Download A.P. Psychology 5 (B)

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A.P. Psychology
Unit 5: States of Consciousness
“Sleep Disorders”
Sleep Disorder:
 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
Types of Sleep Disorders:

Insomnia:
o Recurring problems of falling or staying asleep
o Affects 1/10 adults (1/4 older adults)
o Causes:
 Stress/Anxiety
 Depression
 Drug/Alcohol abuse
 Irregular sleep schedules

Narcolepsy:
o Uncontrollable sleep attacks
o Sufferer may lapse directly into REM Sleep, often at inopportune
times
o Affects 1/2000 people
o Etymology:
 Narco: “numbness”
 Lepsy: “seizure”
o Causes:
 Neurological

Sleep Apnea:
o Temporary cessations of breathing during sleep and repeated
awakenings
o Affects 1/20 people
o Etymology:
 Apnea: “without breath”
o Causes:
 Enlarged tonsils
 Obesity
 Recurring infection
Parasomnias:
 A category of sleep disorders that involve abnormal and unnatural
movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur while
falling asleep, sleeping, between sleep stages, or during arousal from sleep
 Most parasomnias are dissociated sleep states which are partial arousals
during the transitions between wakefulness and NREM sleep, or wakefulness
and REM sleep
Types of Parasomnias:

Night Terrors:
o High arousal and appearance of being terrified
o Unlike nightmares, night terrors occur during Stage 4 sleep, within
two or three hours of falling asleep
o Seldom remembered
o Affects mostly children
o Causes:
 Sleep Deprivation/Fatigue
 Stress/Anxiety
 Fever
 Intense stimulation of amygdala during sleep
 Extensive Stage 4 sleep (children)

Sleepwalking/Sleep Talking:
o Walking/talking during Stage 4 sleep
o Often not recalled
o Affects mostly children
o Causes:
 Heredity
 Stress/Anxiety
 Sleep deprivation
 Sedative medications
 Extensive Stage 4 sleep (children)