NBRC Sleep Disorders Specialty (SDS) Complete Practice Exam 2025

Sleep paralysis is most commonly associated with narcolepsy, which is a neurological sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness, sudden sleep attacks, and disturbances in the regulation of sleep-wake cycles. In individuals with narcolepsy, sleep paralysis occurs when a person is either falling asleep or waking up, leading to an inability to move or speak temporarily. This phenomenon can occur alongside other symptoms of narcolepsy, such as cataplexy, which is a sudden loss of muscle tone, often triggered by strong emotions.

The other conditions listed do not have a direct or prominent association with sleep paralysis. For example, sleep apnea involves repeated interruptions in breathing during sleep, hypersomnia refers to excessive daytime sleepiness without the sudden sleep attacks seen in narcolepsy, and insomnia is characterized primarily by difficulty falling or staying asleep. While all of these conditions can disrupt sleep quality, they do not typically present with the specific occurrence of sleep paralysis as seen in narcolepsy.