heart arythmia and sleep disorder

sleep disorders

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

• 75% of individuals polled reported that they often have sleep problems.



• Just 1 out of 2 of individuals polled reported that they slept well on most nights.



• 1 out of 4 of individuals polled reported that sleeping difficulties had an impact upon their daily lives.

The poll also showed that:

• 60% of motorists questioned said that they had driven while drowsy in the past year. (4 % said that they had had an accident or near-accident through tiredness or having fallen asleep while they were driving.)



• Those questioned named sleep-related problems as the most 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 past three months.



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



• 1 out of 4 of those questioned with partners report troubles in their sexual relationship because of tiredness. They enjoy sex less frequently or lose interest in having sex because of tiredness. A lot of couples sleep apart because of sleeping problems.

A significant number of us experience the occasional sleepless night without any consequences. If, however, the odd night now and again turns into a pattern of several nights in a row, you are facing a sleeping problem.

Sleep apnea is among the most common and most dangerous types of sleep disorder. Around 18 million Americans suffer from this condition, which is marked by repeating episodes in which you stop breathing during sleep. Over a period of time this can produce high blood pressure, disordered thinking, and cardiac disease.

Often linked with increasing age, sleep apnea can occur together with loss of muscle tone or a buildup of fat. These changes permit the windpipe to collapse while breathing As muscles relax during sleep.

This form of the condition, known as obstructive sleep apnea, is often linked to loud snoring (though not everybody who snores has this condition). Sleep apnea can also occur if the neurons responsible for the control of breathing malfunction during sleep.

During obstructive sleep apnea, your effort to inhale air will create suction which causes the collapse the windpipe. This obstructs the air flow for anything from about ten seconds up to a minute while you struggle to breathe. When the level of oxygen in your blood falls, the brain responds by awakening you sufficiently to tighten the upper airway muscles and open the windpipe. You may snort or gasp, then resume breathing. This cycle may be repeated hundreds of times a night.

The frequent awakenings which you experience as a sleep apnea sufferer leave you feeling permanently tired and might result in personality changes like irritability or depression. Sleep apnea also deprives you of oxygen, which can lead to morning headaches, a loss of interest in sex, or a decline in mental functioning. High blood pressure, an irregular heartbeat, and an increased risk of heart attacks and stroke also typically arise in cases of sleep apnea.

If you have from severe, untreated sleep apnea you appear two to three times more likely to be involved in an automoblie accident than the general population.

Mild sleep apnea can commonly be overcome through weight loss or by preventing yourself from sleeping on your back. You may need a special device or surgery to sort out the obstruction.

Restless leg syndrome (RLS), a familial disorder inducing unpleasant crawling, prickling, or tingling sensations in the legs and feet and a need to move them to get relief, is emerging as one of the more common sleep disorders, especially in the elderly.

Affecting as many as 12 million people in the USA, this disorder leads to constant movement of the legs during the day and to insomnia at night.

Severe RLS is most commonly seen in elderly people, although symptoms may well appear at any age. In some cases, it may be associated with other conditions such as pregancy, anemia, or diabetes.

Put simply, jet lag is a common sleep disorder experienced by many millions of travelers daily. It affects both people traveling on vacation and on business and, in a recent survey of international business travelers, 74% of those questioned said that they often suffered from jet lag.

Jet lag affects individuals of all ages and, although it varies widely from person to person, it tends to increase in severity the older you are.

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

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

Finally, jet lag symptoms do not always appear straight away and, for a few people, it may well be a couple of days before it hits.

It is thought that over 35 million Americans are suffering from chronic insomnia (a difficulty in sleeping every night or on the majority of nights for a period of more than six months), with a further 20 to 30 million suffering shorter-term insomnia (a difficulty in sleeping well for a period of one to six months). Additionally, many individuals suffer from insomnia over shorter periods (under 4 weeks) and this is typically referred to as transient insomnia.

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

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

Insomnia can be divided into three classes:

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



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



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

Insomnia can occasionally be quite simply the symptom of some underlying medical conditions that may require your doctor's advice 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 it difficult to settle into a sufficiently relaxed state for sleep, then there are several choices for achieving healthy sleep without resorting to prescription drugs.

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