What causes you to move in your sleep?
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Sleep Apnea\n\n\n\nDescription\nAn in-depth report on the causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of sleep apnea.\n\n\n\n\n\nIntroduction\nSleep apnea is a disorder in which a person stops breathing during the night, perhaps hundreds of times, usually for periods of 10 seconds or longer and sometimes for as long as a minute. These gaps in breathing are called apneas. (Apnea literally meaning absence of breath.) It is usually accompanied by snoring. People who have sleep apnea may not even be aware of the condition, but it inevitably causes daytime sleepiness.\n\nSleep apnea is generally categorized as obstructive, central, or mixed. A less severe form of obstructed breathing called upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) is also worth mentioning.\n\nObstructive Sleep Apnea\nObstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the most common form of apnea, occurs when tissues in the upper throat (or airway) collapse at intervals during sleep, thereby blocking the passage of air. In general, OSA occurs as follows:\n\nOn its way to the lungs, air passes through the nose, mouth, and throat (known as the upper airway).\nUnder normal conditions, the back of the throat is soft and pliant and tends to collapse inward as a person breathes.\nCertain muscles, called dilator muscles, work against this to keep the airway open. Interference or abnormalities in this process cause air turbulence.\nIf the tissues at the back of the throat collapse and become momentarily blocked, apnea occurs. Breath is temporarily stopped. In most cases the person is unaware of it, although sometimes they awaken and gasp for breath.\nIn some cases, the interference is incomplete (called obstructive hypopnea) and causes continuous but slow and shallow breathing. In response the throat vibrates and makes the sound of snoring. Snoring can occur whether a person breathes through the mouth or the nose. (It should be noted that snoring also occurs without sleep apnea.)\nApnea decreases the amount of oxygen in the blood, and eventually this lack of oxygen triggers the lungs to suck in air.\nAt this point, the patient may make a gasping or snorting sound but does not usually fully wake up.\nObstructive sleep apnea is defined as five or more episodes of apnea or hypopnea per hour of sleep that occur in individuals who have excessive daytime sleepiness.\n\nCentral Sleep Apnea\nCentral sleep apnea is much less common. It is caused by some problem in the central nervous system, most likely a failure of the brain to signal the airway muscles to breathe. In such cases, oxygen levels drop abruptly and usually the sleeper wakes with a start. Often people with central sleep apnea recall waking up. They generally experience less sleepiness during the day than people with obstructive sleep apnea.\n\nMixed Apnea\nMixed apnea is the term used when the two apneas occur together.\n\nUpper Airway Resistance Syndrome (UARS)\nUpper airway resistance syndrome (UARS) is a condition in which patients complain about excessive daytime sleepiness and they may snore and wake frequently during the night. However, UARS patients do not have the breathing abnormalities that characterize sleep apnea and they do not show reduction in oxygen levels in the blood. Unlike apnea, UARS is more likely to occur in women than in men. Treatments are similar to those of sleep apnea. It is not known if UARS has any serious health complications.\n\n\nHealthy Sleep\nIn sleep studies, subjects spend about one-third of their time asleep, suggesting that most people need about eight hours of sleep each day. Individual adults differ in the amount of sleep they need to feel well rested, however. (Infants may sleep as many as 16 hours a day.)\n\nThe daily cycle of life, which includes sleeping and waking, is called a circadian (meaning "about a day") rhythm, commonly referred to as the biologic clock. Hundreds of bodily functions follow biologic clocks, but sleeping and waking comprise the most prominent circadian rhythm. T
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Talk to your doctor about RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome). I have it, and it's a disorder that makes me move my legs all night long... it's like a weird twitching feeling and I feel like I HAVE to keep moving my legs. I do it in my sleep so sometimes I don't even notice it, and sometimes I have to keep my legs moving to get to sleep. Anyway, often times I feel like I ran a marathon the next morning. Try asking your doc for a prescription. Hope I helped.
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I also used to dream a lot, its all because i think too much. So i will no sleep if i dont feel like to, trying to make myself tired(watch tv, play games etc) then go to bed. So that i got no time to think about other stuff.
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In my case, i'm actually fully awake and can hear everything that's going on around me, i just can move, speak or open my eyes.  The first few times it happened, it scared the whey out of me.  I still find it frightening.\n\nI did some research on it and while the people on here that have said it is part of our defense mechanism to keep us from acting out dreams and thereby harming ourselves or others, are correct, the sleep paralysis is actually different in that we are not dreaming when it happens.\n\nYou can use any and/or all of the search engines available and find quite a bit of information on it.\n\nOne of the things i find most helpful is a tip i read on one of the sites.  It said to rapidly move your eyes back and forth or to try moving your feet.  While these don't always work, i have found that sometimes they do and when they do work, i can bring myself out of it.\n\nAnother thing i do is try not to sleep during the day if i'm home alone.  In my case, it happens if i nap; but, because of some other health issues, i nap a lot.  So, if i have to sleep during the day, i will either do it while my husband is home or i'll call my sister or a friend ~ in any case, i ask someone to either come in or call after an hour and wake me up.\n\nThere are some that associate sleep paralysis with narcolepsy, so you might want to use the available search engines and do some research.\n\nFOR THE PERSON WITH THE NECK PROBLEMS:  Could you please explain how it is related to your neck problems?  I, too, have neck problems and i'm always wanting to learn more about the sleep paralysis.
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sleep paralysis is a throwback from our hunter/gatherer days, caveman days, a long time ago. Back when we where not on top of the food chain and we were not the most powerful preditors. It is a defense mechanism that kept us safe at night. If we were asleep and moved, that would alert preditors out to get us. So our nervous system prevents the body from involuntarily moving while we are most vulnerable, while we are in a deep sleep. It is not supposed to continue when we are conscious but it does happen. If it happens while we are having a bad dream it seems logical to associate the feelings of terror and fear with evil but it is in our minds.
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No. When you're really sleeping, your brain activity changes. These changes can be detected on an EKG, so they're for real. REM, or Rapid Eye Movement, is a very important stage of sleep (when you dream you're in REM sleep). Studies have shown that without it people have difficulties learning and functioning mentally throughout the next day.
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It sounds like you know you need sleep, but why no sleeping, David? E-mail me, tell me what's up. Yes, I read through your Q&A: "How can I force myself out of my slumber during a dream?"
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You probably have what is known as restless leg syndrome. I'm sure when you move then constantly they feel better? It usually means a lack of potassium and magnesium. Try taking these in a vitamin form. Or else next best thing to do is eat bananas. Also drink lots of water.
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Hypnagogic myoclonus (also called sleep starts) is very normal and happens to just about everyone. According to the University of Marburg in Germany, reports of sleep starts are in the 60 to 70 percent range of sleepers (which means everyone) and they're often forgotten. It happens before you're getting into heavy duty sleep mode when the brain is gradually sliding away to dream land. You have probably experienced a falling sensation -- or some other weird feeling -- if you twitch yourself awake. Some people also experience visual sleep starts, a sensation of blinding light. Auditory sleep starts involve a loud snapping noise. (This happens to me, and up until now, I thought it was something outside my body and I would force my husband to get up and go investigate. Guess I won't do that anymore.)\n\nNot a lot is known about why people experience sleep starts, but there seems to be some suggestion that anxiety, some kind of noise, a vivid dream, muscle fatigue, or even genetic disposition plays some part, perhaps in how frequently the sensation occurs.\n\nIt might also be because you're gay.
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being that your blood is pumping, it causes to to become more  awake and it harder to fall asleep, i had the same prob when i exercised at night.
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do you mean like sleep paralisis? at night, if you wake up and find this happening, don't panic, it is normal. sometimes when we have bad dreams, our bodies produce hormones which keep us from thrashing and hurting ourselfs in our sleep. if we wake up to early, we find ourselfs unable to move for a period. go to webmd for a rewally good artical on it
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Although talking and sleep walking have both been known for centuries, little is known about these conditions.  Sleep studies have shown that both appear to happen during stage 3 NREM sleep.\nNo cause is currently known.
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Insomnia may be caused by a variety of things. There are three main areas that insomnia causes may be grouped into. These are psychological problems, social problems and medical problems. \n\nPsychological Problems\nInsomnia may be the result of depression, stress or some other psychological reason. Many people who suffer from psychological disorders also suffer from sleep disruption. If your insomnia follows a traumatic experience such as a car accident, an assault or a robbery, the trauma of the event may be contributing to your lack of sleep.\n\nSocial Problems\nA tense work environment or a problematic marriage may cause insomnia that falls into the Social Problems category. The frustrations and irritability confronted throughout the day may be replayed in your mind when you try to lie down to go sleep. This may cause you to be unable to sleep, simply tossing and turning for hours.\n\nMedical Problems\nA large assortment of medical reasons may cause insomnia. Being in pain or worrying about your illness may keep you from sleeping. Or the medications you take for your illness may cause you to stay awake.\n\n There are three stages of insomnia:\n\n1- TRANSIENT INSOMMIA.\n2- CHRONIC INSOMMIA.\n3- INTERMITTENT INSOMMIA.\n\nTransient insomnia is also known as short term insomnia, intermittent insomnia is also called on and off and chronic insomnia is called constant. Insomnia lasting from a single night to a few weeks is referred to as transient. If an episode of transient insomnia occurs from time to time it is said to be transient. Insomnia is considered to be chronic if it occurs on most night and lasts for a month or more.\n\nPeople more likely to experience insomnia are those in advanced years, those of the female gender, and those with a history of depression.\n\nTransient insomnia occurs in people who are temporarily experiencing 1 or more of these conditions: stress, noise, hot or cold temperature changes, jet lag and side effects from medications.\n\nChronic insomnia is mainly due to depression, misuse of caffeine and alcohol or shift work.\n\nInsomnia is found in both male and female. But in females in the menopause years it is most common.\n\nInsomnia is diagnosed with a medical history and a sleeping log. A sleeping can be done through journal entries, telling the time you went to bed and the number of times you awaken during the night.\n\nInsomnia is treated differently depending on the stage. Transient and intermittent may not require treatment. Chronic is different. The reason it is different is because the underlying cause must first be found.\n\nThe following are a few handy tips to avoid Insomnia:\n\n1) Don't go to bed until you feel exhausted & sleepy.\n\n2) Don't use the bed for anything else but sleeping i.e. no eating or watching TV.\n\n3) If you don't fall asleep within 15 minutes get up and do something else.\n\n4) Don't take naps during the day.\n\n5) Avoids alcohol and caffeine before bed.\n\nIf you want to eradicate this problem simply follow the tips for getting some proper sleep, which will ensure you stay healthy for a long time. Change your living style, try making some changes in your bedroom surroundings/setup, it may help you feel relaxed and eventually fall asleep.
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It sounds like you are suffering from sleep deprevation of what is called REM sleep which is the sixth level of sleep!  It IS caused by RLS and sleep apnea!\n\nYou are falling asleep during the day right!  Tired.\n\nSee our brains need sleep they only get to unwind on the level of sleep called REM for rapid eye movement!  At this level our breathing and other functions are on automatic. They are handled by the lower brain!  Our upper brain is free to unwind!  During this time our eyes dart around!  Now if our legs twitch,  This causes the brain to receive a stimilus and it drops out of REM!  Likewise if our breathing either stops in the case of central apnea or is blocked off in the case of obstructive apnea  the lack of oxygen in the brain causes it to signal the lungs to gasp for air! Now it does this while we are still in level one thru five of sleep!  So we do not know what is happening!  But our poor brain is not sleeping!!  Our body can get 10 hours of sleep and yet we are TIRED!\n\nI really think you should inquire about a sleep study!  That I think Apnea is the cause of your Hypersomnia!  I ABSOLUTELY KNOW ONE HUNDRED PERCENT THAT RLS ALONE WILL DISTURB YOUR SLEEP AT REM LEVEL!!!!!\n\nYOU NEED AN OVERNIGHT SLEEP STUDY TO SEE WHAT IS WRONG!  I DO NOT THINK MEDICATION IS NECESSARY EXCEPT FOR THE RLS!  THERE ARE SEVERAL DRUGS AVAILABLE FOR IT!  IF YOU GO TO A SLEEP CLINIC THEY WILL FIND OUT THE SPECIFICS!\n\nI GO TO A NEUROLOGIST AND A SLEEP DOCTOR BOTH!\n\nYOU NEED TO GO TO A SLEEP SPECIALIST !\n\nI am 61 and I feel like I am 30 I am using a CPAP device nightly and I wish I had gotten it earlier!  See I did not go until I actually DIED for a few minutes on the operating table in a simple operation! Within a month I was at one of those Sleep Clinics and I met my best new buddy my CPAP machine which I use nightly!  God only knows how my life would of come out if I would of had it earlier!  I have so much more energy than I ever did!\n\nI am telling you you really need to get checked out!  It makes all the difference in the world!  The RLS is one pill just before bed!\n\nGo to a clinic please! It will take care of BOTH YOUR PROBLEMS\n\n\nAPS\n\nTHIS IS FROM MERK MANUALS:\n"Hypersomnia may also be a symptom of sleep apnea or a psychologic disorder (such as severe anxiety or depression). Chronic hypersomnia that begins during adolescence may be a symptom of narcolepsy. Hypersomnia may also result from overuse of sleep aids.\n\n\nWhen evaluating a person who has become excessively sleepy, doctors ask about the person's mood, sleep-wake schedule, and use of drugs. Often, a sleep partner can describe the person's sleep abnormalities best. These abnormalities may include snoring and breathing pauses (which suggest obstructive sleep apnea) as well as grinding of teeth, kicking, and sleepwalking. Doctors "
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that is your body's reminder to you that you need to move!\n\nusually when that happens, there is a loss of blood circulation from that area, and it "falls asleep." it's a painful reminder sent to us by our muscle tissue that it needs oxygen!
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Because,when you're falling asleep,every muscle in your body relaxes.Sometimes your muscles are so uptight that they spasm as they start to relax...
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Ah ha. I used to have this all the time. You are sleeping or falling asleep then suddenly you can't move at all, it usually happens while on your back. It is very frightening at 1st and to me have been more nightmarish but I later read a book (sorry I can't remember the tittle) the author believes they are our like out of body experiences. I found that very interesting being that in all my sleep paralysis, my dreams were super real like meaning I could see the room around me without distortions. If you learn to control the paralysis feeling and go with it without being fear you will supposedly leave your body sleeping and you can wander the other realms in your spirit body, the book claimed.