GC: n
S: HU – https://goo.gl/4QVm2v (last access: 2 December 2016); VW – https://goo.gl/5SCr9r (last access: 2 December 2016).
N: 1. Late 14th century, from Old French sompnolence, from latin somnolentia “sleepiness”, from somnolentus, from somnus “sleep”.
2. Difficulty in maintaining the wakeful state so that the individual falls asleep if not actively kept aroused.
3. Somnolence could make you fall asleep in the middle of some activities, even when you’re trying hard to stay awake.
4. Somnolence is a medical term, but usually people refer to it as sleepiness, drowsiness and just plain sleepy.
5. There are a variety of causes of somnolence, and not all are related to your health or to medications you are taking.
The main causes are:
- Not getting enough sleep
- Heart disease and diabetes.
- Diabetes
- Chronic pain
- Low thyroid function
- Bipolar disorder
- Psychiatric medications
- Disorders specifically related to sleep such as sleep apnea.
6. Cultural Interrelation: We can mention the song Somnolence (2003) by Lemon Demon.
S: 1. OED – https://goo.gl/xkuAc8 (last access: 2 December 2016). 2. TERMIUM PLUS – https://goo.gl/HKl5BJ (last access: 2 December 2016). 3 to 5. VW – https://goo.gl/SJcKNO (last access: 2 December 2016). 6. ML – https://goo.gl/MpQzxD (last access: 2 December 2016).
SYN: drowsiness, sleepiness.
S: TERMIUM PLUS – https://goo.gl/HKl5BJ (last access: 2 December 2016)
CR: insomnia, Kleine-Levin syndrome, narcolepsy, somnambulism.
