When Sleep becomes Violent

Summary:
Normally, we cycle through two stages of sleep throughout the night: REM and NREM. REM sleep stands for rapid eye movement, and NREM is non-rapid eye movement sleep. We do most of our dreaming during REM sleep, and although we are moving in our dreams, our real bodies are basically paralyzed, a condition known as atonia. Only our eyes move, darting around as if watching the scenes from our mind. Even though our bodies lie motionless, our minds are just active as if we were awake.
In NREM sleep, an EEG--electroencephalogram--will show decreased brain activity.
There is, nevertheless, a condition called parasomnia which occurs between wakefulness and deep sleep in NREM sleep, and produces those famous activities such as sleep walking and talking. If one is woken from the former, he or she will be confused and disoriented, which is why people are advised not to wake them. The person will also not be able to recall their dream in the slightest amount.
There is a step beyond parasomnias, however: RBD, or REM sleep behavior disorder. When a person has this, he will literally act out his dream, as in the case of one man who dreamed he was playing baseball again. In his dream, saw the ball coming at him, and reached out for it. Next thing he knew was he was on the floor next to his bed and had nearly put his hand through the wall. Doctors usually connect this disorder with a degenerative neurological condition.
Although simply acting out the dream is not the whole story. People also tend to display Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type behavior—they may be kind in the waking world but say profanities and be belligerent in the sleeping one. In fact, this is usually the case with people diagnosed with RBD.
A polysomnogram, a test that employs sensors placed over muscles, is used to show if movements are interrupting the normal REM sleep stage. In the case of the man who dreamed of playing baseball, doctors discovered through the test that he did in fact have RBD. While there is no known cure for this disorder, doctors do know how it happens and have medication for it, a drug similar to Valium by the name of clonazepam.

Response:

I thought it interesting when I saw the title of this article, because I did not know one could be so violent while asleep. Sure, I thought, people toss around in bed, but to hit someone, all because of a dream was a different story (the wife of the baseball man in the article had actual bruises from him striking out at her.) It is comforting to know that there is a known cause for RBD and a drug for it, so that people with the disorder will not have to hear the words, “We don’t know what’s wrong with you.” Although it will be a hard road, I am sure researchers will be able to discover a cure for REM sleep behavior disorder.