Parasomnia – What it is, Causes and Symptoms
Parasomnia – What it is, Causes and Symptoms . In addition, Parasomnia is a behavioral disorder caused or exaggerated by sleep, apart from sleep apnea. Parasomnia is a category of sleep disorders that involve abnormal movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur when falling asleep, waking up, or during sleep, particularly aroused sleep .
Some Parasomnias are more common during childhood and decrease with age. Parasomnia can range from innocuous to dramatic events, especially if associated with dreams or hallucinations.
Parasomnia is defined as abnormal nocturnal manifestations during sleep, in the form of movements, which lead to sleep interruption. Parasomnia is more common in children than adults. Examples of Parasomnia are sleepwalking, soliloquy, night terrors, nocturnal enuresis, confusional state on awakening, REM sleep behavior disorder (dreaming period), nightmares, sleep paralysis, hypnagogic hallucinations and bruxism.
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Symptoms of Parasomnia:
Sleepwalking: Sleepwalking is characterized by performing well-coordinated motor activities such as walking, eating, changing clothes, driving, or writing a letter, even though the individual is asleep and does not remember anything after waking up.
Night Dread: Night fright is perhaps the best-studied of the sleep disorders. It occurs most often in a child, but can also happen in an adult. About thirty minutes after the onset of sleep the person sits up in bed, screams and sweats and has a terrified expression.
Nocturnal Enuresis : Nocturnal enuresis is a more frequent disorder in emotionally disturbed children. It is more common in boys than in girls, but it can also occur in young adults or the elderly. Sometimes it has organic causes such as diabetes, cystitis, urinary tract anomalies, epilepsy, etc.
Restless Legs Syndrome: Restless Legs Syndrome is a disorder that causes an uncontrollable urge to move the legs. There is an unpleasant feeling in the legs that improves when moving them. Occasionally, this same disorder happens when at rest and can make it difficult to sleep.
Eating Disorders During Sleep: Eating disorders that occur during sleep are a combination of a Parasomnia and an eating disorder. It is considered as a specific category of sleepwalking linked to a person’s conscious desires.
Confusional Arousals: Confusional arousals are more common in infants and children, starting with large amounts of moving and moaning, which may later progress to occasional fussing, confusion, and inconsolable crying.
Usually the person remains in bed, sitting up, and then goes back to sleep.
Causes of Parasomnia: Parasomnia has different causes, but they all have in common the fact that they occur or are exacerbated during sleep. They almost always have a positive family history, showing a genetic etiology, but they can also be motivated by brain injuries.
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Parasomnia is rarely linked to a psychiatric disorder and many of them are left with unclear causes.