Arousal disorders

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Confusional Awakening

Also called "sleep drunkenness" is manifested by a state of disorientation on waking. Confusion usually last for a few minutes, and rarely persist beyond two hours. This behavior is associated with sudden and abrupt awakenings and patients with sleep apnea, narcolepsy, hypersomnia language and those consumers of drugs that interfere with sleep. It is a very common disorder in childhood, and is accompanied by morning headaches, decreased attention span and delayed reactions to external stimuli. In adults it is very rare and epidemiological studies do not differentiate by gender.

Night terrors

Also known as night terror or sleep terror, is characterized by an abrupt awakening from deep sleep stages (stages 3 and 4) and is characterized by attacks of intense fear accompanied by physical acute agitation by its own state of panic. The body undergoes a rapid pulse and produces a respiration similar to that produced by situations of fear in people causing screaming, crying and incorporation in the bed.

The sense of physical smothering and chest pressure leads to situations of extreme alarm. The patients did not respond to external stimuli and once awake are confused and disoriented. Individuals relate amnesia about these events, so that they only vaguely recall waking. There is a tendency for family ties diagnosis. The differential diagnosis of pathologic frequent nightmares marks the time of the cycle in which it occurs. Nightmares are intensely vivid dreams characterized by REM sleep that ensures the safety of the individual thanks to the muscular generalized atony, that protects him of self-harm. This phenomenon is prevalent in children under 7 years, especially in males and is rare after puberty overcome. The estimated prevalence is 3-4% in children and less than 1% in the adult population. There is a clinical link with sleepwalking, and both disorders are often taken as a pathological dyad.

Somnambulism

The anomalous behavior of sleepwalking occurs during NREM sleep and involves complex behaviors, that can vary from a few simple movements (automatisms) to complex behaviors like wandering around the room, walk with eyes open with the likely outcome of falls and injuries. These episodes usually occur in the first part of the night and its duration is variable. The subjects did not remember anything, when they wake up, suffer amnesia episodes and in some cases, when awakened it can trigger a violent reaction to it or to others. This phenomenon predominantly affects the pediatric population with a peak incidence in children aged 3-15 years, where the prevalence may reach 15% of children, who have suffered at least an occasional episode of sleepwalking. In these cases the disorder is benign. As a frequent disorder the prevalence is 5% in child sleepwalking, in the adult population the incidence is very rare less than 1% with a clear determinant for family reunification. It can persist into adolescence and even adulthood associated with depression and emotional disorders.