Narcolepsy is excessive sleepiness in the daytime that results in falling asleep at inappropriate times and falling rapidly into REM sleep. Narcoleptics sleep a normal amount, it’s just that they can’t control when they sleep. Around 1 in every 2000 people have narcolepsy. The biggest issue of people suffering from narcolepsy is the inability to get properly diagnosed because first you have to rule out other sleep disorders. About 50% of narcoleptics are undiagnosed. And too

Kira Peikoff It Wakes Up a Lot More Than You Realize. You know you're supposed to get eight hours of sleep a night, but what's really going on up in your body during that time? Quite a lot, it turns out. You know you're supposed to get eight hours of sleep a night, but what's really going on up in your body during that time? Quite a lot, it turns out. Here's a peek inside your nighttime body factory. 1. As you fall asleep, you jerk. Every time. According to sleep experts, the

Sleep Paralysis is listed as a disorder but is really a symptom. People who are extremely sleep deprived can get Sleep Paralysis, many college students get it. For the sleep deprived and those in young adulthood it is usually just one or two episodes that involve Panic Attacks, hallucinations, and nightmares. But more often than not it is a symptom of narcolepsy. Sleep Paralysis happens when you wake up before REM sleep is finished. During REM sleep your mind is having vivid

Relaxation is a recommended technique to help us to sleep ... so why isn't a night cap a good idea? Alcohol actually helps induce deep sleep, the problem is that the beneficial effect last only about 4 hours, and then you get the alcohol withdrawal effects with the sweating, the rapid heart beat, the waking and anxiety. Studies showed that the detrimental effects begin after 2 drinks. ​ Alcohol suppresses REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement sleep), which is the restorative sleep ne

Nightmares are frightening or disturbing dreams that occur during REM sleep causing you to feel terrified or afraid, angry, sad, guilty, anxious or distressed. They usually wake you up and the bad feelings can continue for some time after you’ve awakened. While nightmares are more common among children, about 50% of adults experience them periodically. The most common themes of nightmares in adults are feeling trapped, being lost, being chased, or falling and are usually a re

Jordan C Stern, MD Nasal Congestion and Sleep We really don’t appreciate the nose until we have a cold and cant breathe through it. We have to open our mouth, get a dry throat, and just not get that sensation that we are really breathing. That’s because the nose has receptors in it that tell the brain that we are breathing, and this makes us feels comfortable. So when we’re not breathing through the nose, the brain is not really sure what’s happening, and this can give us t

REM or Rapid Eye Movement is the phase of sleep where you dream most vividly. It is still unclear why dreaming is so important to the brain, but doctors agree REM is vital to good health. An adequate amount of REM sleep has been shown to strengthen memory as well as stimulate the regions of the brain associated with learning. The only way to see how much REM sleep you’re getting is to measure your brainwaves. An electroencephalogram (or EEG for short) does just that. A head

When you go to sleep, your brain doesn’t just turn off like a light and flick back on when you wake up. Sleep is complex, and takes the form of many stages. Each stage can be defined by the signals in your brain measured by an electroencephalogram (EEG) and other muscle and eye movements. Let’s take a look at each of the stages, and see why they are important. A sleep cycle is broken down into two halves; REM (Rapid Eye Movement) Sleep, and Non-REM sleep. Non-REM is then brok