depression anxiety sleep disorder treatment

sleep disorders

The release of a recent poll for the National Sleep Foundation shows that:

• 3 out of 4 of individuals questioned stated that they often have difficulty sleeping.



• Just 50% of individuals questioned stated that they slept well on most nights.



• 1 out of 4 of individuals questioned stated that difficulty in sleeping impacted upon their daily lives.

The poll also demonstrated that:

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



• Those polled referenced sleep-related issues as the most common reason for being late for work. Almost 1 in 3 of working adults reported missing work, events/activities or making errors at work through sleep-related problems in the previous 3 months.



• Three quarters of individuals 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 could cause the other to lose, on average, about an hour of sleep every night.



• A quarter of individuals questioned with partners report problems in their sexual relationship because of tiredness. They enjoy sex less often or lose interest in sex through tiredness. Numerous couples sleep apart because of a sleep problem.

A large number of people have the occasional night of sleeplessness without any consequences. If, however, the occasional night here and there turns into a pattern of several nights in a row, you face a sleeping problem.

In addition to the alarm clock beside your bed, your wrist watch or the clock on your mantelpiece, all of which, if you are like me, govern your life to a great extent, you also possess an internal clock that 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, above all, telling you when it is time to get up and go to sleep.

Following the pattern of day and night (light and darkness) this 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).

When disruption to the body's circadian rhythm occurs due to shift work, you may suffer from temporary sleep disorders such as transient insomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness. If not treated, transient sleep problems connected to a change in your work schedule might become chronic and in serious cases might even expect medical intervention.

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

Narcolepsy affects in the region of 250,000 people in the USA. People with narcolepsy suffer frequent "sleep attacks" in the day, even when they get a normal amount of night-time sleep. Such attacks can last anywhere from a number of seconds to more than 30 minutes.

Individuals with narcolepsy may also experience cataplexy (the loss of muscle control in an emotional situation), hallucinations, temporary paralysis when they awaken, and interrupted night-time sleep. These symptoms seem to be features of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep that appear during waking, indicating that narcolepsy is a disorder of sleep regulation.

Narcolepsy symptoms commonly appear during adolescence, although it frequently takes years to get a correct diagnosis.

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

Once narcolepsy has been diagnosed, antidepressants, stimulatns, or other drugs can help 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 daytime sleepiness.

Jet lag is a common sleep disorder experienced by many millions of travelers every day. It affects both people traveling on business and on holiday and, in a recent survey of international business travelers, three quarters of those questioned said that they suffered frequently 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 be more severe the older you get.

Additionally, if you are already experiencing sleeping difficulties, you may 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 time difference is three hours or more then jet lag will begin to appear and its effects will become more and more pronounced the bigger the time difference.

Finally, jet lag symptoms don't always appear instantly and, for some individuals, it could be two or three days before it hits.

It is believed that more than 35 million people in the United States are suffering from chronic insomnia (difficulty sleeping every night or virtually all nights for six months or more), with an additional 20 to 30 million suffering shorter-term insomnia (difficulty sleeping well for between four weeks and six months). Also, many individuals suffer from insomnia over shorter periods (under 4 weeks) and this is frequently known as transient insomnia.

Transient insomnia is frequently brought on by excitement (parents expecting a visit from a son or daughter after a long absense) or by stress (concern about making a long journey). It also often results from long distance travel (jet lag) and can be seen in people who exercise late in the day, shortly before going to bed. It is also often connected to illness (colds/flu) and with various over-the-counter medications (for example, some medicines purchased for a cold or asthma).

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

Insomnia can be separated into three classes:

• "Initial" insomnia: in which you show a problem in falling asleep, invariably taking 30 minutes or longer to fall into a sleep state.



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



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

Insomnia can frequently be simply the symptom of an underlying medical conditions that may well require a visit to your doctor and medical care. Here it is a case of treating the underlying medical problem, 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 state of relaxation necessary for sleep, then there are a number of choices for achieving healthy sleep without making use of prescription drugs.

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