herbal remidies sleep disorders

sleep disorders

A recent poll carried out for the National Sleep Foundation found that:

• 75% of adults questioned stated that they have frequent sleeping difficulties.



• Only 1 out of 2 of adults questioned stated that they normally slept without problem.



• 1 out of 4 of adults questioned stated that sleep problems affected their daily lives.

The poll also showed that:

• Just under two thirds of motorists reported having driven whilst drowsy in the past year. (4 % said that they had had an accident or near-accident because of tiredness or having fallen asleep while they were driving.)



• People polled named sleep-related issues as the usual 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 three months.



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



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

A significant number of people have the occasional sleepless night without any consequences. When, however, the occasional night here and there becomes a pattern of several nights in a row, you are looking at a sleeping problem.

Narcolepsy affects an estimated 250,000 people in the United States. Individuals with narcolepsy endure frequent "sleep attacks" in the day, even when they enjoy a normal amount of night-time sleep. These attacks can last anything from just a few seconds to in excess of half an hour.

People with narcolepsy can 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 are features of Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep that appear during waking, which suggests that narcolepsy is a sleep regulation disorder.

The symptoms of narcolepsy ordinarily appear during adolescence, although it normally 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 be used to control the symptoms and prevent the embarrassing and dangerous effects of falling asleep at improper times. Naps at certain times of the day can also reduce the excessive sleepiness during the day.

It is estimated that more than 35 million people in the United States are suffering from a case of chronic insomnia (difficulty sleeping each night or virtually all nights for six months or more), with an additional 20 to 30 million individuals suffering shorter-term insomnia (difficulty sleeping well for a period of four weeks to six months). Further, a large number of people suffer from insomnia over shorter periods (less than 4 weeks) and this is normally known as transient insomnia.

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

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

Insomnia can be split into three classes:

• "Initial" insomnia: in which you show difficulty in falling asleep, generally taking 30 minutes or longer to fall asleep.



• "Middle" insomnia: in which, having fallen asleep, you have difficulties maintaining a state of sleep and often remain awake into 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 often be quite simply the symptom of an underlying medical conditions which might require your doctor's advice and medical care. Here it will be 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 body and brain find difficulty in settling into a sufficiently relaxed state for sleep, then there are various choices for achieving healthy sleep without having to resort to prescription drugs.

Simply put, jet lag is a very common sleep disorder endured by many millions of travelers every day. It affects both those traveling for pleasure and on business and, in a recent survey of international business travelers, 1 in 4 of those questioned said that they frequently suffered from jet lag.

Jet lag affects people of all ages and, although it varies widely from one person to another, it tends to increase in severity the older you get.

Also, if you are already experiencing sleeping problems, 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 only 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 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 right away and, for some people, it might be a couple of days before it hits.

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

Affecting as many as 12 million adults in the USA, this disorder leads to continual leg movement during the day and to insomnia at night.

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

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