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Sleep Disorder Causes

Few, if any, specific causes exist for parasomnias, but each type of parasomnia has a number of predisposing factors. They are as follows:  

Nightmare disorder

• Personality disorders
  
  
• Relationship difficulties
  
  
• Other stressors
  
  
• Drugs, for example, levodopa, beta-adrenergic drugs, and withdrawal of REM-suppressing medications 

Sleep terror disorder

• Fever
  
  
• Sleep deprivation (lack of sleep)
  
  
• CNS depressant medications

Sleepwalking disorder

• Possible hereditary/familial trend
  
  
• Drugs, for example, thioridazine, fluphenazine, perphenazine, desipramine, chloral hydrate, and lithium
  
  
• Fever
  
  
• Sleep deprivation and obstructive sleep apnea (condition in which breathing stops temporarily while sleeping)
  
  
• Other disorders that disrupt slow-wave sleep
  
  
• Internal stimuli, such as a full urinary bladder
  
  
• External stimuli, such as noises

REM sleep behavior disorder

• Mostly no known cause
  
  
• Has been associated with dementia (progressive loss of intellectual functions), subarachnoid hemorrhage (leakage of blood into the space surrounding the brain), ischemic cerebrovascular disease (brain dysfunction due to reduced blood supply), olivopontocerebellar degeneration (brain disease), multiple sclerosis (disease of the central nervous system), and brain stem neoplasms (tumor)

Restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder

• Mostly no known cause
  
  
• Iron-deficiency anemia (amount of hemoglobin is less than normal)
  
  
• Pregnancy, menstruation, and menopause
  
  
• Chronic renal failure
  
  
• Osteoarthritis of the hips and knees
  
  
• Drugs, for example, caffeine, tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, and dopamine receptor-blocking drugs
  
  
• Neurological disorders
  
  
• Peripheral neuropathies (disorder affecting any segment of the nervous system)
  
  
• Various causes of myelitis
  
  
• Postpolio syndrome
  
  
• Diseases of the spinal cord
  
  
• Disorders of the lumbar/sacral region