PWH
« Back to Glossary IndexPWH is an acronym that is used by HF to refer to a person who has a hypersomnia (or people who have hypersomnias).
The Hypersomnia Foundation follows the ICSD-3’s definition of hypersomnia, in which the term is distinct from the diagnosis of “idiopathic hypersomnia” and the symptom of “hypersomnolence.” Consequently, hypersomnia refers more generally to any of several specific diagnoses whose main symptoms include excessive sleep and/or excessive sleepiness, such as idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) and the related sleep disorders (narcolepsy types 1 and 2, Kleine-Levin syndrome, hypersomnia due to a medical condition, etc.). Therefore, when the term PWH is used, it refers to a person (or people) who has IH or another hypersomnia. In other words, PWH is a broader and more inclusive term than PWN (people who have narcolepsy) or PWIH (people who have IH).