Types of Sleep Disorders & Their Symptoms

There are many types of sleep disorders. What follows is an overview of those that are most
common.

 Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome: People who are affected by advanced sleep
phase syndrome typically find themselves falling asleep in the early evening (6 to 9
p.m.), only to wake up again around midnight to 2 a.m., after which time they are
unable to fall back asleep. As a result, they are often tired throughout the day, and
prone to anxiety and depression, mood swings, and stress.
 Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome: People affected by this condition typically find
themselves chronically staying up to 3 or 4 in the morning, and are usually unable to
get up any earlier than 10 to 11 a.m. without experiencing daytime fatigue, memory
and cognition problems, and impaired physical functioning. Despite being tired
during the day, they are also unable to sleep again until well past midnight.
 Insomnia: Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. 58 percent of all American
adults suffer from insomnia at least one night per week. In people who work
nontraditional “9-5″ shifts the percentage rises to 66 percent. Insomnia is
characterized by difficulties falling or remaining asleep at night. The end result is
being tired and more prone to stress during the day. There are three types of
insomnia. Sleep-onset insomnia refers to insomnia that is characterized by
difficulty falling asleep once a person has gone to bed. Once sleep does occur (often
hours later), such people tend to sleep well for the rest of the night. Sleep-
maintenance insomniarefers to problems sleeping throughout the night. It is
characterized by waking up several times during the night, followed by difficulties
falling back to sleep each time. The last category of insomnia is known as early-
awakening insomnia. People who suffer from this condition routinely find
themselves waking up much earlier in the morning than they would like, so that they
fail to get enough sleep.
 Narcolepsy: This chronic sleep disorder affects people by causing them to fall
asleep during the day due to what can be characterized as “sleep attacks.” When a
sleep attack strikes, the person will fall asleep, sometimes for only a few seconds,
but other times for half an hour or more. In addition, the sleep attacks can occur
more than once throughout the day, even while a person is talking, eating, walking,
and working, and despite the person having had a good night’s sleep. Additional
symptoms of narcolepsy include cataplexy, a condition characterized by an abrupt,
temporary loss of muscle function; disorienting hallucinations; and sleep paralysis,
which can cause narcoleptic persons to temporarily become unable to move or talk.
Between 20 to 25 percent of all people with narcolepsy suffer from all four of the
above symptoms, while the majority of sufferers primarily only experience sleep
attacks.
 Night Terrors: Also known as sleep terrors, this condition causes people affected by
it to suffer from intense, nightmare-like experiences that can result in loud cries and
screams, agitated leaps out of bed, and running out of the bedroom. Night terrors
are not nightmares, however, and typically occur during non-dream stages of sleep.
Moreover, the people who suffer from them usually appear awake during the
experiences, though they are in fact still asleep. Symptoms of night terrors include
dilated pupils, heart palpitations, and intense sweating. The majority of cases occur
 among young children, yet an estimated one percent of all adults are also affected
by this condition.
 Periodic Limb Movements in Sleep (PLMS): PLMS is a sleep disorder that is
characterized by abrupt, involuntary, repetitive movements of the limbs, especially
the legs during sleep. It can occur at the beginning of the sleep cycle or later. During
episodes of PLMS, the limbs can jerk about every ten to 60 seconds and be
repeated for up to hundreds of times, leaving sufferers feeling tired during the day.
 REM Behavior Disorder (RBD): RBD is a sleep disorder that occurs during the
dream, or REM, sleep stage. People who suffer from RBD physically act out their
dreams while they are occurring without being aware that they are doing so. As they
dream, their bodies will often exhibit rhythmic movements, as well as jerking,
repetitive movements of the head and neck, and rocking motions in their torso and
limbs. Because people who suffer from RBD are unaware that their bodies are
physically engaged during their dreams, they fail to realize when their movements
can prove dangerous, such as head banging. In addition, because of their physical
exertions, they are usually tired during the day and may find parts of their bodies
bruised or cut as a result of RBD activity.
 Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS): Restless legs syndrome is characterized by
sensations of burning, itching, prickling, or tugging in the legs that occur while a
person is asleep or resting. In some cases, these sensations can also occur in the
arms. The end result is a feeling of discomfort that makes falling and remaining
asleep difficult because the sensations can often continue for extended periods
throughout the night.
 Sleep Apnea: Sleep apnea is a potentially serious health condition that is
characterized by periodic interruptions in the breathing process, forcing the sleeper
to awaken to gasp for air, often throughout the night. Each episode of interrupted
breathing can last for up to a minute, depleting the blood of oxygen and increasing
the supply of harmful carbon dioxide. This eventually causes the brain to signal a
need to wake up, resulting in the sleeper doing so briefly before falling back asleep
again—usually with a loud gasp—until the episode repeats itself. As many as thirty
such awakening episodes can occur each hour, although they usually go unnoticed
by the sleeper because of how brief they are. Because of the ongoing interrupted
sleep, people with this condition are often very tired or sleepy during the day, and
can also suffer from anxiety, depression, headaches (especially in the morning), high
blood pressure, heart attack, memory and cognition problems, and stroke. Caution:
Children who suffer from sleep apnea are also more susceptible to sudden infant
death syndrome (SIDS). If your child has sleep apnea, seek prompt medical care.
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