autism and sleep disorders

sleep disorders

It was shown in a recent poll carried out for the National Sleep Foundation that:

• Three quarters of those polled reported that they frequently experience difficulty in sleeping.



• Just 50% of those polled reported that they slept without difficulty on most nights.



• A quarter of those polled reported that difficulty in sleeping affected their daily lives.

The poll also showed that:

• Just under two thirds of adult motorists said that they had driven while drowsy in the previous twelve months. (4 % reported having an accident or near-accident because of tiredness or falling asleep while they were driving.)



• Those questioned cited sleep-related issues as the most usual reason for being late for work. Almost 30% of working adults reported missing work, events/activities or making mistakes at work as a result of sleep-related problems in the past three months.



• 3 out of 4 of those polled reported a sleep problem with their partner - with snoring being the most usual. Partnered adults, suffer doubly disruptive sleep problems, as one partner's sleep difficulty may cause the other to lose, on average, nearly an hour of sleep a night.



• 1 out of 4 of those polled with partners report problems in their sexual relationship as a result of tiredness. They enjoy sex less frequently or lose interest in having sex as a result of tiredness. Many couples sleep apart because of a sleep problem.

A significant number of us suffer from the odd sleepless night without any consequences. If, however, the odd night here and there turns into a pattern of several nights in a row, you are looking at a sleeping problem.

It is figured that over 35 million individuals in the US have a case of chronic insomnia (problems sleeping each night or most nights for a period of more than six months), with an added 20 to 30 million adults suffering shorter-term insomnia (problems sleeping well for between a month and six months). Additionally, many individuals suffer from insomnia over shorter periods (less than 4 weeks) and this is normally called transient insomnia.

Transient insomnia is typically brought on by excitement (a child anticipating the arrival of Father Christmas) or by stress (concern about making a long journey). It also often results from long distance travel (jet lag) and can be seen in individuals who exercise late in the day, shortly before going to bed. It is also often connected to illness (colds/flu) and with several over-the-counter medications (for example, some medicines purchased for asthma or a cold).

Women and men of all ages experience insomnia, but it is more frequently seen in the elderly and in women, particularly after the menopause.

Insomnia can be divided into three categories:

• "Initial" insomnia: in which you display difficulty in falling asleep, generally taking 30 minutes or more to fall into a sleep state.



• "Middle" insomnia: in which, after falling asleep, you have difficulties maintaining a sleep state and often stay awake until the early hours of the morning.



• "Late" or "Terminal" insomnia: in which you wake early in the morning after less than 6 hours of sleep.

Insomnia can frequently be only the symptom of some underlying medical conditions which might well require a visit to the doctor's surgery and medical care. Here it will be a case of treating the cause, rather than the insomnia.

If, however, your inability to sleep results from a pattern of not sleeping, or your body and brain find it difficult to settle into a state of relaxation necessary for sleep, then there are various choices for achieving healthy sleep without turning to prescription drugs.

Narcolepsy affects around 250,000 people in the United States. People with narcolepsy get frequent "sleep attacks" in the day, even when they experience a normal amount of night-time sleep. Attacks can last anything from just a few seconds to more than half an hour.

Individuals with narcolepsy may also experience cataplexy (loss of muscle control during an emotional situation), hallucinations, temporary paralysis when they awaken, and disrupted night-time sleep. These symptoms are features of Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep that appear during waking, which suggests that narcolepsy is a disorder of sleep regulation.

Narcolepsy symptoms typically appear in adolescence, though it typically takes years to get a correct diagnosis.

The disorder (or at least a predisposition to it) is typically hereditary, but it is now and then linked to brain damage from a head injury or to neurological disease.

Having been diagnosed, antidepressants, stimulatns, or other drugs can help control the symptoms and prevent the dangerous and embarrassing effects of falling asleep at inappropriate times. Naps at certain times of the day can also reduce the excessive daytime sleepiness.

Restless leg syndrome (RLS), a familial disorder producing unpleasant prickling, crawling, or tingling sensations in the legs and feet and a desire to move them to get relief, is emerging as one of the more common sleep disorders, especially among the elderly.

Affecting as many as 12 million individuals in the United States, RLS leads to continual leg movement during the day and to insomnia at night.

Severe RLS is commonest in elderly people, though symptoms might well appear at any age. In some cases, it may be linked to other conditions such as pregancy, anemia, or diabetes.

In addition to your wrist watch, the alarm clock beside your bed or the clock on your mantelpiece, all of which, if you're something like me, govern your life to a large extent, you also possess your own internal clock which dictates your body's rhythm.

This internal clock controls many of the functions of your body, regulating such things as temperature and the release of hormones and, first and foremost, telling you when it is time to get up and go to sleep.

Following the pattern of day and night (light and darkness) your body's internal clock tracks a pattern of about 24 hours thereby giving your body a 24 hour rhythm or, to give it its proper title, a circadian rhythm - from the Latin circa (about) dies (a day).

Whenever your body's circadian rhythm is disrupted due to shift work, you may suffer from temporary sleep disorders such as excessive daytime sleepiness or transient insomnia. Left untreated, transient sleep problems connected to a change in your work schedule could become chronic and in serious cases could even expect medical intervention.

Working shifts also places you at greater risk of chronic cardiovascular and gastrointestinal problems. Heartburn, menstrual irregularities, high blood pressure, flu, colds, indigestion and weight gain are all encountered more amongst shift workers.

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