Understanding The Five Most Common Sleep Disorders

Rayshell Clapper for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online

Sleep is crucial to living a healthy life. Without enough good sleep people may be irritable, moody and disinhibited. Lack of good sleep can even lead to apathy, slowed speech, flattened emotional responses, impaired memory, and bring on the inability to be novel or multitask as the American Psychological Association identifies. Sleep is crucial for our mental, emotional and physical health, so it is necessary to understand some of the different sleep disorders which could affect a person.

As MedlinePlus identifies, there are five common kinds of sleep disorders: insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, narcolepsy, and parasomnias. Let’s take a closer look at each of these.

Insomnia

MedlinePlus further explains that insomnia includes trouble with falling asleep, staying asleep, or some combination of both, which all leads to the possibility of not receiving enough sleep or just getting poor-quality sleep and not feeling refreshed upon waking.

What are the symptoms of insomnia? The most common include the following:

• Lying awake for a long time before you fall asleep
• Sleeping for only short periods
• Being awake for much of the night
• Feeling as if you haven’t slept at all
• Waking up too early

After proper diagnosis, treatment may include lifestyle changes, counseling, and medications.

Sleep Apnea

When a person has very shallow breathing or quits breathing while asleep, that person likely suffers from sleep apnea. These pauses in breathing can last for a few seconds to a few minutes and may occur 30 times or more in an hour as MedlinePlus explains. If one is not breathing normally, that person will not be getting good enough sleep.

People who are overweight, male, have small airways, snore, or have a family history are more at risk for sleep apnea. Though snoring can be a symptom of sleep apnea, not all who snore have this sleep disorder. For some, sleep apnea can even lead to insomnia and thus the person suffers from two sleep disorders. Sleep apnea can lead to heart disease as well, so once diagnosed, treatment is critical. Treatment includes lifestyle changes, mouthpieces, surgery and breathing devices.

Restless Legs Syndrome

A third sleep disorder that prevents sufferers from getting the sleep their minds and bodies need is called Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). MedlinePlus states that RLS “causes a powerful urge to move your legs. Your legs become uncomfortable when you are lying down or sitting. Some people describe it as a creeping, crawling, tingling, or burning sensation. Moving makes your legs feel better, but not for long. RLS can make it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.”

For this sleep disorder, lifestyle changes can help. By establishing regular sleep habits, using relaxation techniques, and incorporating moderate exercise daily, one can help RLS. If these do not work, there are medications as well.

Narcolepsy

Though a different type of sleep disorder, narcolepsy can still cause major sleep issues for people. This sleep disorder causes extreme sleepiness and attacks of daytime sleep according to MedlinePlus. That means people who suffer from narcolepsy will be so extremely tired that they fall asleep randomly throughout the day whether they are at work, with the family, or wherever.

The symptoms include the following:

• Extreme daytime sleepiness
• Cataplexy
• Hallucinations
• Sleep paralysis

Though no cure exists, treatment can help control symptoms and may include lifestyle changes and medications.

Parasomnias

Experiences including nightmares, night terrors, sleepwalking, sleeptalking, head banging, wetting the bed, and grinding one’s teeth are all examples of parasomnias. These experiences happen when asleep and can often affect whether a person receives good sleep or enough sleep. Each can be treated in a variety of ways including through lifestyle changes, counseling, and medications.

No sleep disorder should be taken lightly. Though these are the most common, others exist that can impact whether or not an individual receives proper sleep. Without it, people suffer physically, mentally and emotionally. Sleep helps our bodies heal from aches, pains and illnesses. Sleep helps us deal with what happens to us and think about things subconsciously, and sleep helps us with our emotional well-being. A sleep disorder has much impact, which is why they each deserve attention.