do i have a sleep disorder

sleep disorders

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

• 3 out of 4 of individuals polled reported that they often have sleep problems.



• Just half of individuals polled reported that they slept without difficulty on most nights.



• 25% of individuals polled reported that sleeping difficulties affected their daily lives.

The poll also demonstrated that:

• 60% of motorists reported having driven whilst drowsy within the past twelve months. (4 % reported having an accident or near-accident through tiredness or falling asleep while they were driving.)



• People polled named sleep-related issues as the commonest reason for being late for work. Almost two thirds of working adults reported missing work, events/activities or making errors at work through sleep-related issues in the past three months.



• 75% of individuals questioned reported a sleep problem with their partner - with snoring being the most common. Partnered adults, suffer doubly disruptive sleep difficulties, as one partner's sleep problem can cause the other to lose, on average, up to an hour of sleep a night.



• 1 out of 4 of individuals questioned with partners report difficulties in their sexual relationship because of tiredness. They enjoy sex less often or lose interest in sex because of tiredness. Numerous couples sleep separately because of sleeping difficulties.

A significant number of people suffer from the odd night of sleeplessness without any consequences. If, however, the occasional night from time to time becomes a pattern of several nights in a row, you face a sleeping problem.

Narcolepsy affects around 250,000 adults in the United States. Individuals with narcolepsy have frequent "sleep attacks" during the day, even when they get a normal amount of night-time sleep. Such attacks can last anything from several seconds to in excess of half an hour.

People with narcolepsy may also experience cataplexy (the loss of muscle control in emotional situations), hallucinations, temporary paralysis when they awaken, and interrupted night-time sleep. These symptoms are features of Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep that appear during waking, suggesting that narcolepsy is a sleep regulation disorder.

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

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

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

It is considered that in excess of 35 million adults in the US are suffering from a case of chronic insomnia (a difficulty in sleeping every night or virtually all nights for a period of more than six months), with another 20 to 30 million suffering shorter-term insomnia (a difficulty in sleeping well for between one and six months). As well, a lot of people suffer from insomnia over shorter periods (less than 4 weeks) and this is commonly called transient insomnia.

Transient insomnia is often brought on by excitement (parents expecting a visit from a son or daughter after a long absense) or by stress (worry about making a speech). 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 connected to illness (colds/flu) and with a few over-the-counter medications (for example, some medicines bought 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, especially after the menopause.

Insomnia can be divided into three classes:

• "Initial" insomnia: in which you demonstrate problems in falling asleep, more often than not taking 30 minutes or longer to fall asleep.



• "Middle" insomnia: in which, after falling asleep, you have problems maintaining a state of sleep and commonly 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 sometimes be just the symptom of some underlying medical conditions that may well require a visit to the doctor's surgery and medical care. Here it is a matter of treating the underlying medical problem, rather than the insomnia.

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

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

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

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

In addition to the alarm clock beside your bed, the clock on your mantelpiece or your wrist watch, all of which, if you're like me, govern your life to a great extent, you also have an internal clock which 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 go to sleep and to get up.

Following the pattern of day and night (light and darkness) your internal clock tracks a pattern of approximately 24 hours thus 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 you circadian rhythm is upset as a result of shift work, you may suffer from temporary sleep disorders such as excessive daytime sleepiness or transient insomnia. If not treated, transient sleep problems connected to a change in your work schedule can become chronic and in serious cases may even demand medical intervention.

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

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