Rem Sleep Disorders

This allows them to "act out" their dreams.

Usually when you are in REM stage of sleep, your muscles are relaxed.

With this disorder, your body tries to act out your dreams.

That's over-simplifying, but you get the idea.

(Atonia means temporary sleep paralysis due to an irregularity in passing between the stages of sleep and wakefulness).

Normal sleep has 2 forms: non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

During REM sleep, rapid eye movements occur, breathing becomes irregular, blood pressure rises, and there is usually loss of muscle tone (paralysis).

However, the brain is highly active, and the electrical activity recorded in the brain by EEG during this sleep is similar to that recorded during wakefulness.

REM sleep accounts for 20-25% of the sleep period. it is necessary for good rest and is usually associated with dreaming.

With this disorder, the dream may be particularly vivid, often violent or unpleasant leading to dream-enacting behavior which may include shouting, punching, kicking, jumping out of bed and grabbing.

You could lash out, often causing self-injury or injury to your partner in bed.

You may be wakened or may wake spontaneously during the attack and clearly remember the intense dream that you were living out.

In some cases, your limbs are active during this sleep in the time period before the appearance of the disorder, as if it builds up.

An acute form may occur during withdrawal from alcohol or sedative-hypnotic drugs.

The symptoms of REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) are treated by several medications with varying success.

The drug most often used is Clonazepan, effective in varying doses for about 80% of patients.

However it may increase confusion on waking for older patients. Obstructive sleep apnea has been noted to worsen.

Melatonin can also alleviate this condition

It is important to make the bedroom safe for the sufferers of this condition. Sharp or potentially dangerous objects should be removed from the bedroom, and the mattress should be placed on the floor or a cushion should be put around the bed.

RBD occurs predominantly in males and RBD is a typically a disease of elderly persons. The risk increases after the the sixties, although the disease may occur at all ages, including childhood.

REM sleep behavior disorder often may be associated with other neurological conditions, including Lewy body dementia, Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy.

You may have other sleep disorders while you have REM sleep behavior disorder.

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