A confirmation of the diagnosis and an evaluation of its severity are best performed in a sleep study laboratory. Such analyses can help doctors distinguish between obstructive and central sleep apnea. Parasomnias Parasomnias are vivid dreams and physical activities that occur during sleep. A variety of unconscious and largely unremembered movements can occur during sleep, more often in children than in adults. Just before falling asleep, almost all people occasionally experience brief, single, involuntary jerks of the entire body.
Some people also experience sleep paralysis or brief hallucinations.
Sleepwalking, head-banging, night terrors, and nightmares are more common and very distressing in children. Epileptic seizures may occur in people of any age. Especially when they're under stress, people with akathisia have vaguely uncomfortable sensations in the legs, along with spontaneous, uncontrollable leg movements. The cause is unknown, but a family history of the disorder is found in a third or more of the people who have it. Benzodiazepine drugs taken at bedtime sometimes bring relief.