Sleep Disorders and Bedwetting

At the Enuresis Treatment Center, our effective approach to ending bedwetting has been based upon the conclusion that bedwetting is caused by a deep sleep disorder.

Our Founder, Barbara Moore, followed many doctors’ recommendations like surgery and therapy for her daughter, Gaile, which proved to be unproductive and unnecessary.

Determined to find a cure for Gaile’s bedwetting, Barbara spent years researching, which led to the discovery of a breakthrough study by Dr. Roger J. Broughton. The study’s findings concluded that all bedwetters share a deep sleep pattern.  The Enuresis Treatment Center’s 33 years of clinical and anecdotal experience has proven that the only effective treatment and cure for enuresis is to change the pattern of sleep by employing safe, biofeedback arousal methods.  Bedwetting is the symptom caused by the inherited sleep disorder. This same sleep disorder causes sleep apnea, excessive snoring, sleepwalking, night terrors, insomnia, and bruxism.

This information was the catalyst for the development of our unique treatment protocol. We are not only ending bedwetting, we are establishing a lifelong healthy and productive pattern of sleep.

Dr. Broughton and Sleep Disorders

Dr. Roger Broughton has always been captivated by the dissociations between wakefulness and sleep. Imagine talking to a patient who is fast asleep but responds as if awake, and after being awakened has no recollection of the conversation.

The sleep study conducted by Dr. Broughton is titled, "Sleep Disorders: Disorders of Arousal? Enuresis, Somnambulism, and Nightmares Occur in Confusional States of Arousal, not in "Dreaming Sleep".

The above chart is the result of the study "Sleep Disorders of Arousal," by Roger J. Broughton, shows the differences in normal sleep patterns (broken line) and those of a bedwetter (solid line). In normal sleep, people fall slowly from Stage 1 (lightest sleep) into deeper stages, and then back to lighter stages, where it’s easy to awaken. A bedwetter falls quickly into deep sleep and stays there for longer periods.

Click here for additional information on Dr. Broughton

Sleep Problems and Sleep Disorders

The Child Development Institute confirms the deep sleep problem. "Chronic bed-wetting is thought to be related to a deep sleeping pattern."  Apparently these children often sleep so deeply that they are not aware of the message the bladder sends to the brain saying it is full.  It is presumed that bed-wetting is an inherited condition.  Usually a parent, aunt, uncle, grandparent or other family member(s) will have had the condition.

The Institute goes on to say "By the first grade, most children are embarrassed by their bed-wetting condition.  They tend to withdraw from social activities that require sleeping outside their home.  They also often suffer from low self-image."

Why We Need Sleep (Click to continue reading.)