The Various Sleep Disorders

Sleep disorders can be classified and grouped in several different categories. In this article we look at some of the most common forms of sleep disorders.

Insomnia; this is a sleeping disorder in which the sufferer finds it extremely difficult to fall asleep and to stay asleep. People who suffer from this sleeping disorder find it difficult to sleep. Often because their conscious mind fails to switch off no matter how exhausted and desperate they are in need of sleep.

Other factors that contribute to a poor night sleep are medical, psychiatric and neurological disorders that range from pain to depression to anxiety attacks. These can rob you of your sleep, health and energy.

Although there are some sleep disorders which we have no control such as restless leg syndrome and sleep apnea, insomnia often develops from poor sleep habits and psychological stressors. Poor sleep habits include consuming excessive caffeine, staying up late at night and also going to bed at irregular times.

Environmental, emotional and physical changes are common causes of temporary sleeplessness; a change of job, moving home, a loss of a family member, financial difficulties and even jet lag can disrupt your sleep cycle and throw your natural circadian rhythm off course.

People who work night shifts and work while the rest of the world is asleep are most likely to suffer sleeplessness. People who have biological clocks which are not in sync with the environment run a high risk of developing delayed sleep-phase syndrome.

Another factor that can disrupt sleep is snoring. It is all the more difficult for the room-mate or spouse who has to bear it all night long. Narcolepsy is another sleep disorder; in this case the victim may fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly. People suffering from this condition often experience severe anxiety due to the unpredictable nature of their sleep.

Parasomnias are sleep disorders that cause unusual behavior while one is asleep. What makes this sleep disorder so unusual and also dangerous is the fact that the person engages in such activities in which one would engage in a fully awakened state of mind. These activities include walking about the house and even eating!

Indeed there are far more life threatening and unusual sleep disorders than insomnia, however this doesn’t stop the fact that more than a third of all people suffer from this frustrating condition.

Sleep Disorders – Part 1

Today’s high stress world has been playing havoc with our sleep. Sleep Disorders increase as stress increases and as we age. Sleep comprises one third of our life, and controls everything from hormones to sell rejuvenation.

Stress and anxiety are not difficult to manage. Relaxation practices may not sound realistic or viable. Many people do not understand how sitting on the floor and raising the arms slowly will improve your health. However, you need to step back and understand the Pavlov effect.

This phenomenon is simply the power to train your brain to respond the way you want it to. Raising and lowering your arms while in the Lotus position have minimal medical benefits on its own, but its ability to train your body to respond the way you want it to is a proven medical fact. Relaxing mediation can reinforce your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle.

Insomnia – This results in difficulty falling asleep, waking up regularly in the night, and waking up tired.

Sleep apnia – you stop breathing during sleep that can result in mood and memory disorders. It is caused when muscles at the back of the mouth loose control and cannot keep the air passages open

Brockism – clenching and grinding teeth at night. Some people do this in the day, but others do it at night. This can cause ringing in the ear, headaches, lack of sleep, and pain.

REM Behavior Disorder – people act out their dreams. They talk and move in their sleep. They lack the muscle paralysis that most people experience while sleeping. They often do not feel rested when they wake up in the morning.

RLS, Restless Leg Syndrome – burning, creeping, and tugging in the legs make you want to move them. No one is sure what causes RLS.

Narcolepsy – overwhelming fatigue and seizures can be mistaken for epilepsy and depression.

How Much Sleep Do You Need?

Finding the reason why you are having trouble sleeping is not always easy. One way is to go to bed a few nights without a clock. Sleep until you wake up. This will tell you how much sleep time your body needs. Everyone is different. Some people can experience a good night’s sleep in 4 hours. Others need six and even nine hours.

The old wives’ tale that people need eight hours sleep, and anything beyond that is laziness is a myth that has been proven several times by medical research.

Sleep Hygiene

Sleep Hygiene is important to a good night sleep. The first thing, only use your bed for sleep and sex. This helps your brain associate the brain with sleep only. There are some reports that claim that people who watch television prior to sleep do not go through all three stages of sleep, or sleep as well.

Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol prior to sleep and do not exercise before bedtime. This can send the brain mixed signals

Train Your Brain to Shut Down

This is a Pavlo theory in practice. It can train your body to fall asleep at the same time every night. If you can’t fall asleep after 30 minutes, read a book or listen to music. Do not lay and stare at the wall.

Keeping a regular sleep routine starts before it is time to go to bed. The routine relaxes the body and alerts the brain to switch to sleep mode. This helps it prepare for sleep.

A hot bath can also relax the body and activate the part of the brain that controls the sleep functions.

Also, avoid the ‘jet lag syndrome.’ People who have sleep problems should not stay awake late to watch a movie or go out to a party. This can mess up their sleep routine, and put their natural sleep-wake routine out of sync.

A Sign Of Distress-Determining The Causes Of Insomnia

Insomnia is a fairly common medical condition, and doctors are just beginning to get the hang of treating it. The key to treating insomnia in most cases is to determine the cause of the insomnia. Oftentimes, this is more difficult than it sounds. Yet, being aware of the risk factors and potential causes of insomnia could help you to treat your own case of the disorder.

Risk Factors Add to the Causes of Insomnia

There are certain characteristics that make a person more likely to experience insomnia. For example, females, the elderly, and people who suffer from depression are all much more likely to get insomnia than other groups. When conditions such as anxiety, stress, use of medications, or a medical problem occur, then these might cause someone to become more susceptible to the disorder as well.

Different Causes of Insomnia – Different Lengths of Time

One of the ways to classify insomnia is by how long it lasts. Transient insomnia is short term, intermittent insomnia occurs on and off, and chronic insomnia is long term. Each of these variations is caused by different factors. Transient and intermittent insomnia are frequently caused by one or more of the following factors: extreme temperatures, stress, change in surrounding environment, noise, jet lag or other schedule disruptions, and medication side effects.

Causes of chronic insomnia are different and are usually more difficult to pinpoint. Typically, chronic insomnia is caused by an underlying mental, emotional, or physical disorder. Depression, kidney disease, arthritis, sleep apnea, heart conditions, asthma, restless leg syndrome, hyperthyroidism, Parkinson’s Disease, and narcolepsy are all potential underlying causes of chronic insomnia.

However, chronic insomnia can also be caused by behavioral factors. For example, substance abuse, such as the misuse of caffeine or alcohol, can lead to chronic insomnia. Other behavioral factors include: excessive napping, smoking cigarettes, disrupted sleeping habits, and prolonged anxiety over lack of sleep.

Going to the Source

Looking at the causes of insomnia can help to determine what the best method of treatment might be. Frequently, you can solve your insomnia problems simply by removing the cause. This typically means ending a behavior that might be causing the condition.

Getting Help

Nobody expects you to determine the cause of your insomnia on your own. Your doctor can be a major help in finding out what causes your insomnia; so make sure to consult him or her before you give up hope. http://www.about-sleep-disorder.com/

Sleep Problems Among Adolescents And What To Look For

A great many teenagers do not get anything like the amount of proper regular sleep the need. Not having enough sleep on a regular basis can lead to a sleep deficit, which can create emotional problems and also the inability to be able to concentration on their work and studies.

Sleep problems among adolescents are much more common in comparison to adults and younger children because of several reasons. Some doctors will tell you that a teenager’s biological clock alters during adolescence, which makes it more difficult for teenager’s to fall asleep and wake up early and refreshed the next morning. The changes to a teenager’s body are created by the brain hormone called “melatonin” that is produced by a teenager later at night in adolescents, this makes it difficult teens to sleep properly. This sleep disorder is known as “delayed sleep phase syndrome”, which affects very many teens. Other causes of sleep problems among adolescents include stress, drugs, physical discomforts or poor sleeping environment.

5 sleep problems that can disrupt your teenager’s sleep:

*Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD) this happens when your leg and arm movements disturbs sleep, making your teenager’s bad tempered and tired from lack of sleep. With this complaint, the teenager is unaware that they are moving their arms or legs whilst sleeping.

*RLS or Restless Leg Syndrome as some similarities to the condition called PLMD, the feeling of burning, itching, and tingling in the legs being the main differences. Moving the legs and arms in a vigorous way will help those who are suffering from this particular sleep disorder. The medical profession have medication that will help people that are suffering from RLS and PLMD.

*Sleep apnea is also a very common sleep disorder. A person who as this particular problem/c stops breathing when asleep. Sleep apnea is caused by several by several different conditions such as/c swollen adenoids/c obesity/c and enlarged tonsils. Teenager’s who are suffering from this sleep disorder will have difficulty breathing/c probably snore and sweat whilst asleep.

*Teenager’s do not often experience nightmares, however, when they do, these nightmares can definitely disturb a teen’s sleep. Insomnia, stress, anxiety and other emotional issues, drugs, alcohol, medication and lack of sleep can cause nightmares. A counselor, doctor, or therapist, help to treat frequent nightmares.

*Adolescents don’t often suffer from sleepwalking. this can be caused by a fever or even lack of sleep. Also, these types of sleep problems can often run in your family, and if this is the case, try not to worry because sleepwalking is not harmful. All you have to do is help the sleepwalker back to bed.

Doctors can now help sleep problems among adolescents, because they have medicine and techniques to do so. However, if the problem does not go away within a certain time, be sure to get medical help.

Symptoms and treatment of common sleep disorders

Common sleep disorders include , sleep apnea , insomnia , restless leg syndrome also known as RLS, narcolepsy , sleep walking , and sleep talking. I believe these would be the most common although there are many more sleep disorders. Let’s begin with sleep apnea.

Everyone has apnea’s during their sleep. An apnea is where a person stops breathing for just A short period of time or can be longer and many more of them then that of the average person causing the oxygen in their blood to drop to dangerous levels. This can be caused by to much pressure on the chest while sleeping,throat relaxing and closing during sleep etc.. To be considered dangerous is around 80 percent oxygen or so while most normal non-smoking people have an 02 or oxygen level of 95% to 100%. Treatments for sleep apnea include night time oxygen and/or A CPAP/BiPAP. CPAP stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. It’s like a small minor noise air pump that has a hose running to a mask to cover your nose and/or mouth there are many other designs of masks some cover the entire face. It keeps just enough pressure going to keep your throat open and lungs open so you can get the oxygen you need. BiPAP stands for Bi-level Positive Airway Pressure. The only difference between a BiPAP and A CPAP is that A BiPAP is dual pressurized. It adjusts the pressure to what you need going by what pressure it receives from A person breathing.

Now let’s take a look at insomnia. Insomnia can be caused by many things , paranoia , anxiety , stress , obsessive compulsive disorder and many others including fear of sleeping knowing you have sleep apnea and that you awake with headaches feeling like you havn’t slept at all. Insomnia is where A person is unable to sleep sometimes days at a time. The only way to treat this particular disorder is to find the root of the problem and work on it. They have many medications available on the market for sleep but if the person is not dealing with the main problem these pills may have little to no effect or severe side-effects.

Next on the list is restless leg syndrome. RLS is a neurological disorder. A persons mind is continuously telling the person that they need to move their legs. A crawling feeling or nervous feeling in the leg but with motor activity gets rid of the feeling while the activity continues which is why it would make sense that it would be difficult to sleep since the person cannot relax because you have to keep moving. As soon as the person relaxes the feelings of nervousness etc return to the legs. It seems at this time the only treatment they have for RLS are medications.

Next we will talk about narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is caused by Excessive Daytime Sleepiness or EDS. The person who suffers from this disorder may fall asleep at any given time which makes it quite dangerous and sometimes confused with sleep apnea. People who have untreated severe sleep apnea can fall asleep at any given moment usually from boredom or talking and in some cases driving or doing uninteresting activities. The only treatments for narcolepsy are medications to stimulate the brain to stay awake during the day.

Sleep walking/sleep talking. Both are caused by excessive stress , nightmares , illness , fever , restlessness , even some medications can cause this. This area can also include night terrors where the person acts out their dreams usually nightmares. The most common treatments for these problems are behavioral therapy and sleep medications.

For help with these disorders , finding out more information , or for finding out more about medications don’t hesitate to talk with your local care physician , that is what they are there for.

Useful Information on Sleeping Disorders

Sleepwalking treatments – Part 5

After sleepwalking is established and diagnosed, you should start looking into different types of treatments for this disorder. Depending on what causes sleepwalking to occur, whether it is a medical problem, or stress related issues, the appropriate treatment should apply.

If sleepwalking is related to medical problem, such as, gastroesophageal reflux, obstructive sleep apnea, seizures, periodic leg movements or restless leg syndrome then consulting a sleep specialist would be a better choice. Only your doctor knows what type of medication is suitable for your symptoms. Although it is not necessary to take medication to treat sleepwalking, these are the name of the drugs that you should know: ProSom, Klonopin, Trazodone (Desyrel). These medications are useful only if the sleepwalker is in danger of hurting oneself. Usually, medication is the last resource if sleepwalking causes a significant disruption in the family, or too much daytime sleepiness, and all other treatments failed.

Stress related problems such as worries, or lack of sleep, or emotional overwhelmed can cause a person to sleep walking. The treatment for this is simple. Empty your mind from all unsolved problems, meditate, exercise, learn relaxation techniques, avoid stimuli (audible, video, caffeine, and nicotine), at least 20 minutes before going to bed. Another option for treating sleepwalking is to just simply wake the person up 15-20 minutes before the usual time it occurs and keeping the person up during the length of his episode.

Although sleepwalking is not a serious disorder, taking the time to understand it and finding the right treatment will improve the condition since it is disruptive and frightening. Safety measure should be taken into account to prevent the sleepwalker from injuring oneself. Make sure no sharp objects are available around the home, and place a bell or alarm on doors and windows. These prevention tips are a good part of helping sleepwalking.

Chronic Insomnia

Chronic insomnia is one of the sleep disorders, which affects one’s quality of life. Statistics shows that one third of Americans are facing the danger of chronic insomnia. The sleeplessness is generally classified into different categories, according to its period of consistent occurrence. Of these, chronic insomnia is the most serious type, which lasts consistently for a prolonged period of time, say one month or more. It is clear that insomnia does not result any lethal problems, however, it affects the normal functioning of a person and results in reduced productivity.

Causes

On the basis of the cause of occurrence, chronic insomnia is classified into primary insomnia and secondary insomnia. Primary insomnia is caused by personal ill-effects, whereas secondary insomnia is resulted as a side effect of any external disturbances such as medication, environmental reasons, and psychiatric conditions.

The general causes for insomnia include poor sleep hygiene, anxiety, depression, hormonal imbalance, and circadian rhythm disorders. Most often, chronic insomnia is not a disorder of its own but a symptom of more serious physiological and psychological disorders. The people suffering from the diseases such as allergy, asthma, hypertension, heart disease, cancer, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD), rheumatologic complaints, neurodegenerative diseases, endocrine diseases, kidney failures, and restless leg syndrome are more likely to get affected by the disorder. The behavioral disorders such as excessive consumption of caffeine, alcohol, and drugs could also lead to insomnia. Due to biological specialties, women and elderly people are more prone to the risk of chronic insomnia.

Effects of insomnia

Chronic insomnia affects the mental stability of a person and weakens the immune system. It shows the symptoms such as dizziness, dilemma, anxiety, impaired concentration, lowering thinking capability, and deteriorates decision making skills. Chronic insomnia will increase chances of accidents while driving and may lead to many serious clinical manifestations.

Symptoms

Chronic insomnia feature troubles in a sound sleep, such as reduced sleep time, frequent wake ups in the middle of the sleep, and day symptoms of irritability and sleepiness. A person has to seek the assistance of a physician, if he experiences any of the conditions such as absence of sleep even in tired conditions, only light sleep in night that results fatigue on awakening, and waking up very early.

Diagnosis

Physician will diagnose the disease, with the help of certain questionnaires such as the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS). Multiple Sleep Latency test is the diagnostic tool to confirm chronic insomnia. An expert physician will focus to find out underlying reason for chronic insomnia.

Treatment

Chronic insomnia is often a curable disease. Early diagnosis and proper medication will help for speedy recovery. Physicians generally suggest hypnotics for the treatment of insomnia. The common prescriptions for chronic insomnia include benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepines, and antihistamines. The behavioral therapies such as stimulus control, progressive muscle relaxation, paradoxical intention, biofeedback, cognitive behavioral therapy, and light therapy are recommended in some cases of chronic insomnia. The natural herbals such as Valerian root, Kava kava, and melatonin are practiced in alternative therapy as remedies for chronic insomnia.

Remember, healthy sleep habits and proper lifestyle including balanced diet and exercise, relieves a normal person from the risk of chronic insomnia.