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The essay of sleepwalking
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Many people have heard of sleepwalking, otherwise known as “somnambulism”, and even know about symptoms that surround the disorder (National Sleep Foundation/ Sleepwalking, 2013, para 1). Some “symptoms of sleepwalking include: sleeptalking, occurring within the first few hours, little or no memory of sleepwalking, screaming, and actions of inappropriate behavior” (National Sleep Foundation/Sleepwalking, 2013, para 6). There is there more to the story than just waking up during the night and walking around in an unconscious state. Sleepwalking is a “parasomnia” (National Sleep Foundation/Sleep and Parasomnias, 2013, para 1). Parasomnias occur when an individual has an abrupt, partial awakening from deep sleep and performs “complex behaviors while asleep” (National Sleep Foundation/Sleepwalking, 2013, para 1). When discussing sleepwalking, one must understand whom most commonly experiences somnambulism, what causes it, ways to treat sleepwalking and techniques to prevent sleepwalking from happening.
Children are the ones who most frequently experience sleepwalking (Mindell & Owens, 2003, p. 270). It is common for many children to walk “staggered and clumsy with the child having a blank expression on their face” (Clements, & Kravitz, 2007, para 19). Most episodes of sleepwalking last around thirty minutes but durations can vary (Clements, & Kravitz, 2007). As sleepwalking becomes most prevalent in children between four years old and eight years old, it is found that about fifteen to forty percent of children sleepwalk at least once in their lifetime and around three or four percent of these children will have very frequent events of sleepwalking (Clements, & Kravitz, 2007). “Preschoolers and school-aged children” are the most likel...
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... http://www.sleepfoundation.org/ article/ ask-the-expert/sleep-and-parasomnias
National Sleep Foundation. (2013). Sleepwalking. Disorder causes & solutions.
Retrieved January 8, 2014, from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-related-problems/sleepwalking
Reid, Ahmed, & Levie. (1981). Treatment of sleepwalking: A controlled study. American journal of psychotherapy, 35(1), 27.
Schenck, C. (2007). Risk factors. Sleep: The mysteries, the problems, and the solutions
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WebMD. (2013). Sleep disorders: Sleepwalking basics. Sleep disorders health center.
Retrieved January 9, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/sleepwalking-causes
WebMD. (2012). Sleep disorders and treatment for sleepwalking. Sleep disorders health center. Retrieved January 11, 2014, from http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/how-is-sleepwalking-treated
Having no sleep can lead to unhealthy lives, relationships, one’s ability to function and interact with the world, and an unbalanced state of body, mind, and spirit. Sleep is crucial to an individual because it is a time where the body rests and restores energy and develops important information and without sleep, the body will slowly disintegrate. Poor sleep quality often is associated with Insomnia, but the two are two different items. Poor sleep quality is where an individual does not get at least 4 hours of sleep, but is still able to sleep and does not have a normal sleeping cycle. Insomnia is classified as a sleeping disorder, where one persistently lacks the ability to sleep or maintain sleep. This paper goes into a deep discussion of what Insomnia is and the two different types, the causes of Insomnia and how it affects a person’s lifestyle, a comparison between Men and Women who have Insomnia, and possible treatments to aid this disorder.
Chronic sleep loss is becoming more common in modern culture and less restricted to sleep-deprived diseases such as insomnia. Suggested to be the result of a number car, industrial, medical, and other occupational accidents, sleep deprivation is beginning to be recognized as a public concern. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control
Cosleeping and Biological Imperatives: Why Human Babies Do Not and Should Not Sleep Alone." Neuroanthropology.net. n.p. 21 December 2008. Web. The Web.
Millions of people suffer from the same tossing and turning every which way, getting their sheets all disarranged and their insistent minds abundantly worse. Patients often proclaim indications of insomnia while sitting in the family health clinic. Insomnia traits include hindrance falling asleep, continueing to awaken, and rejuvenating before wanted. One may suffer from insomnia if one shows signs of an increased difficulty in attentiveness, decreased communal or scholastic skills, and a diminished mood or enthusiasm. (Foldvary-Schaefer 111). Countless individuals deal with insomnia for a large amount of their lives and some choose differing treatments, while some do not use any treatments at all. While never being uncommon, the amounts of causes leading to insomnia come in boundlessly; finding new studies and stories every day.
Sleeping disorders are a very common thing that people face every day. A sleeping disorder is when a person is unable to sleep or unable to stay asleep when they have the chance to do so. There are many things that impact a person through out the day, causing sleeping disorders but the two most common are stress and medical problems. Stress is so common in adults and college students preventing them from being able to fall asleep and getting the right amount of sleep they need each night. Medical problems such as sleep apnea and night terrors also do the same thing and are not curable. This is not good because many people cannot perform a normal day without the right amount of sleep the night before.
We live our entire life in two states, sleep and awake1. These two states are characterized by two distinct behaviors. For instance, the brain demonstrates a well-defined activity during non-REM sleep (nREM) that is different when we are awake. In the study of sleep by Huber et. al., the authors stated that sleep is in fact a global state2. It is unclear whether this statement means that sleep is a state of global behavioural inactivity or the state of the global nervous system. The notion that sleep is a global state of the nervous system served as basis for sleep researchers to search for a sleep switch. The discovery of the sleep switch, in return, provided evidence and enhanced the notion that sleep is a global state of the nervous system. The switch hypothesis developed from the fact that sleep can be initiated without fatigue and it is reversible1. It was hypothesized that there is something in the brain that has the ability to control the whole brain and initiate sleep. Studies have found a good candidate that demonstrated this ability3. They found a group of neurons in the Ventrolateral Preoptic (VLPO) nucleus. It was a good candidate because it was active during sleep, has neuronal output that can influence the wakefulness pathway, and lesion in the area followed reduce sleep3. The idea that there is something that can control the whole brain and result sleep state supports the idea that sleep is a global state of the nervous system.
The discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep suggested that sleep was not, as it was thought to be, a dormant state but rather a mentally dynamic one. Your brain is, in fact, very active in this state, almost to the level at which it is when a person is awake. Yet during this active stage in which most dreams occur, the movements of the rest of the body are completely stilled. To imagine this paralysis during dreams not occurring is a frightful image, since in many cases dreams are violent and active. When the neurotransmitters that control the movement of the body do not work properly the person develops REM sleep behavioral disorder (RBD).
THESIS STATEMENT: Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that has a specific medical definition, life-changing symptoms, and there are ways in how people treat it.
Could someone commit a crime or murder while sleeping? Could someone drive 14 miles from home without waking up or wrecking? How do you determine if someone was sleepwalking when only the victim and offender would know that answer and one of them is dead? How do some people get away with the sleepwalking murder defense while others don’t? Many questions come to mind when sleepwalking and murder come into play. While asleep people have been known to talk, walk, do simple tasks, eat, fight with your spouse and even have sex, but when it comes to the murder defense it a whole other story.
Ohayon, M.M., Caulet, M., Priest, R.G. (1997) Violent Behavior During Sleep New Jersey: J Clin Psychiatry
Did you ever awaken and find yourself unable to move? Perhaps you sensed a presence in your room or a pressure on your chest. This is sleep paralysis. It is a common disorder that affects millions of people. Most believe it occurs as we are on the edge of REM sleep. The disorder has been connected with such hallucinogenic events such as alien abduction or an evil presence. Sleep paralysis is an inability to move or speak, occasionally accompanied by hallucinations, for up to several minutes upon awakening or just before falling asleep.
Sleep disorders are an underestimated public health concern considering that fifty to seventy million Americans are affected. Technological advances in the field of sleep have facilitated various theories to explain the need for and the purpose of sleep. Scientist have uncovered many types of sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. Sleep disorders affect men ,women, children, the elderly, and the obese in different ways. Factors such as the number of children and the effects of menopause have been studied to determine their effects on sleep. Various treatments have been utilized ranging from non-pharmacologic to pharmacologic methods. Scientist have pinpointed areas of the brain that are involved in sleep deprivation and hormones that ultimately affect sleep.
"Common Sleep Problems." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Mary L. Gavin. The Nemours Foundation, 01 Jan. 2011. Web. 08 Mar. 2014.
Sleep and Sleep Disorders. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 July 2013. Web. 7 May 2014. .
It amazes me that the whole time I was in Vietnam, I got very little sleep especially when I was in the field and it did not seem to be deep sleep. But when I came home I could sleep undisturbed by lightning storms or loud noises. In stage 3 of sleep, a person is in a very deep sleep and in this stage people have been known to sleep walk or wet the bed. I remember those embarrassing days as a