Hypersomnia Glossary of Terms

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3. Foods That Help or Harm Your Sleep Slideshow Pictures

Alcohol abuse: Use of alcoholic beverages to excess, either on individual occasions (binge...

Amphetamine: A drug that has a stimulant effect on the central nervous system that can be ...

Antidepressants: Anything, and especially a drug, used to prevent or treat depression.

Anxiety: A feeling of apprehension and fear, characterized by physical symptoms such as pa...

Apnea: The absence of breathing (respiration).

Autonomic nervous system: A part of the nervous system that regulates key involuntary func...

Caffeine: A stimulant compound found naturally in coffee, tea, cocoa (chocolate), and kola...

Clinical trials: Trials to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of medications or medical...

Depression: An illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and that affects the way...

Dysfunction: Difficult function or abnormal function.

Encephalitis: Inflammation of the brain, which may be caused by a bacterium, a virus, or a...

Epilepsy (seizure disorder): When nerve cells in the brain fire electrical impulses...

Genetic: Having to do with genes and genetic
information.

Heart: The muscle that pumps blood received from veins into arteries throughout the body. ...

Injury: Harm or hurt. To harm, hurt, or wound. The word injure may be in physical or emot...

Memory: 1. The ability to recover information about past events or knowledge. ...

Modafinil: An oral drug first approved by the FDA in 1998 for the treatment of narcolepsy,...

Narcolepsy: A neurological disorder that is marked by the recurrent, sudden, uncontrollabl...

NHLBI: Stands for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, one of the National Insti...

NIH: National Institutes of Health.

NINDS: Stands for the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, one of the ...

Obesity: The state of being well above one's normal weight.

Prognosis: The forecast of the probable outcome or course of a disease; the patient's chan...

Recurrent: Appearing or occurring again. For example, a recurrent fever is a fever that ha...

Sclerosis: Localized hardening of skin. Sclerosis is generally caused by underlying diseas...

Sleep: The body's rest cycle.

Sleep apnea: The temporary stoppage of breathing during sleep, often resulting in daytime ...

Sleep disorders: Any disorder that affects, disrupts, or involves sleep. The most common...

Symptomatic: 1 With symptoms, as a symptomatic infection. 2 Characteristic o...

Tired: A feeling of a lessened capacity for work and reduced efficiency of accomplishment,...

Trauma: A physical or emotional injury.

Tumor: An abnormal mass of tissue. Tumors are a classic sign of inflammation, and can be ...