chronotherapy sleep disorder

sleep disorders

The publication of a recent National Sleep Foundation polls shows that:

• 3 out of 4 of individuals questioned said that they often suffer from difficulties in sleeping.



• Only half of individuals questioned said that they usually slept reasonably well.



• A quarter of individuals questioned said that sleeping difficulties impacted upon their daily lives.

The poll also demonstrated that:

• 60% of motorists said that they had driven while drowsy in the previous year. (4 % reported that they had had an accident or near-accident because of tiredness or actually falling asleep while driving.)



• Those questioned cited sleep-related issues as the most common reason for being late for work. Almost 30% of working adults reported missing work, events/activities or making errors at work because of sleep-related problems in the past 3 months.



• Three quarters of adults polled reported a sleep problem with their partner - snoring being the commonest. Partnered adults, suffer doubly disruptive sleep problems, as one partner's sleep problem may cause the other to lose, on average, almost an hour of sleep every night.



• 25% of adults polled with partners report problems in their sexual relationship because of tiredness. They enjoy sex less often or lose interest in having sex because of tiredness. A lot of couples sleep separately because of a sleep problem.

A significant number 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 face a sleeping problem.

Sleep apnea is among the most common and most dangerous types of sleep disorder. In the region of 18 million adults in the United States suffer from this condition, that is marked by recurring episodes in which you stop breathing while sleeping. Over a period of time this can lead to disordered thinking, high blood pressure, and cardiac disease.

Sometimes connected with increasing age, sleep apnea can occur together with loss of muscle tone or a buildup of fat. These changes allow a collapse in the windpipe while breathing Whenever muscles relax in the course of sleep.

This form of the condition, referred to as obstructive sleep apnea, is more commonly connected to loud snoring (though not everybody who snores suffers from this condition). Sleep apnea may also occur if the neurons responsible for controlling breathing do not function correctly during sleep.

During obstructive sleep apnea, efforts to inhale air will create suction that collapses the windpipe. This, in turn, obstructs the air flow for between ten seconds and one minute while you struggle to breathe. As the level of oxygen in your blood falls, the brain reacts by awakening you sufficiently to tighten the muscles of the upper airway and open the windpipe. You may gasp or snort, then start breathing again. This cycle may be repeated hundreds of times a night.

The continual awakenings that you experience as a sleep apnea sufferer leave you feeling permanently sleepy and could well result in changes in personality such as depression and irritability. Sleep apnea also leaves you short of oxygen, which could lead to a decline in mental functioning, a loss of interest in sex, or morning headaches. High blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, and a raised risk of stroke and heart attack also Typically arise in cases of sleep apnea.

If you suffer from severe, untreated sleep apnea you are also 2 to 3 times more likely to have an automobile accident than the general population.

Mild sleep apnea can frequently be overcome by dieting or by preventing yourself from sleeping on your back. You might also require a special device or surgery to clear the obstruction.

Narcolepsy affects about 250,000 individuals in the US. People with narcolepsy have frequent "sleep attacks" in the day, even if they experience a normal amount of night-time sleep. Such "sleep attacks" can last anywhere from just seconds to in excess of 30 minutes.

Individuals with narcolepsy might also experience cataplexy (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 (rapid eye movement) sleep which appear during waking, suggesting that narcolepsy is a disorder of sleep regulation.

Narcolepsy symptoms usually appear during adolescence, though it usually takes years to obtain a correct diagnosis.

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

Once the condition has been diagnosed, antidepressants, stimulatns, or other drugs can help control the symptoms and prevent the dangerous and embarrassing effects of falling asleep at improper times. Naps at certain times of the day may also reduce the excessive sleepiness during the day.

In simple terms, jet lag is an extremely common sleep disorder endured by many millions of travelers every day. It affects both people traveling on business and on vacation and, in a recent survey of international business travelers, three quarters of those questioned said that they frequently suffered from jet lag.

Jet lag affects people of all ages and, in spite of the fact that it varies widely from person to person, it tends to increase in severity the older you are.

Furthermore, if you are already experiencing difficulty sleeping, you may find that jet lag is more of a problem.

Jet lag also increases as you cross an increasing number of time zones. If the time difference between your departure point and your destination is just an hour or two, then it's possible that you won't experience jet lag at all. However, if the difference in time is three hours or more then jet lag will start to appear and its effects will become more and more pronounced the bigger the time difference.

Finally, the symptoms of jet lag don't always appear straight away and, for a few individuals, it might well be two or three days before it hits.

It is considered that in excess of 35 million people in the USA suffer from a case of chronic insomnia (a problem sleeping every night or on the majority of nights for at least, or in excess of, six months), with a further 20 to 30 million suffering shorter-term insomnia (a problem sleeping well for a period of four weeks to six months). In addition, a lot of people suffer from insomnia over shorter periods (less than 4 weeks) and this is frequently known as transient insomnia.

Transient insomnia is ordinarily brought on by excitement (a surprise party for a loved one) or by stress (worry about making a speech). It also often results from air travel (jet lag) and can be seen in people who take exercise late in the day, shortly before going to bed. It is also often connected to illness (colds/flu) and with some over-the-counter medications (for example, some medicines purchased for asthma or a cold).

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

Insomnia can be separated into three categories:

• "Initial" insomnia: in which you experience a problem in falling asleep, more often than not taking 30 minutes or longer to fall into a sleep state.



• "Middle" insomnia: in which, having fallen asleep, you have difficulty maintaining a sleep state and frequently remain awake into the early hours of the morning.



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

Insomnia can often be quite simply the symptom of some underlying medical conditions that could well require a visit to the doctor's surgery and medical care. Here it will be a matter of treating the cause, rather than the insomnia.

If, however, your lack of sleep 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 various choices for achieving healthy sleep without resorting to prescription drugs.

You are currently viewing - chronotherapy sleep disorder

chronotherapy sleep disorder, sleep disorders