This sheet is not intended to diagnose anyone with a sleep Disturbance. This sheet is for your general information so you can become informed about the various sleep disturbances people experience.
Remember our Naturopathic Sleep Specialists are available for you to check in with if you have any questions at all or wish to know whether our natural sleep remedies and sleep aids will work for you.

From Wikipedia a Sleep Disturbance is defined as – A sleep disorder (somnipathy) is a medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders are serious enough to interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning. A test commonly ordered for some sleep disorders is the polysomnography.

Disruptions in sleep can be caused by a variety of issues, from teeth grinding (bruxism) to night terrors. When a person suffers from difficulty in sleeping with no obvious cause, it is referred to as insomnia.^[1] In addition, sleep disorders may also cause sufferers to sleep excessively, a condition known as hypersomnia. Management of sleep disturbances that are secondary to mental, medical, or substance abuse disorders should focus on the underlying conditions.

Kirsten’s note here: I love that statement – focus on the underlying conditions! That is the basis of Naturopathy and what we do all day long. We go back to the root cause. What is out of balance? What nutrients are missing? What’s happening in the nervous system? What event triggered this person to develop a sleep disorder? What do we need to do to re-establish order with this persons sleeping patterns?

Common disorders –

Kirsten’s comment: we will add information to this sheet as we can to give you ideas of what to do and what natural sleeping aids or remedies would be best to support each condition and what other considerations if any do we as Naturopathic Sleep Specialists keep in mind.

The most common sleep disorders include:

Sleep Disorder #1

Primary insomnia: Chronic difficulty in falling asleep and/or maintaining sleep when no other cause is found for these symptoms.

Sleep Disorder #2

Bruxism: Involuntarily grinding or clenching of the teeth while sleeping.

Sleep Disorder #3

Delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS): inability to awaken and fall asleep at socially acceptable times but no problem with sleep maintenance, a disorder of circadian rhythms. (Other such disorders are advanced sleep phase syndrome (ASPS), non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome (Non-24), and irregular sleep wake rhythm, all much less common than DSPS, as well as the transient jet lag and shift work sleep disorder.)

Sleep Disorder #4

Hypopnea syndrome: Abnormally shallow breathing or slow respiratory rate while sleeping.

Sleep Disorder #5

Narcolepsy: Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) often culminating in falling asleep spontaneously but unwillingly at inappropriate times.

Sleep Disorder #6

Cataplexy: a sudden weakness in the motor muscles that can result in collapse to the floor.

Sleep Disorder #7

Night terror: Pavor nocturnus, sleep terror disorder: abrupt awakening from sleep with behavior consistent with terror.

Sleep Disorder #8

Parasomnias: Disruptive sleep-related events involving inappropriate actions during sleep; sleep walking and night-terrors are examples.

Sleep Disorder #9

Periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD): Sudden involuntary movement of arms and/or legs during sleep, for example kicking the legs. Also known as nocturnal myoclonus. See also Hypnic jerk, which is not a disorder.

Sleep Disorder #10

Rapid eye movement behavior disorder (RBD): Acting out violent or dramatic dreams while in REM sleep.

Sleep Disorder #11

Restless legs syndrome (RLS): An irresistible urge to move legs. RLS sufferers often also have PLMD.

Sleep Disorder #12

Situational circadian rhythm sleep disorders: shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) and jet lag.

Sleep Disorder #13

Sleep Apnea, and mostly Obstructive sleep apnea: Obstruction of the airway during sleep, causing lack of sufficient deep sleep; often accompanied by snoring. Other forms of sleep apnea are less common.

Sleep Disorder #14

Sleep paralysis: is characterized by temporary paralysis of the body shortly before or after sleep. Sleep paralysis may be accompanied by visual, auditory or tactile hallucinations. Not a disorder unless severe. Often seen as part of Narcolepsy.

Sleep Disorder #15

Sleepwalking or somnambulism: Engaging in activities that are normally associated with wakefulness (such as eating or dressing), which may include walking, without the conscious knowledge of the subject.

Sleep Disorder #16

Nocturia: A frequent need to get up and go to the bathroom to urinate at night. It differs from Enuresis, or bed-wetting, in which the person does not arouse from sleep, but the bladder nevertheless empties.^[2]

Sleep Disorder #17

Somniphobia: a dread of sleep