incubus sleep disorders

sleep disorders

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

• 75% of those questioned reported that they frequently have difficuly sleeping.



• Just 1 out of 2 of those questioned reported that they normally slept without any difficulty.



• 25% of those questioned reported that sleep problems had an impact upon their daily lives.

The poll also demonstrated that:

• 60% of adult motorists reported having driven whilst drowsy in the past year. (4 % reported that they had had an accident or near-accident as a result of tiredness or having fallen asleep while driving.)



• People cited sleep-related problems as the usual reason for being late for work. Almost 30% of working adults reported missing work, events/activities or making errors at work as a result of sleep-related issues in the preceding 3 months.



• 3 out of 4 of adults 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 difficulty could cause the other to lose, on average, up to an hour of sleep a night.



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

A significant number of people have the occasional sleepless night without any consequences. When, however, the occasional night once in a while turns into a pattern of several nights in a row, you face a sleeping problem.

Sleep apnea is one of the commonest and most dangerous types of sleep disorder. An estimated 18 million adults in America suffer from this condition, that is characterised by recurring episodes of cessation of breathing while sleeping. Over time this can produce high blood pressure, disordered thinking, and cardiac disease.

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

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

During an episode of obstructive sleep apnea, efforts to inhale air will create suction that results in the collapse the windpipe. This blocks the air flow for between ten seconds and one minute while you struggle to breathe. When your blood oxygen level falls, the brain reacts 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 constant awakenings that you experience as a sleep apnea sufferer leave you feeling permanently sleepy and might well cause changes in personality such as irritability or depression. Sleep apnea also leaves you short of oxygen, which can lead to morning headaches, a loss of interest in sex, or a decline in mental functioning. High blood pressure, irregular heartbeats, and a heightened risk of stroke and heart attack also Commonly arise in cases of sleep apnea.

If you are suffering from from severe, untreated sleep apnea you appear two to three times more likely to have automobile accidents than the general population.

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

Put simply, jet lag is an extremely common sleep disorder endured by millions of travelers every day. It affects both people traveling on business and on vacation and, in a recent survey of international business travelers, 1 in 4 of those questioned said that they often suffered from jet lag.

Jet lag affects individuals of all ages and, though it varies widely from one individual to another, it tends to be more severe the older you are.

Further, if you are already experiencing difficulty 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 difference in time between your point of departure and your destination is simply an hour or two, then you might not 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 greater the time difference.

Finally, the symptoms of jet lag don't always appear at once and, for some individuals, it might well be two or three days before it hits.

Narcolepsy affects about 250,000 people in the US. Individuals with narcolepsy suffer frequent "sleep attacks" in the day, even if they enjoy a normal amount of night-time sleep. Attacks can last anywhere from a number of seconds to more than 30 minutes.

Individuals with narcolepsy can also experience cataplexy (loss of muscle control during emotional situations), hallucinations, temporary paralysis when they awaken, and disrupted night-time sleep. These symptoms are features of Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep which appear during waking, indicating that narcolepsy is a sleep regulation disorder.

Narcolepsy symptoms ordinarily appear in adolescence, though it often takes years to obtain a correct diagnosis.

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

Once the condition has been diagnosed, stimulants, antidepressants, or other drugs can help to control the symptoms and prevent the dangerous and embarrassing 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 in excess of 35 million adults in the US suffer from chronic insomnia (difficulty sleeping each night or most nights for six months or more), with an additional 20 to 30 million individuals suffering shorter-term insomnia (difficulty sleeping well for between a month and six months). Also, a large number of people suffer from insomnia over shorter periods (less than 4 weeks) and this is usually known as transient insomnia.

Transient insomnia is often brought on by excitement (a child anticipating the arrival of Father Christmas) 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 exercise late in the day, shortly before going to bed. It is also often linked to illness (colds/flu) and with a few over-the-counter medications (for example, some medicines purchased for asthma or a cold).

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

Insomnia can be separated into three classes:

• "Initial" insomnia: where you have a difficulty in in falling asleep, usually taking 30 minutes or more to fall into a sleep state.



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



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

Insomnia can occasionally be just the symptom of an underlying medical conditions which might require your doctor's advice and medical care. Here it will be a matter of treating the cause, rather than the insomnia.

If, however, your inability to 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 several different choices for achieving healthy sleep without using prescription drugs.

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