To the Editor: Sleep-related eating disorder (SRED) is a type of sleep disorder in which the individual is amnestic completely or partially to the eating episode, which occurs during NREM sleep. Several medications have been implicated in unusual sleep behaviors, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recommended revised labeling on these medications. Zolpidem has the most published ...

WHAT IS SLEEP TALKING? Sleep talking (or somniloquy) can be considered as a part of a larger family of types of “sleep utterances,” such as mumbling, laughing, groaning, and whistling during sleep. The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus already observed someone sleep talking about 2,500 years ago, so it is not a very recent discovery. It happens at all ages (provided that one is ca...

In terms of medical science and legal responsibility, the sleep disorder category of parasomnias, chiefly REM sleep behavior disorder and somnambulism, pose an enigmatic dilemma. During an episode of parasomnia, individuals are neither awake nor aware, but their actions appear conscious. As these actions move beyond the innocuous, such as eating and blurting out embarrassing information, and en...

Automatism or automatic behaviour was originally described in the Hippocratic corpus in relation to sleepwalking and other nocturnal behaviours. Despite its long history, this area of automatism remains confused and imprecise in the medical and legal literature. Within English common law, it is a fundamental principle that the intent (mens rea) and the act (actus reus) must occur together to co...

Automatism or automatic behaviour was originally described in the Hippocratic corpus in relation to sleepwalking and other nocturnal behaviours. Despite its long history, this area of automatism remains confused and imprecise in the medical and legal literature. Within English common law, it is a fundamental principle that the intent (mens rea) and the act (actus reus) must occur together to co...

Automatism or automatic behaviour was originally described in the Hippocratic corpus in relation to sleepwalking and other nocturnal behaviours. Despite its long history, this area of automatism remains confused and imprecise in the medical and legal literature. Within English common law, it is a fundamental principle that the intent (mens rea) and the act (actus reus) must occur together to co...

Automatism or automatic behaviour was originally described in the Hippocratic corpus in relation to sleepwalking and other nocturnal behaviours. Despite its long history, this area of automatism remains confused and imprecise in the medical and legal literature. Within English common law, it is a fundamental principle that the intent (mens rea) and the act (actus reus) must occur together to co...

Automatism or automatic behaviour was originally described in the Hippocratic corpus in relation to sleepwalking and other nocturnal behaviours. Despite its long history, this area of automatism remains confused and imprecise in the medical and legal literature. Within English common law, it is a fundamental principle that the intent (mens rea) and the act (actus reus) must occur together to co...