The Most Interesting Sleep Disorders
Sleeping is extremely beneficial for the human body, both from a physical point of view and from a psychological point of view as well. It is the moment when both our body and our mind relax; it is the moment when the body repairs itself. Or at least it should be. There are many sleep disorder which can make this peaceful experience very scary. There are some of these disorders which seem more suitable in a horror movie than in real life.
The nightmare disorder is one of the most common types of sleeping disorders. Each person has had at least one nightmare. Whether you are chased by a person, or whether you find yourself in an embarrassing situation, the nightmares can be very harsh and waking up from them is a huge relief. The people who suffer from nightmare disorders experience the nightmares with much difficulty, and they wake up from the sleep sweaty and have vivid memories about what they just experienced. The nightmares can be so bad for these people that they can be afraid of going to sleep. It has been discovered that stress and sleep depravation can cause nightmares.
Another common sleep disorder is sleepwalking. It has been discovered that 15 percent of the adults suffer from this condition. They simply get out of bed at night, and start to walk without realizing it. It is unknown what causes sleepwalking, but it is believed that stress can play a huge role in it. Genetics plays a huge role as well; because it has been proven that the direct relatives of the ones who suffer from sleepwalking have very high chances of suffering from this disorder as well. A common misconception about sleepwalking is that the ones who suffer from it move in a zombie-like manner when they are sleeping. The movies and the cartoons have all presented the people with their hands upfront and moving very slowly when they sleep walk. In reality the sleepwalkers move with the same ease they move when they are not dreaming. The sleepwalkers will not do any harm to the people around them, but the activity can be very dangerous for the people who suffer from it because they can get themselves hurt.
The night terrors can be extremely difficult to cope with both for the ones who suffer from them as well as for the other persons who live in the house. Similar to the nightmares, the night terrors will leave the one who suffers from them, screaming and sweaty. However there is a difference between night terrors and nightmares. The main difference between nightmares and night terrors is the fact that the later occur in early in the night, during non-REM sleep. The person, who suffers from it, will often suddenly sit upright with their eyes opened, they will start to scream, and they can be woken up with much difficulty. Night terrors are often accompanied by sleepwalking, and they often occur amongst children and teenagers. There are cases when the person is “awake” for 15 minutes, and only then he will go back to sleep. When they wake up usually they do not remember anything about the night terrors.
The Sleepy hallucinations can be extremely difficult to deal with. We have all had hallucinations in our dreams, but the ones who suffer from this condition have hallucinations even when they are awake. They can have hypnagogic hallucinations, which occur when the body is in the transition from wakefulness to sleep, or they can have the hypnopompic hallucinations which occur right after the person wakes up. People who suffer from these hallucinations stated that they often hear voice, or see foreign objects or people in the room.
Another sleep disorder is the explosive head disorder, and even if it sounds very dangerous, in reality it isn’t. The people who suffer from it usually wake up from their sleep because they hear sharp noises, or explosion-like noises. The noises are not painful or dangerous for the one who hears them; all they do is wake up that person. The doctors do not know why does the syndrome occur, but they do not know that it is not related with any illness.
One of the most frightening sleep disorders is the sleep paralysis. While we are in the REM sleep, our muscles become immobile because the dream activity is very high. This is a defense mechanism; the body simply shuts down the muscle in order to protect us from hurting ourselves while we are sleeping. The problem is that the paralysis can sometimes occur even after the person has woken up, and that can be very scary. What makes this disorder even more frightening is the fact that it is often accompanied by the sleep hallucinations. Because of that the person might be immobile and he might see and hear certain things. The problems get even worse because in 75 percent of the cases the hallucinations are very bad, as the people often see evil presences and experience the feeling of being chocked. The experts believe that the sleep paralysis combined with the sleep hallucinations are the cause for all the alien abduction stories.
The next condition is the opposite of the previous one. Instead of paralyzing the body too much, and protecting it from hurting itself, the brain might not paralyze it enough. The people who suffer from REM behavior disorder might kick, punch, scream and become very violent while they are in the REM sleeping. They can often remember their dream but they can not remember what they did or what they said. In most of the cases the person whether injures himself or injures someone else.
One of the most common sleep conditions is insomnia, which is the inability of going to sleep. It might not sound too serious, but the reality is that sleep depravation can be a serious threat for the human health, and it can also be deadly. The good news is that all of these disorders can be treated.
