cause of sleep disorder

sleep disorders

It was revealed in a recent poll conducted on behalf of the National Sleep Foundation that:

• Three quarters of adults said that they often have difficulty sleeping.



• Just 1 out of 2 of adults said that they slept without difficulty on most nights.



• A quarter of adults said that difficulty in sleeping had an impact upon their daily lives.

The poll also showed that:

• 60% of adult motorists reported driving while drowsy in the previous twelve months. (4 % said that they had had an accident or near-accident as a result of tiredness or actually falling asleep while they were driving.)



• People questioned named sleep-related problems as the commonest reason for being late for work. Almost 30% of working adults reported missing work, events/activities or making mistakes at work because of sleep-related problems in the past three months.



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



• A quarter of those polled with partners report problems in their sexual relationship because of tiredness. They enjoy sex less frequently or lose interest in sex as a result of tiredness. A large number of couples sleep apart because of sleeping difficulties.

Many of us experience the occasional night of sleeplessness without any consequences. Once, however, the odd night here and there becomes a pattern of several nights in a row, you are facing a sleeping problem.

Jet lag is a very common sleep disorder experienced by millions of travelers every day. It affects both people traveling on vacation and on business and, in a recent survey of international business travelers, three quarters of those questioned said that they often suffered from jet lag.

Jet lag affects individuals of all ages and, in spite of the fact that it varies widely from one individual to another, it tends to become more severe the older you get.

Further, if you already have difficulty sleeping, you may find that jet lag is more of a problem.

Jet lag also increases as you cross a growing number of time zones. If the time difference between your point of departure and your destination is simply an hour or two, then you might not experience jet lag at all. But, if the time difference is three hours or more then jet lag will begin to appear and its effects will become increasingly pronounced the greater the time difference.

Finally, jet lag symptoms do not always appear straight away and, for some individuals, it may be two or three days before it hits.

It is thought that more than 35 million individuals in the US suffer from a case of chronic insomnia (a problem sleeping each night or virtually all nights for a period of more than six months), with another 20 to 30 million suffering shorter-term insomnia (a problem sleeping well for a period of four weeks to six months). In addition, a large number of people suffer from insomnia over shorter periods (under 4 weeks) and this is typically called transient insomnia.

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

Men and women of all ages suffer from insomnia, but it is more commonly seen in women and in the elderly, especially after the menopause.

Insomnia can be split into three categories:

• "Initial" insomnia: where you show a difficulty in in falling asleep, more often than not taking 30 minutes or more to fall into a sleep state.



• "Middle" insomnia: where, having fallen asleep, you have difficulties maintaining a sleep state and frequently remain awake until the early hours of the morning.



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

Insomnia can occasionally be merely the symptom of an underlying medical conditions that could well require the advice of your doctor and medical care. Here it is a case of treating the underlying medical problem, rather than the insomnia.

If, however, your insomnia results from a pattern of not sleeping, or your brain and body find difficulty in settling into a state of relaxation necessary for sleep, then there are a number of choices for achieving healthy sleep without using prescription drugs.

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

Your internal clock governs many of your body's functions, regulating such things as temperature and the release of hormones and, most importantly, 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 close to 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).

When 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 can become chronic and in serious cases could even need medical intervention.

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

Narcolepsy affects close to 250,000 individuals in America. People with narcolepsy have frequent "sleep attacks" in the day, even when they enjoy 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 might also experience cataplexy (a loss of muscle control during an emotional situation), hallucinations, temporary paralysis when they awaken, and interrupted night-time sleep. These symptoms are features of REM sleep which appear during waking, indicating that narcolepsy is a disorder of sleep regulation.

The symptoms of narcolepsy normally appear in adolescence, though it normally takes years to obtain a correct diagnosis.

The disorder (or a predisposition for it) is typically hereditary, but it is from time to time linked to brain damage from a head injury or to neurological disease.

Having been diagnosed, stimulants, antidepressants, or other drugs can be used to control the symptoms and prevent the embarrassing and dangerous effects of falling asleep at inappropriate times. Naps at certain times of the day may also reduce the excessive sleepiness during the day.

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