Sleep Disorders

Unfortunately, a lack of consistency exists in the terms used to describe sleep disorders. It is important to consider the use of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) terminology to provide consistency.

A primary sleep disorder is one that includes a wide variety of problems and is characterized by insomnia, daytime sleepiness, or abnormal movements or sensations during sleep (Berger et al., 2005). The AASM categorizes disorders into the following groups.

• Sleep- related breathing disorders:  Disruption or disordered breathing during sleep 
• Insomnias: Difficulty with initiating sleep, duration of sleep, or quality of sleep, which results in daytime impairment; is common and can be a condition in and of itself or the result of one of the other sleep disorders
• Circadian rhythm sleep disorders resulting from alterations in circadian timing
• Parasomnias: Abnormal physical movements or experiences that occur just prior to, during, or during arousal from sleep
• Hypersomnias: Daytime sleepiness not related to circadian rhythm, sleep-related breathing, or other types of disorders
• Sleep-related movement disorders: Simple movements during sleep (such as moving of limbs) that disrupt sleep patterns
• Isolated symptoms and/or normal variants that can disrupt sleep, such as snoring
• Other sleep disorders that cannot be classified into one of the other groups, such as those that arise from psychological or organic origins

Terms such as sleep disturbances, sleep-wake disturbances, sleep problems, or alterations in sleep are not technically recognized by the AASM but are often interchangeably used to describe a symptom or group of symptoms.

Reference

Berger, A.M. , Parker, K.P., Young-McCaughan, S., Mallory, G.A., Barsevick, A. M., Beck, S.L., Hall, M. (2005). Sleep/wake disturbances in people with cancer and their caregivers: State of the science. Oncology Nursing Forum, 32(6), E98-E126.