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Sleep disorders involve an interruption in sleep patterns that lead to distress and affects daytime functioning.

Examples of sleep disorders:

  • Narcolepsy is a condition in which people experience an irrepressible need to sleep. People with narcolepsy may experience a sudden loss of muscle tone.
  • Insomnia disorder involves being unable to get enough sleep to feel rested. While all people experience sleeping difficulties and interruptions at some point, insomnia is considered a disorder when it is accompanied by significant distress or impairment over time.
  • Hypersomnolence disorder is characterized by excessive sleepiness despite an adequate main sleep period. People with this condition may fall asleep during the day at inappropriate times such as at work and school.
  • Breathing-related sleep disorders are those that involve breathing anomalies such as sleep apnea that can occur during sleep. These breathing problems can result in brief interruptions in sleep that can lead to other problems including insomnia and daytime sleepiness. 
  • Parasomnias involve disorders that feature abnormal behaviors that take place during sleep. Such disorders include sleepwalking, sleep terrors, sleep talking, and sleep eating.
  • Restless legs syndrome is a neurological condition that involves having uncomfortable sensations in the legs and an irresistible urge to move the legs in order to relieve the sensations. People with this condition may feel tugging, creeping, burning, and crawling sensations in their legs resulting in an excessive movement which then interferes with sleep.

Sleep disorders related to other mental disorders as well as sleep disorders related to general medical conditions have been removed from the DSM-5. The latest edition of the DSM also provides more emphasis on coexisting conditions for each of the sleep-wake disorders.9

This change, the APA explains, “underscores that the individual has a sleep disorder warranting independent clinical attention, in addition to any medical and mental disorders that are also present, and acknowledges the bidirectional and interactive effects between sleep disorders and coexisting medical and mental disorders.”