Parasomnia Definitions

According to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD 2nd Ed.), parasomnias are undesirable physical events or experiences that occur during entry into sleep, within sleep, or during arousals from sleep. These events are manifestations of the activation of central nervous system that has been transmitted into skeletal muscle and nervous system channels, often these have experiential components.

A parasomnia may include conditions such as sleepwalking, sleep eating, sleep sex (sexsomnia), sleep driving, REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, or medication-induced amnestic sleep disorder.  Some parasomnias may be characterized by partial arousals during sleep while others may be the result of an incomplete transition between sleep and wakefulness. 

The study and characterization of parasomnias is a relatively new undertaking within the field of Sleep Medicine as the first of these conditions, REM Sleep Behavior Disorder, was discovered by our group in only the 1980's culminating in what is now widely recognized as a landmark medical paper that was published in 1986 (see Schenck C, Bundlie S, Ettinger M, Mahowald M. Chronic behavioral disorders of human REM sleep: a new category of parasomnia. SLEEP 1986; 9:293-308).  Pioneering the field of Sleep Forensics is but a continuation of our on-going commitment to the clinical and scientific advancement of Sleep Medicine... a mission consistent with the founding of our multi-disciplinarian Sleep Center by Dr. Milton Ettinger in 1978. 

Several parasomnia sleep disorder definitions are listed within the drop-down menu above.