child fears sleep disorder

sleep disorders

In a recent poll conducted on behalf of the National Sleep Foundation:

• Three quarters of those polled said that they frequently have difficuly sleeping.



• Just 1 out of 2 of those polled said that they normally slept without any difficulty.



• 1 out of 4 of those polled said that problems sleeping had an impact upon their daily lives.

The poll also demonstrated that:

• Just under two thirds of adult motorists reported driving while drowsy in the past year. (4 % reported having an accident or near-accident as a result of tiredness or having fallen asleep while they were driving.)



• Those questioned cited sleep-related issues as the 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 preceding 3 months.



• 75% of people questioned reported a sleep problem with their partner - 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, almost an hour of sleep nightly.



• 1 out of 4 of people questioned with partners report problems in their sexual relationship as a result of tiredness. They enjoy sex less often or lose interest in sex because of tiredness. A large number of couples sleep separately because of sleeping difficulties.

Many people have the odd night of sleeplessness without any consequences. Once, however, the occasional night once in a while becomes a pattern of several nights in a row, you are looking at a sleeping problem.

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 the rhythm of your body.

Your internal clock governs 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's time to get up and go to sleep.

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

Whenever disruption to your circadian rhythm takes place because of shift work, you may suffer from temporary sleep disorders such as transient insomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness. If not treated, transient sleep problems linked to a change in your work schedule may become chronic and in serious cases could even need medical intervention.

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

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

Affecting as many as 12 million adults in America, RLS leads to continual movement of the legs during the day and to insomnia at night.

Severe RLS is commonest in elderly people, though symptoms can come on at any age. In some cases, it may be associated with other conditions such as pregancy, anemia, or diabetes.

In simple terms, jet lag is a very common sleep disorder experienced by many millions of travelers every day. It affects both those people traveling on holiday and on business and, in a recent survey of international business travelers, 74% of those questioned said that they frequently suffered from jet lag.

Jet lag affects people of all ages and, although it varies widely from individual to individual, it tends to be more severe the older you are.

Additionally, if you already have sleeping difficulties, you might well find that jet lag is more of a problem.

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

Finally, jet lag symptoms don't always appear right away and, for a few people, it might well be a couple of days before it hits.

It is believed that over 35 million adults in the US suffer from chronic insomnia (difficulty sleeping every night or on the majority of nights for a period of more than six months), with an added 20 to 30 million individuals suffering shorter-term insomnia (difficulty sleeping well for between four weeks and six months). Also, a significant number of people suffer from insomnia over shorter periods (under 4 weeks) and this is frequently known as transient insomnia.

Transient insomnia is commonly brought on by excitement (a child looking forward to an outing) or by stress (worrying about your upcoming driving test). It also often results from long distance travel (jet lag) and can be seen in those who exercise late in the day, shortly before going to bed. It is also often connected to illness (colds/flu) and with a few over-the-counter medications (for example, some medicines purchased for a cold or asthma).

Both sexes and all ages experience insomnia, although it is more often seen in the elderly and in women, especially after the menopause.

Insomnia can be split into three classes:

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



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



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

Insomnia can frequently be quite simply the symptom of some underlying medical conditions that might require a visit to the doctor's surgery and medical care. Here it is 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 mind and body find difficulty in settling into a sufficiently relaxed state for sleep, then there are several choices for achieving healthy sleep without the use of prescription drugs.

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