Sleep Disorders in Neurodegenerative Disorders

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases result from deterioration of neurons which may eventually lead to central nervous system-related dysfunction including sleep disorders. The pathogenesis of these disturbances may be secondary to direct structural alterations of the sleep-wake generating cells and networks or be the consequence of several indirect mechanisms. The most frequent sleep disturbances in patients with neurodegen erative diseases are insomnia, hypersomnia, parasomnias, excessive nocturnal motor activity, circadian sleep-wake rhythm disturbances, and respiratory dysrhythmias. Here, we classify the neurodegenerative diseases, taking into consideration the type of molecular neurodegeneration as synucleinopathies and tauopathies and reviewed sleep disorders observed in each degeneration type. The aim of this review is to provide data on sleep disturbances in two categories of neurodegenerative disorders.