Sleep disorders
-By Timothy Lyons
Narcolepsy, Cataplexy, insomnia, sleep apnea and fatal familial insomnia are some of the major sleep disorders. There are distinctions of these disorders.
From (Carson & Birkett, 2017) we can see the narcolepsy and cataplexy seem to be two sides of a coin. Narcolepsy is like a sleep attack. This happens during waking hours. It is hypothesized that narcolepsy is a genetic disorder that is caused by a loss of a neuron known as orexinergic neurons. It is characterized by a person who has an overwhelming urge to sleep which can happen at any time but usually happens during moments of down time or boredom. Cataplexy is more difficult. This is a symptom of narcolepsy but with this disorder the person falls asleep during moments of stress or high activity. The person who suffers narcolepsy will go into REM sleep directly from a waking moment. This state includes muscle paralysis and even dreaming. This can happen from any strenuous activity, even laughing.
Another sleep problem, insomnia and one of its forms, sleep apnea are considered as difficulty in going to sleep or waking during the night as we can see in (Carson & Birkett, 2017). Apnea is characterized by difficulty sleeping due to the inability to properly breathe while sleeping. The person with apnea, often a snorer, will stop breathing during sleep. This builds carbon dioxide in the blood and the person jerks awake gasping for air. Insomnia is difficult to categorize. From studies it seems as though most people who report this condition have personality issues that keep their daily activities so busy that they stay up late of get up early and deprive themselves of normal sleep.
Fatal family insomnia is a genetically inherited disease that results from brain damage that is related to mad cow disease and Creuzfeldt-Jacob disease. The brain begins to deteriorate. The person becomes confused, loses control of their autonomic nervous system and then becomes unable to sleep. The sleep loss is comprised of loss of sleep spindles and k complexes and eventually an extremely reduced REM sleep state. Just as in the animals who are sleep deprived, the loss of sleep results in death (Carson & Birkett, 2017).
References for Sleep disorders
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