Sleep ‘Drunkenness’ Disorder Becoming Common

A novel study published in the journal Neurology unveiled that one in every seven people suffer from sleep 'drunkenness' disorder.

Those of you who are not familiar with the term might relate to it after reading examples like answering the phone in the morning and realizing that in reality it was the alarm or you had a conversation with someone in late hours of night, but next morning you could not recall it.

The disorder is also called as confusional arousal. In this condition, a person remains in a confused state for a specific time after waking. The condition can take place before the person goes back to sleep or he completely wakes up.

As per the National Institutes of Health, such incidents happen when someone is made to awake forcefully during non-rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. It is a deeper sleep period.

Study author Maurice M. Ohayon shared that they have carried out an experiment. For the study, more than 19,000 people were recruited who were aged between 18 and above. They were asked about their sleep habits and were also interviewed about any symptoms of the disorder.

Researchers also questioned them about any mental illness they have and if they have taken any medications. Last year, 15% of the group admitted to experiencing an episode of the disorder. More than 50% of the group said they have experienced more than one episode per week.

As many as 84% people who have the disorder also had sleep disorder, a mental disorder or they were taking antidepressants. Researchers noticed that people who had problems like depression, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, panic or post-traumatic disorder were at more risk to face the disorder.

"These episodes of confused awakening have not gotten much attention, but given that they occur at a high rate in the general population, more research should be done on when they occur and whether they can be treated", said Ohayon.