This chapter discusses the case of a 43-year-old male having problems with his nocturnal sleep at the age of 23 when he started to present recurrent nocturnal awakenings from sleep associated with involuntary eating. It presents the clinical history, examination, follow-up, treatment, diagnosis, and the results of the procedures performed on the patient. Actigraphic recordings for 2 weeks disclosed persistent muscular activity during the nocturnal period and two to five episodes per night of further enhanced muscular activity that corresponded to the eating episodes noted by the patient in his diary. The sleep medicine specialist established a diagnosis of sleep-related eating disorder (SRED) based on the clinical history and on the results of the video-polysomnography (PSG) recording. Low-dosage dopaminergic agents such as levodopa/carbidopa at bedtime, sometimes combined with codeine and/or clonazepam, bromocriptine and pramipexole, have been shown to reduce the eating episodes.

The fundamental elements of video-polysomnography are suggested by its name: video (watching patients and their body movements) polysomnography (recording the state of wakefulness or the different stages of sleep). Nowadays, digital polysomnographic recording systems can allow the video to be modified off-line to enlarge patient's details, select the most important polysomnographic parameters and allow modification of the amplitude with appropriate filter settings and also to modify the EEG derivations. Polysomnographic technician performs several tasks during overnight recording: supervision of the recording to ensure perfect functioning of electrodes and transducers; integration of the recording with additional electrodes if new events occur during night; intervention during an event to prevent injury to the patient; intervention during the recording to verify space and time orientation in the patient; and intervention during recording to question the patient about the event.