somni-, somno-, somn-, -somnia, -somniac

(Latin: sleep, sleeping; dreams, dreaming)

cacosomnia (s) (noun), cacosomnias (pl)
1. Sleeplessness; unable to sleep; bad sleeping conditions: Jim couldn't sleep at all anymore. His cacosomnia was caused by constant nightmares about his experiences during the war.
2. Etymology: from Greek kakos, "bad" + Latin somnus, -somnia, "sleep".
dyssomnia (s) (noun), dyssomnias (pl)
1. Sleep disorders characterized by a disturbance in the amount, quality, or timing of sleep: Tom decided not to drink any more coffee because it apparently caused his dyssomnia and so he could not sleep through the night.
2. Any disturbances of normal sleep or rhythm pattern: Sharon's house was next to the railroad tracks which caused her to have dyssomnia because she never got used to the noises of trains traveling during the night.
3. Any disturbance involving the amount, quality, or timing of sleep: Timothy's stress with his boss at work made him have headaches and he became quite nervous. After going to his doctor, because he was getting so little sleep, his condition was diagnosed as dyssomnia and he was encouraged to get a less stressful job.
3. Etymology: from Greek dys-, "bad, ill, impaired, defective" + Latin -somnia, "sleep".
dyssomniac (s) (noun), dyssomniacs (pl)
A person who has a disturbance of normal sleep: Sarah's mother, a dyssomniac, could only sleep about two hours during the night, because she couldn't stop worrying about her daughter who left home all of a sudden.
dyssomniac (adjective), more dyssomniac, most dyssomniac
Characterized by being unable to sleep properly: "Karl's dyssomniac condition resulted in serious health problems."
hypersomnia (high" pur SAHM nee uh) (s) (noun), hypersomnias (pl)
1. A condition characterized by abnormally long or frequent periods, or abnormal depth, of sleep: Susan's hypersomnia affected her daily life in that she was exceedingly tired and sleeping more and more during the day and not tending to her household chores.
2. Excessive or uncontrollable sleepiness: After spending days and nights with constant work in the emergency hospital, Dr. Smith suffered from hypersomnia, sleeping through his meal times at home."
3. A condition in which sleep periods are excessively long, but the person responds normally in the intervals; distinguished from somnolence: After flying from California to Germany, David was so tired he went directly to bed and slept 10 hours, only getting up to eat with his family.

After eating, his hypersomnia took over again, and so he went back to bed and got up later, after several hours.

4. Etymology: from Greek hyper, "over, very much" + Latin somnus, -somnia, "sleep".
hypersomniac (adjective), more hypersoniac, most hypersomniac
Characterized by extreme sleepiness for long or recurring periods of time, or of deep sleep: Steven's hypersomniac condition didn't allow him to have a regular job for over a year because he was always so terribly tired and couldn't concentrate.
hyposomnia (s) (noun), hyposomnias (pl)
1. A condition of getting insufficient sleep: "At the emergency ward, Dr. Smith was suffering from hyposomnia because of having to work constantly day and night as a result of a lack of doctors at the hospital."
2. Etymology: from Greek hypo, "reduced amount" + Latin -somnia, somnus, "sleep".
hyposomniac (adjective), more hyposomniac, most hyposomniac
Characteristic of a person having insufficient sleep: Mrs. Black finally went to her doctor complaining that she could never slept more than three hours during the night because she was having nightmares about the unruly and undisciplined children in her classroom. The doctor told her the condition was called a hyposomniac health problem.
hyposomny (s) (noun), hposomnies (pl)
A decrease in or a lack of normal sleep: Steve was becoming invariably nervous about his insecure job situation and so he was waking up earlier and sleeping less and this hyposomny was causing him serious health problems.
insomnia (s) (noun), insomnias (pl)
1. The inability to sleep; sleeplessness: Insomnia may vary in degrees from restlessness, or disturbed slumber, or an absence of the normal time of not being awake.
2. Being unable to slumber, even in the absence of external causes; such as, noise, a bright light, etc., during the period when dozing off should normally occur: Sometimes when Josie is very tired and in bed at night, she is in a state of insomnia and she turns this way and that way and is not resting.
3. Etymology: from Latin in, "no, not" + somnis, "sleep".
Inability to go to sleep.
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Unable to sleep.
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insomniac (s) (noun), insomniacs (pl)
1. The chronic inability to fall asleep or to remain asleep for an adequate length of time: As an insomniac, Janet had problems sleeping at night because she was constantly haunted by the fact that she couldn't pay back her loan debts.
2. Those who can not sleep even when they are sleepy: Being an insomniac, and so not being able to go to sleep, even when he tried to, Harvey decided to go to the bank and seek financial help to solve his payment problems because they were constantly on his mind.
Can an insomniac be fined for resisting a rest?
insomniac (adjective), more insomniac, most insomniac
Pertaining to the inability to sleep: Karen often suffered from insomniac conditions; especially, since she has been under stress as a result of the pressures she has been under to keep up with her university studies and working part time in order to finance her educational expenses.
A man is twisting and turning in bed with insomnia.

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A person will die from total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur after about ten days without sleep; starvation takes a few weeks. A no-sleep death is no gradual fade away affair—it is preceded by insanity.

—A quote from The Body Almanac by Neil McAleer;
Doubleday & Company, Inc.; Garden City, New York; 1985; page 24.
insomnolence (s) (noun), insomnolences (pl)
Being incapable of sleeping, sleeplessness: Rebecca's insomnolence was slowly becoming more relaxed after being at the bank and discussing her financial difficulties with an advisor; all of which finally made it easier for her to go to sleep.
intersomnial (adjective), more intersomnial, most intersomnial
1. A reference to some dreams that take place while sleeping: Albert recalled having occasional nightmares during his intersomnial experiences which sometimes caused him to wake up and have difficulty going back to sleep.
2. Etymology: from Latin inter, "among, between" + Latin somnium, "sleep".
intersomnious (adjective), more intersomnious, most intersomnious
Relating to periods of times between sleeping and waking up: Walter heard some sounds in the distance before he woke up because he thought he heard his mother calling his name during his intersomnious condition.

Related "sleep" units: dorm-; hypno-; letho-; narco-; oneiro- (dream); sopor-.