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Sleep Anomalies

Hypnic Jerk (myoclonic twitch)

This is an involuntary muscle twitch which occurs during the transition into sleep. It is often described as an electric shock (or a falling sensation), and can cause movement of the body in bed. Hypnic jerks are experienced by most people, especially when exhausted or sleeping uncomfortably.

Hypnic jerks are usually felt once or twice per night. More regular, and usually less intense, hypnic jerks often occur during normal sleep. The person with the disorder will usually sleep through the events. When a person is deprived of sleep and is trying to fight sleep, hypnic jerks can occur more often. This normally happens to subjects who have deprived themselves of sleep for longer than 24 hours, or to those who have recently woken up from insufficient amounts of sleep.

Sleepwalking (somnambulism)

This is also called , and is a sleep disorder where the person engages in activities that are normally associated with wakefulness while he or she is asleep or in a sleeplike state. Sleepwalking is usually defined by, or involves the person affected apparently shifting from his or her prior sleeping position and moving around and performing normal actions as if awake (cleaning, walking and other activities). Sleepwalkers are not conscious of their actions on a level where memory of the sleepwalking episode can be recalled, and because of this, unless the sleepwalker is woken or aroused by someone else, this sleep disorder can go unnoticed. Sleepwalking is more commonly experienced in people with high levels of stress, anxiety or other psychological factors and in people with a family history, or sometimes a combination of both.

A common misconception is that sleepwalking is an individual acting out the physical movements within a dream, but, in fact, sleepwalking occurs earlier in the night when rapid eye movement (REM), or the "dream stage" of sleep, has not yet occurred. A majority of people move their legs while sleeping; however, sleepwalking occurs when both legs move in synchronization, which is much less common.

Sleepwalking generally occurs when an individual awakes suddenly from slow wave sleep (SWS, sometimes referred to as "deep sleep"), causing the sleepwalking episode. In children and young adults, up to 25% of the night is spent in SWS. However this decreases as the person ages until none can be measured in the geriatric individual. For this reason, children and young adults (or anyone else with a high amount of SWS), are more likely to be woken up and, for the same reasons, they are witnessed to have many more episodes than the older individuals.

Somniloquy (sleep-talking)

This behavior manifests as talking aloud in one's sleep. It can be quite loud, ranging from simple sounds to long speeches, and can occur many times during sleep. Listeners may or may not be able to understand what the person is saying.

Sleep-talking usually occurs during transitory arousals from REM sleep. It can also occur during non-REM sleep, at which time it represents a motor breakthrough of dream speech, words spoken in a dream are spoken out loud.

Rhythmic Movement Disorder

This is a condition characterized by repetitive banging or rocking motions just before and during light sleep. This condition occurs primarily in infants and young children, although adults can be affected as well. While rarely harmful, it can be alarming or confusing to parents or others who witness it occurring. The symptoms of this condition are characterized by repetitive movements of certain areas of the body, usually the head and neck.

Bruxism

Consists of a grinding of the teeth, typically accompanied by the clenching of the jaw. It is an oral parafunctional activity that occurs in most humans. Bruxism is caused by the activation of reflex chewing activity; it is not a learned habit. Chewing is a complex neuromuscular activity that is controlled by reflex nerve pathways, with higher control by the brain. During sleep, the reflex part is active while the higher control is inactive, resulting in bruxism. In most people, bruxism is mild enough not to be a health problem; however, some people suffer from significant bruxism that can become symptomatic.

Bruxism often occurs during sleep and can even occur during short naps. Bruxism is one of the most common sleep disorders: 30 to 40 million Americans grind their teeth on a nightly basis. Bruxism can cause indentations in the teeth, wear of the biting surface, abfractions (the loss of tooth structure from flexural forces) and cracks in the teeth.

In a typical case, the canines and incisors are moved against each other laterally. This lateral movement abrades tooth enamel, removing the sharp biting surfaces and flattening the edges of the teeth. People with bruxism sometimes also grind the molars together, which can be loud enough to wake a sleeping partner. Some will clench without significant side-to-side jaw movement. Given enough time, dental damage will usually occur.

Over time, the action of bruxism shortens and blunts the teeth being ground, and may lead to myofacial muscle pain and headaches. In severe, chronic cases, it can lead to arthritis of the temporomandibular joints (the joints of the jaw). Most people are not aware of their bruxism and only 5 to 10 percent go on to develop symptoms such as jaw pain and headache. Teeth hollowed by previous decay may collapse, as the pressure exerted by bruxism on the teeth is extraordinarily high.

Exploding Head Syndrome (auditory sleep starts)

This condition causes the sufferer to occasionally experience a tremendously loud noise as if from within his or her own head, usually described as an explosion, roar or a ringing noise. This usually occurs within an hour or two of falling asleep, but is not the result of a dream. Although perceived as tremendously loud, the noise is usually not accompanied by pain.

Attacks appear to increase and decrease in frequency over time, with several attacks occurring in a space of days or weeks followed by months of remission. Sufferers often feel a sense of fear and anxiety after an attack, accompanied by elevated heart rate. Attacks are also often accompanied by perceived flashes of light. The condition is not thought to be dangerous, although it is sometimes distressing to experience.

The cause of exploding head syndrome is not known, though some physicians have reported a correlation with stress or extreme fatigue. The condition may develop at any time during life and women are slightly more likely to suffer from it than men. Attacks can be one-time events, or can recur.

The mechanism is also not known, though possibilities have been suggested; one is that it may be the result of a sudden movement of a middle ear component or of the eustachian tube, another is that it may be the result of a form of minor seizure in the temporal lobe where the nerve cells for hearing are located.

Source: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org)

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