NOCTURNAL RHYTHMIC MOVEMENT DISORDER PERSISTING IN ADULTS - 2 CASES WITHOUT MENTAL DEFICIENCY

Nocturnal rhythmic movements (jactatio capitis nocturnus, JCN) are ver y frequent in young children but persist only rarely in adults; studie s including sleep recordings al e exceptional in those cases. We repor t two new cases of young adults with JCN persisting since the first ye ar of life, associated with restless sleep and diurnal sleepiness. Sev eral episodes of JCN were recorded in each of the two patients; they a lways occurred after a period of paradoxical sleep, the waking phase p receding the rythmic movements which are sometimes very short (l s). T he pathophysiology of adult JCN is discussed as a behavioral disorder of sleep onset conditioning or a disorder of sleep maintenance.