There is no general agreement as how to classify the various sleep disorders. One method divides them into three categories - Dysomnias, Parasominas and Medical or Psychiatric Related Sleep Disorders. Dysomnias make it difficult for the sleeper to get to sleep, or to stay asleep. They include Insomnia, Narcolepsy, Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Restless Leg Syndrome, Periodic limb movement disorder, Hypersomnia, Delayed sleep phase syndrome and Advanced sleep phase syndrome. Parasomnias include REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder, Sleep Terror, Sleepwalking (or Somnambulism), Tooth-grinding, Bed-Wetting or Sleep Enuresis and Sudden infant death syndrome or (SIDS). Medical or Psychiatric Related Sleep Disorders are those medical conditions that affect sleep such as Psychoses (like Schizophrenia), Mood disorders, Depression, Anxiety, Panic and Alcoholism. Sleeping sickness, a disease carried by Tse-Tse Flies also affects sleep patterns. Snoring is not a disorder but often a symptom of a sleep disorder.
Another method also classifies sleep orders Sleep disorders into three major categories, such as disturbed sleep (obstructive sleep apnea, REM sleep behavior disorder, and restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movement), too much sleep (narcolepsy) and lack of sleep (insomnia). A third method suggests that there are four categories, Primary Sleep Disorders, Sleep Disorder Due to a General Medical Condition, Sleep Disorder Related to Another Mental Disorder, and Substance-Induced Sleep Disorder.
These classifications can be confusing but are not really necessary to understand the different sleep orders.
The most common sleep disorders include Bruxism, where you involuntarily grind your teeth while sleeping, delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) where your circadian rhythm is disturbed, insomnia where you are unable to fall asleep at will or at normal times and jet lag or desynchronosis where your sleep patterns are how of sync due to rapid travelling across multiple time zones. Also common is Narcolepsy where you all of a sudden fall asleep without warning and night terror (Pavor nocturnus) or sleep terror disorder, where you abruptly awake from sleep filled with terror. As I mentioned, there are many more types of sleep disorders and we will be taking a look at most of them in future articles.
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