Sleep Disorders
Sleep disorders are a highly common medical issue that affects millions of Americans each year. While some people suffer from mild sleeping problems, such as the occasional nightmare, others have extremely severe sleep disorders that can negatively affect their health if left untreated. A very large percent of people suffering from a sleep disorder remain undiagnosed. This means that a huge number of people aren’t getting the help that they need which is putting them in danger of permanently damaging their health.
At some point in life, almost everyone will likely suffer from lack of sleep. However, while lifestyle, work demands and family responsibilities may keep one from getting the sleep they need, a chronic lack of sleep can trigger the development of serious conditions, including heart disease, depression and hypertension. Common symptoms of lack of sleep include fatigue, blurry vision and irritability.
Although many people suffer from sleep disorders that prevent them from falling and staying asleep, a select group of people actually gets too much sleep. Known in medical circles as hypersomnia, excessive sleep is clinically defined as getting more than ten hours of sleep per night and still experiencing daytime drowsiness. While the particular causes of excessive sleep vary with each individual case, in most instances, treatment for this type of sleep disorder involves making some lifestyle changes.
Any condition, in which your sleep doesn’t follow the typical sleep phase cycle or doesn’t stay in each cycle for long enough, is a disrupted sleep disorder. Those who have disrupted sleep tend to not only get less sleep but also to not experience as deep of sleep. This means that these people are never reaching the right levels of sleep that are needed for that sleep to actually be restorative sleep. In other words, the sleep that is needed to make a difference is lacking.
Diagnosing and treating sleep disorders in children are particularly difficult because kids not only tend to be less likely to accurately describe their symptoms but they also suffer from different symptoms, depending on their particular sleeping problem. Similarly, children are more likely to suffer from sleeping problems that don’t affect adults, making it hard for some parents to even recognize that their children have a sleep disorder.
A very large number of women report that they suffer from some type of sleep disorder. Many women admit that daytime sleepiness disrupts their day-to-day activities. Although menopausal and pregnant women are far more likely to suffer from a sleep disorder (mainly due to the dramatic hormonal changes each of these groups experiences), all women are, in fact, twice more likely than men to experience a sleep disorder.
Sleep disorders that are known and recognized today are insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, advanced or delayed sleep phase syndrome, sleepwalking and talking, and sleep paralysis.
Insomnia can last for years. Sometimes it starts in early childhood. The resultant loss of sleep causes more health problems. This type of insomnia causes excessive daytime sleepiness, poor concentration, memory loss and irritability. Chronic insomnia is a serious problem.
Sleep apnea occurs when breathing is disrupted during sleep. Men, overweight people, and people over 40 are at greater risk for sleep apnea. Untreated sleep apnea can cause hypertension, stroke, or heart failure. Narcolepsy is another type of sleep disorder. Narcolepsy is a neurological condition but it is also a type of sleep disorder too. It is characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness. A narcoleptic may also fall asleep at any random time. A narcoleptic will most likely experience disturbed nocturnal sleep, which is often confused with insomnia, and disorder of rapid eye movement sleep. A person with narcolepsy is likely to become drowsy or to fall asleep, often at inappropriate times and places. Daytime naps may occur without warning and may be physically irresistible. These naps can occur several times a day. They are typically refreshing, but only for a few hours. Drowsiness may persist for prolonged periods of time. In addition, night time sleep may be fragmented with frequent awakenings.
Restless leg syndrome is a condition in which the legs feel extremely uncomfortable while sitting or lying down. It makes one feel like getting up and moving around. When they do so, the unpleasant feeling of restless leg syndrome temporarily goes away. Restless leg syndrome affects both sexes, can begin at any age and may worsen as one gets older. Restless leg syndrome can disrupt sleep, leading to daytime drowsiness, resulting in a sleep disorder and can make traveling difficult.
Delayed sleep phase syndrome is a disorder of sleep timing. People with DSPS tend to fall asleep at very late times, and will subsequently sleep later in the day having difficulty waking up in time for normal work, school, or social needs. The exact cause of DSPS is not known, but the disorder is related to circadian rhythms, which regulate the internal biological clock and influence functions such as sleep-wake patterns. DSPS can occur in people who have experienced head trauma or serious illnesses. In these cases, the body’s natural healing process might disrupt normal circadian rhythm and leave the biological clock unable to reset itself. Many teenagers tend to have delayed sleep phase but often grow out of it.
Sleep walking and sleep talking are also types of sleep disorders that are recognized. When a person suffers from this condition although they are sleeping they are not in the level of sleep that provides the ability for the body to replenish what it needs in order to survive. If you think that you may be suffering from any of these sleep disorders then you should seek the help of a physician as soon as possible.