Good sleep is an imperative part of our healthy life. If there occurs any defects or mistakes in sleep, it is more than enough to lead to several sleep disorders. Today, the majority of us are not at all having a good and quality sleep, especially youths. As the majority is having smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. with them, they are in it even at midnight and will go to bed very late. This is a serious issue. Less sleep can easily lead you to critical sleep disorders. Now there is another category who are having a very long and deep sleep. Excessive sleep can also lead to sleep disorders. So according to experts, for your healthy life, you should have a sleep time of 7-8 hours each night on a consistent basis. Don’t take less time or more time than that. Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy. This article is about sleep disorders and its details.
What is a Sleep Disorder?
Sleep Disorders are conditions that disrupt your usual sleep patterns and as a result, can badly affect your health. The symptoms of a sleep disorder include difficulty in falling or staying asleep, daytime fatigue, taking naps during the daytime, depression and lack of concentration. In some cases, sleep disorders can be a sign of any other health issue. But sleep disorders mainly occur due to inconsistent sleeping process. If you suspect you have a sleep disorder, don’t be late immediately go and meet a physician and perform the required treatments.
Some of the major sleep disorders are Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, Restless Leg Syndrome, Hypersomnia and Parasomnia.
Types of Sleep Disorders:
There are many types of sleep disorders. But here let us discuss the major types,
- Insomnia: Insomnia is considered as the most common sleep disorder. It is also called sleeplessness. If a person is affected by Insomnia, then he/she will have an awkwardness and difficulty in sleep or even remain asleep for a long. The symptoms of Insomnia include difficult to fall asleep, difficulty in remembering, daytime sleepiness, having low energy during the day, trouble concentrating, acting aggressive, waking during the night and depression. Based on its duration, Insomnia is classified into two- Acute Insomnia and Chronic Insomnia. Acute Insomnia occurs for a very short duration and can be cured without any treatment strategy whereas Chronic Insomnia occurs for a long period of time and cannot be cured without the help of treatment.
- Restless Leg Syndrome: Restless Leg Syndrome is a disorder which causes or persuade to move your legs. It causes uncomfortable sensations in your legs and eventually leads to moving your legs. It also gives you an irritational feeling as you will feel as you are stuck with some pins or needles. This can interfere with your sleep and hence it is considered as a sleep disorder. This disorder is common in women. For Restless Leg Syndrome, experts advice solutions like regular exercise, regular and good sleep, reduce coffee, alcohol and tobacco, leg massages and applying ice packs to the legs.
- Sleep Apnea: Sleep Apnea is a situation in which a person experiences difficulty in breathing while sleeping. The breath may be shallow and sometimes will even stop for a few seconds. Most probably, this will be followed by snoring. Sleep Apnea results in daytime sleepiness, insomnia, morning headaches, nocturia, memory loss, and decreased sexual desire. Sleep Apnea is of three types- Obstructive Sleep Apnea(OSA), Central Sleep Apnea(CSA) and mixed. In OSA, breathing is stopped by blockage of airflow whereas, in CSA, breathing is stopped due to the lack of effort to breathe.
- Hypersomnia: Hypersomnia is also called excessive sleepiness. The main symptom of hypersomnia is excessive sleepiness in the day time. People suffering from hypersomnia easily fall asleep during the daytime and will not get the freshness that is acquired through usual sleep. Hypersomnia is classified into two- Primary Hypersomnia and recurrent hypersomnia. Both of them have similar symptoms but differ in the frequency of occurrence
- Parasomnia: Parasomnia is a sleep disorder that includes abnormal movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions, and dreams that occur during sleep. Parasomnia is of two types- Non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) Parasomnia and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Parasomnia. NREM Parasomnia involves confusional arousals, sleepwalking, sleep terrors, bruxism (teeth grinding), and periodic limb movement disorder. REM Parasomnia mainly involves catathrenia
- Narcolepsy: Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by excessive sleepiness in the daytime. The majority of the people affected by Narcolepsy experiences a sudden loss of muscle strength called Cataplexy. Other symptoms include sleep paralysis(When waking up, people are not able to move for a certain time) and hallucinations
- Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder: A person with this disorder cannot be able to sleep at the right time. In other words, it is a disorder that affects the timing of sleep. People with this disorder will easily fall asleep in the daytime. There are different types of Circadian Rhythm Sleep disorders. The major types are listed below:
- Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder– The word “delayed” in the name of this disorder says it all. A person with this disorder cannot be able to fall asleep in time and cannot be able to wake up in time. This variation in sleeping time can lead to excessive sleepiness and many other complicated problems.
- Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder– A person with this disorder will fall asleep several hours earlier than the normal sleep time and will wake up several hours before the normal waking time. As a result of this, a person with this disorder will most probably show the tendency to fall asleep in the late afternoon. ]
- Jet Lag Disorder– It is a temporary sleep disorder that affects anyone who travels across multiple time zones. If you had a long journey in a flight and reach a certain place, the time zone there will completely change and it will be difficult to cope with the new timings at the beginning. This will badly affect your sleep. Other symptoms of Jet Lag Disorder include daytime fatigue, stomach problems, mood change and a general feeling of not being well.
- Shift Work Disorder: The usual working time of a person in his/her office is 9 am to 5 pm. People working for more time than the usual time are more likely vulnerable to shift work disorder. The symptoms include difficulty in normal sleep time, excessive sleepiness in the daytime, headache, and lack of energy
Treatment for Sleep Disorders
Sleep Disorder has been a serious issue throughout the years. Some of the disorders cannot be cured perfectly without a well-designed treatment. The important treatment methods for sleep disorders are listed below:
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is the most widely used treatment method for sleep disorders. It has two components- Cognitive Therapy and Behavioral Therapy. Cognitive Therapy helps to change all your negative thoughts and beliefs that lead to sleep disorders. Behavioral Therapy helps you to eradicate all the unwanted behaviors which make your sleep delay and replace those with better sleep habits
- Medical Treatments: Medical treatments like sleeping pills, melatonin supplements and medications also gives better results
- Simple Methods: This one can be executed ourselves. Simple methods include exercising, consuming more vegetables, reduce the consumption of tea and coffee, reduce tobacco and alcohol use and establishing a proper sleeping schedule and sleeping according to it. If you execute all these consistently, then surely a good result awaits you
Conclusion
Sleeping is a very crucial part of our healthy life. So to attain a healthy life, good sleep is a must. The main reason for several sleep disorders is the behavior of man itself. Some people are not sleeping at the correct time, some people are becoming too late to sleep, and some other people are taking excessive sleep.Hence man is not cooperating with a healthy sleep pattern and it is not obvious that the majority are becoming victims of several sleep disorders. So the simple treatment for a sleep disorder is that man has to cope with healthy sleep patterns. Not only in the case of sleep disorder, many problems that are occurring in our society are also due to the behavior and interference of man. So man has to change. Our society will be free of many serious issues the day man changes.