Primary Sleep Disorders: Basic Facts

Sleep disorders are a very common problem among the world?s population in general, and even more so in the so-called developed world. This is so because the great majority of the most common sleep disorder, insomnia, is often caused by an underlying factor somehow related to stress. This type of insomnia is known as secondary insomnia, because it is caused by another, underlying factor.

Primary sleep disorders, on the other hand, are not due to any other underlying factor, such as mental disorders, other medical conditions, substance abuse or prescription drugs. They can be further divided into two main categories: dyssomnias and parasomnias.

Dyssomnias

Dyssomnias are primary sleep disorders where a patient suffers from the changes in the amount, restfulness and timing of sleep. The first and most important dyssomnia is primary insomnia. Primary insomnia is defined as difficulty in falling asleep or remaining asleep that lasts for at least one month. Primary insomnia can be triggered by a traumatic event related to sleep or bedtime and is often associated with heightened psychological or physical arousal at night. Sufferers of this disorder are most often anxious about not being able to sleep. This person will then associate all sleep-related things, such as their bedtime or their bed, with frustration. This person then becomes more stressed about not sleeping. This primary sleep disorder usually begins when the person is a young adult or in middle age.

Hypersomnia is a disorder characterized by excessive sleepiness during normal waking hours. The sufferer of this disorder will have lengthy episodes of daytime sleep or episodes of daytime sleep on a daily basis even though they are sleeping normally at night. In this primary sleep disorder, the person may have difficulty waking in the mornings and may appear angry and disoriented. This disorder is sometimes called sleep drunkenness and is more common in males. Hypersomnia usually affects young adults between the ages of 15 and 30.

Parasomnias

Parasomnia is the other primary sleep disorder that is caused by specific sleep stages, or transitions between waking and sleeping. This primary sleep disorder is characterized by patients who suffer from night terrors, nightmares and sleep walking. This disorder is usually found in children. Night terrors are defined as waking up screaming or crying, usually because of a frightening dream you cannot remember. Night terrors are usually the end result of fear of the dark. Nightmares are waking up alarmed and frightened. Normally, this individual is fully alert upon waking. Sleep walking is where an individual walks and talks with his eyes wide open and yet he is sound asleep. As disturbing as sleep walking is to watch, it is harmless, and a child will generally outgrow this primary sleep disorder.