Sleep Disorders & PTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is categorized as an anxiety disorder. It typically develops as a response to an extremely traumatic experience or set of experiences that could have or did result in bodily injury or death. Some common causes for PTSD include military service involving combat, sexual assault, physical assault and involvement with natural disasters (as victim or worker). It can cause a variety of symptoms including sleep disorders.

Insomnia

• Insomnia (the inability to sleep) is common among those who have PTSD, often due to hyperarousal (physical or emotive tension).

Night Terrors and Nightmares

• Persistent night terrors are a sleep condition often associated with PTSD. Night terrors do not involve dreams and are generally considered to be a biological condition that creates emotional duress and physiological responses appropriate to terror.

Nightmares

• Nightmares occur during the REM cycle and involve disturbing imagery that may be drawn from memory. In PTSD, the nightmares will often involve the traumatizing events.

Sleep Apnea

• Sleep apnea, a condition where breathing pauses during sleep, has been linked with PTSD, but the exact connection is unclear. Sleep apnea can cause a decline in the restfulness of sleep.

Panic Attacks

• While panic attacks are not a sleep disorder, PTSD sufferers can be prone to panic attacks during the night, which interrupts the sleep cycle.