Hi there, it's Matt here and welcome back to the podcast.

Sleep is remarkable, meaning sleep is both astounding but at times what I mean is in the very literal

sense of the word that some aspects of sleep are so strange they are so striking that they are of remark.

Today is just such a topic.

Yes, you did read the title of this episode correctly,

exploding head syndrome. But this is not a social media piece of

Charlotten science or some crras attempt at click bait. This is a real and also as you will see

consequential sleep disorder. But don't worry by the way not consequential in the exact sense of the

wording and its consequence to the patient my goodness I don't know if I could record such a podcast, but you will come to learn what I mean in just a second.

Let's start by exploring some definitions.

What is exploding head syndrome?

Exploding head syndrome is a sleep related phenomenon and it is classified under the

broader set of sleep disorders that we call

parasomials. Now as you will know on this podcast we love words and the precise meaning of words. So let's quickly

examine the etymology or the root origin of that term

parasomia starting with the para part of it. Parra derives from the Greek

word the very same Greek word para meaning beside or sometime around and then

somnia derived from the Latin root of somnous, meaning sleep.

So in other words, these are a class of sleep disorders,

this class called the parasomias,

that they are conditions that sit around this thing called

sleep, or disorders that sit just beside sleep. And if you're wondering other parasomials include things like night terrors, sleep walking, sleep-related eating, eating,

...