Sleep disorders interfere with getting well-rested and affect how alert you can feel by disrupting the cycle of your sleep. If untreated, it can have a severe impact on your mental and physical health, including your mood, energy, and ability to deal with stress.
If all the troubles of a sleep disorder are making you tired and irritable and giving you trouble in performing daily activities, then visiting professionals is something meaningful for enriching your quality of life. With strategies that focus on your specific issues and continued support, you can tackle the main causes and find restful, rejuvenating sleep for a healthier, well-balanced life.
Sleep, just as vital as water is to life, is essential for our survival. You might still think there's not much going on when you're sleeping. In fact, most of us tend to think of sleep just as "downtime," when a tired brain gets to take a break.
But that's wrong. As you snooze, your brain is at work, too. For instance, sleep readies your brain to learn, remember, and even create. When we sleep, the brain totally changes function. Everything from blood vessels to the immune system uses sleep as a time for repair. If you don't get enough sleep, those processes are going to be disturbed.
It can easily be said that getting good sleep can equip you to deal with stress, solve problems, or even recover from illness. In contrast, not getting enough sleep causes hundreds of health concerns-from heart disease and stroke to obesity and dementia-and affects how you think and feel. Sleep disorders are technically called sleep-wake disorders, which describe a problem in the quality, timing, and quantity of sleep that leads to difficulties with daytime functioning.
Everyone occasionally experiences sleeping problems at some time or another; hence, how do you know whether your problem is just a transient nuisance or a symptom of a more serious sleep disorder or an underlying medical condition?
Start by evaluating your symptoms, especially looking for the classic signs of daytime manifestations of sleep deprivation. You are likely experiencing a sleep disorder if, for example, you: -
Common sleep-wake disorders often co-occur with other medical conditions or other mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety, or cognitive disorders. Sleep disorders can also serve as the first indicator of a range of medical and neurological conditions, including congestive heart failure, osteoarthritis, or Parkinson's disease.
Still, research indicates that sleep disorders can stem from the following origins:
Others include: Allergies, colds, and acute upper respiratory infections can also contribute to problems with nocturnal breathing. Such an ailment could also be due to a failure to breathe through your nose.
Frequent Urination: This is a term generally referred to as nocturia or frequent urination. It may disrupt your sleep at night in the sense that you may wake up. Conditions such as hormonal imbalance and diseases of the urinary tract may be the causative factors for this disease.
Chronic pain: Pain can disrupt sleeping. It may be such that it wakes you up during the night. Some of the common causes of chronic pain include:
In other cases, chronic pain can be caused by sleeping disorders. Doctors think that it might be related to the cause of developing a condition like fibromyalgia.
Stress and anxiety: Both stress and anxiety often cause low quality of sleep. You tend to find it difficult to sleep or stay asleep. Nightmares, sleep talking, or sleepwalking can also cause disturbed sleep.
Whereas the root causes are different, the bottom line of any sleep disorder is that the natural cycle of sleep and daytime wakefulness of the body is disrupted or exaggerated.
There’s more to good sleep than just the hours spent in bed, says Dr. Marishka Brown, a sleep expert at NIH. “Healthy sleep encompasses three major things,” she explains. “One is how much sleep you get. Another is sleep quality—that you get uninterrupted and refreshing sleep. The last is a consistent sleep schedule.”
Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. It involves problems getting to sleep or staying asleep. About one-third of adults report some insomnia symptoms, 10-15 percent report problems with functioning during the daytime and 6-10 percent have symptoms severe enough to meet criteria for insomnia disorder. An estimated 40-50 percent of individuals with insomnia also have another mental disorder.
Insomnia varies in how long it lasts and how often it occurs. It can be short-term (acute or adjustment insomnia) or can last a long time (chronic insomnia). It can also come and go, with periods of time when a person has no sleep problems. Acute or adjustment insomnia can last from one night to a few weeks. Insomnia is called chronic when a person has insomnia at least three nights a week for a month or longer.
Short-term or acute insomnia can be caused by life stresses (such as job loss or change, death of a loved one, or moving), an illness, or environmental factors such as light, noise, or extreme temperatures.
Long-term or chronic insomnia can be caused by factors such as depression, chronic stress and pain or discomfort at night.
In a condition called primary insomnia, where no clear environmental, psychiatric, or medical cause can be identified, experts suspect that individual differences in brain function may result in an overactive alerting signal that continues long after an individual would like to fall asleep.
In order to be diagnosed with insomnia disorder, the sleep difficulties must occur at least three nights a week for at least three months and cause significant distress or problems at work, school or other important areas of a person's daily functioning. Not all individuals with sleep disturbances are distressed or have problems functioning.
To diagnose insomnia, a physician will rule out other sleep disorders, medication side-effects, substance misuse, depression and other physical and mental illnesses. Some medications and medical conditions can affect sleep.
A comprehensive assessment for insomnia or other sleep problems may involve a patient history, a physical exam, a sleep diary and clinical testing (a sleep study). A sleep study allows the physician to identify how long and how well you’re sleeping and to detect specific sleep problems. A sleep diary is a record of your sleep habits to discuss with your physician. It includes information such as when you go to bed, get to sleep, wake up, get out of bed, take naps, exercise, eat and consume alcohol and caffeinated beverages.
Sleep problems can occur at any age but most commonly start in young adulthood. The type of insomnia often varies with age. Problems getting to sleep are more common among young adults. Problems staying asleep are more common among middle-age and older adults.
It is not unusual for people to have days when they struggle to stay awake. However, suddenly falling asleep on the job or while driving is not normal—and can be extremely dangerous. Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a symptom that can be seen in several sleep disorders, including obstructive sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and periodic limb movement disorder.
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder that occurs when a person's breathing is interrupted during sleep. People with untreated sleep apnea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep.
Sleep apnea affects an estimated 2 to 15 percent of middle-age adults and more than 20 percent of older adults. Major risk factors for sleep apnea are obesity, male gender and family history of sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is diagnosed with a clinical sleep study. The sleep study (polysomnography) involves monitoring the number of obstructive apneas (absence of airflow) or hypopneas (reduction in airflow) during sleep.
People with sleep-related hypoventilation have episodes of shallow breathing, elevated blood carbon dioxide levels, and low oxygen levels during sleep. It frequently occurs along with medical conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or medication or substance use. Those with sleep-related hypoventilation often have trouble with insomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness. Risk factors for sleep-related hypoventilation include medical conditions, such as obesity and hypothyroidism, and use of certain medications, such as benzodiazepines and opiates.
Affecting approximately one in two thousand people, narcolepsy is a central nervous system disorder in which the brain cannot properly regulate cycles of sleep and wakefulness.
People with narcolepsy experience excessive daytime sleepiness and intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime. These sudden sleep attacks may occur during any type of activity at any time of the day. Some patients with narcolepsy experience sudden muscle weakness with laughter or other emotions.
Narcolepsy usually begins between the ages of 15 and 25, but it can become apparent at any age. In many cases, narcolepsy is undiagnosed and, therefore, untreated.
Narcolepsy nearly always results from the loss of hypothalamic hypocretin (orexin)-producing cells. This deficiency in hypocretin can be tested through cerebrospinal fluid via a lumbar puncture (spinal tap). Narcolepsy is rare, affecting and estimated 0.02%–0.04% of the general population. It typically begins in childhood, adolescence or young adulthood.
The diagnosis of narcolepsy sometimes requires daytime sleep testing as well as an overnight sleep study. While there is no cure, narcolepsy can be treated with stimulants to reduce daytime sleepiness and antidepressants and other medications to prevent cataplexy, sleep paralysis, and hypnagogic hallucinations. Scheduling daytime naps at convenient times may help to overcome the problems caused by unscheduled "sleep attacks."
Periodic Limb Movements of Sleep (PLMS) is a condition affecting approximately 34 percent of adults over the age of 60. This condition causes involuntary kicking and jerking movements of the legs and arms, often repeated hundreds of times during the night. Like people with sleep apnea, people with PLMS are usually unaware of their multiple nighttime awakenings unless they are witnessed by a bed partner. In extreme cases, these brief arousals following the leg movements disturb sleep so much that they cause excessive daytime sleepiness. In that situation, this is called periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD) and treatment may help with the symptoms of EDS. Patients with restless legs syndrome (an uncomfortable urge to move the legs) often have periodic limb movements during sleep.
PLMD is typically treated using medications that have been shown to be useful in treating the movement disorder Parkinson’s disease. In some cases, sleeping pills may be used to prevent arousals caused by limb movements.
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sleep disorder that causes an intense, often irresistible urge to move the legs. This sensation is brought on by resting such as lying down in bed, sitting for prolonged periods such as while driving or at a theatre.
The symptoms occur at least three times per week, continue for at least three months, and cause significant distress or problems in daily functioning. Restless legs syndrome typically begins in a person’s teens or twenties and it affects an estimated 2% to 7.2% of the population.
RLS typically occurs in the evening, making it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. It can be associated with problems with daytime sleepiness, irritability and concentration. Often, people with RLS want to walk around and shake their legs to help relieve the uncomfortable sensation.
Other conditions that can cause EDS include advanced or delayed sleep phase syndromes, which result from abnormal time alignments between the preferred sleep-wake schedule and the phase of the internal clock. There are also numerous medical conditions, such as neuromuscular disorders, that can cause sleep to be fragmented and cause EDS.
We all have an internal biological clock that regulates our 24-hour sleep-wake cycle, also known as our circadian rhythms. Light is the primary cue that influences circadian rhythms. At night, when there is less light, your brain triggers the release of melatonin, a hormone that makes you sleepy. When the sun comes up in the morning, the brain tells the body that it's time to wake up.
When your circadian rhythms are disrupted or thrown off, you may feel groggy, disoriented, and sleepy at inconvenient times. Circadian rhythms have been linked to a variety of sleeping problems and sleep disorders, as well as depression, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder (the winter blues)
Delayed sleep phase disorder is a condition where your biological clock is significantly delayed. As a result, you go to sleep and wake up much later than other people. This is more than just a preference for staying up late or being a night owl, but rather a disorder that makes it difficult for you to keep normal hours—to make it to morning classes, get the kids to school on time, or keep a 9-to-5 job.
People with delayed sleep phase disorder are unable to get to sleep earlier than 2 to 6 a.m., no matter how hard they try.
When allowed to keep their own hours (such as during a school break or vacation), they fall into a regular sleep schedule.
Delayed sleep phase disorder is most common in teenagers, and many teens will eventually grow out of it.
For those who continue to struggle with a biological clock that is out of sync, treatments such as light therapy and chronotherapy can help. To learn more, schedule an appointment with your doctor or a local sleep clinic.
Shift work sleep disorder occurs when your work schedule and your biological clock are out of sync. In our 24-hour society, many people have to work night shifts, early morning shifts, or rotating shifts. These schedules force you to work when your body is telling you to go to sleep, and sleep when your body is signaling you to wake.
While some people adjust better than others to the demands of shift work, most shift workers get less quality sleep than their daytime counterparts. As a result of sleep deprivation, you may struggle with sleepiness and mental lethargy on the job. This cuts into your productivity and puts you at risk of injury.
Jet lag is a temporary disruption in circadian rhythms that occurs when you travel across time zones. Symptoms include daytime sleepiness, fatigue, headaches, stomach problems, and insomnia. Symptoms are more pronounced the longer the flight and flying east tends to cause worse jet lag than flying west.
In general, it usually takes one day per time zone crossed to adjust to the local time. So, if you flew from Los Angeles to New York, crossing three time zones, your jet lag should be gone within three days.
Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Arousal Disorders:
Non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep arousal disorders involve episodes of incomplete awakening from sleep, usually occurring during the first third of a major sleep episode, and are accompanied by either sleepwalking or sleep terrors. The episodes cause significant distress or problems functioning. NREM sleep arousal disorders are most common among children and become less common with increasing age.
Sleepwalking involves repeated episodes of rising from bed and walking around during sleep. While sleepwalking, the individual has a blank, staring face; is relatively unresponsive to others; and is difficult to wake up. Nearly 30% of people have experienced sleepwalking at some time in their lives. Sleepwalking disorder, with repeated episodes and distress or problems functioning, affects an estimated 1% to 5% of people.
Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behaviour disorder involves episodes of arousal during sleep associated with speaking and/or movement. The person’s actions are often responses to events in the dream, such as being attacked or trying to escape a threatening situation. Speech is often loud, emotion-filled, and profane. These behaviours may be a significant problem for the individual and their bed partner and may result in significant injury (such as falling, jumping, or flying out of bed; running, hitting, or kicking). Upon awakening, the person is immediately alert and can often recall the dream.
These behaviours arise during REM sleep and usually occur more than 90 minutes after falling asleep. The behaviours cause significant distress and problems functioning and may include injury to self or the bed partner. Embarrassment about the episodes can cause problems in social relationships and can lead to social isolation or work-related problems.
The prevalence of REM sleep behaviour disorder is less than 1% in the general population and it overwhelmingly affects males older than 50.
Nightmare disorder involves repeated occurrences of lengthy, distressing, and well-remembered dreams that usually involve efforts to avoid threats or danger. They generally occur in the second half of a major sleep episode.
The nightmares are typically lengthy, elaborate, story-like sequences of dream imagery that seem
real and cause anxiety, fear or distress. After waking up, people experiencing nightmares are quickly alert and generally remember the dream and can describe it in detail. The nightmares cause significant distress or problems functioning. Nightmares often begin between ages 3 and 6 years but are most prevalent and severe in late adolescence or early adulthood.
People with hypersomnolence disorder are excessively sleepy even when getting at least 7 hours sleep. They have at least one of the following symptoms:
Such extreme sleepiness occurs at least three times per week, for at least three months. Individuals with this disorder may have difficulty waking up in the morning, sometimes appearing groggy, confused or combative (often referred to as sleep inertia). The sleepiness causes significant distress and can lead to problems with functioning, such as issues with concentration and memory.
The condition typically begins in late teens or early twenties but may not be diagnosed until many years later. Among individuals who consult in sleep disorders clinics for complaints of daytime sleepiness, approximately 5%–10% are diagnosed with hypersomnolence disorder.
It's more than just hours spent in bed; healthy sleep encompasses three major things. One is how much sleep you get. Another is sleeping quality. You get uninterrupted and refreshing sleep. The last is a consistent sleep schedule.
Sleep disorders can manifest themselves in several different ways:
Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. It involves problems getting to sleep or staying asleep. About one-third of adults report some insomnia symptoms, 10-15 percent report problems with functioning during the daytime, and 6-10 percent have symptoms severe enough to meet the criteria for insomnia disorder. An estimated 40-50 percent of people with insomnia also have another mental disorder.
It can vary by its time and how often it could occur. Sometimes, it is short-term; it is known as acute or adjustment insomnia, but sometimes it lasts very long, which is called chronic insomnia. It might sometimes come and go and vary with periods when no sleep problem presents.
Acute or adjustment insomnia can last for one night, several weeks, or some months. Typically, insomnia is considered chronic when the person experiences insomnia nights with a frequency of at least three times a week over a month or more.
Short-term or acute insomnia can result from life stresses like loss or changes in employment, losing a loved one, relocation, illness, or environmental factors like light, noise, and extreme temperatures. Among these are depression, chronic stress, and pain or discomfort at night, which can trigger long-term or chronic insomnia.
In a disorder known as primary insomnia, wherein no apparent environmental, psychiatric, or medical cause can be determined, scientists believe that variability in brain function translates to an overly alerting signal that lingers too long after one wants to go to sleep.
At least three nights a week for three months, sleep difficulties must occur to an extent that causes significant distress or problems at work, school, or other important areas of a person's daily functioning. However, not all people who suffer from sleep disturbances are distressed or have problems.
To diagnose insomnia, a doctor will first rule out other sleep disorders, medication side effects, substance misuse, depression, and other physical and mental illnesses. Certain medications and medical conditions impact sleep.
A comprehensive examination of insomnia or another sleep disorder may include a history from the patient, a physical examination, a sleep diary, and clinical testing (a sleep study).
A sleep study helps the doctor know how long and how well you're sleeping and detect specific sleep problems. A sleep diary is a record of your sleeping habits that can be discussed with the physician. This includes data on when you go to bed and fall asleep, wake up, get out of bed, take naps, exercise, eat, and consume alcohol and caffeinated beverages.
Sleep problems are not age-restrictive and often start early in adult life. However, the type of insomnia also varies with age: for example, it was most commonly reported that young adults experienced difficulties initiating sleep, whereas middle-aged and older adults experienced difficulties maintaining sleep.
It is normal for people to experience days when they are tired. However, waking up suddenly at work or in the back of a car is not typically safe. Excessive daytime sleepiness is one symptom that can be felt through several sleep disorders, which may include sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and periodical movement disorder.
Sleep apnea is one of the most dangerous sleep disorders that happens when there is a temporary suspension of breathing during one's sleep. A person affected by sleep apnea does not breathe at all for some periods while asleep.
According to medical scientists, sleep apnea is believed to affect approximately 2 to 15 percent of adults in middle age and above 20 percent of older adults. Major risks attributed to sleep apnea include obesity, male gender, and family history of sleep apnea.
Diagnosis of sleep apnea is often made with the help of a clinical sleep study. A clinical sleep study, also called polysomnography, measures the number of obstructive apneas, which represent the absence of airflow, or hypopneas, which is the decrease in airflow during sleep.
There are two types of sleep apnea; out of the two, obstructive sleep apnea is the most common. It results from blockage of the airway, which usually occurs when soft tissue at the back of the throat collapses during sleep.
Some common symptoms of OSA are snoring during sleep, daytime sleepiness, fatigue, restlessness during sleep, gasping in sleep, and trouble concentrating.
In central sleep apnea, the airway is not blocked, but the brain still fails to pass the signal to the body to breathe. This type is called central apnea because of its association with the working of the central nervous system.
Most of the patients with CSA report gasping for air, but meanwhile, they often have awakenings during the night.
One of the most oft-recommended preventive therapies for OSA, when caused by being overweight, is weight loss. In most cases, results are inconsistent, but weight loss can make the severity of the condition more bearable or even eradicate the problem entirely.
Patients with moderate to severe OSA are first treated with CPAP. The CPAP device maintains airway patency during sleep, as a low-pressure stream of air is continuously delivered through the nose into the airway.
Position therapy has a slightly lower rate of efficacy, however, whereas some patients have OSA only when sleeping supine. Hence, these patients can easily avoid their condition by keeping their heads on either side.
Remedial devices which put the jaw in a position such that the patient keeps open his airway, work for some patients with mild to moderate OS.
Other treatment options include surgical procedures that widen the airway so that it is less likely to close during sleep. Currently, there is no effective medication that can treat OSA effectively.
Patients with sleep-related hypoventilation tend to have periods during sleep of shallow breathing, raised blood carbon dioxide levels, and low oxygen levels. In most cases, it is linked to other diseases, medications, or drugs. Patients with sleep-related hypoventilation may also have insomnia or somnolence problems.
Risk factors for developing sleep-related hypoventilation are medical illnesses, including obesity and hypothyroidism, as well as using certain drugs, such as benzodiazepines and opiates.
Narcolepsy is a central nervous system disorder that affects one out of two thousand people and leads to an inability to regulate cycles of sleep and wakefulness in the brain. In narcolepsy, people may experience extreme sleepiness with periodic attacks of sudden, irresistible sleep during the day, which may occur at any time and during any activity. Other patients may suffer from sudden weakness that is brought upon by laughter or other emotional stimuli.
Narcolepsy typically begins between ages 15 and 25, but it can first be detected at any time. Many cases of narcolepsy are never diagnosed and thus never treated.
Periodic Limb Movements of Sleep or PLMS is regarded as a disorder that affects about 34 percent of adults over 60. This disorder has caused unintended kicking and jerking movements of the legs and arms which are repeated several hundred times through the night.
Like sleep apnea patients, a person with PLMS mostly remains unconscious the many times he or she is awakened through the night unless their bed partner happens to be there in time. In the more severe cases, these brief awakenings from sleep with the leg movements are sufficiently disruptive to cause marked daytime sleepiness.
In that case, it is the term PLMD, and there are some treatments that may be useful for symptoms of EDS. Patients with the uncomfortable urge to move their legs (restless legs syndrome) often also have periodic limb movements during sleep.
PLMD is generally managed with drugs that are known to help treat the movement disorder Parkinson's disease. Sometimes, agents for preventing arousal by limb movements are prescribed.
Restless legs syndrome, for instance, is a sleep disorder that causes a strong urge to move the legs. This urge is brought about by resting, such as lying down in bed or sitting for prolonged periods, which might be at some fixed points in an office where one usually sits for long durations, like behind a steering wheel or in the theatre.
The symptoms occur at least three times a week, continue for at least three months, and cause significant distress or problems in daily functioning. Restless legs syndrome typically begins in a person's teens or twenties, and it affects an estimated 2% to 7.2% of the population.
RLS typically appears as a disorder for individuals who cannot sleep and stay asleep. It can accompany nocturnal complaints, for example, daytime somnolence, irritability and concentration. Most patients with RLS often ask to be allowed to walk around and shake their legs to alleviate discomfort.
All living beings have an internal clock that controls their circadian rhythm and their 24-hour sleep-wake cycle. Light is the main environmental stimulus controlling circadian rhythms. At night, relative darkness elicits a signal from the brain to secrete melatonin, which makes one feel drowsy, but when the sun rises at sunrise, the brain instructs the body to wake up.
When your circadian rhythms are disrupted or even overpowered, you may be dazed, disoriented, and sleep at the least desirable times. Circadian rhythms have been linked to a variety of sleep-related disorders, depression, bipolar disorder, and seasonal affective disorder-winter blues.
Delayed sleep phase disorder is a disorder in which your biological clock is significantly delayed. With this, you sleep and wake up much later than everyone else. This is more than a preference for staying up late or being a night owl, but really a disorder that makes it not easy for you to keep normal hours—to make it to classes by morning, get the kids to school on time, or keep that 9-to-5 job.
Individuals with delayed sleep phase disorder cannot even sleep before 2 to 6 a.m., regardless of how much they might try. If given the chance, like during school breaks or holidays, they will automatically fall into sleep schedules.
Delayed sleep phase disorder is quite common among teenagers, and most teens grow out of it. But for those who continue to grapple with a biological clock that can't seem to get it together, there are treatments like light therapy and chronotherapy. To find out more, make an appointment with your primary physician or a local sleep clinic.
The shift work sleep disorder is a condition where the worker's schedule and their biological clock go out of sync. Many people have to work night shifts, early morning shifts, or rotating shifts. Such schedules force you to work at times when your body tells you to go to sleep, and you have to sleep when your body signals that you need to wake.
While some people adjust better than others to the demands of shift work, most shift workers get less quality sleep than their daytime counterparts. As a result of sleep deprivation, you may struggle with sleepiness and mental lethargy on the job. This cuts into your productivity and puts you at risk of injury.
This is described as jet lag, a temporary disruption of the circadian rhythms precisely when you travel across different time zones. It brings symptoms such as daytime drowsiness, fatigue, headache, stomach problems, and insomnia.
Symptoms are worse the longer the flight, with flying east having worse jet lag than flying west. Generally, it takes one day for every time zone to cross to adjust to the new local time.
A non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep arousal disorder is characterised by episodes of partial awakening from sleep, usually occurring during the first third of a major sleep episode, and sleepwalking or sleep terrors, which are typically required to be present.
The episodes result in marked distress or problems in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. NREM sleep arousal disorders are most common in children and become less common with advancing age.
Sleepwalking is marked by recurrent episodes of getting out of bed and walking during sleep. During sleepwalking, the person has a vacant, expressionless face; is relatively not responsive to others; and is not easily awakened.
Approximately 30% of individuals have conducted at least one episode of sleepwalking sometime in their life. Sleepwalking disorder, with recurrent episodes and associated distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning, occurs in about 1% to 5% of people.
REM sleep behaviour disorder can be characterised as episodes of arousal related to sleep, with speech and/or movement. Reactions are most often events or occurrences within the dream, such as being attacked or trying to escape what is being perceived as a threatening situation.
The speech may well be loud, full of emotion, and not infrequently profane. These behaviours can be a serious problem for the individual and his or her bed partner and can lead to serious injury from falling, jumping, or flying out of bed; running, hitting, or kicking. The individual is immediately awake and often can recall the dream.
These behaviours take place in REM sleep and are thought to happen more than 90 minutes after sleep onset. The behaviours are causing marked distress and problems functioning and can include self-injury or the bed partner.
Embarrassment over the episodes can cause problems in social relationships and may lead to social isolation or work-related problems. The prevalence of REM sleep behaviour disorder is lower than 1% in the general population and it predominantly occurs in males over the age of 50.
Nightmare disorder consists of recurrent episodes of long-lasting, upsetting, and vividly recalled dreams, which are typically dominated by attempts to escape threats or harm. They often occur during the second half of a major sleep episode.
The nightmares are typically long, complex, narrative dream imagery sequences that cause significant anxiety, fear, or other distress. After waking, individuals who experience nightmares become rapidly alert and usually remember the dream in sufficient detail to retell it verbatim.
Nightmares are characterised by clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Nightmares are generally established between ages 3 and 6 years but are at their highest frequency and severity in late adolescence or early adulthood.
Individuals affected by hypersomnolence disorder feel sleepy even after getting at least 7 hours of sleep. The symptom includes at least one of the following: -
The condition is most often known to begin in the late teens or early twenties but can sometimes go undiagnosed for many years. Among people who are consulting in sleep disorders clinics because of complaints of daytime sleepiness, about 5%–10% are diagnosed with hypersomnolence disorder.
Sleep disorders and problems are known often to respond to the establishment of good habits in sleep. Identification and recording of symptoms and patterns of sleep, therefore, presents the first step towards overcoming a disorder or a problem with sleep.
A sleep diary can identify day and nighttime habits that might be contributing to problems at night. Keeping a record of your sleep patterns and problems will also come in handy at a later stage when you would have to consult with a sleep doctor.
These details may help you understand and might indicate how some of your habits are perhaps sabotaging your chance to get a good night's sleep.
Many sleep disorders must be treated by a doctor, but many sleeping disorders can be corrected on your own. Even if you have a problem with sleep, maintaining a regular sleep schedule, exercising regularly, limiting the intake of caffeine and alcohol, not smoking, and avoiding stressors will all catch up with you in the form of better sleep over time.
If your doctor thinks that you have a sleep disorder, they will likely refer you to a sleep disorder clinic. A sleep specialist will evaluate your symptoms and may recommend that you have a sleep study.
Here are some of the treatments that healthcare providers may recommend
The treatment type differs depending on the kind of sleep disorder and its symptoms. However, medical treatment and lifestyle modification can often go hand in hand.
Coping with sleep disorders involves making lifestyle changes, such as maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, practising relaxation techniques, and creating a comfortable sleep environment. Reducing caffeine, limiting screen time before bed, and incorporating regular exercise can also improve sleep quality. Consult a healthcare professional for personalised treatment options.
Manage stress and worries: Setting aside time before bed to address concerns or plan for the next day can prevent your mind from racing when you’re trying to sleep. Clearing your head before bed leads to a more peaceful night’s rest.
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