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somnolence
Sign in to saveAlso known as drowsiness, sleepiness
Somnolence (alternatively sleepiness or drowsiness) is a state of strong desire for sleep, or sleeping for unusually long periods (compare hypersomnia). It has distinct meanings and causes. It can refer to the usual state preceding falling asleep, the condition of being in a drowsy state due to circadian rhythm disorders, or a symptom of other health problems. It can be accompanied by lethargy, weakness and lack of mental agility.
Key facts
- Medical condition (new).name
- Somnolence
- Medical condition (new).synonym
- Sleepiness, drowsiness
- Medical condition (new).specialty
- Psychiatry
via Wikipedia infobox
~6 min read
Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- Causes
- Circadian rhythm disorders
- Physical illness
- Medicine
- Assessment
- Severity
- See also
- References
- External links
Somnolence (alternatively sleepiness or drowsiness) is a state of strong desire for sleep, or sleeping for unusually long periods (compare hypersomnia). It has distinct meanings and causes. It can refer to the usual state preceding falling asleep, the condition of being in a drowsy state due to circadian rhythm disorders, or a symptom of other health problems. It can be accompanied by lethargy, weakness and lack of mental agility.
Somnolence is often viewed as a symptom rather than a disorder by itself. However, the concept of somnolence recurring at certain times for certain reasons constitutes various disorders, such as excessive daytime sleepiness, shift work sleep disorder, and others; and there are medical codes for somnolence as viewed as a disorder.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “somnolence” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.