Health & Medicine
Sleep Drunkenness Affects One in Seven People: Study
Benita Matilda
First Posted: Aug 26, 2014 02:50 AM EDT
A new study throws light on a kind of sleep disorder called sleep drunkenness that affects 1 in every 7 people.
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that sleep drunkenness involves confusion or an inappropriate behavior either during the first part of the night or in the morning and is more common than previously thought.
Those suffering from this sleep disorder have difficulty waking up just like the abnormal long hypnopompic state. They display a confused or inappropriate behavior like answering phone instead of turning of the alarm. This occurs during or following arousals from sleep, either during the first part of the night or in the morning. An episode that is caused by forced awakening may lead to violent behavior during sleep or amnesia of the episode.
"These episodes of waking up confused have received considerably less attention than sleepwalking even though the consequences can be just as serious," said study author Maurice M. Ohayon, MD, DSc., PhD, with Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, CA.
In this study, the researchers interviewed 19,136 people aged 18 years or older from the general U.S. population. The subjects were interviewed about their sleep habits and if they experienced symptoms of any disorder. Apart from this, they were also made to report about mental illness diagnoses and any medication taken.
The researchers noticed that nearly 15 percent of the subjects experienced an episode in the last year and more than half of them had reported more than one episode per week.
In almost 84 percent of the cases, those with sleep drunkenness also experienced a sleep disorder, a mental health disorder or were using psychotropic drugs like antidepressants. But, less than a percent of those with the new sleep disorder had no known cause of a related condition.
Among the subjects who experienced an episode, nearly 37.4 percent of them had a mental disorder. The risk of sleep drunkenness was high among those having depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, panic or post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.
Sleep drunkenness detected in 31 percent of the subjects were known to take psychotropic medications like antidepressants. Long and short sleep time was linked with sleep disorder. Nearly 20 percent of those getting less than 6 hours of sleep per night and 15 percent of the subjects getting a minimum of 9 hours of sleep experienced sleep drunkenness. It was people with sleep apnea who were more vulnerable to developing the disorder.
"These episodes of confused awakening have not gotten much attention, but given that they occur at a high rate in the general population, more research should be done on when they occur and whether they can be treated," said Ohayon. "People with sleep disorders or mental health issues should also be aware that they may be at greater risk of these episodes."
The finding as documented in the journal Neurology.
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First Posted: Aug 26, 2014 02:50 AM EDT
A new study throws light on a kind of sleep disorder called sleep drunkenness that affects 1 in every 7 people.
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that sleep drunkenness involves confusion or an inappropriate behavior either during the first part of the night or in the morning and is more common than previously thought.
Those suffering from this sleep disorder have difficulty waking up just like the abnormal long hypnopompic state. They display a confused or inappropriate behavior like answering phone instead of turning of the alarm. This occurs during or following arousals from sleep, either during the first part of the night or in the morning. An episode that is caused by forced awakening may lead to violent behavior during sleep or amnesia of the episode.
"These episodes of waking up confused have received considerably less attention than sleepwalking even though the consequences can be just as serious," said study author Maurice M. Ohayon, MD, DSc., PhD, with Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, CA.
In this study, the researchers interviewed 19,136 people aged 18 years or older from the general U.S. population. The subjects were interviewed about their sleep habits and if they experienced symptoms of any disorder. Apart from this, they were also made to report about mental illness diagnoses and any medication taken.
The researchers noticed that nearly 15 percent of the subjects experienced an episode in the last year and more than half of them had reported more than one episode per week.
In almost 84 percent of the cases, those with sleep drunkenness also experienced a sleep disorder, a mental health disorder or were using psychotropic drugs like antidepressants. But, less than a percent of those with the new sleep disorder had no known cause of a related condition.
Among the subjects who experienced an episode, nearly 37.4 percent of them had a mental disorder. The risk of sleep drunkenness was high among those having depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, panic or post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety.
Sleep drunkenness detected in 31 percent of the subjects were known to take psychotropic medications like antidepressants. Long and short sleep time was linked with sleep disorder. Nearly 20 percent of those getting less than 6 hours of sleep per night and 15 percent of the subjects getting a minimum of 9 hours of sleep experienced sleep drunkenness. It was people with sleep apnea who were more vulnerable to developing the disorder.
"These episodes of confused awakening have not gotten much attention, but given that they occur at a high rate in the general population, more research should be done on when they occur and whether they can be treated," said Ohayon. "People with sleep disorders or mental health issues should also be aware that they may be at greater risk of these episodes."
The finding as documented in the journal Neurology.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone