Good Night, Sleep Tight: 5 Bizarre Sleep Disorders That Will Make Your Eyes Wide
Tossing and turning in bed at night often leads to a bad night’s sleep that leaves us restless and irritable the next morning. When we sleep, our brains are highly active as our bodies remain in a temporary paralysis. While most of us can control our sleep, there are sleep disorders — purely neurological — that the afflicted can’t do much about.
In the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50 to 70 million adults have sleep or wakefulness disorder. These parasomnias are characterized by undesirable physical or verbal behaviors or experiences. They occur in association with sleep, specific stages of sleep, or sleep-awake transition phases. In a video, “Bizarre Sleeping Disorders - 5 Strange Sleeping Syndromes,” the folks over at Plethrons suggest there may be no rest for the wicked as they reveal the top five bizarre sleep disorders that will leave you with your eyes wide.
1. Kleine-Levin Syndrome Or Sleeping Beauty Sickness
This sleeping disorder means patients suffer from episodes that last for weeks and sleep for the most part of the day. The most recent case of KLS was seen in Beth Goodier, Medical Daily previously reported.
"When she's up, all she does really is, she's either in bed or on the sofa and she'll watch tell, often the same things over and over again as she likes predictability,” Beth’s mother, Janine Gooder said.
This rare and complex neurological disorder is characterized by recurring periods of excessive amounts of sleep and altered behavior.
2. Sexsomnia Or Sleep Sex
This is a condition in which a person will engage in sexual activities while asleep. It occurs when a part of the brain is awake but the rest of it is asleep. It can be as minimal as touching or kissing, or as serious as full intercourse.
3. Free-Running Disorder
This disorder, free-running disorder, has many names, including non-24-hour disorder, hypernychthemeral disorder, and non-24-hour circadian rhythm disorder. People affected by this disorder have their internal body clocks messed up meaning their body refuses to follow the standard 24-hour cycle of the day. This results in them having a constant jet-lag.
4. Narcolepsy
Narcoleptics tend to fall asleep directly into REM sleep. The strange thing is it can happen at any time. This can even occur even when engaging in normal everyday activities.
5. Sudden Unexpected Death Syndrome
This may be the scariest sleep disorder. It causes young, healthy people to go to sleep one night, and never wake up again. They simply die. The condition affects primarily young men in eastern Asia.