You may know someone that seems to sleep easy during the night, but unbeknownst to you they are getting up during the night and attacking the refrigerator. This phenomenon is known as a sleep-related eating disorder, a parasomnia, that usually happens because of other sleep or eating disorders. Nocturnal eaters while asleep or half-asleep have little or no recall of the episode the next day other than the mess in the kitchen or a few extra pounds around their middle. Episodes may happen gradually at first then more frequent and can include hazardous activities like using knives or the oven. Eating fatting carbohydrates or sugars are their usual fare, but it is also known that they will try to eat non-foods or raw foods like frozen/raw meat or even animal food. Read more »
Sleepwalking a Parasomnia is a Sleep Disorder
Sleepwalking a parasomnia is a sleep disorder also known as somnambulism. A sleepwalker will get out of bed during the slow wave sleep stage 4 or NREM in a state of low consciousness and perform activities they usually carry out when fully awake. According to sleep specialists, sleepwalkers may fall asleep easy but may act out these activities that include sitting up in bed, walking, eating and may involve dangerous actions like driving, cooking, grabbing sharp objects, eating nonfoods and even fall to their death between the hours of 11pm and 1am. A parasomnia, like confusional arousals, is an unwanted movement or physical episode that happens during sleep or just upon awakening. Sleepwalkers tend to be children, ages of 8-12 that are known to eventually outgrow this disorder. It does run in families and if a parent experiences a parasomnia then their children are 10 times more likely to suffer from a similar one. Read more »
Confusional Arousals a Parasomnia is a Sleep Disorder
Recently I wrote about Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavioral Disorder in which I talked about parasomnias and what they were. Confusional Arousals, a parasomnia, is a sleep disorder that causes a person to yell or thrash about in bed while they are asleep. Sometimes confusional arousals are referred to as sleep drunkenness or severe morning sleep inertia, but confusional arousals occur during the night and severe morning sleep inertia happens upon wakening. Both cause the person to react very slowly to stimulation and if they do wake, they will have a hard time understanding what is happening to them. Trying to calm a person in this state can be difficult because it is very hard to waken them until the arousal is over, then they can be calmed to fall back to sleep easy. Symptoms include slow speech, confused thinking, poor memory or short response to questions and requests. These events can last a few minutes to a few hours. Read more »
Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Behavior Disorder RBD
Rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder RBD is a parasomnia that causes abnormal behavior during the rapid eye movement sleep phase (REM). Wikipedia defined a parasomnia that is categorized as a sleep disorder involving abnormal and unnatural movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions and dreams that occur while falling asleep easy, sleeping, between sleep stages (NREM or REM), or during arousal from sleep. Read more »
Sleep Aide: Acupuncture
Ancient medication uses hair like thin needles known as acupuncture which is a safe and natural way to cure illness, prevent disease and improve general well-being. These thin needles are placed into specific points in the body to trigger a healing response. Acupuncture has become a popular alternative therapy for a variety of ailments from headaches, arthritis, digestive problems, infertility and even as a sleep aide for those with sleep disorders such as narcolepsy or sleep walking. Read more »