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Obstructive Sleep Apnea:
1/5 American adults have mild OSA (approx 40 million people)
One-third of 40 million have moderate/severe sleep apnea
Men are 2-3 times more likely to have it
Its more common in women when they reach menopause
OSA is linked to body weight in many people
An overweight person is more likely to develop OSA
People can develop OSA at any age
• Central Sleep Apnea
• Most commonly found in people with heart failure
• 40%-60% people with heart failure have central sleep apnea
• Causes: Genetic factors; occur more in identical twins, 10 times more
likely to happen as a first-degree relative Environmental factors;
Sleep deprivation, chaotic sleep schedules, fever, stress, alcohol
intoxication Drugs; sedative/hypnotics (drugs that promote sleep),
neuroleptics (drugs used to treat psychosis), small tranquilizers (drugs
that produce a calming effect), stimulants (drugs that increase
activity), and antihistamines (drugs used to treat symptoms of allergy)
Physiologic factors; length and depth of slow wave sleep ( greater in
young children), pregnancy and menstruation Medical conditions;
Fever, Gastro esophageal reflux (food or liquid regurgitating from
the stomach into the esophagus), Nighttime asthma , Obstructive sleep
apnea (breathing stops temporarily while sleeping)
• Prevention; Limit stress, Avoid alcohol intake, Avoid sleep deprivation
• Causes include; Jet lag, Changes in shift work, unpleasant noise,
Uncomfortable room temperature (too hot or too cold), Stressful
situations in life (studying for an exam, loss of a loved one,
divorce), Withdrawal from drugs or alcohol, Uncontrolled
physical symptoms (such as pain, fever, nasal congestion, cough,
diarrhea)
• Prevention; relax, Control your environment, have a bedtime
routine, Avoid large meals, avoid napping
• Sleep apnea is divided into two groups; primary (no underlying
cause) and secondary (consequence of another condition).
Causes of central sleep apnea include: strokes, heart failure,
certain medications, some congenital abnormalities, or high
altitude.
• Prevention; may be limited, behavioral approaches such as
weight loss, smoking cessation, regular exercise, avoidance of
excessive alcohol intake and drug use, and proper sleep
hygiene
• http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-disorders-problems/abnormal-sleepbehaviors/sleepwalking
• http://www.helpguide.org/articles/sleep/sleep-disorders-and-sleepingproblems.htm
• http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/sleep-disorders-causes
• http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/preventing-sleep-problems
• http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/how-common-is-insomnia
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insomnia
• http://answers.webmd.com/answers/1176108/how-common-is-narcolepsy
• http://www.apneos.com/whogets.html
• http://www.emedicinehealth.com/sleepwalking/page2_em.htm
• http://www.emedicinehealth.com/insomnia/page2_em.htm#insomnia_cause
s
• http://www.emedicinehealth.com/obstructive_and_central_sleep_apnea/p
age2_em.htm#sleep_apnea_causes
• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1662124/
• http://jdmoyer.com/2010/03/04/sleep-experiment-a-month-with-noartificial-light/
• http://www.helpguide.org http://www.healthline.com/health/insomnia
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sleepapnea/
• http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-disorders-problems/sleep-apnea
http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-disorders-problems/abnormal-sleepbehaviors/sleepwalking
http://www.helpguide.org/articles/sleep/narcolepsy.htm
• http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-science-ofsleepwalking-97626685/
• http://sleepfoundation.org/sleep-disorders-problems/sleep-talking
• http://www.headache-help.org/sleep-disorders-and-headache
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/sleep-disordersmay-raise-risk-of-alzheimers-new-research-shows/2014/07/13/acce3d9e0a09-11e4-a0dd-f2b22a257353_story.html
• http://www.imhr.ca/research/sleep-disorders-e.cfm
• http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinfoforall/problems/sleepproblems/s
leepingwell.aspx