Sleep is something we all do – mostly every day (except on all nighters reading Listverse or studying) and for most people it is one of the great pleasures in life. But sadly, for many people, with sleep comes problems – some of which can be extremely serious. This is a list of the 10 weirdest sleep disorders.
In this disorder, a person loses paralysis which is normal for the Rapid Eye Movement period, causing their body to freely act out their dreams. These behaviours can be violent in nature and in some cases will result in injury to either the patient or their bed partner. RBD is a treatable condition. The standard therapy is the anti-convulsant drug clonazepam, and this is generally received very well. The reason for its effectiveness is unknown, but it restores the natural paralyzed state of a person in the REM stage of sleep.
A night terror is a parasomnia sleep disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. The subject wakes abruptly from slow-wave sleep, with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming. It is often impossible to fully awaken the person, and after the episode the subject normally settles back to sleep without waking. A night terror can rarely be recalled by the subject. Night terrors are distinct from nightmares in several key ways. First, the subject is not fully awake when roused, and even when efforts are made to awaken the sleeper, he/she may continue to experience the night terror for ten to twenty minutes. Often times it’s extremely dangerous for the person, for it can cause trauma, and even hurting someone (e.g. trying to kill “the murderer” and in fact injuring someone else).
Bruxism is the disorder in which a person grinds or clenches their jaw during sleep. It is one of the most common sleep disorders with up to 40 million Americans suffering from it. This disorder can result in serious damage to the teeth so treatment is well advised. It can lead to facial pain and headaches, and in severe, chronic cases, it can lead to arthritis of the temporomandibular joints. Most bruxers are not aware of their bruxism and only 5-10% go on to develop symptoms such as jaw pain and headache. While there is no cure for this disorder, doctors either recommend mouthguards or botox injections.
While this disorder can effect a person who is awake, it is at its worst during sleep or periods of non-movemement. Restless Legs Syndrome is a condition that is characterized by an irresistible urge to move one’s body to stop uncomfortable or odd sensations. It most commonly affects the legs, but can also be in the arms and torso. Moving the affected body part modulates the sensations, providing temporary relief. For relief of this disorder, some doctors prescribe anticonvulsants, opioids (such as methadone), or Benzodiazepines. Medicating a person with Restless Legs Syndrome is currently a controversial practice.
This odd (and extremely rare) disorder consists of a person’s body not recognizing the 24 hour sleep cycle. Consequently, the body will not allow itself to sleep in a regular day/night pattern. Left untreated, non-24-hour sleep-wake syndrome causes a person’s sleep-wake cycle to change every day, the degree determined by how much over 24 hours the cycle lasts. The cycle may go around the clock, eventually returning to “normal” for one or two days before going “off” again. In many cases it can take up to a week for the body to complete one cycle of its disturbed pattern. To add even further weirdness, this disorder takes place almost exclusively in blind people (though there have been one or two accounts of a sighted person suffering from it).
Sleep apnea is characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep. Each episode lasts long enough so that one or more breaths are missed, and occurs repeatedly throughout sleep. Clinically significant levels of sleep apnea are defined as five or more episodes per hour. Individuals suffering from this sleep disorder are rarely aware of having difficulty breathing, even upon awakening. It is usually recognized as a problem by others witnessing the individual during episodes or is suspected because of its effects on the body. Symptoms may be present for years, even decades without identification, during which time the sufferer may become conditioned to the daytime sleepiness and fatigue associated with significant levels of sleep disturbance. The most common treatment treatment for sleep apnea is the use of a positive airway pressure (PAP) device. The PAP ‘splints’ the patient’s airway open during sleep by means of a flow of pressurized air into the throat. Other treatments such as surgery and medication also exist.
Kleine-Levin syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by the need for excessive amounts of sleep, sometimes for up to 20 hours a day, and is normally accompanied with excessive food intake (compulsive hyperphagia) and an abnormally uninhibited sexual drive (hypersexuality). While some researchers speculate that Kleine-Levin syndrome is the cause of a hereditary predisposition, others believe the condition may be the result of an autoimmune disorder. There is no definitive treatment for Kleine-Levin syndrome. Stimulants, including amphetamines, methylphenidate, imipramine and modafinil, administered orally, are used to treat sleepiness. Because of similarities between Kleine-Levin syndrome and certain mood disorders, lithium and carbamazepine may be prescribed. Responses to treatment have often been limited.
Somiloquy refers to talking aloud in one’s sleep. It can be quite loud, ranging from simple sounds to long speeches, and can occur many times during sleep. Listeners may or may not be able to understand what the person is saying. Sleep-talking usually occurs during transitory arousals from non-REM sleep, which is when the body does not move smoothly from one stage in non-REM sleep to another, and they become partially aroused from sleep. Further it can also occur during REM sleep at which time it represents a motor breakthrough of dream speech, when words spoken in a dream are spoken out loud. There are no medical treatments for this, but in order to prevent sleep-talking a mouthguard may be worn.
Narcolepsy is a neurological sleep disorder that is commonly associated with falling asleep at random times. Narcoleptics tend to fall directly into REM sleep, when most dreaming occurs, and less commonly enter deeper and more restful stages of non-REM sleep. As a result, they are unable to stay awake for extended periods of time, and upon falling back asleep, they still are unable experience sleep’s more restorative stages – - causing a vicious cycle of extreme sleepiness and inability to stay awake after having slept. Another symptom can include cataplexy, the sudden collapse of an individual into REM sleep upon experiencing strong emotions. Sleep paralysis and hypnogogic hallucinations (hallucinations which accompany sleep paralysis) are also known to be symptoms. The cause of narcolepsy has not been determined. It is widely believed to be an autoimmune disorder, but it may also be genetic. Treatments include stimulants, anti-depressants, or hypnotic medications such as Xyrem.
Sexsomnia is a sleep disorder which causes people to commit sexual acts while they are asleep. It is considered to be a distinct variant of sleepwalking. In some cases, sufferers are aware of their behavior for a long time before they seek help, often because they lack information that it is a medical disorder or for fear that others will judge it as willful behavior rather than a medical condition. However, the reality of sexsomnia has been confirmed by sleep disorder researchers who have made polygraphic and video recordings of patients with the condition while they are asleep and observed unusual brain wave activity during the episodes. Treatments are similar to those of other non-REM parasomnias such as sleep walking, which may involve specific interventions. By avoiding precipitating factors and ensuring for the safe environment, the condition could be brought to high level of control with a minimal effort. Sexsomnia is not always problematic or extreme for those who experience it or for their partners. There is a great variety in both the frequency and levels to which people are affected by this disorder.
This article is licensed under the GFDL because it contains quotations from Wikipedia.
Contributor: TonyR and JFrater
Doesn't everybody have #6 at some point in their lives?
I usually sleep from 11 to 14 hours when given the chance and yes i once slept for a whole 24hours only waking up for a couple moments of coarse that was after i was awake for 26 hours
*****somnia? I’m pretty sure I saw that in a *****o once, j/k
I to suffer from ‘sleep paralysis’ it feels like someone is attacking me, but i can’t move i can only see but i scream an in reality im not screaming just moving my eyes!..it creeps me out kuz it seems so real u kan see where ur at and sometimes i can’t breath!so i try waking up..& when i do i get up & wake fully up & go back to sleep because if i dnt fully wake up it happens again!!..oh & this happens when im about to fall asleep like not deep sleep..the good thing is that i already know when it happens so i know wat to do!!i wish i had #1..lol!!my b/f moans & makes noises in his sleep does that still count as 1 of them!? Anyway good list!!;)
I have the same problem too. Did you talk to a doctor?
Ohrmets, good one. I couldn’t resist laughing.
Ro: I have never had it. And as it says in the comment – it is EXTREMELY rare and happens mostly to blind people.
Great list! I think i suffer from 3 of those: Restless Legs Syndrome, Sleep apnea, and Sleep talking.
#6 I might have this just from being a shift worker.
wow I have two or three of these.Definitely no.7, maybe n. 8, I dont know and a bit of no. 4
Thank-you for including Restless Legs. I have suffered all my life and as a child was never able to adequately explain the symptom/sensations and still cannot now. I found out the name of the condition later in like(thank you Google!!)
No. 7 for me. I’m always doing it, even when I’m not asleep. :/
I remember when I was youger that I would try to get my mom to talk in her sleep. I’d ask her questions, then bug her until she gave me an answer that made no sense. Mean, I know. Well, I guess Karma has finally come back, because now I talk in my sleep. I’ve been told that I ask questions and argue while I’m asleep. Hehe, I also have hallucinations right after I wake up sometimes, dreaming with my eyes open I guess. I saw a pink Tweety Bird engraved in our floor once, then got mad because nobody else could see it. I guess these sleep things are hereditary.
I have sleep apnea. Before getting my machine I’d fall asleep whilst driving (in heavy slow traffic), at my desk at work (the only thing which woke me up was my head falling foward toward the desk at a great pace) but the thing that finally made me seek help was when I fell asleep whilst standing. I was walking to the loo and fell against the wall and slept for a couple of seconds. The sleep clinic said that even though I was getting 8 hours sleep, I was only getting about 2 hours restful sleep. My machine has honestly saved my life.
I have 3/10. Just the other night I woke myself up thrashing about in bad because I was surrounded by people I didn’t like in my dream.
The worst thing that happened to me was I woke up still dreaming or something, paralysed in bed. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. But then I was able to turn my head and saw a red-eeyd rottweiler growling at me from across the room. O_O
I read an article about a young man with no 4 and they timed his sleep patterns to the phases of the moon. He was blind, and never saw the moon.
I often dream that I’ve “woken up”, then bizarre things start happening, and I semi-consciously think “hang on, this isn’t right”, and then I wake up properly. This is called “false awakening”.
What’s the condition called when you realise you’re in a dream and can actually take some control of it? I have had this happen twice in my life and it was absolutely brilliant.
15. It is called lucid dream
Interesting list — thanks.
I can have conversations — surreal conversations — with my partner while she’s asleep.
She’s also prone to hypnagogic jactitation, which means she twitches abruptly as she’s falling asleep.
Wow I also have the twitchy sleep thing, at least i think it is the thing you mention. My whole body can fold back on itself and it always seems to happen just as I am sleeping, Its mostly involuntary jolts of my leg but the spinal jolts are scary.
Maybe its related to the sleep talking since I do that too lol.
astraya~ I do this often enough to remember it upon waking, as well!
I was going thru a lot of stress very recently-and my boyfriend told me he could actually HEAR me grinding my teeth at night. I went to my Dentist and she said she could tell I was wearing down the “tarsi” of my molars on my left side of my mouth. (tarsi are the unique projections on your teeth)so I wore a mouth guard, like a boxer, for a few weeks and it went away.
also- now I know there is a name for what I’ve always called “sleep *****” I have been with my BF for 13 years, and on more than one occasion, I have awoken to find myself doing things of a *****ual nature… and sometimes, even full-blown ***** (on top), without realizing how I got there! It’s rather nice to awaken that way…and he has no complaints… the crazy thing is, the dreams that accompany these little acts are rarely of a *****ual nature… mostly colors or forests and trees! or of being an observer of a race…
ringtailroxy
lola: Many thanks.
Good list, I wouldn’t really call it bizzare though otherwise I’m one bizzare person.
Number six intrigues me, I suffer from an unruly sleep cycle but I’m not sure if its the same thing when I read “(and extremely rare)” and “this disorder takes place almost exclusively in blind people”.
I talk in my sleep. A LOT. I’ll yell peoples names, burst into tears, shout obscenities, yell, beg people to stop, or just talk.
I used to think I had night terrors when I was younger, because at sleepovers and such people would tell me that I sat up in the middle of the night, yelled, and went back to sleep.
Then I started remembering the ‘terrors’ myself, sitting up, yelling, rapid heart beat, heavy breathing. But they went away.
I think I should get treatment for number 10!
If I sleep in a bed with anyone, it’s miserable for them, I smack them, kick them, punch them, I shoved my grandma off a bed once. I don’t realize doing it though. And I’ll have a really good dream, and in my dream I’ll be like, “WOW, I HOPE THIS ISN’T A DREAM!” And smash my hand against something, and whilst doing that in my dream I do it in real life.
I find it disturbing that I suffer from seven or eight of the ten you’ve listed!
I have suffered from ‘Sleep Paralysis’ in the past, not sure how it didn’t make this list as i’d think it is bit more bizarre to be concious while still ‘asleep’ (technically), then have a demon rape/attack/suffocate you while you can’t move anything other than your lips/eyes… more bizarre than it would be to grind your teeth or talk. =/
I’ll just assume the OP didn’t research enough disorders, or has been attacked by demons in his concious sleep for so long that he thinks it’s normal.
Fat – You raise a very valid point. I’ve never thought grinding my teeth was that unusual compared to some sleep disorders. Do you still suffer for paralytic fits in sleep? I don’t mean to be forward or anything, I’m just a nosy son of a gun
I’m going to have to agree that some of these disorders are quite mundane and do not deserve the title “bizarre”, other than that, good list! I have night terrors, at least I’ve been told i do, freaked my roomate out.
I used to be married to a sleep talker (And now….heeeeerrrreees Edna! One of my favourites.), and now I have a hubby with restless leg syndrome. I soon have to be tested for sleep apnea, and I used to grind my teeth as a kid. Man, I am really, really tired. Might go to bed now.
Very interesting list, I hadn’t heard of most of these & it was good reading about them.
My sleep problems are all my own doing, though, this list hasn’t given me any excuses!
#4 Kleine Levin Disease is very tough to deal with. I have had it for about 6 years. Stanford University Dr. Minot is the highest regarded specialist in this area. I have had some success with lithium – but still have attacks from time to time. My employer is very understanding as one year I missed 65 days of work – and they still paid me and I did not lose my job. This is a very debilitating condition that may last a few days to a few weeks at a time. Please check out Stanford University if you think you have this condition.
i hope my fiance develops number 1 soon. i’d enjoy that. =)
my brother talks in his sleep. i recorded it in my phone. then i blackmailed him.
how about sleep paralysis? it’s just simply annoying. when you’re dreaming ur awake but you can’t move yourself. or can’t fully wake yourself up. i always experience that.
if my girlfriend had sleep ***** with me id never tell her any different id let her do her thing can u blame me i dont think theres a guy one here that would say “oh baby wake up!” all off them would enjoy the ride
Mr.Frater(#4)
Well yes, it wasn’t the exact thing, but after staying up all night to watch the Euro, my 24 hour sleeping pattern went haywire. And often during the day I would doze off only to wake up after 1 or 2 hours.
I used to suffer from no.5
Intersting list. But I, too, expected to see sleep paralysis (as an item, not only a symptom).
You realize you’re sleeping, you want to wake up, but you can’t open your eyes or move your body at all.
It takes me an incredible effort to wake up from this. I always wake up gasping and scared.
It’s horrible.
I just have insomnia and sometimes I’m hypersomnic, and I tell ya thats *****…
Kreachure: It sounds horrific.
Very cool list gentlemen, Good Job!
One of my kids suffered night terrors, generally I just talked softly and reassuringly, and made sure he was ok and in his bed. He had them until he was 6 or 7.
Isn’t the non-24 hour #6 day/sleep cycle related to daylight and the pineal gland. If born blind you’re body would have a much more difficult time getting in synch. When doing your research did they specify born blind? or was there no such distinction?
I have listened to my two older kids have grand old conversations with each other while sleeping, the subject matter did not match, just the timing. For example the eldest would say something along the lines of “We whooped St. Joe’s last night” and Ian would respond with “Eggs for breakfast is good”. High hilarity in the middle of the night.
A fellow here in Canada was found not guilty of murdering his in-laws because he suffers from #1. They were able to prove he had no knowledge of the crime until he woke up the next day covered in blood.
I suffer from number 9. It really sucks because even with the medicine that I am on I still fall asleep without any control. Before being treated I slept through all my classes, I am in college, so now I am really behind in school when I should be graduating this spring. I have been dealing with this since I was young, it just gets worse as you grow older. Great list, being a sleep disorder patient I also suffer others on the list as well.
Ro,
I know what you mean about irregular sleep cycles. I’m currently working on my PhD, in the summertime with no other job or time commitments. I wake up and go to bed whenever I want/need to. But because I don’t have to get up early for work like everyone else, my cycle gets all screwy. Waking up at 9pm a couple days in a row gets kind of depressing, haha.
We studied most of these disorders in my psychology class. I find them all very interesting. My sister is a sleep walker and a sleep talker. I used to try to stay up and wait for her to start talking so I could tease her about it later. My mother use to have to block the stairs and lock all the doors so my sister couldn’t get out. aaah, good times, good times.
Very nice list!
Antidepressants can cause vivid and even lucid dreaming. Ten to fifteen times on any given night I will be convinced that it is the morning and I am awake going about the day, only to be “slammed” back to the reality that I am still in bed. I take Lexapro, Elavil, Tofranil, and Remeron; if I also take an antihistamine the intensity and realism of the dreams are magnified.
Bruxism is awful, even with a mouth guard I have headaches everyday that resemble symptoms of both tension and migraine headaches.
Hee hee…. #7= “Jimmy Legs”
Sleep paralysis???
I grind my teeth, sleep talk, sleep walk, and get the occassional night terror…would be interesting to know if there is a correlation with epilepsy, especially since a lot of the treatments include anticonvulsants (I’m epileptic- febrile grand mals as a child, petit mals now)…they finally gave me a mouth guard, since I’d worn the points off my eye teeth, without even realizing it! Very cool list- I like stuff like this. Keep ‘em coming, guys!
Jfrater: I think there is a grammar mistake in #7
“While this disorder can effect a person who is awake, it is at its worst during sleep or periods of non-movemement.”
It should be affect.
Yikes!
Sleep disorders are a horrendous fact of life for those who suffer them, and for their partners.
*I suffered, for a time, with # 10, Rapid Eye Movement Behavior Disorder. Sadly, I lived alone, and would do things like cooking, driving, cutting…it was, in my case at least, brought on by the use of Ambien, but continued even after the drug was withdrawn.
Clonzazepam, which I still take 9 yrs later, saved my life.
*#8, Bruxism, was another gift of my illness. So severe was the bruxism (the nighttime grinding was due to extreme pain) , that I finally had to have a complete mouth/jaw reconstruction…22 crowns and 12 porcelain veneers. My latest drug regime should prevent further recurrence (I hope!).
*#5, Sleep Apnea. I had both central core and obstructive sleep apnea. Being slim, no one could believe I had obstructive apnea until they saw my dental x-rays, and what the bruxism had done. The obstructive issue has been dealt with, but the central apnea, the part where my brain forgets to tell my body to breathe, is, and always will, be with me. So I sleep with a BiPAP and and Oxygen Concentrator (my O2 levels, without it, fall into the 80% range).
The apnea may be due to the treatments I receive for my major, underlying, disease.
Fat and Kreachure, I have had countless experiences with sleep paralysis myself since childhood. Kreachure, your description of horror is absolutely spot on!
Oh, how I hate the noise of dread which seems to permeate the room! And the feeling of complete evil, just out of eye sight, waiting to pounce. Unlike you, my eyes are open, but unmovable, and the air in front of me is filled with strange, glowing symbols of different colors in different “levels”, unreadable, but somehow important.
Whenever I find myself in that situation, I concentrate on moving my right pinky. I put every effort, every ounce of concentration, on moving my right pinky. I never know how long it takes, but the instant I can move that little finger the entire spell is broken!
Waiting for that pinky to move is like waiting for geologic time to pass.
#1 sounds….interesting.
/////video recordings of patients with the condition while they are asleep/////
Boy, I’d like to watch that,…a female patient that is.
////*****somnia is not always problematic or extreme for those who experience it or for their partners./////
You got that right. I can’t imagine a husband saying..”honey, we must get you to a doctor and cure this horrible affliction.”
hahahhah…. *****nomia… i think some pple use it as a lame excuse to get funky with their partners at night.
…I have Restless Legs Syndrome. It’s kinda annoying to be kicking everything in your sleep.
I have the restless leg syndrome. Sometimes bad enough to kick the sheets loose. It’s crazy.
I get sleep paralysis sometimes too. I’ve seen the strangest things.
How about that genetic disorder that stops sleep at a certain age? I can’t think of the name of that disorder now :S
Anyone?
what do u call it when u wake up and ur eating your pillow?
and no one say hungry
I too have suffered with alot of these. Too many of them. It’s not pleasant. I went off meds and use a wellness oil that works for me. So now I just have to use the CPAP with no side effects.
http://relaxed-wellnessoilsforrestlesslegs.blogspot.com
Fatal Familial Insomnia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia
i wouldn’t qualify sleep apnea or bruxism as “bizarre”.
****
#56. Spence425
i wouldn’t qualify sleep apnea or bruxism as “bizarre”.
****
You don’t think that having your brain forget telling you to breathe is bizarre?
70-90% of sleep paralysis occurs when the person is sleeping in the supine position. Want it to stop? Stop sleeping that way. There are two forms of sleep paralysis: hypnapompic and hypnagogic. 90% of the population experiences hypnapompic sleep paralysis at some point in their lives, but it is extremely rare to have any memery of it. The remaining experiences of hypnagogic sleep paralysis occur on the other end of the REM spectrum- when the subject is moving from stage 4-5 of REM sleep to the final stage and then slips ‘back’ to the previous. This ‘hiccup’ in the cycle allows for cognitive understanding of the experience while the REM safety paralysis (that stops you from acting out your dreams) is still in place, thus allowing you to be partially awake and lucid inside the process of awakening but still having your brain tell you it’s not safe to move.
Your experiences with ‘demons’ ‘ghost hags on your chest’ the ‘black men made of shadow’ and ‘the essence of evil inside the room’ are purely physical and scientific phenomenon. I know, I’ve suffered from it since childhood, sometime 5 or 6 nights a week. These experiences, inflicted on an ignorant and primitive society, are one of the hallmarks of the creation of dichotomous religion and silly superstitious beliefs.
Trust me, I know that scream you make when you thought you’ve awoken and the absolute most terrifying presence you can imagine is reaching for you and you can’t move. But it isn’t the devil. It is a biological function that evolved to shock your system into rejecting the state it is trapped in- without it your brain might literally wreck itself. Could you imagine what would happen if there was no impetus for you to reject the state and you had no idea you were asleep?
With enough knowledge and experience, you don’t need to be afraid; with enough practice, you can even make it happen, and it isn’t scary anymore. Now when it happens, I just think, ‘huh, so I’m still asleep? Alright, dammit, time to wake up.’
I also know that someone who has never experienced it full on can ever understand the absolute depth of terror it illicits when you have it happen and you don’t understand it- it feels like something is being ripped out from inside of the very essence of who you are.
Put your trust in science, not boogeymen or angels, fallen or otherwise. Then you can really have fun when you push past and get into the lucid dreams. (Hint: when you have an HSP experience, focus on ‘rolling’ from one side to the next, and pulling yourself upwards at the same time).
Cheers.
I sleep with a hand on my arm that way when it happens to me i can move my finger just enough over my arm to wake myself up.
Astraya (14)I have false awakenings, too. Pretty weird
Kreachure(35)That happens to me, too. So scary. I feel like I’m coming up from under water, clawing to the surface.
I’m a lucid dreamer also. I can completely control my dreams. Even “rewind” and go back so that my dream goes in a different direction if it gets too scary, or something bad happens.
Sleep cycles. I would rather be up from 6PM to 6AM and sleep all day. I am such a night owl.
Also,I can sleep 18 hours without getting up, even to go to the bathroom. I love to sleep and dream.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I read in my sleep. Books. I have even dreamed I was reading lists on ‘Verse (Man, I need to get out more).