‘Sleep Drunkenness’ Common, Study Finds

A new survey suggests that about 15% of Americans have what’s sometimes known as “sleep drunkenness.” Doctors call it confusional arousal. This means that you wake up feeling confused and not knowing where you are, perhaps for up to 10 minutes. The new study was based on interviews with more than 19,000 adults. They were asked about their sleep habits, mental health and medicines. About 15% said they had a confusional arousal incident in the last year. More than half of this group said they had the incidents more often — more than once a week. Most of those who had episodes of sleep drunkenness also had another sleep disorder, mental health disorder or both. Just over 70% had a sleep disorder. About 37% had a mental health disorder. More than 31% took medicines for a mental health issue, mostly antidepressants. The journal Neurology published the study.