Undesirable disorders of behaviour or experience that occur during sleep or its specific stages, or during sleep-wake transitions
Aetiology
- Non-REM - most commonly found in children, but can recur in adults when under stress or suffering from a mood disorder
- REM - mainly affects men, predominantly in the sixth and seventh decades of life, often associated with neurodegenerative disorders
Clinical presentation
- Non-REM - non-dreaming e.g. confusion arousals, sleep walking, sleep terrors and paralysis
- REM - enactment of the experience of dreams during REM sleep e.g. kicking, punching, talking, sitting up
Management
- Non-REM - reassurance
- Children with night terrors, sleepwalking etc. usually grow out of it before adolescence
- REM - depends on the underlying cause; in patients in whom there is no underlying disorder, the symptoms are frequently amenable to medication
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