parasomnia

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REM Sleep Behaviour Disorder or RBD happens when you sleep. It can lead to talking and shouting. It can make you move vigorously. You might have vivid, striking dreams as well. When this happens, people with RBD are seen to suddenly move or call out. They can look like they are acting out their dreams. The episode usually doesn't go on for long. Often you might be able to recall what your dream was about when you wake up. RBD can be a danger to both people with it and their bed partners. This can be due to the person with RBD responding violently to an imagined attack or because of vigorous movement of their arms and legs. 

There are several types of sleep that occur every night. One of these is called rapid eye movement, or REM sleep. This is the time when you have your most structured dreams. Normally in REM sleep, the muscles should relax totally. But if you have RBD, your brain sends the wrong signals to your body muscles so they fail to relax during sleep. This means that when you have dreams you can act these out with bodily movement. 

Sleep terror disorder means very strong feelings of terror and panic during sleep. You have them while you are in deep sleep. They are also sometimes called ‘night terrors’. They tend to happen fairly soon after going to sleep. Two thirds of the time, they are in the first period of deep sleep. Sleep terror is not as well known as nightmares. The reason for this is that they are not as common. They are sudden and intense but don't last long. At most, they go for a few minutes. After they finish, the person doesn't remember much about the episode, if anything at all. They tend to start before the age of 10. Most of the time, they will stop when the child is a teenager. Sleep terrors may occur as often as several times a week. 

A person going through a sleep terror might make noises, move their body and have tremors and sweats. They will tend to have more fear and worry than if they were having a normal nightmare. People who have sleep terrors often sleep walk as well. If a person doesn't stop having sleep terrors after the age of 10, the chances are they will still have them when they are an adult.

 Sleep terrors might seem to just come out of the blue. But there are several things that can play a part in causing them. They may run in families. Not getting enough sleep can also lead to sleep terrors. Chopping and changing the times you get up and go to bed is a risk as well. Some drugs have been linked to sleep terrors. In children, sleep terrors may be just a part of how they grow up (rather than from any major trauma). There are also some disorders that are associated with sleep terrors. These include sleep apnoea, seizures, gastric reflux and fevers. You can also set off a sleep terror in a person who is vulnerable to them if you disturb them when they are asleep e.g. by touching them or with noise 

Parents should be able to comfort or send the child back to bed after a sleep terror, and as time goes on they usually stop by themselves. In adults with sleep terror, there are methods that can make them less common. These aim to establish the right frame of mind before bed. Often teaching good sleep hygiene is a part of this. However, in some cases sleep terrors happen often and lead to injuries. If so, sedatives can be prescribed. 

Your family doctor can refer you to psychologist or sleep specialist. They can treat you to make sleep terrors occur less often. As part of this, they might tell you things to help you sleep more soundly and set regular times to go to bed and get up. For adults, your doctor may prescribe short acting sedatives. These may stop sleep terror. 

Sleep walkers tend to move about in their deep sleep. They may get out of their bed and sometimes even leave the house. Sleep walking usually occurs for just a few minutes at a time and may occur up to 3 or 4 nights per week. However some people sleep walk for longer periods of time and less often. When it is over, most people are able to remember very little of what they did, if anything at all. Usually, sleepwalking starts in childhood, becomes less common as a teenager and stops as a young adult. However for some people, it may continue for most of their life. The longer a child keeps sleepwalking into their teenage years, the greater the chance that it will go on into early adulthood. 

For some people, sleep walking is an inherited condition. For children it may also be related to a stage of development. Not getting enough sleep, having irregular sleep hours, stress, drugs and some medicines increase the risk of sleepwalking. In addition, medical conditions such as sleep apnoea, seizures and fever can contribute to the likelihood of sleepwalking. If you are prone to sleepwalking, then sounds that disturb your sleep can also make you sleepwalk. However, not uncommonly a cause cannot be found. 

In a child, sleepwalking may just be part of growing up. Parents should be able to comfort the child and direct him/her back to bed after they sleepwalk. With time, they tend to grow out of it. Action should be taken only if it happens too often and has a big impact on the child. This might be if
they feel tired during the day from a lack of sleep or they are at risk of injuring themselves. In adults who sleepwalk, it is important to have good sleep habits. This may reduce the frequency of sleepwalking. Occasionally, sleeping tablets may be used, but this should be discussed with a doctor.